life throws us bananas when we want ice cream!

And the start od this week has continued that theme, the weather has see-sawed from chilly and wet (Monday) to warm and sunny (yesterday), today is currently bright and dry but we're expecting wet later again. I did manage to get a dry walk to the shops Monday afternoon but it was one of those days that you wonder where it went and don't seem to get anything done, i was therefore determined to make the most of Tuesday.

The forecast reckoned there would be some late afternoon damp but not before a warm and sunny day had been had so i was off to Farleigh Hungerford Castle to have a proper visit delayed mostly by Covid but more recently by suitable bike. Oh i could use any bike to get there but i wanted to carry a reasonable lock and off bike footwear so the shake down ride on Foxy seemed a good time to visit as i could carry the extra stuff, Foxy having a rack fitted for panniers. The ride out, just over twenty miles, was spent getting a feel for the quirky ride again and identifying a couple of little niggles that need attending, a rattle and worn sprockets that i'll have to replace before my trip next month.

The castle dates to @ 1380, a four square affair with round towers looking like a childs fort which was later enlarged and gentrified as a defended manor house. today only the remains of two towers and most of the curtain wall are upstanding of the actual castle, the jewels of the site being the small 13th century church and the priests house behind it. The church contains a 14th century wall painting of St George and in the crypt below, several intact medieval lead coffins, the best examples known on these isles (intact means that they are unopened, the contents are still inside!) I spent an hour going around the site before foregoing an ice cream for the banana i'd taken along. Then it was a short hop across Trowbridge to my planned lunch halt for tea and a bacon and egg sandwich.

After lunch, with less than 50km on the clock, i started a loop up into the Cotswolds that eventually brought me back to the Avon valley and back into Brizzle. For unloaded riding, Foxy is currently undergeared so maintaining even the 22kph average for the 107km was hard work, not made easier by low twenties temperatures! It was good to do a 'themed' ride with a destination visit, they have been few and far between the last two years, the shadow of Covid still haunts what i choose to do.

Today is a bit cooler and breezier, less sunshine but dry for now, so i'll get out for a short walk to the shops in a bit. Which reminds me, the cooking on Sunday went well, Aunty Bev seemed quite made up by the moussaka i made!

Thats it for now, i'll be back with more on Sunday,
toodle pip,

Madeline Anafrid