4.07.2026 Cycling to the old rail crossings.

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  Saturday 4th 56F/13C [6.30] Overcast, with sunny periods. Increasing cloud. 20C/68F on the room. 13.5C/55F in the greenhouse. All doors and windows closed. As temperatures dropped and the gales became silly. Setting a 30 year record.

 Up at 5.50 after a fairly quiet night. 

  Can I sneak in a ride today? I used to go to a charity shop. Only open on Saturdays and Mondays. About 13km away. 

 7.40 58F/14C. It really isn't warm outside. There is only a light breeze but it makes it chilly.    

12.15 Returning from a 30km ride to photograph progress on the new cycle path.  By riding along the lanes until I found the next crossing.

I was already very familiar with the entire area thanks to my years of tricycling. When I once managed 10,000miles per year. 

I took 24 pictures. Which emphasizes the sheer number of road crossings. Ten in total today. This does not include all the earlier crossings nearer Assens and Ebberup.

 I ensured I took a pair of pictures. Looking east and west in opposite directions from the same crossing. The rails have not been lifted from the asphalt yet. The entire length of the rail track was once the preserve of pedal trolley hire. 

Some lengths were more easily navigable on foot and were popular with dog walkers. Though the often rotting sleepers were an impediment to comfortable walking or cycling.

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3.07.2026 Sun and wind.

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  Friday 3rd 56F/13C [6.50] Heavily overcast with westerly gales gusting to 18m/s. 40mph. A cloudy morning with showers possible. Which should clear to sunshine. 21C/69F in the room. 14C/57F in the greenhouse. 

 Up at 6.15 after a fairly quiet night.  

 I see new molehills on the West Lawn! That's not helpful! I went out and kicked the raised soil into the surrounding hollows. 

 The strong wind is disappointing. I was hoping for a modest ride today.  

 If I can't go out then I can torture myself exercise at home. I used the new App to do assorted exercises. Some of which I found all but impossible. I was much fitter when I was attending group, physio classes.

 I drove into the village to pick up some grocery items I overlooked yesterday. The car was being buffeted by the gusty wind.

 I spent some time in the afternoon staring at the sun through my special solar telescope. Built up from separate components but of a more manageable size. Compared to the large telescopes I used in my home built observatory.

 Dinner was cheese on toast with halved cherry tomatoes. 

 

 

 

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2.07.2026 Exercising my Apps.

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  Thursday 2nd 61F/16C [7.30] Overcast with showers and wind. 22C/71F in the room. 16C/62F in the greenhouse. 

 Up at 6am after a fairly quiet night. 

 I have an appointment for an assessment chat with a physiotherapist in Assens. This is after numerous cancellations due to my own ill health. I attended the free exercise sessions the first time I had a heart operation. The staff were delightful, young people. Very attentive, empathetic and well trained. 

 Unfortunately there is a limit on the number of exercise sessions per heart patient. So after that I went onto fairly inexpensive sessions for elderly heart patients at a sports center. Which was a much larger group performing in a vast gymnasium. Which I didn't really mind. 

 It was the coffee and group chats afterwards. I simply could not hear the conversations against the high background, noise levels in a highly reverberant acoustic. Low ceilings, huge overhead beams, long tables. People would ask me direct questions and I could not hear a single word they said! Which made me feel like a fool. So I stopped going.  

 13.00 Back from town.  I chatted for an hour with the delightful young physiotherapist. I now have an exercise App on my phone and will probably start group physio sessions in August. Then I moved onto a Zeiss optician for a free eye test. He was incredibly thorough. 

 I bought a 30m network cable from a big shed store. To be able to mount one of my West Lawn security cams to face the house. The present car park cam looks towards the carport. It takes in a large area but I'd like a view to monitor the house itself. 

 I detoured to examine progress on the new cycle path. Running from Assens, through Ebberup to Glamsbjerg. The contractors on the section from Ebberup onward have already covered a lot of ground. With the rails and sleepers lifted. Leaving a long, earthen trough in a pretty tunnel of overhanging trees. The route will be absolutely gorgeous once completed. Hopefully some time around December. There is a very special atmosphere about abandoned railways. Not the conditions today to be taking pictures.

 It has been raining hard and blowing all morning. With larger puddles in the lanes than I have ever seen. One puddle near home was 3/4 of the way across the road and very deep. I waved down an approaching, touring motorcyclist and saw him apply his brakes in my rear view mirror. Just before he got there. I had used the wrong side of the road to pass the puddle and was still in very deep water. 

 Even at 13.45 it is still raining hard. I can see bright stripes of rainwater reflecting the grey sky. Working their way down the drive.

 It eventually brightened up and the rain stopped. Though remaining very cloudy and windy. I felt tired, head-achy and fuzzy. So I went to bed for a nap. 

 Dinner was two chops and Heinz baked beans. Two chops were two days overdue. So I gave them a full 20 minutes. Turning frequently to maintain even heating. 

 

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1st July 2026 Deliverance.

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  Wednesday 1st 61F/16C [7.15] Bright overcast. Dry morning but increasingly cloudy. With showers this afternoon. Possibly thundery. 73F/23C in the room. 62F/17C in the greenhouse. Pond water at 71F/22C.

 Up at 5.30 after an occasionally sweaty night. 

 I have to be here around lunchtime for a delivery. I'd like a ride. Not far. I need to shop at another supermarket chain. There isn't a local branch. 

 8.45 It's getting darker. I have watered the plants. Indoors and out. Then stacked the massive paving slabs to make a step outside the new glazed door. Just to get  a feel for scale, width, etc. They need to be properly leveled. Preferably without scraping my shin! Silly old whatsit!

 I have spent the morning working on a solar telescope. I was dizzy mid-morning. So I sat in an armchair and rocked quickly back and forth. From head between my knees, To staring upwards at the ceiling.  Holding each position for over half a minute. Eventually I felt a bit better. 

 13.30 The Abigail's British foods chap has just left in his van. Two bottles of salad cream have gone in the fridge. We always have a good chat. I'll go shopping this afternoon. 

 16.45 Back from the village supermarkets. I drove there. 

 Dinner was a salmon pasty with chips and peas.

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