11 - Drive

Sometimes, the voices ask -- you can drive, can't you? Sure can. Thinking about it, this very month sees the silver anniversary of my driving licence. When I passed, Two Tribes was top of the charts. A point is all that you can score, indeed.

Got a logistical minestrone for Tuesday: need to start working from home, pick up daughter from sleepover, take her to in-laws out in the sticks and finally head to Martlesham. Can't do all of that on two wheels. Four wheels good today.

Plus, of course, it's free ... in that I'm not handing over any money for fares, etc. Granted, the car was around £10,000 a couple of years ago, road tax is £145, last service was £200, same again for insurance, breakdown cover is £80 and there's £50 worth of diesel in the tank. Apart from that, not a bean.

Even back in 2006, it was reckoned that the average cost of running a car was over £5,000 a year, i.e. £15 a day, in other words my taxi fare to Adastral. Go do the sums yourself, if you dare. At that rate, it's daft not to use it, isn't it?

We know that LONE DRIVER is an anagram of EVIL OR NERD. Are solo motorists necessarily bad people? Yes, if they're driving in from Grange Farm. Less so if they're starting out from further afield, though we've already seen the joys of liftshare, various bus services and even the train to Woodbridge.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to cycle most days, so taking the car becomes a bit of a treat. I can leave home a little bit later, catch up on a podcast (Mark Kermode, Adam & Joe, The Bugle) on the way, no need to change clothes when I arrive, maybe nip into Woodbridge at lunchtime, et cetera.

On the flipside I feel a bit sluggish having not biked and I can't stand sitting in a jam (e.g. to leave the site), especially when cyclists are undertaking with ease.

You pays your money, you takes your choice.

Cost - free-ish, though see above
Duration - 20mins (return journey 17:45-18:05)

Pros - convenience; listen to radio; no timetables; carry other items
Cons - sorry, planet Earth; doesn't burn those calories

Back To Bike

Ten previous days, ten different ways. A rhyme every time. Today, though, I reverted to the default setting. Think once, think twice, think bike.

I've missed the old thing over the last fortnight. Of course, it did play an essential part in getting me to selected local stations and central locations (there I go again), but that's not the same as doing the complete Ipswich to Martlesham run.

I say "old thing" -- actually it's quite a new thing. My employer (not Busby Telecom) signed up to the rather good Cycle To Work Scheme, enabling me to trade in the old jalopy and acquire a sleek new model hand built by Chris Boardman. Or so said the man at Halford's. Money comes straight out of my salary, thus isn't too obvious a hit, and I get it tax-free. What's not to like/bike?

Plus I had money left over to put towards new panniers, a rack, a lid (as my colleague insists on calling it) and, importantly, a heavy duty lock. As my daughter would say, It's All Good.

10 - Jog

After telling people that I'd walked to work last week (why?, they said), two of them suggested that I should run. Note that both these friends have done the London marathon. Now I'm as fit as anyone that bikes 15 miles most days, but I am not Lasse Viren. Cross-country at school: horrible. Athletics: painful. Jogging: I don't get it.

It was with some trepidation then, at 7am, that I left the house, closed the gate and started putting one foot in front of the other. Least it was dry and not too hot. I really didn't know how it would go. Perhaps they'd find me hyperventilating on the driveway of one of the posh houses on Valley Road hill?

Unpleasant beginning, all uphill, trying to breathe at regular intervals. Warming up and proper running shoes are strictly for wimps and people who know what they're doing. Like Suggs, gotta Keep Moving until some fixed point ahead, say the Henley Road lights. Normally I'd think of the old ring road as dead boring, an interminable series of dreary roundabouts. Today, each of them became the next thing to aim for. Plus the junctions gave a good excuse for a 50 step walk and a swig from the water bottle.

It was going surprisingly OK. Checked watch at the very familiar local landmark that is the Shell garage: half-seven. Was a mistake, though, to be carrying house keys and a mobile in my shorts' pockets. Seemed unlikely, too, that I'd need all that rusty lead piping and the grand piano. Thanks, Goons, for the loan of that line.

