If you cast your minds back a couple of weeks, I might have mentioned my latest acquisition, in the form of a nice shiny new bike frame. Well, after a couple of weeks of a bit here and a bit there, I've finally got it built up and even if I do say so myself, it's looking mighty fine!
But there's not much point in having a new bike just sat in the garage looking all nice and shiny is there? It's supposed to be out in the wild, getting dirty and going on adventures. With that in mind and as I didn't seem to have anything else planned for this weekend, what better opportunity was there going to be for a little pootle around the locality?
Handily, our friends at Travelodge came up trumps with a cheap as chips room in Warminster for Friday night, allowing me to extend to word locality somewhat, with a pair of 80+ mile days and a real opportunity for a bit of a shakedown ride. Home, Odiham (I know it's the wrong way but I at least have to pretend that works important), Winchester, Salisbury and Warminster on Friday afternoon/evening. Followed by Warminster, Trowbridge, Chippenham, Marlborough, Hungerford, Home on Saturday morning. Now what's not to like about that?
To be honest though there's not much to tell you about, the bike behaved impeccably, floating across the rubble that passes as a road surface around these parts with ease, happily carrying a couple of small lightly loaded Panniers on the back as if they weren't even there and holding steady around the tight, greasy, gravel strewn corners, without so much as a shimmy.
Friday afternoon the sun shone for a few hours and even when it didn't the day was warmer than it's been for a while, making it a real pleasure to be out and about and the ride down to Warminster passed without note, just as it should do!
It must have rained overnight on Friday, although I'll confess that I was dead to the world and never heard a thing. The wet roads gave the game away though, and the wind had got up too. Something that would normally bring a frown to my face, with the prospect of an in to wind slog to look forward too. Not today though, with the wind from the West it was going to be on my back, pretty much all the way home. Result!
And whilst I'll admit that it was a dank, damp and overcast day, that wind on my back more than made up for it. It was a good job it was on my back too, because coming over the high point at Marlborough it was strong enough to cause me a few worrying moments when it caught the side of the bike, sending me heading towards the verge and it wouldn't of been much fun trying to go the other way, that's for sure.
And that's about all there is to say about that. 172 miles across the 2 days was certainly enough to give things a good shake down and takes me to 786 miles for the month, with Mondays commute still to add on, and that's not bad going for what's normally one of the worst months of the year weather wise. I'm not sure that setting the bar so high in January was the best idea though. It's going to take some living up too!
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Holey, Moley we've had some chilly mornings this week, I think that there's been a frost every day and my finger tips have not been enjoying the cycle to work one bit. It's a good job then that Saturday was a bit warmer, although as normal that was accompanied by a lack of sunshine, as there was the small matter of a 200Km Audax to attend to!
This weeks fun and games saw me back in Beaconsfield for an early start Saturday morning (not so early as some though, thanks to a toasty warm night in the van) for The Willy Warmer Audax. Another canter around some of our great British countryside, West from Beaconsfield to pick up the Thames valley at Marlow, down towards Henley on Thames and Pangbourne, before heading cross country to Lambourne and Hungerford and returning via Kingsclere and Winnersh. I think that there's something for every taste there, a bit of fast and flat, a couple of picturesque river crossings, a few hills on the edge of the Chiltern Hills and a jaunt through some fine Hampshire countryside, and all routed cleverly via what should be passable roads no matter what the weather decides to throw at you, what's not to like about that?
Whilst it wasn't as cold as it had been, it was still a bit fresh as we set off into the growing light of dawn, following the now familiar "set off when your ready" protocol to avoid grouping and helping to maintain the sensible Covid precautions which are still very much in force. Personally, I think this is a good thing from the other perspective of helping to spread everyone out from the start too and reduces the big group clogging up the road and annoying the car drivers. Not that that should make any difference, as a bit of patience would be a blessing sometimes, but there's little point in provoking conflict if it can be avoided is there?
