Carole, Keira and I are very fortunate in many ways. We live close enough to Central London to make access for work and play in town a simple matter. And we live far enough away to enjoy many benefits of (almost) country living. One of the very best things about where we live is the proliferation of trails and bridle paths for cycling on. This weekend we had grand plans. Keira wanted to go for a ride on Saturday and set a new longest distance for her ride. Her previous best was 5 miles.
In glorious sunshine we decided to head off towards Banstead and see how far we got. Within a few hundred yards of our house we are onto green belt agricultural land and the hedges are alive with greenfinches. As you can see from the picture, we’re at a high point and the views over the fields are lovely. We drop down to the local park and then begin a persistent 2 mile climb. We head through woods, and up dusty trails past goldcrests and any horse in their fields. Almost to the top of the climb and we stop for a Pepperami break. Yummy!
Pushing on we soon arrive in Banstead where Keira brilliantly suggests we stop for a pub lunch (bright kid). Trouble is – the only pub is shut for the day – they’ve all headed off for Derby Day! We end up in a nice café in the park and have bacon and eggs on toast.
What goes up – must come down, and the ride home was fun. We swooped and blasted back down the same tracks we’d earlier huffed and puffed our way up. When I’m cycling on the road I love the challenge of riding up hills. Off road – the reverse is true and we all arrived at the bottom of the long trail grinning. After a final short dig up another climb, we pootle the last few hundred yards home.
8.06 miles. Mission accomplished.
We all fell asleep in the afternoon, chuffed to bits with our eight mile high. I hope you found time for some fun this weekend?