Yes indeedee, today you can read the first chapter of Gaby Book 20, Express, here on BC for absolutely nothing.

That's right, I may be a starving writer (closer to the truth than I'd like!) but neither I nor the good folks running BC will invoice you for reading Loli Time!. All I would ask is that you leave some comments / kudos and consider supporting BC with a donation directly or indirectly by buying some of my scribbles on Amazon or Lulu. Not much of a sales pitch is it but every little helps both BC and myself keep our heads above water.

That's obviously the biggest item of news today from me but bear with me, there's more.

You may be glad to know that I'm feeling a bit more settled now, its been quite the couple of weeks for me, weeks I'd rather not repeat and on top of the previous couple of months - yeah, don't want to go there. I think I've got to a point where writing Gaby is back on the cards, I'm set up with a micro office space and a distraction free location so fingers crossed.

And on. There was quite a bit of positive feedback from the weekends mini travelogue so I thought I'd share yesterdays ride with you too.

It looked straightforward on the map, cross the river, ride up to the next bridge and back, and I guess that's the reality of the ride but hardly the full story! First of course you have to escape the city - easier said than done of course, it took best part of 45 minutes to navigate the cycleways out into open countryside and then I got my first look at the ride I'd planned. Yep, there's the old Severn crossing and from the heights of Almondsbury, you can just make out Gloucester Cathedral.

If you know your English geography you'll have grasped that the River Severn which rises way up in the Welsh hills, joins the two like a python swallowing a big meal with Gloucester of Dr Foster fame at the tail end. I dropped down from the ridge into the rolling south Gloucestershire fields and soon reached the bridge which spans not just the Severn but continues to cross the Wye which forms the English / Welsh border at this point. The day was, whilst not hot, bright and the crossing uneventful with the murky waters of a turning tide swirling below.

I made landfall into Wales but within ten minutes I was through Chepstow and crossing back into England! once upon a time this was the main road into south Wales but the Severn crossings and new routes further north mean its now pretty quiet. A glance at the map would suggest its fairly flat as it heads north up the river's west bank but mark my words, there are a few 'interesting' climbs on the way as the road climbs in and out of the valleys that lead up into the Forest of Dean just a handful of miles away. by the time I reached Gloucester, it was most assuredly lunchtime, the comp said I'd done over 70km and the sun was well over the yard arm.

A quick look at the cathedral then I found a pasty shop for my snap, eaten al fresco on the main shopping street under blue skies that had now allowed some warmth to reach the ground. In theory its a straightforward fifty or so km back to my base using the old A38 and a few lanes, the first thing though is try to escape the clutches of the city. This involved a convoluted route through industrial parks to avoid the race track out to the motorway, not the quickest but certainly the safest way south.

Once clear the once busy road was almost traffic free as it rolled along past Slimbridge and Dursley. I took to the lanes then as the terrain became a little more testing but I quickly covered the last few miles and was soon shoulder to shoulder with early commuter traffic heading back into the city. The weather was still bright but the temperature was dropping by the time I rolled to a halt, happy but tired after over 130km of riding 'around' the Severn.

So there you go, weather permitting i'll head into the lower Cotswolds tomorrow, I'm sure that will be quite strenuous and hopefully it will help inspire the new Gaby scribbles!

Well that's it from me today, after a busy day catching up on paperwork, laundry and shopping its time for me to relax for a bit.
So its Tschuss from me, until we meet again!
Mads

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