Any how, a fast run down to Pangbourne soon ate up the distance to the first checkpoint, where unfortunately my original plan to prove my passing via a cash machine receipt, was thwarted by it being out of order. Oh well, in that case I believe that the shop will provide a perfect receipt in exchange for the purchase of a Danish Pastry (another of my favourites, to go along with all the others), like that's a punishment! See, I keep telling you that these silly escapades have their perk's. More fast roads, between Pangbourne and Lambourn continued to eat up the miles and after a brief pause to record the answer for the proof of passage question, a quick blast down to Hungerford saw us joining the Saturday shopping gridlock, as drivers crawled through town in search of the closest parking space to their destination possible. Onward and despite being within a few miles from home as we tracked along from Hungerford to Kingsclere and ultimately Winnersh, I was nearly caught out a few times as the suggested route deviated from what I expected. That's the beauty of following someone else's route through, and I picked my way along a few roads that I'd not been down before, but certainly will again. Adding to the adventure with the occasional realisation of "A'hh, so that's where that road comes out" and "that's a miles better way than the way I normally come"! By 14:30 I was in Winnersh, with 100 miles ticked off and looking forward to a few minutes off the bike and a sandwich, an idea which was short lived, when I discovered that the shop I had been picturing in my mind as a purveyor of sandwiches, turned out to be an estate agent. Bugger! With the only other options being either a Café or Supermarket (with nowhere really secure to lock the bike up) there was only one option. Raid the bottom of my saddle bag for anything edible and push on. Luckily it was only another couple of miles to Maidenhead where a handy garage with shop attached yielded a couple of cookies to see me through the final miles back to the start and the comforts of the van. Just under 9 hours then for 122 miles, and despite some cold toes, another great day out. As I said at the start, you cant beat spending the whole day immersed in the great British countryside, whether that's by bike or by foot, and if cold toes are the price you have to pay for that, then I'm certainly not complaining!
After Saturdays fun and another toasty warm night out in the van, Sunday saw the opportunity to get a few running miles into my legs and the chance to recce another leg of the Brenda Parker Way, picking up the leg from Kingsclere to the A34 crossing. Only 8 miles, but in my defence that's still 16 by the time I got back to the van.
And whilst I'm dragging out odd pictures, what about these little beauties, surely a real sign that Spring is on its way.
It's unusual to start with a picture, but when it looks like that, it would be rude not to, wouldn't it? Which I suppose begs the question, what have I been getting up to that's resulted in pictures like that?
Running fun, that's what! Sunday was the 44th running of the Surrey Long Distance Walkers Association (LDWA) Winter Tanners 30 Mile Challenge event, who, despite their name, not only look after their walking membership, but welcome those stupid enough to want to run their gorgeous routes with open arms too. Which is why I found myself stood in a small industrial estate at early o'clock on Sunday morning ready and raring to go after a cosy nights sleep in the van. Now, before I go any further I'm going to offer a big thanks' to those lovely people at the Surrey LDWA who went to all the trouble to put this weeks event on. I've often said before that many of these things wouldn't be possible without people giving up their valuable time to arrange and supervise these events and this weeks is no exception. LDWA Challenge Events are run on a similar basis to Audax event's, in that you have to navigate yourself around the route, stopping at various checkpoints for proof of passage, and like Audax, the challenge is to complete the route within the allocated timeframe. There is no acknowledgement for fastest finishers etc, so it's all about the personal challenge, having a great day out and getting out in the great British countryside with some like minded individuals.
And there is no doubt that this weekends route took in some Great British Countryside, traversing around some of the highest points in the Surrey Hills AONB, offering some lovely views over the surrounding countryside, on what turned out to be a stunning, winters day.
After a cold couple of days, Sunday dawned slightly warmer, leading to some low laying mist as we congregated at the start, ready for the off. A start, which like many events at the moment was a case of set off when your ready, in line with the control opening time, with the walkers taking the early slots and the faster runners setting off later. Not only limiting the numbers congregating at the start and controls (Covid kefuffle), but helping to ensure we arrived at the intermediate controls within their opening times.
