The Missus required basil and chilli for the tart's spaghetti tonight, a very pleasant slow ride to town in autumn sunshine, perfect temperatures now. 30 miles and 2700ft.
The Missus required basil and chilli for the tart's spaghetti tonight, a very pleasant slow ride to town in autumn sunshine, perfect temperatures now. 30 miles and 2700ft.
Conkers and bloody acorns everywhere. Like riding through marbles.
Still managed 45k with 750m ascent around some lanes I'd not ventured down before including the gloriously named Bumble Hole Lane and Snakes Lake Lane. No evidence of snakes thankfully
A 34 mile pootle around familiar country roads that took me over 2000 miles so far this year.
Out of interest I checked where I stood at 1st October in previous years and found that in 2021 I was
approaching 2300 and in 2020 I was at 3000 and on my way to 3800+ miles for the year.
I might be forced to accept that I am slowing down in my old age.
Even my bike was creaking.![]()
My pootle today took me along some of the wonderfully narrow lanes around Osgathorpe and Coleorton. On the way home I rode through Cademan Wood: there are no bridleways or other paths which cyclists officially have access to, but the wood is well used by mountain bikers. The footpaths I was riding along were a bit damp after Friday's heavy rain, but still firm enough for me to ride along; they won't stay rideable much longer into the Autumn, at least not for my 32mm tyres, but it was fun weaving my way among the rocks and tree roots. Cademan Wood is one of my favourite places, ever since I spent hundreds of hours there, surveying for an orienteering map.
One of the joys of cycling is the opportunity for contemplation on the out-of-place items you see in the gutter or on the verge as life passes at a more sedate pace (although I exclude here riding down Curly Hill in Ilkley on the loose gravel at 40 mph meeting oncoming entitled Range Rover drivers).
Yesterday on a fast, unrestricted country road without footpaths - so impossible for a pushchair - I saw a child's drinking cup. How had that got there? Had a child in a temper tantrum ejected it through an open car window? Had a parent in a fury grasped the cup from the child's hand and hurled it from the vehicle?
Life! There are so many mysteries!
Last edited by Graham Breeze; 03-10-2022 at 09:02 AM.
A recurring mystery to me is the number single shoes that I see in all sorts of places, some remote, whilst on my walking ,running or cycling travels.
Visibility good except in Hill Fog
I have long lost count of the single and pairs of shoes I have encountered around our reservoir, how on earth do they get there? Some washed up on the bank (perhaps the reservoir is a major body dumping area?) and many on the forestry track round - who discards their shoes miles from the carpark? A mystery to us.