two banana.....

Sorry i got lost in the early Seventies for a moment again! La, la, la, lala, la, la...... i'll stop now.

So this week has become a bit more interesting, on the bike riding front at least. Not sure what triggered it but late on Wednesday i became inspired and dare i say, enthused with the idea of a trip on Thursday. And so it was that i got up early on Thursday, packed my banana and headed for the grandiose surroundings of Templemeads, Bristol's main railway station. My destination? well nowhere exotic, just a short, 45 minute hop up to Gloucester to start my days adventure.

I say adventure, i had a plan in my head but no map of where i wanted to go so i'd spend the day navigating pretty much blind. My destination was Great Malvern, half a dozen miles from Worcester, perched on the side of the lump of high ground known as the Malvern Hills. You can see the hills from miles around, a 250-300m lump sat on the lower, rolling countryside that forms this part of merry old England, i've long fancied riding over it, there being a single east/west 'pass' to cross into Herefordshire.

Anyhoo, i departed Gloucester and made my way up to Tewkesbury, the joining point of the Avon and Severn (not the Bristol Avon but the Warwick Avon) where i picked a road going in roughly the right direction. Well it did go the right way-ish, i was almost at Pershore before i picked up a sign for my target a dozen miles away across the Severn valley. The weather was grey but dry and just warm enough to be comfortable although there was a niggly westerly blowing.

By the time i reached Malvern i was getting a bit peckish, it was always the plan to stop hereabouts for some lunch but nowhere looked that promising so i headed out on the Ledbury road, at worst i could eat there but hopefully i'd find somewhere sooner. But my energy levels were running low and part way up what turned out to be the 'pass' i gave in and stopped to eat that 'nana'. Of course, barely half a mile later i turned a bend and there, at the summit of British Camp, was a Gaby style kiosk doing hot food and drinks even if the seating was a bit al fresco.

Soup, tea, bread pudding - i got the carbs in and warmed up a bit then set off down the other side for Ledbury and my return to Gloucester. I didn't need to get back for a specific train but i did want to avoid riding in the dark so rather than deviate onto the lanes, i followed the main road south, back into the Severn valley and into Gloucester. I had time for a cuppa before getting the train, it had only been a little over 100km but over 80 of those were on roads i'd never ridden before and all without a map!

It was of course dark at 17.30 when i reached Bristol again but twenty minutes up the lit bike path wasn't too bad. All in all a good day.

Friday was a sort of recovery day, i did walk the couple of miles to Kingswood for some shopping but that was about it.

And so to Saturday. The plan was to do the 80km i needed to reach my weeks target of 250km and so, after being delayed by a tube change (damn blackthorn!) i set off for a loop north then back across the Cotswolds. The wind was quite strong and cool on my back up to Wotton but the climb up the Edge warmed me up some before getting buffeted from every side as i started to loop around for the return leg.

You know how it is, you decide on a plan then you decide to adapt it and then adapt the new plan etc, etc. Suffice to say, instead of dropping straight back to Cabotville i ended up on the lanes down to the Avon Gorge and by the time i'd crossed Bath and returned, i had another 100 windy kilometres in the tyres. So there you have it, two quite different rides and not a single visit to the coast!

Today is of course the day Her Majesty The Queen becomes the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years of service to the people of the United Kingdom, the Realms and the Commonwealth. So congrats to Her Majesty.

Its also Fame day for Gaby fans, the latest chapter, Rhein Abend is up now.

Well thats it for today, i'll be back with more midweek,
Tschussie
Madeline Anafrid