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Monday 23rd 66F, 19C, sunny but still blowing a westerly gale. 18 miles.Tuesday 24th 62F, 17C, bright periods, light winds. Rain forecast after lunch. I'd better go out this morning.
It will never fly!
I even took a detour to climb a long hill. No sign of rain yet. Saw a young chap on his streamlined TT bike several times. Far too low a cadence IMHO but he was going at twice my speed downhill. 21 miles.
Wednesday 25th 61-68F, 16-20C, winds fairly light, sunny with large plates of cloud. Just missed a local downpour. Birds of prey hunting over a marsh. Too many flies at the moment. 32 miles.
Thursday 26th 61-68F, 16-20C, another pleasant ride through the countryside. Winds light with the windmills standing still until I was on my way home. I passed an old boy on a tractor spraying a crop of onions. It smelt like paint thinners. He was travelling very slowly and spraying right beside the road but there were no alternative routes for me to take. Saw lots of birds of prey again including a Red kite hunting. The sky is constantly full of Swallows and the air full of birdsong at the moment. The crops are softening the landscape. 34 miles.Friday 27th 57-70F, 14-21C, heavy overcast, almost still. Thundery showers possible. (again) A fox cup popped out of the crops as I approached their usual spot. Further on I saw a shredded corpse but could not clearly identify the animal. It might have been a Polecat but there was little left of somebody's meal. A Greater spotted woodpecker landed nearby in the woods. Where a forestry machine was (noisily) thinning the weaker conifers and clearing the fire breaks. Coming back down from the woods there was an acoustic dome of Skylarks singing which Dolby Labs could only dream of. Loads of butterflies about today. The warblers seem to be having a rest from singing today.
I had a tailwind riding to the shops. Then a strong headwind coming back. I'm going out again after lunch. No I'm not! Gardening takes precedence over gallivanting on a trike! Never start what you can't finish. Only 13 miles.
Saturday 28th 57-63F, 14-17C, overcast, light winds, slightly misty. My 3 hour walk, to manage only 6 miles, rapidly turned to chaos as my usual way was continuously baulked by brambles. The woods were full of them and the edges of the crops were too. Within a short time I was soaked from head to toe from fighting my way through head-tall plants including nettles and thistles! The spray tracks are closed by 5'-6' tall daisies in many places. My ride was rather spoilt by speeding traffic everywhere I went! I cannot decide whether they are too lazy to think about their actions or simply too thick to be able to think at all. Much of what irritates me most about poor driving must surely be pure laziness. Too lazy to apply the brakes until the very last moment is commonplace. How many times have you seen cars race up behind a slow queue before braking violently? Were they so lazy they were hoping to avoid braking altogether? Too lazy to pause before overtaking dangerously is another one. As if some god-given right ensures they are not required to take any action except steer around any obstacle in their race to an early grave. Too lazy to drive right around any corner. [Usually protected by double white lines.] When a straighter line using the opposite lane will do.
I did another detour which took in a long hill. Climbing well. Caught in a 200 yard wide shower just before home. Which was rather weird. 19 miles.
Another village with 98% illegally speeding traffic has been "upgraded" with more of those invisible speed signs. Or lollipops as I prefer to call them. Though eye candy is certainly not the term I would use.
These signs only become visible when a police car is present. Except when the police car is speeding too. Then the traffic automatically reverts to the national (rural) speed limit (or above) and the lollipops become completely invisible again. The lollipops are rather large and placed frequently enough to become rather an eyesore in a pretty village. Not to mention their having no real purpose, at all. So, perhaps they could be made to pop up out of the ground only when a police car is present? Except when the police car is speeding of course. Then the signs could stay down and not bother anybody. [Except me!!]
I can only hope that one day [soon] robot cops will take wild swipes at speeding traffic using these lollipops. There is so much of it going on that it would be like swatting flies! I sometimes wish I lived on an island completely without tarmacked roads. So would never be bothered by speeding cars. Except that they speed in boats, too, despite heavy fines and the risk to swimmers and smaller boats.
Which brings me nicely to the goal of today's ride: Odins Bro in Odense. [Odin's Bridge] I have now added a separate post on the new bridge. Going very well today and remembered to eat before I became tired and hungry. 44 miles.
Click on any image for an enlargement.
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Loving reading all your past posts.
ReplyDeleteI ride a trike (a Mission Trilogy) as my only form of personal transport and have done since retiring 5 years ago. I simply wouldn't be without it now. Although the furthest I have gone on it has been about 12 mile round trips. I do also own a 1950s style sit up and beg cycle which I call Chummy. Mind you I only ride that when going out with my Grandchildren, as they wont ride with me when I'm on the trike.
Reading your blog makes me want to now go further a field on full day outings on the trike.
Although when reading your very first posts on this blog I sort of took umbrage that you call the good old deltas invalid trikes, lol. Not quite so, as I have it instead of a car and because it can carry not only my shopping in bulk but also my dog can go everywhere with me. Plus in America even some of the teens ride the delta trikes instead of bikes (after tarting them up of course). Check out the site called originalscraperbikes.blogspot.
You have some beautiful country around you. Loved looking at your photos of it.
Hi Sandy
DeleteThank you for the kind words about my blog. My sincere apologies for not spotting your comment earlier. I'm afraid new comments aren't automatically flagged by Google/blogger. I get very few comments but still prefer to vet them before publishing.
I am delighted you enjoy riding your trike and get such good use out of it. I still run an old car for heavy hauling but rarely use it these days. My neighbours use their cars more times in an hour than I do in an average month.
It is unfortunate that trikes aren't more respected as a breed. They are far superior to a bike when transporting shopping [and dogs.] With no nasty wobbles as one launches a heavily laden machine into the relentless traffic going nowhere important.
I keep struggling with a respectful name for non-racing trikes. "Invalid trike" is not even an accurate name since many fit, but elderly people prefer to ride a trike instead of a bike. Even "mobility trike" vaguely suggests infirmity. I am at a loss myself to understand the public attitude to trikes. I have no grandchildren to re-educate but would suggest they try riding yours.
A trike is really just a bike frame with an extra wheel. Whereas a bike is a trike with something missing. [That vital third wheel!] What's not to like about a trike? It is superior in every way as a means of personal transport compared with a bike. With no parking problems compared with a car. Nor does it fall over, like a bike, without somebody to be there just to hold it up. ;-)
Regards
Chris