A very good weekend at a lovely camp site. It was busy, but there is lots of space between the pitches which is nicely unmown grass, with lots of Things living in it, I'm sure.
Here's one:
Some sort of steroid-enhanced earwig, I reckon. Fast-moving and a bugger to photograph, anyway.
Beasties aside, the site gets a thumbs up from me: The meadow-mown-into-individual-pitches approach works well. The area's lumpy but the pitches themselves are reasonably flat, no drainage or pegging issues. Decent loos (though no lighting and only cold water in their sinks), the barn area with the showers and pot wash (which did have hot water) was poorly lit, but the showers themselves were fine (with plenty of space to put your stuff). Little shop with firewood, ice creams and the usual bits and bobs. Charging sockets™. Cafe at the airfield. Owner who seemed enthusiastic about having us.
3°C when I woke up this morning. Kim told me it had been 1°C at 3am, and Julia had ice on her tent. I expect the rest of us did too, but I didn't notice. Luckily, I had taken warm stuff (sleeping bag and lightweight Alpkit quilt) so was very comfortable.
1°C on the Garmin, reading from the Ant+ sensor under my recumbent seat, 11.5°C on the bike computer, reading the ambient temperature in my tent. This is why small tents are better when it's cold!
I was warm in my sleeping bag and liner, with the down jacket draped on top for the first hour or so. The hot water bottle was overkill, and the only reason I didn't evict it was in anticipation of the temperature dropping before dawn.
We had a pretty decent ride yesterday which involved a tea room in Kineton. At one point we stopped because some model aircraft enthusiasts were operating their World War 1 style biplane and triplane in some sort of aerobatic chase.
When we first arrived, there was a jet-powered model in flight. I've never seen one running before, and the thrust to weight ratio was spectacular. Not quite as entertaining as the propeller-driven dogfighting though.
In the afternoon, we found a ford, where Nothing didn't happen:
None of the bicycle riders liked the look of the stony bottom, and cycleman made some excuse about mixing water with electricity. The freshness of the looks-like-tractor-wheels tracks was commented on, and as if on cue a large caterpillar-tracked tractor pulling an Agricultural Machine Thingy™ appeared and demonstrated its fording technique, which Nye would doubtless have appreciated.
My tickets were to Leamington Spa, but I decided to return via Warwick station as it's a little closer to Wellesbourne and the approach can be along a quieter road (Kim led me astray here )
Yeah, my planned route was somewhat hill-avoidant, as I wasn't sure about my Achilles, and generally worked better in the opposite direction. (I was using the poorly-mapped but well-built roundabout underpass which joins the minor road at Sherbourne to the B4463, rather than the more usual Hampton Lucy to Norton Lindsey route.
I'm struggling to remember Warwick station. I must have been there at some point, but I can only remember Warwick Parkway, which like all partway stations, is best avoided.
I reckon we should do this one again next year...