Yep, 2020 is almost over.

I'm sure I'm not the only one with very mixed feelings about the year, of course its been dominated by Covid and in the UK, Brexit, neither of which have brought anything good to our lives. On a personal note, I was supposed to be 'getting my shit together' this year but events have conspired against that, if anything I've fallen deeper into the hole, a hole I'm not sure how I'm going to get out of. Whilst others have flaunted the very ethos of sacrificing travel plans, I've done my best to follow guidance and restrict my contact which has meant missing out on seeing family, foreign travel plans put on hold - I won't deny its caused bouts of depression but I haven't sunk into the levels of despair I reached in 2019.

Onto lighter subjects - well 2020 is determined to go out with a bang, here in the UK and across northern Europe we've seen falls of snow interspersed with cold, frosty conditions - as I type this I'm looking out over frost rimed roves and gardens under a blue dominated sky. chilly indeed. Little breeze today so its likely to not change much - anything is better than grey, wet and miserable!

I haven't done any new writing this week but what I have done is a bit of editing over on Kindle, tidying titles in particular and sorting out the new 'series' feature which should make finding, Nena, Gaby, Trixie and co a lot easier and even in the correct order! Its a bit of a faff but I think you'll find its been time well spent. Next up is getting my website back on line, an altogether bigger job.

So what has been going on in the final week of the year? Monday was a day of chores - I did get out for a little walk, as much to see if the local bike shop would be open this week as anything else. Its not and a look on the interweb when I got back added to that woe as the other bike shops locally are similarly closed until 2021! Don't get me wrong, I've had a career in retail covering a quarter century, I don't begrudge anyone time off but seriously, ten days when there are lots of new bikes and owners wanting to spend money and others, like myself needing workshop facilities - I can only imagine they have made so much money during Covid they can afford to lose business to online retail and the likes of Decathlon, Evans, Halfords.

The result of that walk and subsequent revelation is that I've ordered the tools I need for the job from Amazon, they arrive today, cost is about the same as taking to a shop for the work - difference is that I won't need to consider using the shops in future, win for me, lose for the shops.

Tuesdays forecast was a bit confused, cold and bright but with a snow warning! So I set off for what was planned as the penultimate ride of the year, a trip up the side of the Severn before looping 'inland' back to Brizzle. The roads were damp but early morning frost had cleared although it was still quite cold - quite nice riding conditions with suitable caution. Which I thought I was taking until Whump! suddenly I was laying on the ground in a tangle of me and bike.

No damage done as I was going quite slowly but a sheltered corner turning into a cycle path was covered in black ice. Over the years, it has been black ice that has caused me more tarmac hitting issues than everything else combined, I know the signs, I take precaution but still I get caught. Anyhow, it was a chastened Maddy that continued the ride but as I got further north the first signs of things to come were on the horizon as a few spots of wet started falling from the heavens.

Lunch was in a bus shelter at Ham then it was a short loop towards the river again before heading eastwards, the wind at least more behind me now. The falling damp was light but constant now, the temperature, never much above freezing, dropped a little more, as I started the southbound leg at Kingswood, rain became snow. Not a white out but enough to reduce visibility, although the saving grace was that the flakes were too wet to survive touchdown - at least for the first couple of miles, after Wickwar they started to stick to me, coating me in a thin layer.

Things eased around Chipping Sodbury, by the time I stopped at Old Sodbury, a snack break, the snow was light, fine and not sticking. It was damned cold though, by the time I got back my hands, despite the ski gloves, were frozen. 120 cold kilometres which leaves me @ 130km short for the Festive 500 challenge with 2 days left to complete it, if I do a short ride this afternoon it takes a bit of burden from the last day of the year so that's the revised plan, a trip down to Bath once its warmed up a bit.

Before I forget, I would like to give a special thank you to those individuals who sent me gifts of one kind or another this festive season, they are all greatly appreciated and gratefully accepted, they have brightened my life, each in their own way. I won't name names as that can cause embarrassment but special thanks to the 3 A's in particular, you know who you are and I'm eternally grateful.

And so to todays posting, Spain, Tick √ is the 26th chapter of Avoidance, the extended team settle in at their hotel and plans are laid out for the week - of course, Gaby's mind is mostly on filling her legs, I mean stomach!

I will make an extra post on New Years Day - and on that note I wish you all a happy turn of the year and hope that 2021 will bring you all better fortunes and improved life situations. Don't imbibe too much, I may have a small sherry myself!

Tschussie,
Madeline Anafrid