Into suburban Kesgrave and eventually to Grange Farm's li'l Tesco. It'll take a psychopath not to stop along the cycle path. Had to quell the green monster more than once when the odd cyclist overtook: hey mate, give us a ride in your pannier. Approaching Dobbs Lane, a bike came alongside. Hi Ed, said my office buddy, running to work today? Yep: no need to stay with me. And off he sped.

There's two old blokes tutting at the discarded beer cans in the recreation ground, obviously left by da local yoof. Past the Douglas Bader pub and a small white dog comes out of an adjacent driveway to check me out. I then realise the mutt is chasing me, and endeavour to pick up the pace. At this exact point another cyclist overtakes and has a darn good laugh at this pavement slapstick. Dog gives up when I cross the next road.

Walked up the bridge, ran down the other side and past the squash club to the freshly re-tarmac-ed path by the bus stop. Crossed the finishing line by the gatehouse at 8:15am, much relieved, fairly pleased and stinkingly sweaty. Thank goodness for the first floor shower and a hot cuppa. That's better.

Cost - free
Duration - 75mins (07:00-08:15)

Pros - quicker than walking; fitness; no timetables
Cons - sweaty betty

09 - Hitchhike

Much um-ing and ah-ing preceded today's outing:

(a) where to go?
(b) what should the sign say?

Point (a) - I took a good look at Sproughton Road down by Morrison's, possibly as far as the A14 sliproad; I considered the Foxhall Road / Heath Road junction by the firework shop; I wondered about the Henley Road lights where they cross Valley Road. Ultimately I chose the Shell garage where Colchester Road meets Woodbridge Road.

Point (b) - attempt 1 said BT Martlesham, but Martlesham is 10 (count 'em) letters and they squash up; attempt 2 said BT Labs, which was shorter but still too much; final attempt said, remembering that less is more, BT.

I can recommend a black Sharpie, a clear plastic A4 wallet (rain was chucking it down when I was doing my Blue Peter preparation), a reinforcing bit of cardboard and several sheets of printer paper.

Standing there in the 8am sunlight with my rucksack & laptop, holding out my two character signage, how long do you think it took before I got picked up? 5 mins? 10 mins? Half an hour? Answer: 2 mins, barely time to feel the self-consciousness kicking in. A couple made eye contact from their shiny Japanese MPV and nodded towards the back seat, and in I got. Sorted.

You do mean BT at Martlesham, the man (driver) asked? That's the one, said I. I'm heading out to work for Suffolk Police, said the lady (passenger), and my husband's giving me a lift.

I'd normally be on my bike, I said, but it's currently off the road (true 'cos it's locked to some railings by the petrol forecourt). Oh, she said. I've biked a few times before but the shower facilities aren't great. Ah, we're pretty lucky in that respect, I said. Smalltalk continued as we cruised Kesgrave and motored into Martlesham past yesterday's Park & Ride destination.

Very kindly, they dropped me off outside Kingpin, a pebble's skim from the Route 66 stop for Adastral Park. Have a good day, we both said: I never knew their names. Made a quick diversion by the main gate to snap today's photo of my amazing sign and the BT Tower, getting an odd look from some geeky looking bloke standing nearby, jotting things down. Never trust a man with a clipboard.

To get home -- well, back to my bike -- I should probably have made an Ipswich sign and stood outside the gatehouse. Instead, I hitched an impromptu lift with a colleague in the office.

These are the pros and cons of hitch hiking:

Cost - free
Duration - 15mins (08:00-08:15)

Pros - meeting people; green travel
Cons - reliance on the generosity and trust of others

08 - Park & Ride

Not content with (1) Route 66 and (2) the shuttle bus, there is, as in so many areas of life, a third way. In this case, a third bus service that plies its trade between downtown Ipswich and out-of-town Martlesham. Two words, folks: Park & Ride. Incidentally, if you've got five minutes to spare -- hey, you're reading this -- go from PARK to RIDE by changing one letter at a time.

