Yep, its finally here, the Chrimbo Zone!
It's been quite a busy week here at Bell Acres - no doubt it will have been worth it lol!
On Monday, Aunty B and I travelled down to Dorsetshire to visit Angharad, a great day, good company, roast lamb dinner at The Cafe (if you know, you know!) The worst bit of the day was having my bad leg play up pretty much all day, it was quite painful at times and was no better for a walk when we got back to Brizzle.
Tuesday, Christmas Eve, Eve, was, in theory, a quiet day. I had a few 'trimmings' to purchase, a couple of new inner tubes to replace those lost through Fridays deflation then i could get in some writing. Which sort of went as planned, breakfast at IKEA, tubes from Halfrauds, then condiments and cheese before returning to the house. It was the writing which didn't go quite as planned, yes i made a start on a new chapter but my mind wasn't on the job so i gave up after @ 900 words.
And so to today. My 500km challenge started today so i had a big ride planned to get things rolling, heck i even got myself up early to use the daylight. The day has been dry and bright but with a withering northerly wind that was in my face for the outward leg up to Stroud. Not just up to Stroud, i put in some 'interesting' climbs before my stop at my preferred cafe food stop. Cake & Sidney pie with chips, peas and gravy filled the hole quite nicely and gave me a chance to defrost a bit
More climbing followed on my departure, up then very steeply down before reaching my nemesis climb, The Knapp. The issue isn't so much the steepness, it does reach 24% before hovering around the teens, rather its the surface, my previous transit of this half kilometre of road was going down and i ended walking the lower slopes after going literally over the bars when Foxy;s front wheel got caught in the surface. I'm pretty sure i could have got up the steepest bit today, i made it a third of the way before the surface beat me again, a greasy surface, severe camber and pot holes were just too much to contend with, even walking was/is difficult, once past the worst bit i remounted and finished the climb.
I started to lose the light with @ 20km to go, the Sun dipping beyond the horizon as i descended from the Cotswold plateau and lights being pressed into service in the last ten K. Six hours ride time, 122km, 1458m of vertical gain - an excellent start to the Festive 500!
Since my return i've made the braised red cabbage for tomorrow and Bev has prepared some of the veg (all fresh, no frozen!) so we are a bit ahead of things, i'll get a few bits that are frozen, meat, out to defrost before bed and the wait for Santa. Apart from the Feast, i hope to get in a short Chrimbo ride and i'll likely do some more writing between stuffing my face and the Kings Speech.
I hope you all have a good day but for now,
Frohes Weihnachten!
Madeline Anafrid
