well it was a hard ride today!

But lets take a step back to Thursday first. The forecast advised a bright day after some early fog and mizzle so i set off expecting a pleasant day in the saddle. As if, the odd spot of wet when i set off developed into more persistant precipitation for the first hour or so as i headed up onto the Cotswolds for a Wiltshire loop.

The wet eventually moved off but now it was muddy roads causing the issues - by my tea & burger stop at Chippenham it wasn't just the bike wearing a coat of Wiltshire, i was liberally splashed with the orange goop too despite sticking to tarmac throughout the ride. There was more gloop after lunch but by the time i reached Aquae Sulis it was reasonably warm, the roads mostly dry and the sun even made an appearance. I decided i deserved cake so i added a suitable halt then finished the ride with 103km in the can.

Friday was a bitty day, nothing quite going to plan then the weather on Saturday morning resulted in postponing my ride and instead doing a 7km 'hike' through the Frome valley (thats the Bristol Frome not the Frome or Stroud variants lol) On my return i spent some time sorting out the new Trixie book for Lulu - i've included links below for those interested.

So today, with a dry and bright forecast i set out to have my lunch up in Stroud, a mere 50km ride away. I decided to go clockwise, i usually go widdershins to get there for some reason, the lanes up past Cam were almost free of motorised traffic making it quite pleasant. Even Stroud was pretty quiet and i was soon nursing a veritable bucket of tea which washed down a tasty omelette and chips which tbh were a bit over done. I knew the afternoon would be more demanding and so it turned out, the long drag down to and through Nailsworth eventually took me to the rolling Cotswold plain, the wind doing its best to hinder my progress at every turn.

I tried to avoid the more exposed main roads but the effect wasn't that succesful. Even after dropping to lower climes there was little respite all the way to the door, a little shy of 110km but with a goodly 950m of vertical gain, mostly on the return leg. Which is where we started, i'm bushed, i ache and sleep will i'm sure, come readily when i get that far.

There is a new Gaby chapter up, Flighty is, i think part 17 of Only Five Minutes - I have the feeling that the chapter gremlins have been at work but this appears to follow from last weeks offering?

Here are the Lulu and Amazon links for the new Trixiebell book

For now thats me done, see you Wednesday,
Tschussie,
Madeline Anafrid