Heavenly

Destination Thursday:  Bath Abbey (and the Thermae Baths)

Destination Friday:  Wells Cathedral

These past few days have been quite simply heavenly.  I could not have been more fortunate, picking a week to take my break during which I have been blessed with a streak of weather better than I can remember for quite some time.  It has enabled me to do exactly what I set out to do – get out on my bike, and clock up some miles.  Riding alone on unfamiliar winding country roads, traversing this green and pleasant land, picking destinations and midpoints according to the attractiveness of the signposted place name has been terrific food for mind, body and soul.

It has reminded me a little of some of my earliest cycling memories.  Not learning to ride my first bike, on Clapham Common, but riding around Rutland, from my grandmother’s house on my prize possession, a beautiful metallic grey Raleigh that was bought for me one Christmas (I suspect it might have been something of a Christmas-Birthday combo).  It was but a 3-speed, which whilst perfectly serviceable in and around Oakham and the surrounding countryside, might not have fared so well in and around Somerset where the landscape has caught me (and my quads) by surprise.  

I’m pleased to report that I felt distinctly more comfortable with the regular undulations on my third outing, having acclimatised after about 50 miles of ups and downs.  A good metaphor really – that things do get easier, even if the territory doesn’t change much, but one’s endurance improves.  An important step along the way was probably the alteration of my expectations – I have learnt to expect not to fly around the villages, but progress in a gradual fashion.  My average cadence has been somewhat dismal, at sub 12 mph, but I have on occasion exceeded 36mph descending with a tailwind.  All in all, it has been a fantastic break with a complete change of scenery and a serious breath of very fresh air.