otherwise known as catching up with Maddy.

So you find me today in a sorry state, my duff shoulder hurts, my bad knee isn't so comfortable and i've got blistered toes - and that's only the stuff that's currently annoying me. Add in the sore back, lurking hay fever etc, etc and i'm a right sorry individual! OTOH i'm feeling quite chirpy and positive so i'll not complain about my broken body too vociferously.

To be honest, the thing thats giving me most issue is my feet, for whatever reason, whichever pair of shoes i've worn this week, i've ended up with blisters or rubs, shoes that have previously been comfortable have become items of torture. I want to go out walking but don't want to mash the tootsies further, grrr - maybe i'll try a trip to the Swedish shop a bit later.

So what have i been up to? Well the grey weather and sore feet kept me down to not much over a shopping trip on Monday but yesterday i donned the lycra and headed out into the countryside aboard the Mares (My Focus 'cross bike that i rode down from GOC last week). I didn't have much of a plan, collect a few more dead ends, perhaps spot some archaeology but I wasn't looking to do a huge distance or tackle anything too testing.

A wibbly route occupied the morning, taking me out to Sherston on the Cotswold where i halted for my sandwich stop. It was a grey day but warm enough, just, to sit for a while watching the world go by. Back on two wheels i headed north to do a loop back to Brizzle.

Of course, what started out as a simple loop became more elaborate, longer and more testing, the distance and metres increasing as my head if not my body got into a more cycling mode. Even after a slightly hairy descent from the Cotswolds the route i found myself taking was less than direct, swinging out towards the Severn before eventually finding the most popular north/south route for bikes out of Brizzle for the last twenty K. So much for not going for distance, the comp stopped with over 125km covered and 1100+m of up in the legs, besides the sore back etc!

Today is looking quite warm with a lot more sunshine, the fruit and veg will enjoy that and i may well get that walk in - subject to comfy shoes! The 'garden' is looking quite verdant, looks like we'll have a reasonable crop if not quite as much as we envisioned - the brassicas have all so far failed to show any sign of edible goods but we have some fruit and the root veg is looking quite good.

Today's Gaby chapter is Snow Way, part 35 of The Visitors. Its time for the testing at Manchester and Jules takes her teenage rebellion a bit further.

Well thats it for today and indeed for the first half of 2021 - where has the year gone? I'll be back, all being well, at the weekend but for now it's goodbye from her and goodbye from me,
Tschuss,
Madeline Anafrid