It seems to come around sooner every year!

Yeah, i know i was young once so shouldn't complain but you can't go anywhere without flocks of (mostly) tweenies jamming everywhere up - the shops must hate it, they've got no money but they stop 'real' shoppers spending theirs. Its bad enough in term time but i avoid particularly the clothes shops at all costs when the schools are off. I'm sure at that age we found better things to do than hang around in shops, i lived @ 50m from the fields, weather permitting thats where you'd find everyone, well a few boys would play kickball on the school fields but we woz simple country folk, lol.

The weather is certainly cooler this week, its still been into the 20's but the cloud cover has meant its been more bearable.

On Monday i wanted to do some writing but could i get my head in gear? It was well after lunch that i finally got some words on the screen, by the time i'd eaten and gone for a short walk it was nine pm before i finished the chapter. That effort is up on Patreon and i've got a pretty firm idea where the next chapter or two are going, i'll crack on with that on Friday.

Yesterday, being Tuesday was ride day, its been a while since i crossed the Severn so i decided to do that and head for Symonds Yat, the Yat is a lump of rock with views out over the Wye valley, for me its an 'interesting' climb, more of that in a mo. Anyhoo, i made my way to the old bridge, cut through Chepstow back into England and up to my breakfast halt at Woolaston - well its a tough day ahead! Bacon sarnie and tea were consumed before i headed to Lydney to start my assault on the Forest of Dean.

The plan was to climb through the Forest before dropping into the Wye valley then climb back up through Symonds Yat (the place not the rock) then drop back to the Wye to head for a cake stop near Tintern. What i should have done was turn right at the river up to the bridge then loop around Goodrich to the Symonds Yat road but i turned left instead. I did the same on a previous ride, i shoulda remembered, anyway i climbed up to English Bicknor (its twin, Welsh Bicknor is on the other side of the Wye but is actually in England!), then a bit higher up turned off to head for Symonds Yat from above.

I continued down under the Yat on the bouncy, singletrack lane to bottom where i took the lane to Symonds Yat East, popular with canooists and so on. From there, despite being on a 'carbon road bike' with 23mm tyres, i followed the riverside dirt track that is the bike and walking trail that eventually brings you out several kilometres downstream at Wyesham across the river from Monmouth. I did debate riding back up the hill to Coleford but instead i took the Wye valley road, tea and cake were calling!

I was over 80km into the ride when i stopped at Tintern Station tea room, the sun was now shining, the day quite agreeable. Commestibles consumed i returned to the tarmac, down through Tintern Abbey then onto the near 7km climb out of the valley only to then drop a chunk of the height down to Chepstow and most of the rest to reach the Bridge. The GPS was showing well over 100km by the time i landed back in England proper so i took a fairly direct route back to Cabotville, stopping the clock at 136km and once again, a little shy of 1300m of ascent, not a bad day at all.

And so to today. Its been quite mixed weatherwise, reasonably warm but the sun has been hiding behind thick cloud for most of the day. I couldn't get my head around doing anything this morning, eventually tho' i got myself organised for a walk. There wasn't really a plan as such but i ended up having a late lunch of meatballs (the tweenies were even in there along with all the grandparents babysitting) before returning via a longer route than anticipated as my intended bike path route was closed, so over 6km walked in total.

Tomorrow is back on the bike, i'm sort of minded to head east into Wiltshire with a stop at Devizes, we'll see in the morning. For now tho' thats it, i'll be back on Sunday with a new Gaby chapter and hopefully updates on writing new stuff.

Tschuss,
Madeline Anafrid