Into the town centre on the bike, and as I was locking up outside the library, a bright pink vehicle disappeared down Great Colman Street. Darn it, missed that one. No matter, there'll be another one along in 10 minutes (7am to 7pm, I believe). Quite satisfying to watch the bus stop's electronic display slowly count down: 5 mins, 4 mins, ..., due. And here it is, the 800 service at 0800 hours: you will know synchronicity.

Er, I'd like to do the ride in reverse, please, Mr Driver, going out to Martlesham then back to Ipswich later. Er, not sure we do that, he says, rightly confused. What kind of fool uses a P&R service back to front and with no car? Me! But we can do a single, he says: that'll be £2. Done, I say. Ticket reads:

BOARDED: Town Centre
ALIGHT: Martlesham

Since everyone in their right mind is coming IN to town at this time of the morning, I've got the whole shebang to myself. Roadworks cause us to zigzag up St Margaret's Green and up Tuddenham Road, joining the A1214 where Valley Road becomes Colchester Road. Past the Royal George which is evidently holding a Psychic Night tonight: no jokes. One more stop near Heath Road, then out on the taxi route through the 30mph commuterlands of Kesgrave. Held up slightly by the odd pesky cyclist: why do they let these people on the roads?

Before we know it -- actually around 8:15am -- we've arrived at the terminus by the A12. All very swish, this being the most recent of three P&Rs around the town provided by Suffolk County Council. This is where I should have parked my car, had I been doing it right. As I disembark, a small crowd embarks. Now how do I reach Adastral Park?

I'm impressed that there's a pedestrian exit leading to a crossing, and over I go down along the oddly named Portal Avenue. That unlovely place on the right is the Suffolk Constabulary HQ, as featured on telly whenever there's crime to report.

There then follows an excursion into Michael Smith psychogeography as I venture into the places between places, heading down overgrown pathways, into an underpass and through the car parks of anonymous retail parks, the BT radio tower always in sight. Fully 25 minutes elapse before I'm showing my passcard, quite a trudge.

Later, I rewind my steps for the return leg. I'm totally out of sync, dodging a horde getting off the pink bus before I get on, alone again or. Takes no times at all to get back to Major's Corner. Well, quarter of an hour. Bonus to turn the corner of Old Foundry Road and find the bike still there.

Cost - £2 single; around £3.50 for a return covering up to 5 people
Duration - 15 mins (08:00-08:15), then 25 mins walk to the site

Pros - regular; quick; all the advantages of Life In The Bus Lane
Cons - the walk to Adastral Park

07 - Taxi

IANAA -- I am not an artist -- but I'd guess that the opposite of green would be red. That gives us the colour of today's journey, a gaudy sampler of scarlets and vermillions and crimsons.

I'd made the call the night before, feeling slightly dirty and scabrous. Er, yeah, I need a ride tomorrow, please. Er, that's right, to BT (nobody round here calls it Adastral). About how much will that be? Wow, er, OK, see you then.

Looked out of the window at five to eight and there he was, cruising down the road. Feeling a tad guilty about not biking and the planet in general, out we go, into the belly of the beast. He apologises for being early but he wanted to be sure of a parking spot, my road setting the benchmark for parallel parking. No problem, I say, and we're off up Valley Road.

Go out to BT much, I ask? Not as much as I used to, he says. They're clamping down, apparently, encouraging people to take the ****ing bus and all. And although it hasn't affected him much, his pals at the station rank aren't happy campers. See, they've got this ****ing shuttle service going straight out there these days. Subsidised, innit. Not even sure that's legal.

It's a bit like that County Council bus that goes round town. That was free for people working for 'em. Turned out that they had to make it available to the general public, not that they advertise it.

They used to have a bus from the station to BT years back, but that died a death. Let's see how this one goes. And that 66 is full of (comment deleted).

Joe The Taxi opts for a surprisingly straightforward route out of town, via Colchester Road and onto the A1214 through Kesgrave. 30mph limit? ****ing stupid. It's 40mph by the hospital and the ring road, so why here?

Not many cars here today, he says, nodding to the visitors' car park. Mind you, there's a mass exodus at 4pm, isn't that right?

Pulling up outside reception, I look at the meter: £13.20. Gulp. I convince myself that I've easily saved this amount and lots more besides by biking nearly every day for the last x years. But it still hurts to hand over the cash.

