Oo-er. Only 5 weeks!

Just 5 weeks to go! And these 5 weeks will go very quickly, I'm sure, especially as there is a lot happening at work which is keeping me very busy.

So this week it is back to hitting the road as much as possible. I'm not sure if it is a sign of getting a (little) bit older, but it is increasingly difficult to get up in time to get as much in before work as I would like. Maybe it is connected with Neil (a colleague of longstanding) calling me 'old fella' on a regular basis. So I am relying more and more on the Saturday rides.

I was pleased to see the weather forecast at 4pm yesterday showing dry and partial sunshine. Excellent - plan formulated to join the CTC Saturday 60 ride to Sherfield English. By the time I got up this morning, it had changed. It is amazing how good the forecasts are a few minutes before it happens. The promised showers materialised right on cue the moment I stepped outside. But I have to say that was almost the last of the wet weather until about 12:30.

The first leg is up to Ringwood. It is always worrying when you see the trees bending over but you can't feel the wind. It means that you will be heading into it on the way back. But at least it gave us a help up the hill from Moyles Court towards Bolderwood. Only three of us were on this ride, which is unusual for the CTC rides - there are usually 8-12. Maybe they had all looked at the weather forecast ..

The tea break is at Gilberts garden centre. They had BREAD PUDDING! What else can be better for the hills (acutally, John Bush's wife's fruit cake, but Bread Pudding must come a close second.) After the half hour break, it is back via some pretty villages at the west end of Hampshire, just inside the New Forest Park boundary. One is called Lover (pronounced Lowver). This is where the only other real hill lies in wait for the unsuspecting cyclist.

Then it is back via Breamore (pronounced Bremmer - why don't they spell village names how they sound), Fordingbridge (banana break) and the back roads to Christchurch. This was all into the wind, but we still maintained a good average speed. Home before 2pm and 70 miles completed.

Then there were 5 fence panels to replace.

Finally, I am fascinated by the fact that there are people in Russia and China who seem to be following my story. I would love to hear from you - please leave a comment! And to everyone - please sponsor me if you haven't done so.