Or what i done this week.

Firstly some news re Angharad. She is now at home with her surviving cat Izzy, the Bristol group is in regular contact and we'll be going to visit this week. They have her on appropriate meds and she's (hopefully) taking things easy, she's not a woman for sitting still!

Back to more frivolous subjects. So on Thursday i thought i'd play the wind a bit which meant crossing the Severn before heading up the Wye valley aways. I stopped off at Tintern Station, now a base for leisure pursuits and home to a tea room where i got tea and cake. Then it was a loop up into the Forest of Dean to St Briavels before dropping into the Severn valley where i made a second stop for a mucky burger. The wind was really giving it some so i was expecting my return across the channel to be a bit 'interesting' but it wasn't too bad and was then mostly helpful for the last hour back to Cabotville. Close on 70 miles with over 1200m of up, quite a hard day.

Friday was somewhat more casual, a warm sunny day had me almost sun bathing between fetching stuff from the shops and a bit of gardening, i'll admit to getting a bit red in places not often exposed to the sun! I even had salad for tea so it must be nearly summer right?

And so to Saturday, the forecast was pleasant so i decided to act on some signs i'd seen out in the Cotswolds and visit the Steam Rally being held at Castle Combe motor racing circuit. Its not that far by the direct route, maybe 20 miles so i took a more roundabout route to enjoy the nice weather a little more. Entry was a reasonable ten squid - my entertainment budget for the month, but it was money well spent. Its called a Steam rally but that usually then includes agri vehicles, commercials and cars mixed with auto jumble, a bit of fairground (including here, a wall of death!) and other assorted side shows, from falconry to bees - a sort of county show without the livestock!

It was busy but not crowded, most of the exhibits were around the paddock area but spilled into the infield of the race circuit. Indeed it was so busy that some of the catering ran out of food! All in all i spent about 3 hours on site before took another loop via Aqua Sulis back to base, another 100km plus day but this time only just over 700m of up. The bad news was a bit of a mechanical issue, a binding bearing in the transmission that caused several un scheduled stops to sort, I'll fix that when i fit the new rear sprockets tomorrow.

And so to today (i should stop using that phrase!), its a bit grey and cooler than yesterday so don't feel guilty about reading the next Gaby chapter, Concerted Nerves. Is Gabs having second thoughts about Bonn? read on and find out.

Thats it for today,
Byee,
Madeline Anafrid