Cost - £13.20, and that's with no tip!
Duration - 15 mins (07:55-08:10): he had a good run

Pros - works around you and you alone; quick
Cons - cost; environmental impact; smalltalk

06 - Train

Yes, I've already used a loco en route to work, but that was only to legitimise my use of the shuttle bus from the station. Today's mission: to take a train to the station nearest Adastral Park. Where, oh where, would that be?

If in doubt, ask Google, which recommends the use of this Find A Station website operated by thetrainline. Top five results are:

1. Woodbridge, 2.7 miles
2. Orwell, 3.2 miles -- a defunct station near Nacton!
3. Melton, 4.1 miles
4. Derby Road, 4.1 miles -- edge of Ipswich on the line to Felixstowe
5. Westerfield, 4.9 miles -- been there, done that

One timetable check later and I'm out of the house at 7:15am, cycling in a late July shower up to Ipswich station. Pay the nice lady £3.30 for an Anytime Day single to Woodbridge and wheel the bike through the new ticket barriers. There's my transport waiting at platform 1, final destination Saxmundham. Slot my bike into the provided cycle space and grab one of the many free seats to take in the journey. This, you'll remember, is the age of the train.

Quite pleasant to mindlessly sit there, gawping out of the rain-streaked window. First stop Westerfield -- no takers today -- and on we go. Tabletop depicts the Bittern Line up in Norfolk: all the action would appear to be at Hoveton & Wroxham (ask for Roy). Scanning my copy of the National Rail's Cycling By Train leaflet, it says that:

"Ticket holders receive the benefit of the one/ETA cycle recovery scheme ... If your cycle breaks down or is stolen, both you and your bicycle (if appropriate) will be recovered and taken to the nearest station"

That might be handy. Shame that it only applies while travelling by train.

Ah, we're here already, and it's only ten to eight. Looking through the glass, the Whistlestop Cafe looks mighty inviting. Must resist. After all, there's still another 3 miles or so to go until I'm at work. Plenty of cabs outside the station, but time once more to saddle up and pedal down.

Going up Sandy Lane isn't much fun. Going down Sandy Lane is great. Back under the railway line, past the Complementary Health Centre, then a determined push up past the Red Lion, requiring a leonine struggle. Relief when the road levels out at Crown Point, and finally through the gates of Adastral Park at five past eight (stop the clock).

NB Times didn't work out for me to go back the same way, so biked back instead. And got soaked again.

Cost - £3.30 Ipswich to Woodbridge single
Duration - 17 mins (07:32-07:49), then 15 min bike ride to Martlesham Heath

Pros - public transport; relaxing
Cons - slave to the erratic timetable

No Escape

It's the weekend, and all thoughts of work have drifted far away like little fluffy clouds. Weather's doing nothing and my son, The Boy, wants to play his old man at badminton. Plenty of slots free at Gainsborough on the other side of town, so into the car we go. I'm about to serve when I spot this banner high up on the wall of the sports hall:

-- Adastral Park - home of BT's technology

There's obviously no getting away from the site. Talking of which, the website to which it directs the casual observer is this:

www.bt.com/innovation

As a seasoned IT pro, I felt obliged to key this into my browser (Firefox, naturally), and promptly received the following message:

"Sorry - page not found (Error code 404)"

According to the wonderful Wayback Machine (aka the internet archive), that address hasn't been active since the year 2000. Oops. Mind you, that banner *is* a long way up on the wall.

05 - Walk

Several months back I was merrily cycling home when I suffered a bicycle blow-out. Back tire and inner tube had been shredded by a broken bottle outside the Farmhouse pub on Grange Farm. Didn't have any gear with me so ended up walking home, a long and tedious 6 miles made worse by pushing a dead bike. Perambulating back, it occurred to me that I could, when the clocks had gone forward, try different methods of getting to work. Somewhere on the shortlist was this one: W.A.L.K. Heck: after all, it's only 7 or 8 miles. How long could it possibly take?

