In praise of the pootle

[freiston]

I like to pootle too - my favourite kind of bike ride

 

[Blue Hills]

[QUOTE="Tail End Charlie, post: 5105209, member: 881"also pootle by doing some shopping - I get my milk (unpasteurised) from a farm about 20 miles away and flour even further away than that.[/QUOTE]

. Yes non cyclists never understand that, going so far for something tiddly. Am sure many think us sad. I do try to tell them that it's a bike ride but they tend to look blank. Have cycled a fair few miles to pick up tiddly ebay purchases, discovering new places, revisiting old haunts on the way.

 

[simongt]

Yes, pootling is very much a pleasure; everything going at your chosen pace. What can be fun is to deliberately get yourself 'lost' and then work out where you are from an OS map and go from there. Provided of course, that you're reasonably adept at reading a map - !

 

[raleighnut]

I quite like 'pootling' with a tent on the carrier.

 

[mjr]

I pootle. Sometimes with a group and often as the one at the back checking that people are happily pootling rather than struggling or broken down. Group pootles often have a bit more of a planned route so that the back knows where the front has gone, even if we're sometimes planning it on the road!

 

[Spinney]

Another pootler here. Or a bimbler.
I'll let you know how they're different when I work it out...

 

[Elswick Cotterpin]

Pootle is my middle name. It's all I do.

 

[mjr]

Another pootler here. Or a bimbler.
I'll let you know how they're different when I work it out...

We often have a mardle while we pootle. How about others?

 

[cosmicbike]

Bit of a mixed bag me. I enjoy a pootle, and I've also been known to have a bimble. But then I also commute, and do some longer rides at a pace (for me). I'm starting to enjoy exploring more, and that's on all rides.

 

[derrick]

I've tried my hand at quite a few different kinds of cycling over the last few years. Started out with long-ish, fast-ish road rides, then discovered MTB'ing and started pushing my boundaries at that too (until a few nasty crashes made me promise to Mrs Chris to reign it in a bit!).

But over the last year my favourite rides have been the ones where I've made up a packed lunch, taken a thermos flask and an OS map (sometimes even a pair of bin's for some en-route birding) and pootled through the local back lanes and bridleways.

There's something very nice indeed about a lower distance and pace ride where you can take your time and smell the roses.

Here're some pics from today's pootle, a couple of hours up and down the Exe valley

View attachment 390132 View attachment 390131 View attachment 390133 View attachment 390134 View attachment 390135 View attachment 390136 View attachment 390137 View attachment 390138

Not old enough to start pootling yet.

 

[ChrisEyles]

Yes, pootling is very much a pleasure; everything going at your chosen pace. What can be fun is to deliberately get yourself 'lost' and then work out where you are from an OS map and go from there. Provided of course, that you're reasonably adept at reading a map - !

That sounds like a great idea if you can afford to make a day of it. For an extra challenge, could try it on Dartmoor/Exmoor on the MTB. What could go wrong?

 

[Randomnerd]

You both beat me to it with the bimble vs pootle cunundrum. I’d crafted a thought or two but now realise I’m not the only fish in this thought-pond.
But in the spirit of the bimbleur (all the best cycling is Frenchified, n’est pas?) - akin to the Slow Food movement - I’m happy to just be along for the ride, at whosoever’s pace is slowest, till we reach some conclusions. Or go off down a cul de sac if we choose.
I was imagining a sportive des bimbleurs, and working out a slogan for the posters. “Anyone found finishing will be asked to not come back.” Think it could catch on?
Might rush off and secure a few domain names....

 

[Brandane]

How many fellow pootlers have we got on CC then?

Another pootler here (had to be careful with the auto spellcheck there ).
Tomorrow I have a plan to do a 100km pootle. Due to freezing temperatures it will be on an old MTB with Schwalbe ice spike tyres on it. This could be hard work!

 

[Ron-da-Valli]

I like a pootle as well as the longer distance stuff. A lot of cycling clubs prattle on about challenging yourself to go further & faster than before. What a load of cobblers! Get on your bike, ride where you like and as fast or slow as you like. As long as you enjoy it that's the main thing.

 

[Mrs M]

I love to pootle.
(Very) occassionally take the road bike out for a “faster” ride though.
Some of my best pootle pics