From the start it was only a matter of a few hundred yards of road running until the route diverted off onto a footpath, and that is the way it remained for the next 30 miles, only returning to the road as we returned to the start. From the off, it was a long slow climb up towards Polesden Lacey and then on towards White Down, Ranmore Common and what is normally some outstanding views back towards Dorking and the surrounding area. Not today though, today things were even better with the climb up though the wooded hillsides taking us above the low laying mist and opening out into the spectacular view at the start of this weeks blog. When your faced with a view like that, there's nothing you can do but stop to take it in, run or no run, racing or not, these things don't come up every day, but by gosh when they do, it makes all those wet, windy, cold and dull days worthwhile!
By the first checkpoint at the 11 mile mark, the low sun had warmed the day sufficiently for it to now be too warm in the lightweight jacket that I'd set off in and I paused to remove it and stash it in my backpack. Not that this improved matters much, as setting off again the cool air still had a real chill to it and I debated putting it back on again. It's the lesser of two evils though and the easy solution was to just work a bit harder.
Picking up the Greensand Way, heading towards Pitch hill, Holmbury Hill and ultimately Leith Hill with it's picturesque tower, it didn't take long to warm back up. This part of the route, along the high ridge was more familiar from previous outings in the area and I paused only briefly on the hill tops to take in the magnificent views towards the South Downs and ultimately the Sea, before pushing on towards the final checkpoints and the last leg.
A long down hill stretch to coming towards the final checkpoint provided a brief respite for tired legs, before we re-joined the walkers on the shorter, but no less challenging 20 mile route, each working equally hard on their own challenge for the day.
âThrough the final checkpoint and back over the final steep climbs and then, with just a couple of miles still to go, it's back onto the familiar territory of the route out, retracing our steps back to the start and the end of another day out. And what a day out it had been, brilliant weather, outstanding views and scenery, superb organisation, and a hot brew, chocolate biscuit and bit of fruit cake at the finish. Does it get any better than that?
I'll just leave this here as a little teaser of things to come too.
The time has finally come to upgrade this. If I'm honest I've been thinking about it for a while and whilst the little touring bike has done some sterling service, including Lands End to John O' Groats and back, there's not much left of the original bike and what is left is telling it's age and in need of replacement.
So it's a case of salvage what I can, retire the frame to a place of pride on the garage wall, as a reminder of those great adventures we had together, and build it up with a nice shiny new frame. More of which over the next few weeks if all goes to plan!
There didn't seem to be much point in adding to last weeks exciting blog entry, so before we get started on this week I suppose that we had better just mention my final hurrah before going back to work after the Christmas break.
I couldn't just let those last couple of days go to waste, so a quick Google whilst resting my weary legs threw up a cheap Travelodge room at Beckington for the night on Sunday. They're doing all right out of me at the moment Travelodge, but when you can pick up somewhere to rest your head for under £30, it's almost rude not to take advantage, plus it gives me the opportunity to take my bike to pastures new. A quick bit of route plotting later and I'd got myself a nice little 150 mile jaunt to finish off my Christmas leave, 70 miles on Sunday afternoon, with another 80 back home on Monday morning, what's not to like about that and all for less than the price of a meal out, result.
Typically, Sunday morning was bright and clear, but with their being little point in setting off too early (I'd just end up sat in a hotel room on my own twiddling my thumbs), I pottered around all morning, had a bit of lunch with "The Emma" and left home just before 13:00. By which time it was obviously raining!
