April Ends

with a mini heatwave here in the UK!

Yep, whilst there has been some localised weird weather, April is going out with a bang. Here in Brizz temperatures have been up to the mid twenties centigrade - that's July/August numbers, it'll probably snow next week lol

Anyhoo, Monday i took myself out for a longer walk along the river Frome with a stop for tea and a sandwich. Despite the weather, it was fairly quiet with much less canine walking activity which is likely how i got to see a Kingfisher, then further upstream, a Yellow Wagtail was busy searching the river bank. 8km in all so not massive and i would have preferred a hike over the moors but we do what we do.

My plan for Tuesday was a ride up to Stroud, somehow i've not done a proper northwards ride since March so it was overdue. I decided to go widdershins in the hope of at least a small bit of assistance from the vaguely north easterly breeze on the return. I've been in shorts since the beginning of the month, however this was my first ride with bare arms this year, it was good to feel the warmth directly on my skin. A pair of Green Finches flashed across the road, a little further on a Field Mouse did the same, i guess it had noted the lack of avian raptors perhaps due to the nagging breeze.

A lighter lunch, poached eggs on toast, set me up for the slightly shorter return which did indeed benefit from some assistance on my less aggressive route back. 117km, over 900m of up and afternoon temperatures topping out at 25c, a good day on the bike. Of course, both sun and wind demanded a toll, yep i've now got some very noticeable tan lines but thankfully i avoided getting burnt!

Today is very similar on the weather front, i've already done the laundry and adjusted the brakes on my steed, this afternoon will be a walk but i'm not sure where or how far.

That's all for today, i'll be back with more Gaby and stuff at the weekend,
Ciao,
Madeline Anafrid