and other small birds on my feeders!

Yep, its that time of year when selfish feeding of the local small bird population becomes a duty of care. The temperatures are dropping, the days shorten and despite the Mast year, food for these guys is harder to come by. As i sit here now, Blue Tits, Great tits and a variety of 'SBB's' are in attendance for brunch! The summer visitors are mostly departed, willow, ash and thorn trees are losing their foliage even as a few more decorative plants give some extra colour to proceedings. The experts suggest this all points to an upcoming harsh winter, we will see but the dozen or so small birds that live locally will have food at least.

So. what have i been up to? well not as much as i'd like, uncertain weather combined with a degree of lethargy has kept me off of two wheels for much of the week - oh i've had a daily walk but its not the same. Last week i had planned to go for a ride into the tumble of hills and valleys south of Aquae Sulis but of course that never happened but with a dry forecast for yesterday, Saturday, the last day of British Summertime, it was finally time. Maps were checked, lunch made and so i set off into a bright but cool morning.

During my time here in the south west, i've ridden around this area a fair bit, sometimes just passing through to reach into East Somerset & Wiltshire but just as often to visit the likes of Cheddar nestled around the periphery. During 2025 however, for no particular reason, my range has contracted, the rides have generally become shorter and often flatter too, this ride would turn out to be a bit of an awakening. I set off southwards, for once avoiding the default of the bike path, and used the familiar route out through Keynsham to reach the Chew Valley.

The cool breeze was in my face, not enough to cause too much upset but enough to know it was there, especially on the wide open roads around the very low Chew Lake reservoir. That changed when i reached Harptree, my route turning more easterly for the long but steady climb through Litton to reach the A39 at Chewton sub Mendip. My intention from here was to use some lanes i'd not previously travelled to reach my intended lunch stop at Radstock and so instead of the more direct route, i started a generally east bound route with a bit of sawing north and south to pass Midsomer Norton before a final leg up to my stop.

I don't mind admitting, some of those climbs en route were quite stiff but nothing compared to what was to come. I dropped into Radstock, an old mining town which has never really recovered from the pit closures of the mid C20. The Somerset coal field stretched from Yate north of Bristol, across the Avon valley and on southwards through the eastern Mendip region as far as Frome. The seams were never as rich as South Wales or Northern England and the combination of depth and high watertable sounded a death nell from the 1920's onwards, by the '70's production had ceased leaving a dusting of pit communities and reminders across the region.

Less of the history lesson, it was time to push on. Back up into the hills towards Frome firstly before taking a more north easterly route to the Wellow Brook valley otherwise known as the River Somer, it rises south of Midsomer and joins the Avon upstream of Bath. The descent from Foxcote to the river was vertigenous, over 14% in places then the climb up to Shoscombe topped 15%! I might be past the first flush of youth but i cleaned the climb, not quickly but steadily before my route returned me to the Somer and Wellow where i picked up the old railway line along the valley which eventually returned me, via the Cavendish tunnel to Bath.

A swing through the city, then it was up the Bristol - Bath path, through a squall to a welcome stop at Warmley cafe for tea and cake. My route tracker (the phone since the Garmin died) claimed 91km covered so instead of heading back directly, i took in an extra loop to push the total over the century. Journeys end, almost 104km, the 1039m of up giving a healthy 10m/km climb rate - on a circular route that means the actual climbing was over @ half that distance giving a rate closer to 20m/km, think a 2% grade for 50km!

I'm still feeling the after effects today, the combination of the wind, the longest ride since my dose of flu with the most climbing since my trip to Yorkshire - yeah i ache a bit.

What else have i done? Well i've actually completed two new Gaby chapters since midweek, i'll probably start another after lunch today. As usual, whilst i have plot points mapped in my head, reaching them can often be quite convoluted and often longer than i anticipated! Despite the downtime at the start of the month, i'm on track with the writing, the first instalment of this book should reach Kindle by midweek as planned!

Of course, it wouldn't be Sunday without a new free chapter of Gaby here on BC. Please do support BC with a few pennies, small and often is better than reacting to pleas for funds every month. The BC team run all this on a shoe string, regular income helps them better plan things and less stress - even on my tiny income i have a regular stipend set up via Patreon to BC so don't be shy, do it today. Anyhow, in the meantime you can read Chapter 19 of Balancing Trick now, for free!

That's it for now, i'll be back soon with more news but for today,
Byee,
Madeline Anafrid