Here I am, Friday morning, out of bed at an hour that would unsettle a milkman, and saddened by the news that Ben Fogle won't be joining me. A sip of tea, a dash of dithering -- iPod or not? -- and off I set at 6:55am. Up through a bosky Broomhill Park (see photo) since it's a route only do-able by foot, and oh what a beautiful morning it is.

Right turn into pedestrian-friendly Dale Hall Lane and onto Henley Road, the idea being to cut across Christchurch Park. Hold up, the arboretum gate is locked? Ditto the entrance opposite Ipswich School? What is this, Central Park?! Now 7:15am and little option but to skirt round the south into the town centre.

Cutting past The Regent, there's a small-ish crowd evidently queueing for tickets. "Who is it?," I say. "JLS," they reply. "Oh," I say, none the wiser.

By 7:35am I'm passing under the viaduct built by Colonel Tomline for his Ipswich to Felixstowe railway line, and it's a further 15 minutes to reach the Shell garage on Woodbridge Road. I've now been walking for the best part of an hour. Biking to this point usually takes me 10 minutes. Hey ho.

There's the Route 66 stop on Woodbridge Road by the Rushmere golf course, and my spirit sags whenever a cyclist whips by. Into Kesgrave and the road is getting busier as I trundle past Kesgrave Fisheries, Kesgrave Cars and the Kesgrave Kitchen. Cut in by The (Morning) Bell, through a lane to Ropes Drive and on to Fentons Way, which goes on, and on, and on. Like Blur said, This Is A Low.

On to the cycle path close to the Farmhouse by Through Jollys (seriously), and I've never been so pleased to see the unadopted road that is Grange Lane, which is hard going on two wheels. I can see the BT radio tower! Auto-pilot for the final push, over the pedestrian bridge by the Martlesham Leisure Club, and round the back of Kingpin into the main gate of Adastral Park. Done it. Bloomin' done it.

Gently glowing, I flashed my site pass at 08:55am, pretty much two hours to the dot since I set off. Far as I can tell, this mostly tallies with average (male) walking speed, i.e. 3.5 mph or thereabouts. Most pleasant to make a fresh cuppa and park my bum down in the office chair.

NB I caught the shuttle bus back. You can take these things too far.

Cost - free
Duration - 120mins (06:55-08:55)

Pros - er ... keeps you fit?
Cons - two hours to get to work?!

04 - Shuttle Bus

Another day, another bus. While NASA's shuttle may be on its way out, the Adastral Park shuttle bus is straight from the future. It stems from "Grass Routes", the pun-tastically titled AP travel plan, and offers:

-- "fast, direct & free courtesy shuttle direct to Adastral Park reception"

Did that really say "free"? You better believe it. Point of departure is Ipswich station, and it's aimed squarely at folk who'd otherwise catch a Billy No-Mates taxi out to Martlesham (and probably another one back at the end of the day). Simply flash your rail ticket at the driver ... oh, hang on. To make this a legit journey, I needs to get me a choo-choo ticket, valid for today. No problem. Time to make the train take the strain.

Out-in-the-wilds Westerfield is the answer, being an unmanned station on the Ipswich to Felixstowe/Lowestoft lines, and not too badly placed a couple of miles from my place. Thus into the saddle at 7:50am, some five minutes later than planned, pedal like Billy Ocean up Valley Road and left along Westerfield Road. A-ha, there's the Railway pub and here's the crossing.

Impressively, a gate indicates cycle parking this way. Through I go, up and on to the platform, and behold, a solitary uncovered Sheffield stand. Oh well, that'll do. It's now 8am and I'm standing, like a Dylan lyric, on the wrong side of the tracks.

Quickly out again, over the line and up the other side to join two other commuters. Matter of moments later, here comes our Ipswich-bound loco. Surprisingly, a handful of people are getting off here, at least two of which have their bikes and pedal off towards town. In we go and it's not worth grabbing a seat as we pootle back over the Norwich Road / Bramford Lane / Bramford Road bridges, slowing as we come alongside Gippeswick Park. At the last minute, practically in the station, a guard appears and sells me a £2.10 return to Ipswich. Hoorah, I have a "valid rail ticket for today"!

