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Hello! yes I did try a sleeper, another time. I was heading with my Brompton and camping gear etc from Sweden to London. I took the overnight train from Malmö to Hamburg. It was great. I was in a 6 bed couchette and was worried it would be difficult to squeeze in my bike and bags. However it was fine - I slid the folded bike under the bottom couchette, and my bags easily fitted with me on my bunk. Nice! The next day travelled on via Deutsche Bahn trains to Brussels and then Eurostar to London.

@@cepreu_notanob Welcome! Thank you for writing and subscribing! Yes I'm doing ok, still on the horse! What a nice expression, best wishes! X

Hi Samuel! thanks for watching! sounds nice that you have a Brompton. About chains, well, I change the chain on my Brompton only when it is really worn out and baggy, so that I can kind of lift it off the chainring, and when riding in the wet especially feel it grinding a bit on the chainring teeth... The thing is, A I am lazy! and B my 3-speed Brompton has a single steel chainring, which is cheap, a steel single rear sprocket, also cheap. I am not doing high performance riding, wanting silky smooth gear changes etc. On my Brompton, just touring, tootling around. So on my Brompton, I look after the chain - ie clean sand etc off, oil it regularly, eg always take oil with me on a tour - but I completely wear the chain and the whole drive train out. Then I just replace the whole lot - chain, chainring, and sprocket. It doesnt cost much to replace the whole lot. There is a theoretical risk that an old chain snaps, but it is highly unlikely - I have snapped one chain once in about 40 years, and that was on a derailleur road bike where the chain is moving a lot more, eg side to side, both front and back. On a fancy road bike, I did things differently, cos the drivetrain components - multi speed cassette, multi chainrings - even if not top of the range are much more expensive than my simple Brompton set up. A worn chain damages these expensive items, so I'd change the chain (which is relatively cheap) before it got worn and damaged the other components. Hope that helps??!! Best wishes!

Thank you so much for the lovely comment. I loved that poem too

Hi Carole! thank you for watching! About my phone (and camera, which is my only other device), I take a battery pack, or on a longer tour, when i dont want to be tied to finding power points, I take two battery packs. Heavy! I have tried solar panels, sometimes useful. Not always. And these days I have a great fast charger plug, so I can go into a public place, eg church, or cafe, and plug in and recharge my devices quickly whilst I have something to eat. To recharge the power packs, it takes much longer, so if those need recharging, I have to stay overnight somewhere, eg hotel, B & B etc. Campsites sometimes have facilities for lightweight campers needing to charge devices, but it is obviously tricky, cant leave these super precious, expensive things lying around!

Hello! oh that is exactly how I was.. I had always used big-wheel regular bikes for touring too, and always had the hassle of how to combine with public transport - trains sometimes doable, but often a hassle, needing to book etc etc. Buses out of the question. I discovered that a Brompton is a fantastic solution and opens up such a lot of nice options, to combine with train and bus etc. I love it.

@susannathornton Now you convinced me to get me a Brompton. I will try to find a second-hand one. What do you think about the new 20" Bromptons with disc brake? Coud be a good solution with bigger wheels, but packing size is also larger. Woud you go for the bigger wheels if you woud buy a Brompton now?

@@robingood62 it's tricky isnt it... yeah I have heard they are a nice ride. But the current Brompton a really nice ride already! If the 20 inch with mudguards had much better clearances than the standard, that would be kind of interesting cos that would open up the chance to ride on sticky muddy tracks more easily. Sticky mud quickly blocks the rear wheel of the standard Brompton with mudguards. But the pack size, yeh that is a big deal for me. It is critical for me that I can put bike into small spaces, eg in the boot of a little car, or under my feet like I did on the Deutsche Bahn train in this film.. so safe, and noone can complain about it. On another journey (coming soon!) I took a European sleeper train (film coming soon....!), which was the first time I tried that, and when I got on board with my folded Brompton and bags, I was worried that the folded bike wouldnt fit anywhere. I was in the cheap 6 bed couchette and it is quite cramped, not a lot of luggage space. But it went under the bottom bunk perfeclty. I could just slide it under. Hope you can try both maybe. Dad has recently bought a Decathlon 20 inch folder, and it is a lovely bike. We both like it. A very nice ride. But when folded, the bike is basically massive...

@susannathornton Dear Susanna, thank you for your advice this helps me a lot! Pack size is key, so I go for a standard Brompton with 6 gears and rack. Wish me luck to find a good one.

Oh I love that, riding there, and staying... Bravo you. I do think it makes a journey actually mean something, to do it by bike. If I go by car, I dont remember much and it feels unreal, and I have no idea what the places i have been through are actually like.

Sorry to hear about the copper. Glad to see you managed to carry on with positivity

Hello! nothing has "broken down" on any Brompton I have had actually. I just deal with normal wear and tear - I replace tyres after they wear thin and get too many nicks and cuts, I mend punctures occasionally (doesnt happen often after I started using Schwalbe marathon plus tyres), I put on new brake blocks when they wear out, and I once changed a brake cable which had got "sticky" due to corrosion between the wire and the housing - it happens in the bend of the brake wire where water pools a bit. Apart from that I should replace the drive train soon ie put on new chainring, chain and rear sprocket, which is all part of managing normal wear and tear - they are all pretty worn now, but I am being lazy and not doing it for now. It all still works, keep going. I did have one second-hand Brompton a few years ago that had a knackered Sturmey Archer five-speed hub (sic, rare old things), slipped all the time whatever you did to try and tune it. It was from a batch of hubs SA made in the late 1990s when SA was in trouble and apparently their machine tools were worn out and the gear parts poorly machined. About the wheels, I have never trued the wheels, and they are fine, spoke tension fine, never had any probs. I have trued wheels on other of my bikes 700c road bikes and track wheels etc in my time. Anyway, that's all! Sods law now I will have some catastrophic failure! But basically my experience is that the Brompton is a really well made, low maintenance, reliable bike

