Not the red top but my day!

Lets play catch up and all will be revealed.

So Thursday, the forecast was bright but breezy from the south so for want of other inspiration I decided on a target of Wincanton, a small town close to the Somerset/Dorset border. Almost any route south from Brizzle will involve climbing over the Mendip or the mess of lumps to the east and today was no different, of course the stiff breeze added to the effort required. From Radstock I took a rail path for a bit before looping past Frome and into the northern reaches of Cranborne Chase.

That involved another hefty climb but then it was a rolling progress along the old A303 road to my destination. Having not been before (well possibly through in the depths of the night on the way to Devon as a child) I didn't know what to expect, well all i'll say is that its a one horse town without the horse! I stopped in the 'main' square for my sandwiches then with nothing else to detain me set off for the return journey.

This corner of Somerset is largely quite rolling in nature, with just a few more serious climbs, long rather than steep and I made short work of the lanes to Castle Cary before starting a twisty route up country to Wells. My get out was to go straight over the hills back from here but instead, it was a fair afternoon after all, I rode up to Cheddar for a wet and ice cream stop. Then it was back and forth through the lanes, moving steadily back towards the 'big city', the wind now largely at least on my shoulder.

All in all a nice ride, just over 100 miles and 1500m climbing which sort of made up for Tuesdays disappointment.

Friday was a writing day, another chapter of Gaby completed, slower than I'd like, its all the fact checking and research that is slowing things, I hope all the effort is worth it.

Which brings us to yesterday, Saturday. The forecast was for some silly wind but otherwise pleasant, I decided on a loop to the east, hopefully i'll be able to cut the time riding into the wind on the return by dropping across its course. Out through Bath once more before climbing over to Chippenham and then on to Malmesbury where I stopped for my repast at the Abbey.

After eating I pushed on with a loop up through Tetbury before angling more into the wind across the Cotswold plain and down into the lanes that return you to the metropolis. It was a meagre 115km all told but the wind had made me work for it for the last 40, my shoulders and neck were quite sore.

And so to today. Its an early post, I'm off to Leeds in a couple of hours, five and a half hours of being sat on a coach so i'll walk into the city to start the journey. Its a bit of a hit and run trip, tomorrow I travel on to Sheffield to touch base with friends and family then its back to Leeds where on Tuesday I get to see my daughter and grandson, its actually #1's birthday tomorrow but she's working all day. Then on Wednesday its the return journey, I should be back in time to post but I'm making no promises atm.

Today though, you do get Gran from book 2 and Bad News from book 22, both of which I think you'll enjoy.

Well I guess that's about it, time to pack my bag and get ready to travel, I normally enjoy travelling but I'm not looking forward to the extended mask wearing although I do get a double seat to myself! I'm quite excited to be seeing people again though, I'm sure i'll survive.

Tschussie,
Madeline Anafrid