There follows a restrained dash across the station concourse -- now 8:12am -- and over to stand C, where sits the awaiting bus, doing its best to sync with the London train. Quite a few people already on board, none of whom I saw on the Westerfield train, but who'd be daft enough to take that route? Quarter-past and we're off.

Along Burrell Road and up to the lights, then a nifty shimmy as our driver goes (a) right into Stoke Street and (b) left into Austin Street, emerging on Wherstead Road and avoiding the busy-busy Novotel dock roundabouts. Today's route is brought to you by the letter "A" and the number 137 as we motor up past the ski slope to join the A14 at the Orwell Bridge.

This particular omnibus, which could fit comfortably inside the Route 66, offers a 240V socket to charge your phone, and there's some loose talk of WiFi. Mind you, given the speed of the journey, you'd be approaching Martlesham as your Outlook was still sorting itself out. And it parks right outside reception, some 100m closer than the 66.

Later that day, I did the whole thing in reverse: 4:40pm shuttle bus, 5:02pm Lowestoft-bound train (thankfully a few minutes late) to Westerfield, and much relief to find my bike still there in its exclusive parking slot. Phew.

Cost - free between Ipswich Station and Adastral Park (though I got the £2.10 Westerfield return)
Duration - 20 mins (8:15 - 8:35)

Pros - quick, hourly, greener than a cab
Cons - may need to wait a while if you arrive between buses, and last bus from Adastral is 6:40pm

03 - Bus

Inevitably there comes a day when you have to dig into your own pocket -- you can't expect to forever be freeloading (note to self). So time to act like a Merry Prankster, drink the Kool-Aid and get On The Bus.

Handily enough, there exists a direct public transport service, Route 66, from Ipswich to Martlesham Heath. Before I converted to two wheels, I used to catch it every now and then. Back in the day, it would take a frustrating three-quarters of an hour due to (a) numerous stops and (b) slow-dancing in and out of the pristine Grange Farm development. And that was when it turned up at all.

Thankfully it's all much improved now. For starters, there ain't only one bus. We have various services on offer from the First Group:

* 66 -- goes via Town Centre, Kesgrave & Grange Farm
* 66A -- goes via Town Centre & Grange Farm
* 66B -- goes via Town Centre & Foxhall Road

First two of these, 66 and 66A, start at Ipswich Station. I could have headed up to the railway this morning for the 08:17, seen the hospital & Kesgrave & Grange Farm before landing at Adastral around 08:57. Much like the old days, in fact.

Smart money, however, as recommended by Robert Peston, is on the 66B, where the "B" stands for bullet. Starting point is the Old Cattle Market, opposite Pals meat market. I was down there shortly after 8am and joined the queue for the 08:10, which left dead on time. Curious route down Turret Lane and onto the Star Lane bus lane (enough with the lanes), then past swish new UCS building and up Back Hamlet.

Quite a few folk got on at the Foxhall Road / Grove Lane stop, then a handful more outside the Railway pub near Derby Road, leaving no more than half a dozen free seats on our single decker. Of course, Foxhall Road takes you nearly all the way to your destination, once you're past the Nuffield and the speedway. Boom, we decanted at 08:32, like what the timetable says, and the stop is right outside Adastral.

BTW, friend of a friend, a 66 regular, apparently stood waiting for 2 hours yesterday at the bottom of Grove Lane, not realising that roadworks had forced a change of route. Oops.

Let's mention the obvious point that most of the passengers these days are Indian guys and gals, probably working at BT for a limited time. These daily commuters all flashed their passes at the driver; no coinage passed hands, which helps to speed things up still Furthur.

Journey back at 5:10pm was also painless and took the requisite third of an hour. And it's good to see that most people take the time & trouble to thank the driver when leaving.

