I don't know about you but it takes me a few days to settle after a trip away and this week has been no different!

Despite my best intentions, when i woke on Thursday i really wasn't enthused to go for a long ride. The weather was great but i just felt, well, unenthused. But i did want to go out so i decided to do a ride i've wanted to do almost as long as i've been in Brizzle.

On a bike, the Avon valley twixt Bristol & Bath can be usually covered by one of three routes, the main A4 trunk road south of the river, the Bristol to Bath bike path down in the bottom and the old Bristol Road on the north side. But there is a fourth option, high up on the hillsides on the north side, now largely reduced to a bridleway linking Upton Cheyney with Upper Weston via Lansdown, North Stoke and Kelston Tump. Previous rides have touched the route but i deemed it time to do the whole route, filling in the stretches i'd not previously ridden.

So, utilising some extra non tarmac to reach the start point, i set to. I must admit, compared to the maps, reality was quite different, more climbing and a long stretch of what was effectively single track. The views, particularly from Lansdown, were, are some of the best in the area, out over the whole of Bristol and out towards the Severn Estuary and from the Tump, eastwards over Bath. I stopped down in Bath for a sarnie before returning to complete my 50km ride of which less than 20km was on road!

I must admit that Friday seemed to melt away, a walk for some groceries being the 'highlight' of the day.

Yesterday, Saturday, i was determined to do better, even getting up a bit earlier to grab some of the cooler morning air. I had a plan, out to Chippenham for an early lunch then a loop to Bradford on Avon taking in a stretch of the Kennet & Avon canal towpath before heading back via the Bath tunnels. The legs felt good, the bike rolling along with ease and i zapped eastwards faster than my usual pace without breaking a sweat.

But then my plans went awry, my food stop that i've used regularly over the last five years was closed. Not just shut for the day but clearly on a more permanent basis which was an issue for today but also for future rides. Anyhoo, i kept going with an eye out for a suitable fuel stop. It's not that there aren't plenty of potential stops but i have to consider price, menu and bike parking into the equation, nowhere ticked all the boxes before i reached the canal with 60km on the clock.

At one time, bikes were barred from towpaths unless you bought a yearly 'licence', other than fishermen and around cities hardly anyone even walked along the canal paths. But that has all changed in the last 30 years, many of these routes have been incorporated into the National Cycling Network and the whole network has become a leisure asset. That doesn't mean the towpaths are all well maintained but the majority have a rudimentary dressing so i happily turned off the road to start the days 'exploration'.

On the plus side, it was/is quite a pleasant ride, a bit rough in places, not very wide in others but the last stretch from near Trowbridge is wide and mostly in the shade. The bad thing on this occasion was that there was some sort of sponsored walk using the towpath which meant me passing a couple of hundred walkers spread almost the full length of my towpath ride and occupying the full path width often every few metres. Good for them but frustrating for me with the constant slowing and acceleration, i doubt that i got to even 10mph for more than a few metres at a time!

I knew there were food options at Bradford OA, i could no doubt have gone further but i gratefully stopped near the Tythe Barn for a pot of tea and a sarnie. Then it was onward to complete my ride eventually stopping the clock with 100km logged and a mere 700m of up, less in fact than my short, 50km Sheffield ride last weekend!

So that's caught up, today i'll be having a walk later and ive got lunch to cook.

I think i suggested today's Gaby chapter was the penultimate segment of Smell of the Crowd however it is actually the finale! So without further ado i present Live at Bett, i hope you enjoy it and indeed have enjoyed this Gaby escapade, i'll commence posting Book 28, Balancing Trick in a couple of weeks.

for now though,
Tschussie,
Madeline Anafrid