Gathering Silage

I took some pictures of this field last night on my cycle home as the meadow had been freshly cut and the patterns created were rather beautiful. Cycling into work this morning I stopped again and was astonished at the efficiency with the way the silage was gathered. It probably took no more than half an hour to process this entire field.

I can only assume that this is an operation which goes around from farm to farm. The three tractors functioned as one very well oiled machine. First, one tractor usd an ingenious device to collect all the grass into a small number of strips, which was then sucked up by another device and blown into a truck pulled by the third tractor. It was very impressive to watch. Indeed, it was actually quite mesmerising.

What was also quite mesmerising today was watching the Sky Team so superbly control a very tough stage in the Tour de France. Can there be any other sporting event as utterly compelling and beautiful to watch as this? The fittest men in the world on the most magnificent sporting stage in the world. The fact that this year I truly believe the two British riders in the lead are drug clean makes it particularly special. We hoped but we didn't really dare to believe that Bradley Wiggins could win this year, but it's looking extremely likely now that we will not only have a British winner but another Brit on the podium standing alongside him. This is the beginning of a whole new era for British cycling. I think today may have been a watershed that will be remembered for a very long time.

I've put in a lot of miles on the bike this year and I've been very pleasantly surprised by the courtesy shown me by drivers. There has been a lot of patience shown in overtaking on the narrow roads I usually use, something I always take care to acknowledge. I wonder if cyclists are earning a new respect from motorists as a result of our successes on the track and now on the road. It would be great to think so.