@@susannathornton Thank you for your reply and I wish you many more years of trouble-free riding on this wonderful bike🙂

Aw thanks Lou, glad you like it! yeah after black terror and some hard times, I was jsut so happy to be back out, and able to attempt something like this... that "in this rush" music track "I thought my days were over" fitted just perfectly for me, makes me emotional to watch it too. It is prob my favourite film that I have made, I watch it sometimes myself to feel good. Thank you for writing

Hi Angela! aw thank you for the lovely comment! Glad you enjoy the videos! aw that is sweet, a movie date! hope you have had a good start to the year. Hope you'll be able to do some nice local rides there where you are too

Hi Nigel! aw glad you enjoyed them! Best wishes for 2025 to you too!

Hello! aw thank you. Yeah I was really lucky with the weather on that trip, doesnt really matter what happens on the last day does it! glad you enjoyed the film x

Hi Lou! thank you for the lovely comment! aw it's no big deal, cos I dont do any fancy shots that take a lot of time, eg no drone or anything. I just talk to the camera like it is a friend. Oh you put it brilliantly about a simple set-up plus a few luxuries - a fantastic tent, a Trangia with a decent set of pans so I can do proper cooking, a comfy seat, and a flask. And that is it, I am happy, more than happy. Thanks for writing!

Hello! aw thank you for the lovely comment. Thank you for having me! As you see, I really enjoyed visiting Denmark. Mmh, I really want to eat some tasty bread now haha. Happy New Year!

Thanks Kerry! best wishes!

Haha oh no that sounds like a tricky painting with the cows. Makes me feel better, in a way, about thinking cows might lick me! the thing was that friends of mine have had a lot of trouble with cows licking their parked car, and as soon as I saw the cows in that field I was thinking about that. And they are probably very nimble things but I imagined them stumbling in the guy lines etc... Glad you made it safely across the west country, crikey that sounded scary and hard. But two months in Truro sounds brilliant, esp working at the museum. I just found you on Insta. OMG so lovely what you do, those waves... and I love the axe heads! and of all the old buildings and street scapes... Happy New Year! looking forward to see what you do next too!

@ Ah, it’s a busy time indeed. Just driven to Oxford and back today too! Honestly, Susanna, I’ve not known as busy a time as this for ages. Anyway, thanks for your kind comments about the art work too. Much appreciated. X

Hi Colin! thanks for writing! Aw feel like I am always thinking of cycling and camping trips haha. Thank you for watching and for writing such great comments this past year! Lots more films coming and hopefully lots more adventures, keep going!... Happy New Year to you too!

Hi Jim! aw thank you for the lovely comment. Glad you enjoy the films. About how I film, I sometimes film using my phone, which is a google pixel, but mainly use a Gopro Hero Black 9. When I started, I had a Gopro Hero 7. It had poor sound quality and poor stabilisation. The 9 is hugely better than the 7. I shoot in 1080p resolution. About sound, I use the sound from the Gopro. I use a windslayer spongy housing on the Gopro to keep the wind noise down. I dont have a separate microphone. It is quite tricky on the road keeping it all going and setting things up, and I dont want any more bits like extra microphone to faff with unless they seem to me really worth it. I am a kind of make do person. And at the limit managing the set up I have got! Hope that helps! thank you for watching! Best wishes!

@@susannathornton That's extremely helpful, Susanna! I think you're doing a brilliant job with that minimal setup. A couple of follow up questions if you don't mind - do you use a mount for the GoPro and lastly, what editing software do you use?

@@jimpannell2035 hi again! I use GoPro own brand ball joint swivel mount, on the handlebars. And Adobe premiere pro

Aw thank you for watching John, and for the lovely comment. Aw I don't know, it's nice of you to say so, but I don't think of these fun days out as an accomplishment, tbh! I feel more that it's a privilege - to have the time to do them, and the resources, and health, and freedom from caring responsibilities and all sorts of things like that. The older I get and the more I know, the more I realise it! if you want to do something and you can, then start now, do it now. And do it small, if small is what is feasible, dont wait for a big dream one day. Just start with what you have, and where you are... I think that's what I have the sense of... Oh, I'm getting all philosophical here! Happy New Year!

Hi Finn! thank you for writing! About my camping chair, it is Helinox Zero. Brilliant piece of kit. Not cheap, but I find it is absolutely worth the price, and worth the weight to carry it. I also have a Decathlon one, much cheaper, which I take along for "guests", if I am cycling with a friend and we want to go and sit somewhere. About Blicher, I thought he was really interesting. I thought the Trækfuglene poems were lovely. I could just about manage to understand them, quite short! and relatively easy. I am not sure I can manage to read a novel which is a pity!🫤

Hi Katja! thanks for writing! Hope you can get out and enjoy riding your bike this year! If you are worried about your brakes, I suggest you take the bike to a bike shop, and ask them to give the bike a check. If the brakes are set up properly, there's no need to be scared. Ask the mechanics to tell you which is the front brake and which is the back brake. Use the back brake more when you're cycling. Practise going down a few hills. Take it at your own pace. You dont need to go fast if you dont want to. Then you'll feel more confident, and off you go... exploring the world!