Unusually I had nothing planned for this weekend, not that that normally stops me from filling my time. The problem with this time of year is that you can’t trust the weather to behave and it’s generally a pretty quiet time of year anyway, people seem to have better things to do than go out to play. Imagine that!
I have got stuff that needs doing on the allotment, but it’s pretty wet up there at the moment and whilst the hedges need cutting back, I’m hanging off from doing that for as long as I can, as they’re full of berries which the birds rely on at this time of year, and I wouldn’t want to deprive them of their Christmas lunch. The greenhouse needs washing down too, but until all the leaves stop falling off the trees and the days start getting a bit longer there’s not much point in doing that either. I suppose I could have done some Christmas shopping, but as far as I’m concerned that’s a step too far for anyone and if I can’t make it myself or get it from e bay or Amazon it’s not going to happen! Not to worry through, where there’s a problem, there’s always a solution, and one presented itself mid-week in the form of a dirt-cheap hotel room for Friday night, so before you could say “where’s the map” I’d got a cheeky little overnight cycling adventure sorted.
Escaping from work on Friday afternoon, I was on my way to Amesbury, via Winchester and Salisbury, heading straight into a head wind that seemed intent on blowing me back to work again. Maybe that’s just God’s way of telling me that I shouldn’t be slinking away from work early on a Friday, but 70 miles straight into a headwind was certainly going to be interesting afternoon!
Despite the wind I made fairly good progress until the outskirts of Winchester, when I hit the Friday afternoon traffic chaos. Half an hour of stop / start progress and wiggling my way through stationary traffic, whilst trying to work out where I was going did nothing for my enjoyment of the afternoon, I can tell you. A situation that wasn’t improved much by the icy gale that I fought, during the long slog of a climb to get out of the other side of town. In fact, by the time I’d got through Winchester and was on my way to Salisbury I was starting to wonder what the hell I was doing and considering turning around and getting a free ride back home courtesy of the wind. I’ve said before though, that if nothing else, I’m a stubborn old git. So, after a quick stop for a choccy bar to lift my mood a bit I was soon back to the slow grind, after all, standing around feeling sorry for myself certainly wasn’t going to get me there, was it! Eventually, I arrived at the outskirts of Salisbury amidst the real rush hour traffic. I don’t know if your familiar with Salisbury, but it’s bad enough at the best of times, and rush hour on a Friday is a whole new world of impatience, frustration and queuing. The only advantage to being on a bike is that you can sidle through the stationary traffic, you need to be on top of your game though and have your wits about you, as there’s plenty of people who think it’s clever to try and block you off, or open their door into your path, just for giggles and because they don’t like the fact you’re moving while they’re not!
That’s the worst bit over though and finally coming back out onto quiet country lanes for the last few miles was a real blessing. Peace, quiet and fresh air, just the sound of tyres running along the wet road surface and the occasional crunch as you lurch down, yet another rain filled pothole!
By the time I finally reached my night stop with just over 75 miles in the bag for the day (including the 11 miles in to work in the morning) I was pretty much spent. I don’t mind admitting that between the head wind, the cold temperatures, and the traffic, it had been a hard day’s riding and I wanted nothing more than a brew and an early night. Which was lucky, as I can confirm that the services and luxury Travelodge at Amesbury has no redeeming features whatsoever!
After my early night, things seemed a lot better in the morning. In fact, the sun was shining, there was a patchy frost on the ground and the wind had dropped right away, which though pleasant was unfortunate, as a wind assisted ride home would have made up for yesterdays slog! Not to worry through, I wasn’t going back the same way anyhow, choosing to make a bit of a circular route out of the weekend by heading up towards Devizes and Marlborough before picking up more familiar roads to head for home via Hungerford.
I managed some fast miles, on quiet roads, for the first couple of hours too, and was through Marlborough before I stopped for my second breakfast of the day. A very pleasant half hour sat by the roadside with a flask of tea and a few biscuits watching the world go by, always lifts the spirits and in the cold morning sun, certainly did the trick today. That’s not going to get me home though, so push on I must. After Marlborough the terrain changes as you get into the North Wessex downs, not that I’m complaining, as this is a lovely part of the country and I’d rather sacrifice a bit of speed for something interesting to look at and a few climbs!
A quick stop in Hungerford amidst the Christmas shoppers to grab a sandwich and I was onto roads that are familiar from all those mornings out and short-day rides. There’s not much need for a map from here on in, in fact my bike probably knows the way home better than I do and with that familiarity, comes the ability to relax a bit more and enjoy those final few miles.
One last climb then, to get over the top of the hill at Kingsclere and it’s all down hill from there, home in time for tea and cake, although that doesn’t tell you much, as it’s always cake O’clock as far as I’m concerned! 150 Miles across the two days made it a worthwhile night away from home, and at £35 for the nights’ salubrious accommodation, a cheap adventure too. Yes, I’ll admit that the trip down wasn’t particularly pleasant, but that’s all part of the game isn’t it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you need a few hard days to make the good days seem all the more special!
Now, I don’t normally reveal my future plans, but some idiots decided that having a go at running the Brenda Parker Way in one go might be a good idea. To that end, a bit, of route planning and reconnaissance is the current focus of my running attentions.
I’m no navigator, in fact, I seem to be able to get lost at the drop of a hat, and when I do get off track, I find it incredibly frustrating, especially when I’m tired! So, to try and limit my getting lost opportunities and to open up the running locations a bit more, I’m tying to cover random bits of the route that I think may be problematic beforehand. At least that way I might know I’m lost before I get right in the proverbial. To that end, I headed up to Bramley on Sunday morning, to get in a few running miles and take advantage of the opportunity to get lost a few times. To be honest it was a good job I did too as there were a couple of bits that weren’t too clear either on the map or on the ground and I managed to get off route a couple of times. That’s the whole point of this little exercise though, if I can spot the pitfalls now, then when it comes to going the whole way, hopefully I’ll remember them and avoid the little mistakes that soon add on the miles and frustrations.
16 miles made for a pleasant outing and wasted a few hours of my Sunday morning, and to be honest it was a lovely morning for running. The temperature had shot up overnight and I was out in just shorts and a long sleeve top. There’s something special about feeling the mud splashing up against your bare legs as you run through the puddles, it’s a far nicer feeling than cold, damp, running leggings and a dam sight easier to clean off too!
I’m not so sure that all the shoppers would have agreed, as I wandered the isles on the lookout for something for lunch as I made my way home with still muddy legs and sweaty shorts though! Not bad for a quiet weekend with nothing planned then. Obviously, I’m no closer to getting the allotment ship shape, I’ve still not done any Christmas shopping (in fact I’m hoping it will just go away) and I’m no closer to finishing off all the other jobs that I’m supposed to be doing either. But I am having fun, and at the end of the day that’s all that matters!
1 Comment
The Emma
15/12/2021 17:32:56
What do you mean, you haven’t done any Christmas shopping?! (Neither have I 😉)
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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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