Guten abend!

And so January is nearly at an end and instead of resolving things in my life they've become more complicated without really resolving anything. I've done some writing but not that which I'd hoped to do, I've been myself (or Trixie!) for most of the month but somehow even having pink hair for a couple of weeks didn't resolve into 24/7. I have moved on some and it will most definitely be 'me' having a birthday celebration next month although exactly which me or what i'll be doing I couldn't say atm.

Well less navel gazing, more doing is in order I guess so lets get on with things today.

Where have I been this week? With a dry forecast, on Thursday I took a longish ride up towards Gloucester - not particularly exciting and the low cloud that blanketed the day forestalled any views from the Cotswold edges. Still, I got back ostensibly dry which this time of year is always a bonus.

The forecast for Saturday was pretty much the same, low cloud and a few degrees above zero so I decided on a slightly more adventurous ride, south wards into Somerset. Down past the airport then clipping the western extreme of the Mendip massif around to Cheddar. but no town or gorge today, instead I continued south and east into the Somerset Levels. Through the pleasant and busy little town of Wedmore on its island of higher ground then down into the moors towards Glastonbury.

Of course these aren't heather covered hillsides but the drained flatlands, maybe a couple of metres above sea level that make up the levels in much the same way as south Lincolnshire away to the north east. There isn't a lot to see but they do attract some interesting wildlife, I passed a flock of Cranes at one point before missing a turn for my planned route and instead headed directly into Glastonbury where I broke for a few minutes to eat lunch. The cloud was low enough to hide the Tor above the town, no doubt the blanket of Patchouli fumes from all the 'New Age' shopping opportunities added to the fug!

Back on two wheels I made my way across more er moor, towards Wells, catching more wildlife on the way, a couple of Egrets and a Blue Heron amongst them. Then it was the inevitable climb over the Mendips to return to the Avon, the cloud even lower over the top before clearing a little towards the river itself. From there its an easy ride back along the bike path to complete the ride. Neither ride was that long, both breaking 70 miles but not by much and with the low visibility I've not seen much further than a mile on either but I haven't been rained on!

In other stuff, Amazon finally approved the latest paperback edition as I mentioned last night - what a carry on. With that put to bed I can get on with the next publication project, part three of Scott's trilogy in four parts!

The easiest to fix of my poorly bikes is booked into the shop this week, hopefully i'll be on my own two wheels again by next weekend. For me, the annoying bit is that I'm well able to do the job myself, at most calling in some grunt force from a friend so having to use a weeks food allowance at the shop is really galling. (don't worry, I won't starve, it was a metaphoric amount)

Of course, today there is a new Gaby chapter, Kaffee und Kuchen has the usual mix of riding and relationships, I hope you enjoy it and comment accordingly.

That just about wraps things up for today, more mumblings am Mittwoch,
Tschuss
Maddy