Monday, 9 May 2011

A Day of Hills and Horses

I thought I would start off early for a ride this morning to miss the regular thunderstorm and heavy rain we seem to be getting, which brews up nicely about 2pm ish. I set myself a challenge of going to Umbourne and Watchcombe which are hamlets in a particular hilly part of East Devon. The road out of Umbourne heads up 450 feet in about a mile and has a nice 15% hill near the top. As I wound my way up the hill I eventually arrived at the steepest point and wondered if my heart would hold out till I reached the top. Fortunately for me it did and I sheltered in the wood at the top and munched gratefully on my cereal bar. The place was like the" wild wood" in wind in the willows and the roots of the trees looked like they could stretch out at any minute and grab you! I met my regular "Nemesis" this morning "the horse who hates bicycles". Its all very embarrassing, as on the narrow lane, I stop and he will not pass me! The rider then has a battle of wills with him as he wants to head back home rather than pass me. Eventually he edges past me and we go our separate ways. I know that our paths will cross again when I'm out again on Friday!

The journey back was uneventful but windy although I saw a Jay and a dead Badger  . One of the good things about cycling is you re-live many childhood experiences, as I am now eating lots of Jelly Babies for that quick energy burst!
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2 comments:

  1. Jonathan12 May 2011 at 00:59

    Sounds like another solid practice ride Ian!
    As you know being a great lover of horses and horsey people in general I can't see what all the fuss is about. Next time you end up in this predicament simply remove the Megaphone from your backpack and bellow "my right of way I think you'll find" in the general direction of the (disappearing) horse. I have also found the rider strangely reticent to disagree under the circumstances under a beast which is dangerous at both ends and uncomfortable in the middle as they struggle to control it. This technique always worked on Debbie I found.For some extraordinary reason she would say I never did like her horse (who was going to be "best man" at our wedding if she had her way) and is now hopefully glue.

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  2. Jonathan13 May 2011 at 11:52

    Hi Ian,
    weren't you eating Jelly Babies before all this started?
    I have been following yout progress in practice on the following website(at the bottom)and thought your blog followers may be interested. It's a free Ordnance Survey map of all the UK which as you know is now unavailable on the mapping sites where it used to be found.Confusingly it just calls itself "West Oxfordshire" maybe for copyright reasons, but don't be put off by this. Just tap in (most) of the placenames and they come up centrally on the map.It lets people see much more clearly (as you know) the sort of terrain you are going through. Thought it might be of interest.
    Those contours on that hill climb past Umborne and Watchcombe look pretty savage!
    Hope it went well today.

    http://www.mapsta.net/uk-os/westox/

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