Savouring The First Cup.

After the dispiriting ride a few days previously, when a brief potter around one of my local loops failed to lift my gloom, I woke up yesterday instantly feeling a bit more like it. Quickly a plan was hatched – always the sign of a lifting mood, and I set out to make the first coffee of the day one to earn and savour rather than just gulp out of bleary eyed morning ritual.

Everything I needed was quickly lobbed into the Carrera's panniers (another decision quickly made – which bike to take. I can agonise over that one for ages sometimes) and I set off into the early morning sunshine. The cool and fresh air was soon waking me up and within minutes I was eagerly snapping away photographically at some wild flowers on the roadside, enjoying once again being out and about and taking in the surroundings, and in the case of the flowers, less than a mile from home. On a less receptive day I'd have probably ridden past without even noticing them, my mind in a yet to be unlocked fug.

Meadow Cranesbill I believe.

Twenty or so minutes later I was at my planned spot for a brew, beside a small river in the local woods. This particular spot is well used by woodland walkers and their dogs, the pooches often launching gleefully into the river to retrieve a well lobbed stick. But the early Saturday hour promised solitude and peace, which is what I crave on all my rides.

So with the kettle filled and the stove doing its thing, I had time to sit and listen to the wildlife and trickles of the river, and feel the rising sun warming the still air. The coffee I use on these little expeditions is nothing fancy, just a sachet of Nescafe three in one, but it does the job and tastes all the better for the effort involved in its brewing. The enforced lingering and time to ponder adds stimulation of a natural kind.

Stove is a Mini Trangia, kettle by Trangia also.

Feeling happily relaxed and refreshed, I then carried on for a good old mooch around the wood, discovering a whole new area to explore in the process. 

That busted tree was nothing to do with me, it was like that when I got there, honest...

Home again and showered by 10.30, having had an invigorating start to the day. Riding, aided and abetted by the simple addition of a small camping stove, had done its thing once again.

Sometimes a ride started in a gloomy state can lift the mood all by itself. At other times, like on this occasion, it can accelerate and reinforce a naturally evolving recovery.