a rhetorical question of course but one minute it was starting, the next its gone! At least, that's what it feels like

It seems that our 'heat wave' is over, each day this week has become cooler than the last - today could reach 20c but a fairly stiff breeze will make it feel several degrees below that.

So what has been going on? Well on Thursday i ventured out for a ride that totalled all of 65km, down the Avon Gorge then up the Severn shore to Severn Beach where i stopped for a light lunch. To be honest, i was somewhat underwhelmed by my cheeseburger, it was 'okay' but lacked any of the 'dressing' that would make give it a score higher than 3/10. Then it was a loop taking in a few short loops of new bridleway as i made my way back to base - enough given the warm weather.

For Friday i had a plan for something different, a bus trip to Bath to visit the Palladian Bridge in Prior Park. (look it up, its quite interesting) Its a National Trust property so i made use of my Trust membership for entry - a bargain at free, not so much at the door price of £11! Anyhow, i enjoyed the day, had a look in a couple of outdoor shops (i do like looking at camping gear lol) and eventually got back in time to sort out tea.

Saturday was looking like the last 'hot' day and wanting to do a few more km than the rides earlier in the week, i came up with a route that took in much of South Glos. and added more new trails to my repertoire. Up onto the Cotswold Edge for the first then three more excellent stretches before dropping down to start a loop across towards Thornbury. Lunch was at a nursery cafe, fish finger sandwich today, once again it was somewhat lacklustre. Maybe i need to reset my expectations but such mediocre offerings as i've had this week just reinforce the stereotype of bland food in the UK, come on guys, you can do better.

Today then, the last day of the month. It started with a surprise, the new mudguard set i ordered literally three weeks ago finally arrived! It has been a purchase fraught with poor customer service, shipping delays, routing errors and, when i took delivery, damaged packaging all to save a few £'s. (well actually @ 30% of the usual retail) So now i have everything i need to do my pre trip deep service, new tyres, brake consumables and replacement mudguard, The longest bit of the job will be cleaning the bike which is currently wearing a coat of trail dust and dried on goop, A dirty bike is a used bike, there are only two reasons for a clean bike, the bike is under used or you have have a tame bike cleaner - you might guess that all my bikes are showing signs of regular usage as i don't have a mechanic/cleaner at my disposal! I may crack on with all that work this afternoon.

I have posted the next bit of May Queen, part 7..

At this point i'll give you a quick run down of my plans for June.

• week 1 - final prep for bike trip to GOC, more writing and a couple of shorter(?) bike rides
• week 2 - depart and ride up the Fosse Way to Lincoln and then on across the Humber into Yorkshire
• week 3 - return from GOC via Sheffield and a more westerly route back to Bristol
• week 4 - back to normal service, writing and ride programme

I do plan to post the next Daisy chapter next Sunday before i depart but the following week i won't have the required access as i'll be in my tent! I may manage to do a short blog from my phone but my internet access will be quite limited whilst i'm away.

A special thank you to all those who have already purchased the latest Gaby book, and indeed any of my back catalogue, without your support i wouldn't be able to do any of this stuff, somehow i fail to qualify for any social support so i do literally depend on my writing for all of my income. If you haven't bought your copy i've put the link below where you'll find links to all of my more recent publishing. Thank you again.

That's all for today, back with more on Wednesday,
Tschussie,
Madeline Anafrid