Okay, i might be a bit late for that but it is June the first.

So it's been a fairly busy few days here in Brizzle, some mixed weather and all sorts of other stuff have kept me occupied. Thursday, apart from a trip to the shops, i eventually cracked on with a bit of writing, i'm quite pleased with how this short story is going.

The forecast for Friday was bright with a rising westerly, not ideal for what i had in mind but i'd cope. What did i have in mind i hear you ask, well despite having visited loads of archaeological sites over the last forty odd years, i couldn't recall visiting Windmill Hill near Avebury. So the plan was to ride out to Avebury for lunch, then take in Windmill Hill before making my way via a series of bridleways back to Chippenham and then on to Brizz. And so i set off with some wind assistance, destination Avebury.

Of course, i couldn't resist grabbing some extra bridleway on the way, which contributed to the 65km i covered reaching Avebury village and the NT cafe where i purchased a tasty lunch and pot of tea. It was quite pleasant and it was tempting to tarry awhile but with a return leg of @ three hours and sixty odd km encouraged me back onto the bike. What i haven't mentioned is that to reach Windmill Hill you leave the tarmac and for me today, i wouldn't return to hardtop for @ 10km!

So what is so interesting about Windmill Hill? Well for one, there isn't a windmill these days. No real reason for my visit was to take a look at the causewayed enclosure which barely survives on the hilltop and thats interesting because folk were living up there 5800 years ago, its the largest site of its type and predates Avebury Henge by maybe 1000 years, there is some evidence that the area was populated up to 4000 years before that so we are talking 7800BC! Anyhoo, i stood at the top, sat and drank in the landscape dotted with barrows, Silbury Hill and West Kennet a couple of miles south and the Ridgeway off to the east.

Time to move, i descended to the network of byways that cover this corner of Wiltshire and started to head west. For the most part the tracks were reasonable 'gravel' but at one point i ended up on a bridleway that was suffering from use by a tractor in damp weather - not fun when the resulting tyre marks have dried to a near concrete washboard. Eventually i reached tarmac again near Lyneham before a mix of lanes and bridleways took me to Chippenham. From here i took a fairly direct route back to Brizz into the stiff breeze, stopping the clock with 130+km and over 1200m of climbing completed, my biggest bike day for about a year!

Saturday, a day of rest. Ha, hardly, a 7km walk filled the middle of the day followed by another writing session. For my Patreon supporters all three sessions are available to read now, non Patreons will have to wait a while!

And so to today, June 1st. Well its the first Sunday of the month so it was Hill bunfest time! I went, i ate, i drank then i battled 30 knot winds to return for 61km in the tank.

The keen eyed amongst you will have seen that i've posted chapter 1, One, of Gaby Balancing Trick. i hope you enjoy it, future chapters will be released regularly.

Not fully sure what's happening this coming week, hopefully more writing, more riding and, well i don't know.

So that's it for for today, i'll be back Wednesday,
Tschussie,
Madeline Anafrid