is a chapter from The Visitors.

Its been a strange week so far, the weather doesn't know what to do and neither do I!

Monday was a writing day but I kept getting distracted so I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped but I still hope to have a new release out before Christmas day - i'll be pushing on with that later today.

Yesterday, Tuesday was a bike day, whilst I've ordered up the replacement bearings they will take a few days to arrive so my ride was all about 'soft pedaling', to preserve function for as long as possible. Unless you are in Lincolnshire (or the Low Countries) nowhere is pan flat and whilst not properly hilly there are still a good few upslopes, my aim was to avoid the steeper examples. I came up with a sort of plan, one with minimal vertical ascent and set off under blue skies for a bag of chips.

Down to the Avon then west into the Chew Valley before climbing up to the Airport - uphill yes but a soft enough climb not requiring any 'physical' riding. Then a drop to the Yeo valley before skirting the western finger of the Mendip ridge into Weston. I found my chips and sat in the sun at the top of the beach to eat lunch, a bit breezy but it was into double digits, the sun keeping things warm enough to be comfortable.

I set off for the return only to make a couple of photo stops - the 'Spring' tide meant an exceptionally low water level giving some rarely seen photo opportunities. Then it was the 'flat' route back to Bristol, the inevitable Congresbury then the levels around to Nailsea which is where I added a new bird to my repertoire.

I'm far from being a twitcher but I like to see the fauna and flora as I ride/walk the countryside, this year I've had some nice interactions and new to me breeds which is always nice. A summer walk saw a staring contest with a fox and a few minutes later I spotted a Shrike sat in a tree by my path. I've also seen a slew of ntm butterflies and moths.

There are a lot of Swans in this neck of the woods, Herons too but I was excited to spot a small flock of what appeared to be Little Egrets down near Glastonbury along with a larger unidentified bird. The latest trip to Avalon a couple of weeks ago a similar group were much closer to the road, definitely egrets but I still couldn't identify the bigger bird. Roll forward to last week when I spotted a single pair of egrets in a field, they flew about a bit but were camera shy so no pictures there. Yesterday though I didn't get a photo, I did get a good view of a big white bird stood not 20m from the road, a Great White Egret!

Bouyed by my sighting, I took a steady ride back through Brizzle to base, singing seasonal songs to myself, 110km with just 750m of up bagged for the day. So now, with just a fortnight of 2020 remaining I am just 500km short of 18000km for the year, that just shy of 11200 miles! Fingers crossed that the weather and the bike hold up!

Today however is a miserable example of December, grey and damp, not proper rain but drizzly showers and a stiff breeze to keep temperatures down. I have of course posted that new Gaby chapter, Who’s a Pretty Girl Then? in which the Bond's try to explain the whole Drew/Gaby thing to the American house guests.

Well that's about it,
Frohes Advent,
Madeline Anafrid