So here I am again, apologising once more for my tardy posting.

I did mean to do it earlier but, well I forgot and then I got distracted.

I guess it all started yesterday.......

I don't know about you guys but whenever I go anywhere new I like to explore my surroundings, moving somewhere new, hundreds of kilometres from where I know, means exploration on two levels. Yep, the basic geography of where the shops are, how to get from a to b etc is essential but whilst I've passed through the area, even visited one or two places in the past I'd have no idea how to get to them. So the second level is more regional, what is there to see/do? how do I get there? where can I eat/drink? just as importantly when I'm using the bike for transport, what is the terrain like.

Well I've given you some potted ride descriptions already, more general rides to test the waters so to speak, yesterday I moved into the next zone, actually setting out to see/visit stuff. The astute among you will recall I'm an archaeologist by degree so with that in mind I'd already been earmarking places to go and in my head had a route formulated (I should have real honest to goodness maps by the weekend!). After running out of light on Sunday, yesterday I was ready for the off somewhat earlier.

My destination for the day was Uley long barrow otherwise known as Hetty Pegler's Tump which sits on the western edge of the Cotswolds overlooking the Severn valley. it was a bit fresh and as I started the long haul eastwards up into the Cotswolds, there was a nagging headwind, just enough to make riding uncomfortable but not so much as to really impact forward motion. The Cotswolds are really quite flat, well that is once you've climbed up into the area its a fairly rolling landscape which dips gently eastwards towards Swindon and the Home Counties.

I turned north which eased the wind's impact and rolled up through Badminton (never heard if the horses got off on the charges) before heading to the scarp edge where I briefly stopped at the Somerset monument. then it was a drop to Kingswood where I made a brief photo call at the Abbey Gate. Returning to two wheels it was then a climb up through Wotton under Edge before embarking on the long ascent of Coombe Hill back up to the plateau. it was distinctly cooler and blowier now and I was glad to turn for Nympsfield and my main destination. The complication was the unexpected sign for another barrow further along the edge - well you don't ride 50km and not do the extra one to see something extra do you?

Nympsfield Barrow was well worth a look, the top might be missing but the reconstructed chambers, seven if I recall make it quite interesting. Then it was on to Hetty Pegler's where I was looking forward to my sandwiches and coffee. I've been here before, some years ago now, its a reasonable sized mound and the attraction is that there is crawl access into the chambers inside - in this instance just three but each of a fair size. I did the crawl and selfie stuff then used the entrance to shelter from the icy wind scouring the hilltop to have my lunch.

The return was to be a fairly easy ride, down into Dursley then out onto the Severn 'plain' to loop around back to base. it was certainly degrees warmer off the top - a fast descent through Uley then a more rolling traverse through Dursley and out towards the river. Unlike many continental rivers there is no bank side route to follow so the roads took me on a darting excursion down to the Severn crossings and shortly after I took a brief pause at Severn Beach (well mudflat really). In theory there was ample daylight for the remaining twenty kilometres but best laid plans and all that.

Todays spanner was a closed bike trail which provides the essential link back to the city - its closure meant either retracing for miles or using an equally long alternative. Well I went for B, a mistake? maybe but suffice to say, the extra kilometres ate the daylight and by the time I hit the suburbs it was pretty much dark. Strange town, in the dark - well I didn't as much go wrong as not use the shortest, most direct route not aided by the rush hour traffic. I was both tired and annoyed when I got back.

And so to today. I was still simmering a bit when I woke up, the plan was laundry, out for lunch and a bit of essential shopping then back to post this and maybe scribble a bit more Gaby. Well I managed the first then set off for the walking bit. It was too early to eat so I settled for a coffee and decided to catch up on some RL phone calls which is where it all went pear shaped.

It might not seem much but a family day out I've been curating for weeks was suddenly cancelled. Especially with my relocation I've been really looking forward to it, four generations all out together and celebrating a birthday too, but now its not happening. To say it knocked my duck is putting it mildly. I won't say more, well I can't find the words truth be told so i'll leave it there, suffice to say it has put me off the rest of the day.

I did do my shopping, I did get some lunch but then I've ended up doing a lot of nothing into this evening.

But I'm here now and you lucking people can read Cramping My Style, another sporting and delight gastronomique from Gaby.

Weather permitting, tomorrow i'll take a trip out to the stone circles of Stanton Drew and get back before dark! I will get more Gaby down on Friday around more level 1 exploration, where the roads will take me Saturday, who knows?

Until the weekend then
so long
Mads

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