Cost - £4.60 bought me an Ipswich area day ticket, i.e. a return; regulars buy a batch of 10 tickets or a weekly pass, which works out a fair bit cheaper
Duration - ~20 mins (8:10 - 8:32), plus 15 mins walk into the town centre

Pros - 66B is quick, regular & reliable, and you can read
Cons - great if you live near the bus route, less so otherwise

02 - Lift Share

Summer 2008 and a ticket to the Latitude Festival (nice one) is stuck to the fridge. Reading through the festival website, those organisers are imploring me to use public transport. Looking into it, that ain't gonna happen. I can most likely get there, say by train to Halesworth, but coming back on the same day at who knows what time rules it out. One option they'd like me to consider is sharing a car.

Which is how come I find myself registered on liftshare.com, "the world's best journey matching system". Registered, but never used in anger. Until today, that is.

Thinking ahead for once in my life, I went on to the LiftShare site last Thursday to give it a go. I added a new journey, specifying start (Ipswich, IP1), destination (Adastral Park, IP5), leave time (08:00 on 21/7/2009), return time (17:00 on 21/7/2009) and flexibility (+/- 30mins). All pretty straightforward so far.

You then act like an ill-prepared arsonist and Search For Matches. Rather cleverly, you're presented with a map showing potential travel buddies. Those little cars are coloured in different ways:

* green - offering a lift journey
* red - seeking a lift journey
* blue - offering or seeking a lift journey

Yep, it's a bit like Guardian Soulmates. Top of my list was a sky blue vehicle leaving from a couple of streets away. More details please:

* male, 40-60, travelling Mon/Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri, offering or seeking

I hit the "Send a request to share" and sat back. Within half an hour, (let's call him) John had responded via email to confirm the offer. Needed a few more emails to sort out the details due to our innate Englishness: when would you like to leave? Well, I'm flexible: what about you? And so on.

Bottom line is within 5 minutes of leaving the house on a drizzly day, I was at his door, an otherwise complete stranger, and two minutes later we were Adastral bound. Interestingly, for me, he threaded his way down to Sproughton Road and on to the A14, i.e. what my son would call the fast road. Needless to say, I don't bike that way to work.

As we zoomed over the Orwell Bridge, he said that most of his colleagues also drive to work from either Ipswich or Woodbridge, and that this was the first time he'd been contacted via the liftshare website. Though coming past Foxhall Road, he happened to spot a friend of his on a pushbike. Into the site and he parked in his usual spot, all of 20m from my office.

And he was good enough to give me a lift home too: cheers, John.

Cost - zero to me; would it be wrong to tip?
Duration - 20 mins (8:30 - 8:50), plus 5 mins walk from the house

Pros - sharing a car has got to be A Good Thing
Cons - needs planning ahead

01 - Bicycle

What better way to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing than by launching (oh yes) an ill-thought out idea concerning more down-to-earth travel arrangements? Starting today, I'll see if I can get to work each day -- for this week at least -- using a different means of transport. This isn't rocket science.

My job is based at Adastral Park, which is either "the world leading hi-tech park" (says BT) or "a science campus based at Martlesham Heath" (says Wikipedia). I live on the west side of Ipswich, roughly 8 miles away. Today: the bike.

Time to confess that today's trip isn't exactly a challenge or novelty. Around half-eight most mornings, I'm normally to be found on two wheels halfway up the A1214. I try to use the bike every day, whatever the weather. Entering the office, I could be horribly sweaty, totally soaked, frozen to bits or mildly frostbitten, though usually somewhere in between.

It usually takes me half an hour for the 7-8 mile journey. Conditions today were near perfect: sunny, dry, and the hint of a following wind. My usual route comprises Valley Road (nice wide cycle lane) to Colchester Road (lane disappears) and out on Woodbridge Road past Rushmere Golf Club. Then, once in Kesgrave, I take a literal turn and head for the best kept secret that is the Grange Farm cycle path. No cars, though plenty of schoolkids during term time walking or riding three or four abreast. Luckily this is day one of the summer hols.

Past the Control Tower Museum and the MH shops, over the pedestrian bridge by Kingpin and I'm all but there. Out with the site pass and I can lock up outside the office, which is nice.

Cost - zero, though it helps to own a bike, panniers, lock, etc.
Duration - 30 mins (8:15 - 8:45)

Pros - free with an hour's aerobic exercise thrown in each day
Cons - requires willpower in the rain & wind; crumpled clothes