My Birthday Week.

Thursday 26th June the day after my birthday.
Unfortunately Simon was unable to join me so I enjoyed a solo ride to the HCMF meet at The Wheatsheaf, Braishfield. I had to go of course as it was my turn to buy the drinks. I was wearing a birthday present from Jean, a KOM jersey! Have I earned it? I'll let you all decide.

I wanted to take a couple of pictures to post on Facebook in the manner set by Simon Hall. To ask "friends" to identify the location.

 Here are the three pictures I took. Kathy has already identified the Pig City and has a good idea as the where the poppies are. Any more guesses? The church is a difficult one but the clue is I took it on my way home.

Pig City

The ? Way through the poppies>

Tucked Away Church in the distance.

I took a the road through Eldon, the first time I'd been along it for years. It was so narrow in places that I either had to ride on the gravel in the middle of the road or get stung by the overhanging roadside nettles.

I arrived at the pub just before noon to discover a couple of riders already there. We were soon joined by more and we had a very good al fresco lunch. I was sporting my new KOM Jersey together with my octogenarians medal given to me by one of my very good friends,

More members arrived over the next hour or so and I enjoyed their birthday wishes and shared a celebratory beverage.
One pair produced a chess set and settled into a match.

The Winchester group arrived as often rather later than the others and after a brief chat with them I set off on my return journey.

Some of the assembled members. 

Chess Players.

The day had started out quite cool but the sun had now come out and it was much warmer. I headed back to through Slackstead to Standon and then up the lane to Sparsholt before cutting across the  edge of the city  via Dean and Harestock.

When I got home I was disappointed to discover that my Garmin file was corrupted and would not upload to Garmin Connect, but for some reason did upload to RidewithGPS. So the map has been produced from that site:

A great way to spend a day out with friends, most of whom I have known since I started cycling again six or more  years ago.

Saturday 28th June 2014.
A rather more prosaic ride today. Due to a number of circumstances I was unable to join the Winchester CTC ride and instead did my own thing. In view of the forecast for rain I got off as early as I could just after 10 o'clock. I decided to do a short training route I'd done several times before via Bentwoth to Lasham.

In Bentworth I discovered a number of scarecrow type figures outside some of the houses. Some sort of competition for the village fete which was taking place this afternoon. Here are some of them:

Bentworth  Characters!

It started to rain as I entered Lasham village so I sheltered in the Lychgate and then in the porch of the church. Took the opportunity to have a look inside the church too. A peaceful but somewhat gloomy interior without any artificial light as the windows are very narrow. A lovely picture of the Madonna and child.

When the rain eased I set off once more intending to get a coffee at the Lasham Gliding Club, but the rain increased once more and I decided that it would be wise to keep going and keep up my core temperature by working hard rather than sitting around getting cold, The tactic worked  for I was soon out of the rain and into sunshine. I took advantage of the improved weather to add a few more miles before arriving home almost on the stroke of one.

Another fast ride thanks to the inclement weather which had spurred me on.

A very good  way to start my 81st year, sadly I'd only managed just over 70 miles in all rather than the 80 I'd aimed for!

I have had a lovely birthday week with a lot of cards and greetings via Face Book from all my friends. Thank you all very much.

Gridiroman,