7th November 2011

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One can live in a thatched bindingsværk (timber-framed) cottage and still enjoy the usual facilities.

7th 45F, 7C, heavy overcast, cold and windy. I put on the Belstaff Cyclone jacket as the Ventour was proving just a little too chilly for comfort. I'm using my TA cap under the Abus helmet to adjust how warm I get. Still wearing the usual racing shorts and short-sleeved racing jersey, from my collection, over long polyester underwear. I wear medium weight socks year round under my Tahoe cycling shoes. The soles of the latter are slowly wearing away but are still safe and the plates quiet when I'm clomping around the supermarkets. The toe bumpers started coming unstuck but haven't become worse with time.

My latest £5 sunglasses have proved to  be the only ones so far which do not bring my forehead out in a red, allergic rash! These have a violet coating over clear lenses. So don't make things darker when it is overcast or even completely dark.

Yellow and orange lenses are like being on hallucinatory drugs. Or so I would imagine. Everything is too bright and cheerful. I am inspired to stop and take a photo. Then find the results drab. Because the images haven't been augmented by the bright sunglasses. :-)

We seem to be stuck in a rut with the weather. Mostly overcast, 8-10C, grey days with wind. At the moment it is blowing from the NE. Which is unusual, cold and quite unpleasant. 

I forgot to take my GPS loggers today so had to use my computer for my mileage. Stopped several times to photograph buildings and to shop. Only 20 miles.

8th 44F, 7C, very heavy overcast, cold wind rising, damp and depressing. My blue sunglasses didn't help lift my spirits.  It is almost dark indoors. I'll have to find some outdoor chores to do. Only 10 miles.


9th 47F, 8C, light winds, heavy grey overcast, light mist. I set off in hope of finding a simple panel switch. No luck at the timber merchant/DIY store. No electrical shops in any of the villages I passed through. No switches on the shelves in any of the supermarkets.

The organic carrots I brought black were black all over! I should have looked at them properly! At ten miles back to the shop they won't be going back today. Isn't it up to the supermarket  to check its stock is of merchantable quality? It seems not in Denmark. The standard of pre-packed organic potatoes, bananas and carrots is often pitiful.

The grey skies continue to depress me. I forgot to take the yellow glasses instead  of the pale blue.

Somebody was once proud enough of their property to have a high quality gate constructed. Now it only  leads to a garden lawn. Note the massive, beech tree trunk!  

  Somebody hasn't played with their train set in a very long time!

There is a special nostalgia surrounding disused, village, railway stations. Once active centres of the village life their demise leaves an aching emptiness. It is true that many homes finally gained a bit of peace and quiet, of course. The old station buildings are in need of some tender loving care. Unusually so, because they often seem to make attractive and desirable homes.

The Ventus GPS logger fell asleep half way around again. It doesn't seem to cope well when covered by a jacket. Even thin jackets like the Belstaff. I always use the back pockets of my racing jersey's for the loggers. It makes most sense that they can see the sky more easily. 20 miles.

10th 43F, 6C, heavy grey overcast, very cold wind. Even riding with the wind it felt cold. I was cruising at 19-20mph for a while. Crawling back at 8-9mph! For GPS loggers to see the sky they have to be switched on and taken with me. Not again! Memory like a sieve! I did manage to swap the useless rear light for a new one. 20miles by bike computer.

11.11.11 37F, 3C, windy, sunny periods, cold. Clear last night so there was some frost in a few of the hollows. The sun burst out of the clouds at 9 and then plunged straight back in again. The forecast was sun all day. I'm queuing for my refund after days of grey gloom.

An interesting addition jutting from an ancient, timber-framed farm. A bread oven? This section is the living accommodation rather than an outbuilding. Though I suppose it could have been a smithy in the dim distant past.

I put on me Esse jacket at my wife's suggestion. A good idea too as it was perfectly suited to the cold, blustery conditions. I doubt I'd have stayed out very long if I had worn any other jacket from my collection.

 The Christmas season is already upon us. Young chaps with cherry pickers are in the woods collecting conifer branches. (well twigs really) They bring huge trailers full to central yards where they are forked into wheeled cages or display pallets ready for the supermarkets. £2 equivalent a twig? That's a nice little earner! The picture is of just a fraction of one outdoor working area. Note that these are left outside, beside  a main road, completely unattended for over a week without theft. This is Denmark for you.They have moved on from prickly Christmas trees to Nobilis and Grandis. Which make prettier decorations than the sparse needles of the traditional tree. If this had been Britain it would probably all have been stolen and loaded on a truck for illegal distribution. Though not before the local, feral kids had thrown as much as possible at passing cars and tried to set light to the remaining heaps.

They have been harvesting the potatoes as well. By machine, rather than the child labour. As was used in the past. There is still a "Potato Holiday" in October when the children would traditionally take time off school to pick potatoes.

The pile here is over 200 metres/yards long!

Going quite strongly today despite the wind. I have pumped up the Bontrager tyres rock hard and the "road roar" has come back. 20 miles, shopping and photography.