Not to be downhearted though, I set off in the rain and to be fair it wasn't too bad. Yes it was wet, but when it was raining it was fairly light, and it only rained for about half of the time I was on the road, so I'm not going to complain too much about it. Either way, rain or not, it was still better than being sat at home watching TV and it was still warm enough to be pleasant, even if it was a bit damp. Being a Sunday afternoon, the traffic was surprisingly light, and despite the fact that it was pretty much dark by the time I'd got past Devizes and onto unfamiliar territory, cycling along the little country lanes in the dark, past the houses with their Christmas lights still on, and the warm glow from behind curtained windows, was still a magical feeling. By 18:00 I'd reached my destination for the night and taking advantage of the opportunity for an early night (there's not a lot else to do, when all you've got with you is the cycling clothes your wearing) I grabbed some tea from the nearby service station and settled down to catch up on some of the sleep that I seem to have missed out on over the previous days. An early night only leads to one thing though. An early start. And I was up and back on the road for 07:00 the next morning, tracking steadily back the way I'd come, towards Trowbridge, where my return route deviated, to head slightly South of my inbound track. With dry and quiet roads, I made good time, stopping just after Pewsey for a second breakfast of porridge with extra added calories, in the form of half a bar of chocolate melted into it. Well, come on, if you can't treat yourself when your out on your bike, then when can you. And I must say that it was very well received too, giving me plenty of energy to push on towards my next planned stop at Newbury, where I picked up a sandwich for lunch, before pushing on for home. I was back home again just over 24 hours after setting off, and in plenty of time to spend a quiet afternoon catching up with "The Emma" and sorting out bits and bobs ready for my return to the realities of life and work. But, I'd had a great little adventure, despite the rain trying to dampen my spirits, and as I mentioned earlier, I might not have been anywhere exciting or exotic, but I'm pretty sure that my little day out was better than sitting at home staring at the TV for the same amount of time, and I'm sure that in a few years time when I'm old and even more decrepit than I am now, I'm more likely to remember that day than I would otherwise!
Now that we're caught back up from the end of last week, what have I been up to this week. Well, for a starters there was possibly the coldest commute into work that I've had to date. I don't think that my fingers have ever hurt so much, and that's despite the thickest gloves I've got, arm warmers and all the other paraphernalia. I must have spent 15 minutes when I got there just huddled over the radiator with my hands shoved as far into my armpits as they could possibly go. The strangest thing however, is I don't think that it was actually that cold, I'd guess -4 in places, but by gosh, did my fingers feel it!
Cold commutes aside, I had planned on getting a few bike miles in on Saturday, followed by a bit of running on Sunday, but a quick glance at the weather forecast on Friday night, showed a rethink of that plan was required, with a band of heavy, slow moving rain, forecast to be over the area on Saturday morning. Now, I don't mind getting wet (I don't particularly enjoy it either, mind you), I suppose in the UK it goes with being outside. But, getting wet on the bike always seems 100x worse than getting wet when your running. I guess that the spray from the cars etc makes it seem worse on the bike and the roads tend to be quite exposed anyway, plus you tend to get cold quicker, but it's certainly the worse of the two options. So, a change of plan it would need to be, run on Saturday and cycle Sunday instead, see that wasn't too hard was it!
I can tell you for a fact, that we've had a fait bit of rain over the last few weeks too. I know this for a fact as my planned route, more reconnoitring of the Brenda Parker Way, was either underwater or ankle deep in fresh, slippery mud. Great!
No, I really mean that, great! When I was a kid, "The Old Cheese" spent her life saying "stop getting dirty" and "get out of that muddy puddle". Now that I'm nearly 50 there's no one to stop me playing in the mud and puddles if I so choose (and I do choose to on a regular basis). Although I must confess that "The Emma" doesn't always see the funny side when I come in covered in mud and proceed to disrobe in the kitchen, scattering dried mud everywhere. Just no sense of adventure some people!
This weeks investigative leg of the Brenda Parker Way took me from Bramley, up through Silchester (more of which in a moment) and on towards Tadley, before reaching Ashford Hill, where I turned to retrace my steps. That's the biggest problem with any of these routes, you've got to run double the distance to get back to the car again!
Setting off from Bramley in the early morning drizzle, it wasn't long before I reached Silchester, site of the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum and still the site of some impressive Roman ruins, including the remains of both the town walls and amphitheatre, both of which are worth a quick look if your ever in the area.
No time for sight seeing today though, although I did pause for a quick look around the amphitheatre, which I'd never seen before, despite it being right on my doorstep, before pushing on along the wet and muddy track.
Crossing the village green in Silchester Village, is another familiar sight that I've been past on many occasions but until today never paused at, the familiar village war memorial, complete with small information board giving us an insight into a few of the names engraved on the tribute behind. Every village you travel through has a war memorial, and whatever your thoughts are on the two world wars, it's a sobering reminder of the sheer, staggering numbers of people that gave up their lives for our freedom, and in my opinion always worth a few seconds to pause and remember their sacrifice.
