Saturday evening I cooked some lentils and rice, put them in a big plastic container (and that in a plastic bag, just to be sure... but it wasn't actually needed). Sunday morning they went into the saddlebag. Up through the lanes, Tortworth, two guys in Bristol Road Club jerseys looking in vain at the locked gate of the Farmer's Table, then up the A38 for a time to take advantage of the following wind. Traffic was about normal for a Sunday, ie less than most A roads, but seemed slower. Almost as if everyone had decided to obey the 50mph speed limit for some previously unknown reason. Up to Whitminster then back down through Nupend to eat my self-sufficient, socially distant lunch of lentilly goodness by the canal. Very pleasant and while it wasn't the best dal I've ever made, it wasn't bad and certainly filled me up.
There has previously been talk of carrying handgel. Well, thought I, soap and water is better than gel. A little bar of soap in a plastic container, water is always on the bike, good. But there is a problem with this; it uses a surprisingly large amount of water. I didn't run out but with nowhere to refill on a hot day, maybe the gel is a better pre-lunch solution. More seriously, nowhere to get tea! I ought to have anticipated this and taken a thermos. Definite tea withdrawal symptoms kicking in towards the end...
Then home on the lanes, slogging into a hard headwind. I actually stopped for a snooze in field... Getting back to Olveston, another problem created by covid-time habits. There was a sign outside the church, "Cyclists! Stop for cake! Cake 50p, raising money for foodbank." Who could resist? There was a little table with cake, bottles of water and an honesty box. The problem was I've given up carrying cash – haven't used any since before lockdown – with no other way to pay, I had to go home cakeless. At least I had my lentilly goodness inside me!