Sunday 24 November 2013

Autumn Glory

Having driven back from Wiltshire yesterday I was stunned by colour of the trees in the late Autumn we are having. I though it would be a good idea to cycle down to the national Pinetum at Bedgebury. Never quite sure how to pronounce this but I think it is Pie Neetum. The weather forecast was reasonable, with even the promise of some sun and no rain. So I decided to take my new Trek Domane bike, which I promised myself was for dry and sunny days only!

I think I was kidding myself, because although it wasn't raining the roads were wet and I soon had a wet backside courtesy of not having mudguards. This was a small price to pay for being able to go much faster than I do on my other two bikes which have them, as well as luggage racks, all of which add to the weight.

I left  home on my favourite route past Rochester Castle and the Cathedral then along the back road to Aylesford via the village of Eccles. It is a great road, without much traffic and some really good views.  It was a quite a cold day, but once I got going I was reasonably warm and eventually just as I got to the village of Goudhurst the sun came out. This was the view looking North
Ducks enjoying Autumn Sun

Bedgebury is a very popular place for mountain bikers. This is the first time I have seen one of these before, a fat bike. According to the rider they are great fun and I can image they are quite good in really muddy conditions.
Fat Bike
 After a quick stop for a cup of coffee and a slice of cake I left to ride home. The mountain bikers were queuing to use the jetwash and both them and their bikes needed it.
Queuing for the jetwash
 I took a short diversion so that I could see what I had come to Bedgebury for. The full glory of Autumn. It was a pity that the sun had gone in by then, as this would have added to the picture.
Autumn Glory
 I also spotted these two stunning trees.

And these two. I was cycling very slowly, up  a steep hill and they were just staring at me inquisitively. It looked like they had just been shorn, which I thought was a bit cruel as Winter is just about to start, but maybe they get to stay inside.


I stopped briefly at Yalding to watch these kayaks. The water is a real torrent here and this looked pretty good fun.



Here is a  map of my route. I did 65 miles and averaged over 14 mph.

I track all my riding using an application called Strava.

http://www.strava.com/activities/96838988

This is a great tool for comparing your ride against previous ones. Although I have never done this exact route before I have done several parts of it before. Because I was on my lightweight Trek bike I broke several personal bests for climbing up some of the hills.




















So much for only using my bike on dry days! It was filthy.


Apparently the best way of rehydrating yourself is with beer, well someone told me this once so I am going with it.  As recommended by my eldest, this Abbye beer from France supplied by our local deli (Aldi) and very nice it was too.


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