4th June 2016 Gottle a gear.

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Saturday 4th 61-82F, 16-28C, sunny and not a breath of air. The heatwave continues [later] with slightly lighter winds today from the east and NE.

This beautiful old house has been on the market for some time but has some "location" issues thanks to a local farm.

I walked around the 3 mile rural block with not a twinge from my calf. Shorts, t-shirt and trekking sandals were ideal in 70 degree warmth. The wind turbines were completely still. Baby Coots fought their way through the pea soup of the church pond to reach the parent on the nest. Small red heads kept popping up from the tangled mass of twigs and leaves as the adult tidied in readiness for its offspring's return.

I left  on the trike after coffee. It was much warmer now with an off-the-shoulder tailwind allowing me to cruise at 18-22mph. I bought a new Bontrager bottle cage in plastic to match the colour of my trike highlights. A previous plastic one had broken and the alloy one used to make the bottle black and ugly where the bare metal rubbed the paint right through.

More of a crosswind coming home in even more heat. It was lucky I was plastered in SPF 50 glop because my forearms were feeling rather hot and pink again. I was very grateful for the occasional shade provided by overgrown hedges and trees. The wind turbines were turning steadily now. 19 miles.

Sunday 5th 63-81F, 17-27C, calm and sunny. Just another day in [sweaty] paradise. I have fixed the new water bottle cage in place and can now look forwards to luke warm water on my travels. Having enjoyed a short walk to iron out the creases I was offered  an earlier than usual morning coffee and rolls.

At the last moment I decided to ride to the tip of Helnæs peninsula despite the threat of more, unbroken sunshine. So I was duly supervised as I troweled on another load of SPF50 to keep me safe from harm. My lightest jogger's jacket would help to protect my pinkish arms from the continuing bright sunshine.

Having reached Helnæs I visited the near empty Helnæs beach. Where I was just missed by a dog on a lead, bolting from an opening in a hedge at the campsite. The dog's owners chose to walk down the wrong side of the hill to the beach so I automatically presumed a UK holiday visitor. Though I was unable to identify the language or the weird noises they were all making it seemed to suggest revulsion or summary dismissal. I had  no clue whether they were referring to me and cared even less. So they were probably British after all. Then I rode the loop around the Helnæs lanes with detours. Where I later  discovered that the normally photogenic lighthouse was in scaffolding and under wraps including a rather nifty Sou-wester. I just hope there isn't a storm!

There were loads of cyclists out on the roads today and I even decided to chase down two pairs of young ATBers with eventual success. Silly old sod! A little, light shopping on the way home for 38 miles total. The fluffy mashed potato clouds managed to clump together enough to offer some much needed shade over the last few miles. I drank liters of water both on the trike and when I arrived home. I was lucky to be able to replenish my empty water bottle at a village supermarket. Shame the lettuce I bought had already turned brown!
 

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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