here in South West England we are having another 'heat wave'!

So temperatures are not expected to be as high as last month but even so its expected to be into the low 30's c through until Sunday, dropping to mid 20's on Monday. So not blistering desert heat and not even southern Europe but its not a regular occurence, the very same people whose perfect holiday is a fortnight inthe Med are now bemoaning the heat at home! go figure.

Anyhow, less weather, in other news: Well on Monday (which was quite warm too) i got the writing going and completed another Smell of the Crowd chapter which is up on my Patreon pages as of Monday evening. It was a milestone chapter in as much as it completed the next part of the book so i worked long into the night spell checking, sorting grammar, compiling and formatting to up load to Kindle.

And so to Tuesday. With temperatures expected to reach the high twenties later in the day i actually hauled myself up and out about an hour earlier than usual to try to avoid the hottest part of the day. I set off east without any specific destination/route in mind, it was sunny and warm, by Chippenham i'd decided to do a loop through Avebury and the Vale of Pewsey to break for lunch at the Avon & Kennet. So it was along the A4 to Calne (hardly any traffic uses this old trunk route these days, favouring the motorway instead) then the climb up into the Wiltshire Downs.

There's loads of Archaeology in this area, burial mounds, hill forts and of course the well known Silbury Hill, the biggest single prehistoric monument in Europe. But i wasn't going that way today, instead i turned for Avebury and its huge set of banks and standing stones where i paused briefly before following The Avenue down to West Kennet. The long barrow is a hike across the fields, not for this ride, instead it was the climb over the downs to drop into the Vale of Pewsey, stopping briefly to admire the White Horse.

The wind, for what it was worth was now on my back and i quickly covered the miles to lunch just outside Devizes with 80km covered. A spot in the shade, food and rehydration, pleasant enough to tarry awhile but i had a goodly chunk of road left to cover so i headed back to the tarmac, down Caen Hill and into the lanes that would take me to Trowbridge. By now it was getting quite warm, my onward route choice decided as mich by where the shade was as for its direction.

I didn't need much encouragement to head for the bike trail into Bath with its long tunnels providing several minutes of relief from the heat and a shady route down to the Avon. A short stretch of road took me to the Bristol & Bath, the slow incline almost entirely shaded from the sun, even so, despite constant sips from the waterbottle by Warmley my throat was dryasabone so i pulled in for more hydration and a slice of cake. The GPS was showing close on 140km as i set off for the last leg, thankful once again for the tree cover and the cooling effect of the summit tunnel at Staple Hill.

Total score for the day 1100m of up, a high of 29c, 3/4 of a litre of water, two teas, two bottles of pop, i toastie, i slice of banana and blueberry cake, 12 banana and 144km covered. The early start did help, it warmed up through the afternoon, i was glad to cool off in the shower!

After eating - salad with a high component of garden produce, i checked the interweb and Amazon had done their stuff, part 4 of Smell of the Crowd was available, i couldn't wait to spread the news hence last nights post. If you missed it here are the highlights again.

After a much longer than planned hiatus, Gaby returns with more 'excitement' in relation to the BlauHase tour! There are highs and lows along the way of course, no cliff hangers exactly but the threads are coming together towards the culmination of the trip now just three days away!

The plan is to crack on with the next chapters this week - thats if i can get the grey matter working through the current 30+c 'heatwave'!

And so to today, i'll take a walk after i've had breakfast, oh and i've returned to being a temporary red head again, think RED

its really this RED, nothing subtle! but of course i'm still a ditzy blonde underneath.

So thats it for today, more news and a fresh Gaby Fame chapter on Sunday,
Tschuss
Madeline Annafrid