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Now retired but busy still living..

Sunday 26 August 2012

UPS AND DOWNS.......

VIEWS OVER PATCHWORK FIELDS
One of the nicest things about my summer rides are the views....plenty of hills and plenty of views..lots of ups and downs... 
During a lot of the winter months the views are obscured by rain and thick mist and even in the spring and autumn the views can be spoiled by sea mist but on a nice sunny summers day the views are a real treat.....

Not that we have had our fair allocation of fine summer days this year. 
Most of my summer rides have been spoiled by more than our fair share of rain, but when the weather does get it right... wow... what a difference it can  make. 

The picture above was taken on one of my recent 'good weather' rides.....
The view is looking south from the Purbeck Ridge....the ridge here is in the region of about 200mtrs not a huge height although as the route to this point seems almost vertical it takes a little bit of effort to get here... 
I think that if I lived in an area that was flat I might find it all a bit bland....give me a hilly area to ride any day.......give me ups and downs.....

It's not that different to a hiking or backpacking trip...if the trail weaves in and out and up and down lots of hills the route is so much more interesting. 
When a group of backpackers start discussing various National Trails the flattest sections are always the parts that are mentioned as 'the boring bits'.... 

I can remember some years ago mentioning to a mate that I was going to walk the Grand Union Canal tow path from London to Birmingham and he said to me that he thought that I would find it boring because by definition a tow path is pretty flat. 
If you plan on walking the Two Moors Way people will always tell you that the flat bit between the two moors is the boring bit......

Now having completed both of these walks I must say that I wasn't bored on either...mainly because boredom is not something that I suffer with too easily.....but I have to admit that a few ups and downs always seem to improve a route....
So it is with cycling.......ups and downs improve the route.... 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Trevor , good to read you have had a good time. I'm not the best at hill climbing on my bike but will admit that flat country isn't the most interesting to cycle through. Mind you, that is the great thing about the UK we don't have long stretches of the same thing. Ride 10 miles and you are in completely different countryside. We think it's a great place to ride. If only the weather was better this year.

TrevorW�� said...

The UK does have some really great and very varied scenery as you say...Pity the roads tend to be as crowded as they are and yes this year the weather could have been a lot better....

Six weeks off.

 The visit to see the Consultant went quite well really ...   My ' numbers' have started to creep up again so I am going to be given...