Unicycling in Wales: March, 2005

Fiona and I brought our unicycles to Wales. More specifically, when my family visited Wales in March of 2005, I packed two unis in my luggage. When we got to our first B&B, I reassembled the unicycles so that my wife could take a few photos of my daughter and me as we rode across a tiny suspension bridge. Fiona and I also rode around the small town, but the sidewalks in Welsh villages are virtually non-existent, so we had to content ourselves with rides in a local park. Nobody we encountered had ever seen a unicycle up close.

Later in the trip, we drove up to the north of Wales for a unicycle get-together that I had helped organize before the trip; using the unicyclist.com forum, I contacted a few uni'ists in Wales, and we agreed to meet in a small city called Rhyl. About ten people showed up, several on unicycles. The others could walk stilts or juggle. Afterwards, my family went to a quaint local aquarium where we saw all sorts of cool things that had turned up in the bellies of sharks.

It was a pleasure meeting Welsh riders Cathy Wood and Stuart Owen up in Rhyl. Cathy is a fun woman and a really frequent contributor on the unicyclist.com forum, and she and Stuart were extremely nice and helpful to me and the family. I had a hard time recalling the names of everyone present that day, so Cathy wrote me back with this note:

Also present at that first unimeet were Joel Smith (unicyclist) and his father Terri, Danny Cartwright (unicyclist) and Martyn and Shane Vaughn (stiltwalkers). We were also joined by Ian Litherland, juggler, at the end. Throughout the winter the unimeets are going to be held every other week in the Gronant Institute, where we have our juggling club. We hope to get a unihockey team eventually and do stuff like high jumping and so on."

One of the coolest aspects of the whole affair was that the Welsh Uni Meet of March, 2005 became the first of many such gatherings. I thought it was fantastic that I could start something in a foreign country that continues to this day. It makes me feel like Johnny Unicycleseed*.

My family is definitely planning a return trip to Wales in a few years (at most). I'll definitely want to attend another Welsh Uni Meet then!

*Johnny Appleseed is the nickname of a famous man of the 1800s who planted apple trees all over parts of the US. His nickname has become synonymous with a certain kind of pioneering spirit.