Look I'm sorry, but a girl has to eat!

That will be explained in a bit but first lets catch up on the week.

Monday, running day - I actually managed a lot more actual running which was good, I might manage a whole circuit yet! Maybe it was because I had my legs out, my new running skort worked pretty well, comfy and covers my 'Thunder Thighs' quite well!

Tuesday, cycling day - the wind direction had me up on the Cotswold massif again, around past the museum cum breakers yard at Kemble airfield before looping back through Malmesbury, 120km of sometimes quite chilly riding.

Wednesday, hiking day - well it sort of stops me shopping for the sake of it! Anyhoo, I set off with an idea, a reasonable little walk to the east of the Brizzle conurbation, fields, woods, you know the score. The sun was out which resulted in me not being dressed quite right, I hadn't factored in the Arctic temperature of the wind! Not that I let that bother me, I walked the walk, picked up my tea on the way back and finally collapsed 28km, 16 miles after setting off, foot sore and chilled through.

Thursday, cycling day - here in the England, we are now permitted to do 'unlimited' exercise providing we follow SD guidelines, so in celebration I decided to do a longer ride than I generally have been during lockdown. I set off into the still stiff and cold breeze, aiming for a loop around Gloucester to give me 150km. Its not 75km to the county seat so I took a side trip out through Frampton on Severn to an old ferry crossing where I made my first stop with 60km covered.

It was still cool so I kept my jacket on when I set off again for a twiddly ride up into south Gloucester where I picked up the bypass, not the nicest roads to ride but they allowed me to stick to SD and avoid the city centre. Up almost to the cathedral then a loop eastwards to pick up the A417 towards Cirencester, I toyed with the idea of going all the way there but common sense eventually prevailed and I turned onto the A46 towards Stroud instead. I knew there was a climb on this road, I wasn't expecting a mini Alpine pass! I gained most of the height before spotting a grassy bank just right for stop two, a rest for tired tootsies and inhalation of my sandwiches in the sunshine.

Then it was the start of the homeward leg, down to Stroud, across to Cam then a laney route back to Brizzle. It was clear that my target distance was in the bag but another 10 or so km would bag me an Imperial century, 100 miles. So near, oh what the heck, I added a short extension to my approach to base to get 162km in my 6.5 hours in the saddle. Which is why I needed to eat after my shower which in turn pushed this already delayed update even further back.

Today's Gaby chapter is Steingaden, the German championships kick off with the race against the clock.

Well that's it, there might be a bonus picture post tomorrow, therewill be a proper update on Sunday.

Ciao
Madeline Anafrid