The wind in the willows

Even though my mind clears beautifully on my bike, it took the second hill  to eradicate European chatterings.

It is an extraordinary turn of events.  I do still see both sides but I still want to be European and I'm not enough of a risk taker to vote out as a protest or to trigger a shake up.  I also don't think 50% should be enough clout to make the leap.   What I do hope from it, however, is that it does trigger a necessary shake up, and a stay in... in some form or other.

Once I'd concluded that in my own mind, I managed to switch off and headed out to Jervaulx.  This was the last view I took in before heading properly uphill.  It seemed like a painting not a real view and I'm still struggling to find it on the map... maybe I was hallucinating (although I think that kicked in a few minutes later on the steep bit!)  I met loads of riders on an organised event coming the other way from Ripon.  A couple of them wished me luck which swiftly made me realise the worst was still to come. It then became beautifully quiet as I headed towards a delightful tearoom.

I've seen a mole, a stoat and a hedgehog today, all crossing the road in front of me (not at the same time!)  On the second half of my journey, once the hills were out of the way, The Wind in the Willows sprang to mind and I had a little fun lightening my mind creating the characters to fit our current debacle.

I faced a gruesome headwind from the tearoom to Kettlewell, including the next uphill. I managed a chuckle that this, at least, wasn't the 'hard way' direction over Park Rash.  I concluded there may be a hard way but there is no easy way!

I'm bushed!