It’s been a bit of a “bitsa” week this week, that’s “bitsa” as in bits of this and bits of that, but nothing really worthy of note. I managed to get bit of adventuring in over the weekend with an extended cycle trip down to the coast to see “The Old Cheese”. Before anyone start’s pointing or throwing stones, in this case due to the circumstances, it is a fully legitimate and Covid compliant trip, although judging by the amount of traffic about and the number of people milling around, I’d say that any pretence that we were still in a lockdown has now gone fully out of the window. Having cycled into work on Friday morning with my overnight kit, I was away in good time Friday afternoon and back on the bike for the 60 mile leg down though the South Downs National Park towards Brighton. After the midweek gales trying to blow us off the face of the earth, Friday wasn’t too bad and what wind there was, despite still being pretty blustery, was almost blowing from behind so didn’t cause any real problems. It’s not a bad little route this, sticking mainly to quiet back roads and passing through a number of pretty little villages, whilst avoiding all the major urban areas until you get right to the coast. Despite a heavy rain shower towards the end and a general feeling of tiredness in my poor old legs after a full week of commuting into work by bike and running, it was quite a pleasant day to be out and about, and with the rolling terrain keeping things interesting and a few bigger climbs thrown in too stop me from getting complacent, the miles fairly flew by and I made my destination well before dark. Obviously having made the journey down by bike, at some point I was somehow going to have to get back home again and after a good day with “The Old Cheese” on Saturday I was up early to retrace my steps (or should that be peddle strokes) on Sunday morning. On the road before the traffic and with the sun shining, the first couple of hours of the trip back were lovely and it wasn’t long before I’d had to stop and strip off a couple of layers. Unfortunately that didn’t last long, as by the time I stopped for a brew at about 09:30 the wind had picked up considerably and was blowing, coldly and strongly, straight in my face! Not to be downhearted though there’s only one thing to do when it’s cold and the winds in your face and that’s to man up, get your head down and get on with it! Luckily, as I mentioned earlier, the terrain throughout is what you would probably call rolling (or hilly if your that way inclined) which gives the odd bit of shelter from the wind (normally when your going uphill anyway), and stops it from becoming too much of an in too wind slog, whilst helping to kept the effort levels up and stopping you getting too cold into the bargain. The gods of weather must have been looking down favorably on me though, as the rain managed to stay away until I got home, when I kid you not, it absolutely threw it down just as I was putting the kettle on having put my bike away and got in the back door! Now what are the chances of that happening? It’s normally the other way around and it stops just as you get in. Not a bad little adventure then and better too have put 140 miles into my legs than added to the traffic and pollution by doing the same journey in the van. Free training as they say, and what’s not to like about that! In other news, it was “The Emmas” birthday in the week and you can’t let a birthday go by without a birthday cake. There was however 2 small problems with my cake plans 1) The pesky Emma was at home whenever I was, so it’s wouldn’t be much of a surprise and 2) I couldn’t be doing with making a special journey to the shops just to get cake stuff. Not insurmountable problems by any stretch of the imagination and a little bit of lateral thinking and a quick bit of tinkering once “The Emma” had gone into work for a night shift had this little delight knocked up in short time. A packet of supermarket cookies, brownies and Cornflake cakes and hey presto, one comedy birthday cake. Job done! And that’s about it for this week, a quick trip up to the allotment Sunday afternoon to check that it was still there after the midweek gales gave me the chance to check on the seeds I sowed a few weeks back and I can report that everything has now germinated (That’s early Cabbage, Sweet peas and Broad beans).
The Goosberry’s and Current’s, along with the Rhubarb are just starting to show signs of new growth too and the Robin’s were busy in the hedge singing their hearts out, showing off and trying to attract a suitable mate. All further signs that spring is on its way along with better weather and the chance to get out and about a bit more. If it stays warmish and looks promising for next week I’ll look at getting a few more seeds sown in the greenhouse and start thinking about sowing Chilli’s and Peppers on a warm window sill to give them a head start soon.
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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
March 2024
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