Rough around the Edges

Well, I'm back from the cycling holiday, still more or less in one piece, although sitting down on something broad and soft still feels like a luxury! The garden has got a bit rough around the edges since I went. The lawn hasn't been mowed, all the bluebells have gone to seed, the rhodo flowers are gone and the snow in summer only remains in patches. However, the geraniums are out and once I manage to cut the grass, it shouldn't look too bad again.

For those of you visiting for the first time, myself and some friends have been going on a cycling holiday every year for about the last twenty eight or twenty nine years. They have seen us degenerate from relatively young, fit footballers, to the various sixty somethings which we are now, with an increasing range of replacement hips, arthritis and stiffening joints (especially knees). We go to a different area of Britain each year, staying at a mixture of Youth(!) Hostels and pubs or guesthouses. We stay in a different place each night, although we have one day off, where we stay in the same place for two nights - usually somewhere big enough to have a cinema and be worth looking around.

As mentioned above, I got home yesterday, and now have to put blips up for the days of the holiday. I've decided to put them up one day at a time, so if you go back to Saturday the 15th, you can read the account of the first day and tomorrow, the second day and so on. Hopefully you won't find it too boring and will at least enjoy the photos.

The trouble with being a photographer on this type of trip is that you have to put up with whatever light is on the scene when you are there - you don't get the chance to go back in a better light. In addition, you have to be very quick - the longer you take over the photographs, the faster and longer you have to ride to catch up with the others - who don't wait for you. I also had to rely on my 40D with only a battered 100-250mm zoom, which is so battered, I can't even get a lens cap on it!

So, excuses made, on with the 15th . . . . .