hmm, where to start?

Bikes i think. Thursday then i did a nice loop aeound North Somerset with lunch at Clevedon. I invariably end up finishing a lot of my rides along the Bristol/Bath bike path, this time i joined it at the railway centre at Bitton, thinking i'd stop at Warmley a couple of miles up the path, for tea and cake. I was just contemplating what cake i fancied when several things happened almost at once. First the bars were nearly wrenched from my grip then in short order there were two loud explosions and i was riding on the rim, Sugar and other expletives flashed through my head as i brought the bike to a halt.

There was a bench just a few metres back so i headed for that to check the damage and do the repairs, finding the culprit, a piece of granite chipping maybe 3cm square from the rail bed that shares this section of the route. Yep, somehow i'd hit it edge on with not one wheel but both, by the marks on the stone the first impact had propelled it straight under the rear tyre. I carry a spare tube as well as patches so i set about sorting things out, gratefully accepting a tube from a passing rider which saved trying to patch the huge snakebites in either of the damaged tubes. 111km for the day.

And so to yesterday, Saturday, the last day of Summertime. I planned on doing a good ride out, maybe to Devizes but barely 2 miles after setting out there was a hiss and the tell tale bump, bump of a deflation. Having used my spare i decided to abort to restock that essential. Departure two @ 30 minutes later was going to be a slimmed down version of my earlier plan and everything was going hunky dory for 34km then psst, psst, psst again - how did i upset the fairy this much.

On checking the tyre, the tiny hole thats been there for months was now 3/4mm and a combination of that and the damp roads had abraded the tube. Clearly any repair would be subject to similar damage so for the second time i decided to abort, hoping that i could 'nurse' the tyre back without another deflation. I managed it, 70km in the end, and set about changing the tyre.

By now it was mid afternoon and i'd not had lunch due to the aborts so i decided to go out for a third time to rectify that. So i got a baked tater at Warmley then, as i was out anyway, did a loop down to Bath before returning. Another 111km day in total and lets hope i've appeased the Fairy now.

Writing next. Friday i spent working on the full version of Gaby Book 27, eventually i was happy enough to submit it to Amazon in both digital and dead tree form. The system seems to be working well as both versions are now available so if you've been patient you can get the whole book in one single volume. With the whole inflation thing going on everywhere i've kept the price as low as possible, Amazon suggested charging almost double what you'll pay, the knock on is that my 'cut' is reduced so i need more of you to buy it to stay afloat! ( I will be doing Lulu versions, they should be ready by midweek)

So here you go, if you click here for Kindle and here for Dead Tree you can read the next 440+ page, 100k + word set of adventures in the comfort of your own reading nest.

And there's more! As promised, i've posted the first chapter of the 25th Gaby book, Only Five Minutes this morning. This will be the new Sunday serial which will be running through to next summer, read Band Aid now.

Phew, i think that's all my news for today, of course the clocks went back last night so we're into the dark evenings which means Hallowe'en tomorrow and for UK folks, next Saturday is Bonfire Night when we celebrate Mr Fawkes and friends failing to blow up parliament over 400 years ago.

There we are and nary a mention of the weather!

Tschussie,
Madeline Annafrid