Onward, through Tadley and past the playing fields, where the local children were just starting to congregate, ready for a mornings football, whilst their parents stood on the side lines, trying their best to remain dry in the never ending drizzle and onwards toward my final turning point.
There were some real wet sections between Tadley and Ashford Hill, with the path either under 6 inches of water or the same depth of wet, slippery mud. That's what I'm here for though and the worse it get's, the more of a challenge and the more fun it becomes! Eventually though, after having slithered down a muddy slope and waded through a fully waterlogged field I reached my half way point, and spun around, ready to retrace my waterlogged steps. Back the way I'd come then. 10 more miles of wet slippery fun, in the ever present rain, which alternated from damp drizzle, to proper all out rain, at times thrown in my face, by a vicious wind. Do your best weather, some days you just can't be beaten and having set off in the rain, however bad it got didn't do much to dampen my spirits today! 3:30, plus a few odd minutes later, I got back to the car and considered my next move. Wet and muddy from the mornings efforts, no matter what happened the car was getting dirty. Shoes off, shoes on, wet and muddy socks off, or just leave them on and deal with the mess later? No matter what I do the cars getting full of mud, so I might as well just go home and get the hose pipe out! And you know what, half an hour later, stood in the back garden at home, washing mud from my shoes and legs with the icy cold water from the hosepipe I still had a smile on my face. Who says that winter weather has to stop play. You just need to face up to the fact your going to get cold, wet and muddy and make the most of it. At the end of the day, why should it only be children that get to jump and play in muddy puddles!
Oh, and I'm just going to leave this here, and say, bloody pigeons, that's my sprouts you *****
Well, there it was done. Another year older and another year wiser, or maybe not as the case may be.
It's been another funny year. Covid has continued to be at the forefront of everyone's attention and has somewhat limited some of the fun we could have been having, especially at the start of the year, but we did get some semblance of normality in the Summer and Autumn, so it's not been all bad. The weather's not been brilliant, with April having a frost pretty much every day, which is not only unusual, but held back the allotment growing season, considerably. We did have a week of glorious sunshine in July, which just happened to coincide with "The Emma" and I being on holiday, which made for a pleasant change. Although "The Emma" said it was too hot. I however was in my element! As always there's been a few highlights to the year; a new job, a new engine for the van, lots of running and cycling, summer flowers and plenty of pottering around enjoying myself. And there's been a few downsides; a new job and a new engine for the van (note how these two manage to make both lists), the passing of the "Old Cheese" and a few injury issues which curtailed my running fun for a few weeks. But generally it's been another good year for me. Whilst I'll sit down at some point over the coming weeks and put together a bit of a review of 2021 for the reminiscing pages of my website, I always think that it's worth just getting a few numbers and highlights down before the year ends, just to prove that I did on occasion get off my backside and practice what I preach. Happy new year everyone, here's hoping that 2022 will be as good as 2021 was. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In 2021 I; Cycled 6863 miles, Including too and from our holiday in the Peak District in July (200 miles each way), and a winter 500km Audax in Dec. Ran 1864 miles, including at least a marathon every month. In fact I ran 17 marathons in 2022, of which 9 were Ultra's, including two 50 mile monsters, and ran another 16 half marathons. Spent 41 Nights away in the Van, which is pretty good going considering that the first half of the year we were under Covid restrictions and not allowed out to play, and then it was off the road for nearly 3 months while I sorted out the engine issues, and spent another 6 nights Bivvying out, including 2 occasions when I woke up covered in frost! Wore out 3 pairs of running shoes, a couple of bike chains, 4 bike tyres and a few other consumables. Replaced the engine in my van. Maintained the allotment, keeping us in home grown, tasty, veg for the year, and made more Jam than you can shake a stick at, which makes me smile every day, when I dollop a spoonful into my porridge. Oh, and I've cycled or run to work every day since I started my new job in February! Yep, I'm happy with 2021, now lets see if we can beat those numbers in 2022! |
Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
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