todays issue is jam packed with news.

Finally, in the second half of the week the weather has taken on more spring like temperatures, flowers are erm, flowering and blossom is adorning trees left, right and er, in between. Its been a few days of high activity here at Bev's Acres, the first anti pigeon frames are complete, there's a 'new' Gaby tome on Kindle and I've been pounding the tarmac on two wheels.

Lets start with that 'new' Gaby. As I posted on Friday, in the heyday of Gaby fanfiction just over a decade ago, PB aka Scott, penned the Notes of a Journey trilogy which were transferred to Kindle in late 2019, early 2020. There was something missing though, the concluding instalment for which I couldn't find manuscripts for which was a shame and a little irritating to say the least. But, as is often the way, I was looking for something else when what should I find but the 'missing' files, well not so much missing as hidden in plain sight!

So this week I've been busy editing, formatting and doing all the other stuff that turns a random collection of words into, what is hopefully, a fun and quite readable conclusion to Scott's imagining of an alternate future to the one I've been writing over the last 17 years! And the good news is that from today, Notes of a Journey: Never My Love is available in Kindle format concluding the 'trilogy in four parts' as Douglas Adam's put it. Written in late 2009, it takes Gaby, and her new wife, on a late honeymoon across the Atlantic to North America where they manage to have some mini adventures and get re-acquainted with some old friends.

If anyone wants a dead tree copy, that should be ready in the next day or so.

So what else have I been up to? Well Thursday I set off to do a Wiltshire loop taking in Trowbridge before heading up towards Chippenham to take advantage of the easterly wind back towards Brizzle. It was a bright enough morning if still a little cool with the stiff breeze but it was pleasant enough out along the Avon valley before climbing out into the low hills between Trowbridge and Salisbury Plain. Which is where my plans went a little awry, instead of looping across towards the county seat I instead found myself exploring the lanes south towards the high ground, specifically Westbury.

I pushed on through the town but didn't go much further, my belly was making 'feed me' noises and so I stopped at the White Horse viewing spot, there was a handy seat and of course a nice view of the hill 'carving' (its not a chalk figure, its actually made from concrete slabs these days, easier to maintain but it loses some of the mystique along the way.). Once fed I started to wend myself in a generally northward direction, eventually rejoining my original route idea at Melksham. More lanes past Corsham then it was a fairly direct route west back towards Cabotville where I came to a halt a bit short of 1000m of up and 120km of along in the legs.

Friday was mostly about finalising the release of that new Gaby tome followed by 'assisting' with the pigeon defences and a short walk to grab some extra supplies.

Which brings us to Saturday. I've been bemoaning the loss of my usual trip to Germany to ride the Spreewald Radmarathon which was scheduled for Saturday, a fairly flat, @ 500m climbing in 200km through the German countryside south of Berlin so with a pleasant forecast I thought I'd do the Not the Spreewald Radmarathon in its honour. With the wind still out of the north east, a route heading generally that direction was devised, It would be long but would it be 200km? well that wasn't essential, it was the concept that mattered.

I set off at a steady pace, a Spreewald jersey on my back and once up the Cotswold edge I found the pace picking up quite nicely as I headed for Malmesbury. However, things came to a halt a little shy of the town, a softening rear tyre requiring attention. At times like this you always question the wisdom of pushing on over cutting short but I'd be annoyed not to make best use of what was turning into a very pleasant day. I made the replacement along with addressing the cause - a slipped rim tape, and resumed my eastward journey.

Once past the town it was the rolling hills of the upper Thames to Cricklade then over the Swindon road to continue on to my lunch halt at Fairford. The airfield was silent, even the RAF it seems, take weekends off, I found myself a bench in the sun and ate my very German wurst in a roll. There were 'only' 75km on the clock but the next leg, a loop through the Cotswolds to Stroud would be adding not just miles but metres too.

The wind was helpfully keeping the temperature 'riding comfortable' but nevertheless, when I reached stop two, Ben's burger van, the can of Pepsi barely touched the sides! I took a little more time over the burger and cup of tea and enjoyed the mid afternoon sun for a few minutes. From here its a relatively easy ride back but the direct route would only add @ 40km to the 135 on the Garmin so I decided to take a slightly more loopy route instead.

This morning I seemed to cover a lot of ground quickly, this afternoon, I wasn't riding any slower but time seemed to slip by quickly, by the time I made my last scheduled halt at Hill it was 17.00 and I reckoned there were two more hours to go! Back on the bike, I was feeling quite strong still but even so, I adapted the route to avoid the bigger drags out of the Severn Vale, the km were building but would I reach 200? The answer was just, the long way back to the house saw the target passed, the clock stopping 10 hours after setting out at a bit after 19.15, 8.20 of those on the bike for an average 24kph - not bad considering the 1500m of climbing and it being a solo effort.

So there you are - I had my sweet & sour just before ten then hit the sack, too tired to do anything else!

Today is a recovery day, i will go for a short walk shortly but even reasonably fit old gits need to recover after big efforts.

And so to todays freebie Gaby chapter, End of Season. There are more visitors from Germany than Drew was expecting and after using the standard girly response of 'I’ve not got anything to wear Mum', when instructed to dress smart for a big dinner - well of course, its Gaby who goes to the restaurant! At least the first of the weekend races goes a bit smoother its just afterwards that Gaby makes another appearance.

Well that's everything for today, more news from Brizzleville on Wednesday,
Tschuss,
Madeline Anafrid