Gardening: A good start to the week but a terrible end!

Moon Daisies.

As most of you will know by now what had been a great week ended in disaster on Sunday 24th when I had a tumble from my bike resulting in my ending up in hospital. Don't ask me about the bike it is in safe custody with my friends Paul & Margaret along with my Garmin with the record of my last two rides.

So for the moment apart from any updates on my condition, there will be no postings.

I am at present being looked after by my daughter,

This is what I'd written before the unfortunate incident:

When I reviewed my blog for last week I was a bit disappointed that I'd only had two rides with a total mileage of 59 miles, the lowest total since the end of March. So, this morning, I decided to make amends. It was such a beautiful morning and I was up early so I got Txiki out and headed off to make up for it. I had a general idea of what I wanted to do and I headed to one of our normal meeting places for the Pedallers, Crawley Pond. The plan was to continue down the Test valley from there and to loop back to the South of Winchester to clock up, if possible, 50 miles. The plan worked well and the terrain at first was largely benign so I was able to minimise the use of E-power. Apart from my usual plan of looking out for flowers to add to my list, I noted the pubs I rode past. I listed 19 pubs in all, two that closed some time ago, and two that were within a stone's throw of the road on which I was riding. See how many you can guess from examining my map.

I weaved around a fair bit and in the end, was able to clock up the magic 100km. Do I get a Ton Up Badge for that?

I only used 48% of my E-power by only using it when necessary. The first 25% lasted for 48 miles the next 23% only 14.5 as it was very hilly.

Other flowers and trees.

A field of linseed (common flax)

Wood Cranes Bill I believe. (Geranium Family)

I believe these are a variety of Ash.

Avenue of Limes in Braishfield.
(Txiki is hiding behind the seat where I ate my snack).

There is an unusual story connected to this church. Charles Smith was executed for poaching and injuring a gamekeeper. He has two gravestones. Read more details by following this link.

charles-smith-poacher

St.John the Baptist, Church, North Baddesley

The lovely fine weather continued so on Wednesday 20th May I set off again, this time to the north exploring the hills to Overton and Hannington. Here are some of my pictures, map etc.