Day 0, Aberdeen to Basel

Day 0, Aberdeen to Basel

First the good news:  Reliable Sheila of Sheila's Taxis turned up and caught us on the hop 15 minutes early. As usual, getting two wrapped bikes into an 8-seater taxis was a squeeze, but in they went. We were Sheila's very last fare as she was retiring after our pick-up!  We reached the airport and were first in the queue (as usual) about 50 minutes before check-in opened (thought they opened 3 hours before flight, but no, this is ABZ). Bikes checked in fine through oversize baggage hatch then it was breakfast in the lounge. T5 was reached with baggage checked through, so it was straight to the lounge for lunch. We arrived at Basel ... and so did the bikes, and the panniers.  There was a special area for bike building and unwrapping complete with air compressor. Excellent, all is looking good thinks I. But why is Anne's chain inboard of the big sprocket, jammed in the spokes?  Well here comes the bad news: her derailleur had take a bash and was over-shifting. Don't use bottom gear, I warn!!  Then, as I tightened up my saddle clamp the bolt sheared with a bang and the saddle sank to its lowest point. Oh dear I said. (Actually it wasn't really what I said).  As we rode away from the terminal, with knees bouncing off my chin, I realised that my derailleur had also been knocked and was mis-shifting.  Not a good start.  Nor was the attempt to get out of the airport which is compounded by being in 3 countries simultaneously!  Eventually the right road was found and we limped along the 4 miles to the hotel.  Anne got the beers in as I set about the bikes.  With a deep breath I grasped Anne's mech and applied a little engineering encouragement back into roughly the right position, then with a tweak of the limit screw I got it shifting pretty well and safely.  Not perfect, but it'll do. My mech was tweaked and reindexed so seems to be working OK.  The saddle will continue to be free-rotating and down until we can find a bike shop in the morning.  Maybe we were a bit optimistic hoping that all would start well.  At last it's warm and sunny.