Yep, last week we were heading into the warmest couple of days 'on record', this end of the week is as much as 20c cooler!

On Thursday, with temperatures a bit more comfortable for riding, i set off for what i'd planned in my head as a longer ride, up onto the Cotswolds, across to Tetbury then a loop back via Wotton. It was a nice ride, nothing too testing and i was looking forward to my stop at Charfield @ 60km in - except when i got there the cafe was closed, damn, plan b then. Plan b was a farm shop a couple of miles further on which was absolutely rammed, so much for lunch. Plan c was to push on and maybe stop at a village shop for an ice cream, first shop - closed, second shop - closed, what the heck is going on? By now i was running out of road so i just headed on back, 100km, 800m, the second 'fasting' ride in a week.

My grandson 'graduated' from kindergarten this week, gowns the lot - when did that become a thing? The big job on Friday then was sending a gift up to GOC, as you do, he starts 'proper' school at the end of September, the age of innocence is drawing to a close, where has all that time gone?

I settled into some writing in the afternoon, my Patreon followers will already have access to the chapter i completed, i'll be cracking on this coming week so if you do follow me on Patreon expect a bunch of updates in the next week or two.

And so to yesterday. The forecast was dry but overcast, temperatures maybe in the low 20's c so having failed on Thursday, the plan was for a long loop down into Somerset with a stop in the Cheddar area. Whilst i felt okay it soon became evident that my stomach wasn't in agreement so it was an uncomfortable and slower morning than i'd like. Todays cafe was open, i resolved the stomach issue and a light meal set me up for the afternoon loop, okay, things weren't 100% but a lot less disabling.

A loop to Wells then you can't really avoid some quite serious climbing to return to the Avon across the crumple zone where the Mendip and Cotswolds meet. Okay they aren't particularly steep, reaching 10/12% at most but they can be miles long and the nature of the terrain means you get no help from the downhills. Up, down, psht, psht, psht - yep a flat at Midsommer Norton, fairly quickly sorted, the up pumping took longer than the rest! Through Radstock and up, down, up and then down into Aquae Sulis before returning along the railway bed. 123km, 1200+m of up, 5.5 hours of riding so a good day overall despite the stomach and deflation.

Its a similar temperature today but a lot windier, i'll go for a walk when i've finished here.

Of course, its Sunday so you get the next chapter of Fame free, gratis, for nothing here on BC, if you don't already, please consider supporting the site or we may lose this great community in its current form. Travelsty see's the Bond household travelling down to Austria for the start of the Apollinaris winter training camp, a chance for everyone to relax with friends old and new.

Thats it for now, back Mittwoch,
Tschuss,
Madeline Anafrid