but still smarting.

Okay, I can’t blame anyone else for Sunday’s foobah but the s**t that put me off my game is still ongoing.

As you know, I walk a fairly precarious tightrope with my finances but at the beginning of May I thought I had things at least partially cracked, enough funds to easily get through the month and some left to go towards the 3D printer. However, unbeknownst to me my bank card details were used by a third party to ‘purchase’ stuff which effectively cleared my account of funds, I only discovered this at the weekend. I’m in the middle of trying to cancel the card but I can’t do that straight away as I only recently realised I had the wrong phone contact listed and changed that, which, to protect me from fraud, means they won’t cancel the card until the end of the week.

That’s more inconvenience than a danger to my funds as having been cleared out there aren’t any. So I’m not in a very good mood, I have just enough cash in hand to get me through to ‘pay day’ at the end of the month but I’m out £300 which I’ve no chance of recovering. My business plans are therefore on hold, bills deferred and I can’t even go for a drink in the now reopened hostelries!

Monday then, well after spending a fruitless half hour on the phone to the bank, I set off for a meagre grocery shop. Thank the Gods for Lidl, I got the essentials – bread, milk, biscuits (what?) and returned to the Mad cave. I then spent the rest of the day using model building as a calming influence – I’ll have to show you pics at some point.

The forecast for Tuesday was showery but having missed any ride at the weekend due to bad weather that never happened (grrr!) I was keen to get out whether I got wet or not. The plan was simple, cross the Severn, try out the new Wye Valley Greenway then have a doodle in Wales before returning to Cabot city.

It stayed dry and even sunny for the hour’s ride to Chepstow and soon I was on the first part of the new ‘shared use’ Greenway which runs from English Chepstow along the disused railway to Tintern – there are plans to go up to Monmouth but that’s not happening any time soon. I was forewarned that the 1km tunnel was dark ‘for the bats’ but any enjoyment of using it was killed by trying to see by a string of 40w bulbs set 1m from the floor. Then it got worse, a poor, badly drained surface meant the following miles were less than pleasant riding and I was actually glad to finally recross the Wye into Tintern, now besplattered with half of the Forest of Dean.

I took my sandwich break at Tintern Abbey but the sky was looking like I might get wet from above quite soon so rather than hang around longer I set off to exit the Wye Valley. Heading west inevitably meant climbing, not steeply just continuously for @ 5 miles only broken briefly to have a quick look at an 18th century iron foundry complex.

Devauden at the top of the hill was a breath catching point, standing as founding Methodist, John Wesley had - On 15 October 1739, he preached his first sermon in Wales on the village green at Devauden. He wrote in his journal: "Upon a pressing invitation…. I set out for Wales. About four in the afternoon I preached on a little green at the foot of the Devauden ... to three or four hundred plain people..” Well God bothering isn’t for me so I checked my phone for a map and set my onward route, down towards the coast before turning west towards my second target of the day. By now the threat of damp was much reduced, indeed blue skies looked set for the afternoon as I started to lose the height so recently hard fought to gain.

Then there it was, Bishton Crossing. Well I had to stop of course, photographic evidence and all that, then I remounted and ducked through the bridge. Why the fuss? Well its quite possibly the lowest bridge on public roads in the UK (thanks for the tip Sam) at just 1.7m/5’6” clearance, clearly the surveyors just rounded things up/down, (i'm 5'10"/1.78m tall!) under the main railway line into south Wales. In theory other traffic can use the level crossing which is manned but even that has a height limit due to the catenary system. So there you go Sam, challenge completed!

The return journey then started in earnest well Redwick actually before another unscheduled stop at the Procurators House in Magor. Effectively he was the local tax collector, the building dates from the 1400’s and sits beside the current church founded in 6th century but the ‘modern’ building was erected in the 1300’s.

With the sun now beating down on my back I made short work of the ride back to the Bridge, an hour later it was over, just shy of 140km and 1250m of up.

So today, with the sun shining outside, the washing on the line and the vegetable plots inspected (more potatoes are popping up) I’ve posted the next Gaby chapter, #29 of The Visitors, I’m Not Wearing That! More bike exploits and the school Hallow’en disco – can Drew stick to the script? Read on to find out.

Well that's it for today
Tak,
Madeline Anafrid

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