Bike ride to Glasson Dock

Distance: 13.93 miles
Average speed: 7.1 mph
Maximum speed: 16.1 mph

After yesterday's stormy winds it was good to see some blue sky and sun. So, shorts were donned and I headed off for Glasson Dock.

The bluebells are out.

Arriving at the cafe in time for a toasted scone and a coffee. The weather was good enough to enjoy the snackette outside.

I decided to do a circular route and came back via the canal.

The track is not really a designated cycle track and is very bumpy and in places VERY muddy. I ground to a halt in some mud which was deep enough to go over my ankle and I had to recover my shoe. A little later on, I did a slow motion fall from my bike as I hit more mud, luckily falling away from the canal.

I spotted at least five swans on nests along the canal.

Bike ride to Cafe d' Lune near Glasson Dock

Distance:  9.43 miles
Average speed:  9.4 mph
Maximum speed: 13.7 mph

The weather forecasted by the BBC did not match the reality i.e. no sun. However it was dry and still and not too cold so a decision was made to have toasted fruit scone at the Cafe d'Lune. As usual it was full of enthusiastic, all weather cyclists who have cycled MILES to get there. They are a friendly lot so I had to admit to my meagre efforts (hardly deserving of a stop and food after such a paltry ride compared to theirs).

Bike ride to Glasson Dock

Distance: 11.7 miles
Average speed: 7.7 mph
Maximum speed: 14.2 miles

It's strange - same destination as last time, same route and yet I seem to have ridden 1.5 miles further today. Perhaps I need new glasses or a new bike distance measurer.

It was a lovely blue skied day, frosty but clear and calm.

I saw my first lambs of the year.

Being on the bike gives extra height for looking over hedges, but once at ground level and wielding a camera, getting a clear view through the hedge is more difficult.

On the way back there was some magic. A blue iridescent gleam shone from the hedge.

A kingfisher! and not only that, I was able to get off my bike, get out my camera and take some pictures. It flitted along the hedge flashed that wonderful blue and the bronze orange of its underside.

First bike ride of 2015

Distance: 10.19 miles

Average speed: 7.8 mph

Maximum speed: 14 mph

It's been a while since trusty steed left the shed. Yesterday I braved the elements (cold but not windy) and set off for the first bike ride of the year. The cycle path was relatively free of walkers and dogs, so a good start.

The river was quite high and as I passed along I noticed a pheasant. Pheasants have a reputation of not being the brightest of birds and this one seemed to confirm that reputation: unless it had aspirations to be a duck.

There was lots of debris around, not sure whether the wind or human hand had placed it there.

I stopped off for a warming cup of tea to find the cafe full of "real" cyclists, all lycra clinging clad (in contrast, my multi layered look was more of the Nanook of the north sartorial elegance). I had a really interesting conversation with one of the guys I shared a table with. He told me he had cycled 38 miles averaging 18mph before stopping for a coffee break. I kept quiet about my need for a rest after a mere 6 miles, or the fact that I could only achieve speeds just entering two figures if I pushed the pedals rather than my usual freewheeling down any slight incline.

I rode onto Glasson Dock and watched seagulls skittering on the ice, but couldn't get a picture of any of them in action.

Another cycle to Glasson Dock

Distance : 11.6 miles
Average speed: 7.7 mph
Maximum speed: 13.5 mph

It's been a while since I've been out on the bike.  Today was a bit overcast but not too windy, so I set off. Even before I had left our road end I had seen four magpies together and en route there was lots of bird life. Now that autumn is here there are fewer leaves, so birds are more obvious. I heard the geese long before seeing them. There were hundreds of greylags and Canada geese in a field.

As I walked into the field they all took off with a huge amount of noise.

Destination reached it was time for a rest and an admiring of the view.

As I watched I played around with the little fisheye lens I bought that fits over my mobile phone.

A stop at the fish smokery for some smoked mackerel before heading back. Loads of bird sound, curlews, oyster catchers, robins as I made by way home. 

Cycle ride to Glasson Dock

Distance: 14.35 miles
Overall average speed: 6.1 mph (second half was much harder going and so much slower, average speed for the out trip was 8.4 mph)
Top speed: 13.4 mph

I attached a camera to the handle bars and took time lapse -an image every 10 seconds. Quite a few of the images are blurred - this is down to the very bumpy terrain.

Outward journey - along the cycle path. Unfortunately I didn't notice that the camera wasn't doing its stuff until I was halfway there.

Arriving at Glasson I enjoyed watching the world go by as I drank tea from my newly bought flask.

Every other time I have done this bike ride I have ridden back along the same route.

Today I decided to try routes new and cycle along the canal. This is more of a footpath than a cycle path and very narrow in parts. Thankfully it was not windy so there was slightly less chance of falling into the canal. Negotiating going under the bridges is particularly arduous.

Work in progress, cycling with camera

I've recently got a new bike. Being a fair weather cyclist, it has been frustrating not to get out on it very much. The last one fine day we had when I did go out, hay-makers joined forces with all the other pollen producers along my route and I came back with a week's worth of hay fever.

So today, I tried again along the same route. It was all a bit of an experiment trying out time lapse with my camera attached to the pannier rack.

Clearly there is more than a little fine tuning necessary, but basically, it seems to work. I have already worked out how to get the camera set up less precariously and at a higher level.

As for hay making, there was none, instead in the fields there were the sounds of disgruntled shorn sheep, no doubt complaining at the shock to the system of being deprived of all their weatherproofing. The unshorn lambs now looked bigger than their mothers.

Destination was Glasson Dock and a welcome cup of tea and then to the smokehouse for some smoked mackerel for tonight's tea.