Well, I knocked back my first 50* of the year this morning, I suppose something to be chuffed about: it even had a decent bit of - er, let's call it "not-horizontal" - in it! And at the moment my legs are telling me they don't love me for doing this to them, but my back, bum, etc. have kept quiet. It was bl**dy hot, almost road-melting hotness in a few places. Now that's something we haven't seen for a few years...!
And I had to get off and walk for about fifty yards. I forgot that
this little bit of road doesn't join up: obvious when you look closely at Streetmap, but easy to overlook when you're consulting a grubby OS 1:50,000 at the roadside. The joining bit is a length of rough gravel, fine for MTBs but I didn't want to risk it. I've been caught out at that self-same road before.
And another thing: how fast is a combine 'arvester meant to be able to go? (cue: "
ooohhh aaarrrrrr"s everyone!). There I was sweeping along a narrow country lane (helped by a gentle downslope) at a nice steady 21mph or so, and there was Farmer Giles up behind me and
drafting me, making his intentions perfectly obvious. FFS, he took up the entire width of the road, god only knows how he proposed to get past me! (or deal with anyone coming the other way). I let him get past me
after we'd both turned onto a wider main road and it was now slightly uphill for me. Not without some trepidation as his steering was decidedly wobbly. It's not all cement trucks and bendy-buses!
*
miles of course!