Back In The Saddle . . . .

After a layoff that seemed to last an eternity I finally donned the Lycra and went out cycling today.
The sun was shining, but the stiff breeze was a pain.

Firstly I paid a flying visit to the Caldmore Village Festival, being held in the local Palfrey Park. I watched a few decent bands performing, had a bit of a mooch around the stalls, then cracked on - rain had been forecast for later in the day, and I wanted to get a few miles under my belt before being forced to don waterproofs.

I got onto the towpath of the Tame Valley canal at Friar Park, and cycled to Chasewater , taking a small detour by road to avoid the awful towpath around the Park Lime Pits area - I walk that stretch regularly, but its torture to cycle along.

2 ducks were indulging in a little synchronised arse flashing on Chasewater, and as soon as I took a photo of them I knew it would be my blip for the day.

After a short, but uncomfortable ( riding into the wind, and being buffeted constantly by cars and large lorries ) trip along the A5, then a hill climb up into Cheslyn Hay, I reached the Wryley & Essington canal Nature reserve. This is another regular walking route of mine - amazingly the couple of hours it takes to walk the length of the reserve is condensed into less than half an hour by bicycle, although I did stop a few times along the way to take photographs of the lush greenery - the place is looking so beautiful at the moment.

I arrived home just as the rain was starting to fall - perfect timing :-)
My satnav reported that I'd managed a steady 34 miles - could have done a little more, but I didn't want to overdo it after my layoff - there'll be plenty of time for that over the summer.

I uploaded my Satnav data to the Garmin website - it can be seen HERE : the speeds & distance aren't exactly earth-shaking, but I'm happy ......