Home & Away

This week I have ridden all three of my bikes:

Tuesday, Txiki with the Pedallers.
Wednesday, Paris, solo on gravel tracks.
Sunday, Posh, solo to the pub.

Enjoyed three very different days.

Tuesday 11th June.

Rode to Stoke Charity to meet the other Pedallers. Got there far too early so as it was quite chilly, to keep warm, I went to Wonston along the pretty lane through Hunton then back over the hill. Four others joined me and we agreed to go to the Avenue Garden Centre at Lasham for our lunch break. We avoided the lane from East Stratton to Brown Candover as it is very inclined to have lots of loose gravel after the rain. After a nice lunch break, we headed South through Bentworth to Lower Wield. I left the others at Totford. A most enjoyable ride once again.

Wednesday 12th June.

The not very big dam.Dam. 

Drove in TeeTee to Harpenden where I visited my friend Alf on my way back in Cambridgeshire for another short break. I arrived at the C&MH Club Grafham Water site on Wednesday at about 13.30. With rain forecast, I got changed as quickly as possible and set out on Paris to circumnavigate the lake. The track was a mixture of hard packed stone, soil and loose gravel with occasional paved sections, mainly on the hills. Paris & I managed it easily. In places I enjoyed good views of the lake, in others, the path lead was through woods and alongside fields of rape and barley. Needed to keep my mouth shut to avoid swallowing small flies!

The water control tower.

The level of water was low, so the rain is needed. I stopped a few times, once for a cup of coffee and cake at the Lakeside Cafe and chatted with another cyclist who was riding an e-bike with massive tractor tyres, another time to talk to two other cyclists and then a visit to Rutland Cycles. 

It was getting increasingly cloudy and started to rain gently when I was about half way round. Fortunately, I had my waterproof coat and only got damp. Nice village community shop and next door a community pub which is open on Thursday to Sunday evenings only. Did not even cover 10 miles but it was a good reconnaissance of the area.  

Thursday 13th June.

One of the many paths through the woods.

A really horrible day to start. It had rained all night and it continued until after lunch so I did not get on my bike again. Instead, I forked out £3 so I could use Wi-Fi. That enabled me to upload my route and data from Wednesday deal with some important emails and play some games to help pass the time. 

View from the lakeside cafe.

The afternoon was much better and as the roads were still very wet I decided to go for a walk instead. It proved to be a good choice as I was able to do some birdwatching and take more photos of the countryside. 

Migrant birds mopping up the flies over the water while the woods were alive with small birds. Waterbirds and rabbits to enliven the banks too and several windmills generating power nearby.

I spotted a nuthatch on the trunk of a pine near to where workers were building piles of logs. To form habitat for other creatures? 

The margins of the lake form important areas of woodland for wildlife.

There were a number of sailing boats on the lake making the most of the strong breeze.

I visited the village church where I was lucky to find it well decorated with flowers left from a flower festival service on Sunday last.

Back at the Camp, I had tea and a rest then in the evening I walked to the Community Pub the GrafhamTrout where I enjoyed the craic with other customers and the barmaid who was a zoologist working part-time to fund a PhD on the provision of safe migratory passages for elephants in Botswana. It started to rain again so it was a good excuse to tarry there a little longer!

Eventually, I walked back in the drizzle, on the way meeting a large group of boy cyclists with several adults who were riding round the lake in pursuit of a Boy Scout badge in cycling. They seemed to be having a lot of fun despite the rain.

Friday 14th June.

Left the site and headed for Cambridge to visit my friend Liz. Unfortunately despite our having agreed I would visit her around 11 a.m she was not at home. She thought that I was visiting on Saturday.  I found an interesting way home via some country roads and then the M25 and M3 along with a few thousand other cars. It was slow in places but I was still home by 2 p.m. I did find an interesting place to stop for coffee near St.Albans. The Reel Cafe near some lakes. I had a delicious piece of lemon drizzle cake and a coffee for the princely sum of £2.50 whilst enjoying a dry day with some sunshine. A nice end to an interesting break.

Sunday 16th June.

Garmin has recorded top speed as 36.2 mph which I think is more credible. Also, the moving speed as 12.2. Same data from the unit with different interpretations by various apps.

Gridironman.