Ride and run

1^st August 2016

I can’t believe its August the first today! Where is the year going, it’s now 5 years since I gave up full time employment, am I missing it??? Straight answer is no!

Today the weather has changed from being warm and humid to wet and windy! But! I did manage to get down to West Bay first thing this morning, very early, [6:30] and the weather then was bright with a hint of sun, even if there was a nip to the air.

I ran over Thorncombe Beacon again and on to Dog House Hill which I think is the turning point for the ‘Jurassic 10’, but they may send us down the hill so we can come back up again! I walked up the last steep part of Thorncombe again, enjoying the solitude and the views, it was hard and I did try to walk hard and fast, but, my legs thought otherwise. I had not seen any one after leaving the car by the harbour, very quiet this morning.

After Dog House I dropped down through Down House farm, I did stop and chat with the farmer, past the tea shop [not open at this time] this was a very remote place, very tranquil, before taking the Bridleway down through the fields to Eype, this was lovely even though the grass was wet and quiet long, Eype is the place time forgot, There is little or no commercialisation I ran down the road after passing several holiday/retirement cottages that needed some TLC but were in character with the village. The stream outlet to the sea still has mud banks, and you have to cross boulders to cross it, slippery in places before a steep ascent out again, but once up there it was a good run back to West Bay managing to achieve a pace of 8 min miles over the last half mile. 5.4 miles covered today and most of the 10k route. Just as I got back to the car the rain started !!!

Yesterday I had planned to do last week’s ride, It was a beautiful morning, clear blue skies, sunshine and no wind, we headed off round Athelney stopping for snacks at Muchelney bridge and again the bridge at Athelney [ up the small hill is where Alfred was supposed to have hidden and burnt his cakes!!!] By the time we got here the clouds had rolled in and it was fleeting glimpses of the sunshine for the rest of the ride. 46 miles covered.

This afternoon has been spent grappling with the HMRC and the Self-Assessment!! But! It is pouring with rain outside so a good use of time.

I am tempted to have one more West Bay run on Wednesday or Thursday?? But not sure it would overdo it and not enough time to recover before Sundays event. Achilles and calfs seem ok, a little [very, very slight] niggle on my left knee but all looking ok for the weekend, if I don’t overdo it before.

I have added a couple more blogs that are of interest, one on a lady who runs marathons and supports Dementia ‘extreme knitting Redhead’ and the other three on cycling related subjects Audaxing and the others general cycling, with references to various technical bike bits and general riding.

I must add that these are blogs ‘stolen’ from other blog lists and not my research!