some more interesting interludes!

Although the weather has been a bit mixed in the latter part of the week, it has allowed for some slightly more 'exciting' bike excursions which in turn has fuelled the creative juice maker!

I hinted mid week where i proposed riding and so i roused myself for an earlier than usual start under the vlue skies of Thursday morning - well after wishing #1 a Happy Birthday!. Up in the Pennines and surrounds, choice of route can be a bit limited, lack of roads and bridges often dictating quite narrow route choices, from Brizz, on three sides at least, geography has less impact, pick a destination and there will be a choice of roads to get there. And so, as i was heading for the North Wiltshire Downs, i took a fairly direct route via Castle Combe (often voted the prettiest in the country - can't see it myself but then i'm prpbably better travelled than a lot of people) across the Cotswolds to Chippenham.

At this point i still had plenty of options, direct via the A4 or maybe a more circuitous route, i delayed the decision a little by taking the old railway route across to Calne by which time i had a plan. I headed north for a good few kilometres before making the steep climb onto the Downs through Clyffe Pyperd, once over the top its a fairly benign run down to Avebury where i stopped to have my 'lunch', a couple of small frikadel sandwiches, sat on the outer bank.

After a few minutes of contemplation watching the tourist ants scurrying about i set off to start the return leg, once again a bit spoilt for choice. I took in The Avenue and Silbury Hill before plumping for a southerly route via Devizes. The sun was shining but the wind was stiff enough to make some of the more open stretches a chore as i picked my way back towards Bath to pick up the bike path for the last leg. A mere 900m of up but 145km covered in six and a half hours, wuite an intense day awheel.

I was ready for a rest on Friday, at least physically so i turned on the PC and started a day long writing session. By tea time there was another chapter for the new book in the can, at this rate it could be finished for Christmas! I needed cheering up a bit, if things had run to plan i should've been catching the overnight ferry to Rotterdam and starting a Dutch / German bike adventure, alas, thats on hold.

And so to Saturday. The forecast looked a bit iffy for the afternoon, given my destination i thought an early departure would be a good idea so a little after eight thirty i set off with at least half a route in mind. It was a bit cloudier than of late, a degree or two cooler too but given my plan i wasn't concerned. I took the route of least resistance to Trowbridge then turned more southerly towards Salisbury Plain, eventually climbing up to the Westbury White Horse and Bratton 'iron age' hill fort. My destination, Imber, was perhaps a handful of kilometres away as the crow flies but i had in mind a more roundabout approach using the byways that follow the northern edge of the Plain.

As they are outside of the restricted MOD ranges you can use them anytime but a visit to Imber is a good excuse for a bit of 'gravel' riding. Foxy isn't the ideal steed for the job but she's what i currently have at my disposal so i took my time, thankful for the short stretches of tarmac where access roads climb the scarp. Eventually i reached the Imber access road and climbed up into the heart of the ranges to the ghost village itself.

I stopped at the church for a cup of tea and my sandwich lunch (more frikadel, my options really were small this week due to the finances!) before starting the long ride west to rejoin civilisation at Warminster. The easy option from here is to head directly north to pick up and retrace the outward route but i try to avoid using the same roads where i can so instead i headed past Longleat (of safari park fame) to Frome, the town not one of the countless rivers. To get back to Bristol from here is always going to involve a less than flat route, i decided to go for the direct approach through the crumple of hills where Mendip and Cotswolds collide.

I picked up the bike path to Radstock then took a 'least hilly' route up to Keynsham and so back to base. Yep another long one, 138km with 1389m of up, the gravel and inclines impacting the average speed somewhat. The first of the evenings thunderstorms hit not long after my return but i stayed dry which is always a bonus. So that makes 100 bike rides so far this year but just a paltry 9400km ridden, somewhat behind recent years efforts.

It was suggested that some of you would like to see some sort of map of these bike travels so here are the latest, the bit around the edge represents profile of the ride.

Today is certainly cooler than its been all week but my body needs a rest so its an indoors kinda day anyway. I'm a little sad to not be plying the roads of Holland, i was expecting to be in Venlo today but its not the end of the world. Instead i'm trying to get enthused for plan B, my trip to the Jurassic south coast in @ 3 weeks.

It being Sunday i've posted the next Gaby chapter which i'm sure you'll enjoy, read Trained to Perfection now!

Hopefully i'll get more writing done this week, Patreons should keep a look out!

That's it for today, see you on Wednesday,
Tschussie,
Madeline Anafrid