Monday 21st May: Meals on wheels?

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Monday 21st 55F, 13C, Bank Holiday, bright with a milky sky and light winds. My email service is broken. No server contact.

It is reported that the mountain lion/cougar which killed a US mountain biker was emaciated. No doubt previous mountain bikers had disturbed its normal prey and feeding habits. Bikers make constant inroads into wildlife habitats without thought of consequence. Do my own wanderings severely affect the wildlife as hares and deer dash off on my approach?

Tuesday 22nd 62-68F, 17-20C, bright and breezy with plates of small, fluffy clouds. I walked to the village in cool sunshine until it really broke through. Disturbed two hares sunbathing in a spray track beside the road. A Red kite went over, soaring across the wind with only occasional wing beats. You could have laid a ruler across its wings they were so perfectly straight. Only its wing tip fingers spoilt the line. A Siskin was sitting on a rock beside the road on the way back. It kept opening its beak to make a silent call.  Very pretty it was too as I stepped closer at intervals. Only when a noisy van sped past did it finally take fright. No ride today.

Wednesday 23rd 60-74F, another sunny day with light winds. Early ride to the shops returning heavily laden. Then had to go back again. Quarter of an hour for 3 miles each way trying hard. I don't think Sagan has much to worry about. 14 miles in total.

Thursday 24th 68-73F, 17-23C at 8.30m with more unbroken sunshine promised. More wind today up to 12m/s or about 25mph. I have another ride to do N-S-N. Should should have a crosswind. The wind was already roaring in my ears on my walk. A bird of prey was being harassed by a crow but they were moving away rapidly downwind. Did I mention the wind? ;-)

Late morning ride with a strong crosswind, going well and averaging 14mph.  Coming home felt more like a headwind and much harder work! The countryside looks like endless green lawn at the moment. 14 miles again.

May is set to end on an average temperature of 14.8C. A full degree above the previous record of 1889. The farmers are worried about a drought now! Though it doesn't stop them from spraying and muck spreading.

Friday 25th 63F, 17C, bright, breezy and sunny again. I walked past the marsh in deep grass. Only a couple of cormorants and mallards on the pond. My head exploded further on as I brushed through head high grass. Fortunately the sneezing soon stopped as I escaped from the woods.

The crops are progressing rapidly now. With the fields all changing colour as the grain ripens. Wafts of childhood memories of the local brewery surfaced from the nearby crops. The oil seed rape has mostly gone over now. As have the vast numbers of dandelions. The wind having stripped away the countless seed 'clocks.'

Saturday 26th 64-74F, 18-24C, promised to be even warmer today. Thundery showers are expected east of here. Sunshine and more sunshine. A bit of an easterly breeze today. My walk was punctuated by a dead wood pigeon, a large dead rat, several moles and a small dead  mouse. There are losses even in a time of plenty.

I haven't mentioned that the B17 saddle was a huge improvement over the Vetta. Late morning ride to more distant shops via a hilly route along the rural lanes. Headwind going but became more benign on my return. A few chaps out training including a Cervelo triathlon/TT. I had a few strange looks from some riders. I can't imagine why. Perhaps it was my near 100rpm cadence and "proper" kit while riding an upright trike at 20mph on the flat? Rare as hen's teeth, I am. 20 miles.

Sunday 27th 66F, 19C, sky rather milky with lots of high cloud. Slight breeze. Empty promises of rain from the DMI are making The Head Gardener hot and bothered. We might have to drop a pump into the garden pond to share a bit of precious H2O with her flowers. The Danish fire brigade is fed up with sightseers at their heath fire battles. The wind had really picked up by the time I returned from my walk. Already 70F at 10am, though it feels warmer than  that. Probably higher humidity.

It ended with torrential rain in the late afternoon. I was working outside and had to rush round bringing in tools. The "stair rods" downpour continued for quite a while. I had to go out and rescue something, in a slight lull. To find over an inch of standing water still on the ground. Tremendous it was!

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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