Yes, I've now started my Heinz year!

So lets see, what's been happening so far this week? Well Monday ended up being exercise free, well except for the ol' grey matter, you'll no doubt be pleased to know I got some writing done instead! I may not be writing quickly but I am getting some words down which has to be good, i'll be hitting the keys again this evening.

And so onto Tuesday, potentially one of the most depressing days of the year as the passing of another marker on the journey of life was reached. But surprisingly I came through it remarkably unscathed, oh it would've been nice to have 'celebrated' differently but circumstances being what they are, a beer and quiet meal ticked the boxes. But I've missed the highlight of the day.

With nothing else on the agenda, I was determined to have a 'birthday ride' on my own steed, tbh the forecast looked a bit dubious but a little bit of weather wasn't gonna get in my way! And so I set off, picking a destination and formulating a route as I went, across the water to Wales and on to Monmouth to return down the Wye valley. It was grey but dry out to the Severn and even the hint of sunshine as I landed in Chepstow even if there was a fair bit of breeze.

My selected route was to use the high road through Devauney, some reasonable climbing but nothing too intense but I soon had to stop to cape up as the rain started, then the temperature dropped and it started to snow at about the point I realised the rear tyre was getting a little 'soggy'. I nursed things up into Devauney and by the time I found a bus shelter, snow and rain was replaced by sunshine, go figure.

Tube replaced I returned to the road enjoying great views across to Usk and Raglan and beyond, the Black Hills. The rolling road finally reached its end with a long, fast descent and soon I was crossing the Monnow into Monmouth where I hoped to stop. Up the High Street and nowhere looked exactly bike friendly so I went to plan B, I'd stop down the Wye somewhere.

With all the recent wet the Wye was in good spate but flood warnings came to naught as I moved from Wales to England then changed banks back into Wales as the km clocked steadily upwards. Neither of my first two café options were open so I found myself in a tea room by Tintern Abbey, not too badly priced and reasonably warm, I ordered a pot of tea and potato and leek soup. My 'birthday' lunch consumed, I set off to return to England, the weird thing being that although the road sort of follows the river seaward, there is a long and significant climb to get to Chepstow.

Not that it bothered me unduly and soon I was past the 'donkey' course, through the town and onto the windswept Severn Bridge. The directish route from landfall is about an hour from base but I decided on a slightly more loopy route via the city centre which brought the distance for the day to 117km, quite ample given the weather turned damp again as I reached the edge of Bristol. A nice enough day's ride, not too challenging, but certainly not boring either.

And so to today, perhaps the best day of the week weatherwise which leant itself to a reasonably long walk, the highlight of which was an IKEA hotdog! So that's pretty much it.

Onto writing stuff then. Todays Gaby chapter is Modelled, in which Gabs drools over models and everyone finally gets home after a long day to Bavaria.

I had hoped to get the next Gaby book reboot out today, its taking a little longer than I'd hoped so i'll do another blog when its ready, possibly even later tonight.

But for now,
Tschussie
Madeline