27th April Vanity, vanity all is vanity.

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Monday 27th 34F, 1C, white frost! No wind and sunny. Had a short walk because I couldn't get online.

The Trykit against a fluffy sky in a brand new exit mirror at a farm entrance. It seemed too good an opportunity to waste. I'm facing the wrong way on the wrong side of the road for this shot. Though it still looks correct for the Continent. I'm trying to train the bloke on the tricycle to smile but he always ends up looking smug. He probably thinks he's clever for taking pictures from waist level without a viewfinder.

Left after coffee to ride to Faaborg by the hilly, overland route. A gentle tailwind at first but the nearer I came to the coast the harder an onshore wind blew. Did my shopping and then detoured back further north through Korinth via some beautiful, undulating countryside with lots of forests and a lake. There were many attractive old houses along the lanes.

I passed three village speed indicator boards and all were showing average traffic speeds of 69-70kph in 50kph zones. [43-44mph in 30mph built-up areas] Then in one village I passed a parked van on the verge with a camera hidden in the rear window. So there is justice after all. Quite a strong headwind all the way back home. I used the tri-bars occasionally to help maintain a decent speed. Just trying not to prolong the agony past afternoon tea and toast in case I get told off for being a stop-out!

I had almost reached home when a pre-pubescent, teenage psycho was driving through the village at 50mph in a large, apparently brand new, Alfa Romeo. He passed a junior school with its 30kph [19mph] signs lit and several busy supermarkets on both sides of the road. The normal, legal speed limit is, of course, 50kph/30mph. What is a measly fine to anyone who's father can afford such a car?

Moments later another driver lost his patience because somebody baulked his illegal speed by pulling into a supermarket car park. He floored the accelerator and squealed his tyres until he was out of sight. Having again passed the same junior school with its 30kph signs lit for going home time and several supermarkets. The cycle path stops abruptly with an exit ramp straight straight into the traffic just by the school entrance. With the further impediments of a series of wide ramps to private drives forcing cyclists even further out into the traffic! Another great example of the blinding genius of local road design "engineers."

Recently, the young driver of a BMW 4WD managed 213kph/132mph while towing a trailer. He had no driver's license, so presumably had no insurance either. He could have saved his father £700-1000 in fines by staying at home. There is no fixed fine for such a ridiculously high speed. The maximum legal speed for a car towing a trailer on the motorway is only 80kph or 50mph. So he was travelling at 2.6 times the legal speed limit! It would be a miracle if anybody drove at 50mph on ordinary roads while towing a trailer. Many are travelling at well over 60mph while towing trailers. No police presence = no recorded crime.

Tuesday 28th 36-50F, 2-10C, hard white frost at 7am, sunny with cloud and hardly a breeze. I saw another very dark squirrel and a gaudy Greater spotted woodpecker in the woods. The fresh Beech leaves are gorgeous as they glow in bright layers. Just a late afternoon ride to the shops in a strong wind. Only 12 miles.

Here be monsters! A shy, Horrendous colossal squidii looking for pastures new in a cloud of brown dust. I even managed to capture the incline.

Wednesday 29th 38-51F, 3-11C, rather cloudy with sunny periods but blowing hard. I left later than usual for my walk and met a number of slurry spreaders. Later three young ladies on horses turned into the same lane. Horsey persons must be quite late risers. I haven't seen a horse being ridden on the local roads in years despite many fields being stuffed full of ponies and horses.

I have a new bird of prey to identify. A scruffy, upper-middle sized bird was soaring with wings permanently bent at the "elbows" as it worked back and forth over the fields. I think I'll have to go with a Marsh harrier. Smaller than a Red kite but with some similarities and there are plenty of small marshes locally. Mostly buff, not clearly marked, so possibly a female. I see loads of different birds of prey from the trike but would probably fall off if I tried to watch them for very long. Binoculars would get in the way when I am riding on the aero bars and besides, the instructions warn you not to move while using them. [i.e.The binoculars. NOT the tri-bars.]

Just a short ride this afternoon with a gale blowing. It is the season for Danish supermarkets to block access to their bike racks with pallets and/or cages. I tell the staff about it every year but it's like talking to a... br... bike rack on a brick wall. Why do they never [ever] block car spaces despite having literally hundreds of cycle-riding customers each day? Answers on a postcard please to the managing directors of Fakta, Rema 1000, Aldi, Netto, Kiwi, ABC, Etc. Do you recognise a pattern here? That's right. Well done! All Danish supermarkets are showing their total indifference to the hundreds of thousands of customers who are also cyclists.

Car owners can fill their cars with crap from a loaded trolley. The cyclist must choose more carefully and visit more often, but is unlikely to carry away vast loads of the high profit margin, junk foods and fizzy liquids. Particularly as they must not take the supermarket shopping baskets out of doors. Guess who is being treated as a second class citizen by the supermarkets? That's right. Well done! Cyclists! So the Danish government's empty promises on actually reducing CO2, fighting an epidemic of obesity and "direbetes" is just that. Empty words. Only 7 miles.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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