Pleasure and Pain in the Lanes.

As I suspected I would, I managed to fit a cheeky ride in yesterday amongst all the cleaning prior to the Landlord coming to sort out the decorating.

Amazing how Daffodils grow in weird pockets of isolation, but where there's a wheel there's a way...

While it was another beautiful sunny day, it wasn't all joy as all that cleaning has played merry hell with my dodgy back, and the soundtrack for the ride wasn't dominated by water rushing down the rivers, or the birds singing or whatever, but rather by various grunts, 'ooohhhhs', 'ahhhhs', and the occasional 'woo ya basket' as bumps in the road took their toll. Speed then, even by my pedestrian standards, was low, but I was still glad I made the effort, although I really am hobbling about and bent almost in half today as a result.

I did a lot of interval training on this ride. Well ok, that's a euphemism for stopping a lot to have a rest, but still. So the photos aren't up to much, they're whatever I found when I came to a halt.

I did play about with this one in Photoshop Elements though, hence the odd colours. The vignetting on the left was done in camera somehow though.

One delight though came at a bridge I always stop at for a linger, where someone was burning wood on a crackling bonfire nearby, and the wonderfully aromatic smoke was drifting across the lane occasionally as I set the tripod up for a mincing and wincing, grimace laden, ride past selfie. A wonderful smell, almost up there with Castrol R in my list of top pongs.

Selfie time - pleasurable pong not shown. (The person who can come up with scratch and sniff photos will earn a fortune...)

I must find out the name of that lane too, or the river at least, as I hate not knowing these things, especially when they are in my own backyard almost.

I've photographed this roadside memorial before, so tried it from behind this time. The plaque just says 'Marcus' and other than the fact it is all well tended, that's all I know about it.

So another ride was in the bag, albeit an unwise one as it turned out, but still, that's what Ibuprofen is for I suppose. Only a brief post this one too, as I didn't take many photos and can't sit at the computer comfortably either, but hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly.