THERE WE WERE: THE MOGUL AND ME IN A RICKSHAW

15:00 - 06 December 2007

Bridport is introducing rickshaws just as they are going out of fashion in Shanghai.I know this, because I found myself in one last week. I was in distinguished company. Next to me was the chief executive of Magna Housing Association who was there for the ride because Magna is sponsoring the rickshaw.

It was pedalled by a truly remarkable individual with whom I have had a number of contacts in recent months. He is, so far as I know, the only person to have circumnavigated the globe by pedal power. It took him 13 years and I became involved when the Greenwich Observatory was being a little sticky about the proposition of him crossing the meridian on his return to the UK.

So, there we were: the mogul from Magna and me, with this world-beating, globe-trotting pedaller pedalling us in a brand-new green rickshaw.

Bringing up the rear was another pedal-powered machine, designed to carry heavy objects, garden waste and other goods. This had been sponsored by Groves Nurseries, whose proprietor had donned a cap and was pedalling with aplomb.

Why, you may ask, was all this activity going on in Bridport? The answer is that Bridport is fast becoming one of the ecological capitals of the South West.

A splendid community project, staffed almost entirely by volunteers, has been engaged in recycling for a good time now and has made an astonishing amount of biodiesel to boot. This group has now decided that the time has come to move from low-carbon transport to zero-carbon transport.

Enter the rickshaw. Just as the Chinese learn about the comfort and luxury of gas guzzlers, Bridport is learning about the quiet charm and carbon-free travelling that is made possible by a rickshaw.

One has to hope that the Chinese will shortly rediscover the joys of rickshaw travel, since the world can do without a phase in which a billion people acquire gas guzzlers. But, at least until that happens, it is a wonderful reversal of roles.

Given the comfort of the ride, the charm of the vehicle, and the pleasant views available from most vantage points in Bridport, I prophesy that rickshaws will shortly become a standard feature of the summer tourist season in this and, perhaps, other seaside towns.

Whether tourists will have the satisfaction of seeing globe-trotting pedallers doing the pedalling in future, I rather doubt. But one cannot have everything and the rickshaw, even without so distinguished an operator, will be a far greater adornment of this coastal town than any item powered by the internal combustion engine is ever likely to be.