Got going before noon today – once again totally overcast but not too chilly. Decided to explore more of Lyppard Grange since it was so close and if the rain started I wouldn’t have far to ride home.

I rode in on a different trail than yesterday and ended up at the other end of the grasslands, then rode further to a ‘lake’ that was actually more of a small pond.

The information posts said the smaller lake used to be an ornamental pond and the larger might have been part of a protective moat for the original manor house.

I was not impressed with the amount of garbage that was in the water – so many plastic bottles and bags – there are garbage cans all over the place – how can people be so ignorant/lazy/oblivious? What did surprise me was the bicycle in the water! I managed to take a couple of photos that didn’t show the trash, but it wasn’t easy.

I rode out of the nature reserve to the end of that path, then turned around and entered a small green space off to the side. There was a booth set up and a bunch of people so I asked what was going on. It was the local community garden folks and they were doing maintenance and cleanup on the trails. I told them what I’d seen at the ‘lake’ and they said that was their cleanup project for Thursday – so glad to hear that!

Rode thru another neighbourhood – saw a pure-black cat lounging on the sidewalk at the entrance to another path, and it didn’t move until the last moment. When it did I saw that it only had three legs – it was missing the front right one, but even so was a pretty good hopper.

They’re going to do a bunch of repairs on Big Ben in London so it’s being shut down for up to 4 years. It’s a pretty big deal for the Brits, so the BBC showed both the 11:00 bongs live and the final bongs at 12:00 noon. The only time it will ring again until the repairs are done will be a few special occasions, such as Nov 11 and New Year’s Eve. They’ve done repairs before, but not this extensive – I have a picture from September 1984 that has scaffolding around the clock tower but can’t remember if it bonged or not. I would guess it didn’t bong since it would have deafened the workers.

Totally overcast, but clouds weren’t really black so I was hopeful it wouldn’t rain. Left later than usual for my ride and despite the clouds it was warm enough (once I had ridden for a bit) to take my hoodie off. Rode south on paths, then around the edge of Nunnery Wood.

Ended up in an area of cul-de-sacs and dead-ends with no other apparent exit – I’m sure there was one but I couldn’t find it so went back the way I’d come. Took a different turn at one point and saw a sign for Lyppard Grange Grasslands, so got off the bike and walked down the little trail. I arrived at a beautiful field of bushes, grasses and wildflowers.

Apparently there’s much more to the Nature Reserve – this was just the ‘grassland’ part – but I re-mounted the bike and rode on home as I was getting pretty hungry.

The total eclipse of the sun was another big deal today – even bigger than the silencing of Big Ben (at least outside of the UK – ha ha). It wasn’t visible from here, but even if Worcester had been on the path I couldn’t have seen it – no blue sky or sun visible at all today.

I was face-timing Dominic while the eclipse was happening – I was watching it live on tv and when they showed the Oregon pictures Dom was watching the sun at home. It did get slightly darker and he took a pic and emailed it to me. It wasn’t a total eclipse there, but you could definitely tell that the sun was partially covered up. We discussed how freaked out folks must have been by such an occurrence hundreds or thousands of years ago (except the Greeks, of course, who actually understood science). It reminded us of the scene in the movie Apocalypto when the priest is about to cut out the heart of the captured guy and the sun disappears – the gods must be angry!

Got on my way for my ride just after noon. Headed north on the paths, then northeast when I reached the canal. There are more people today than yesterday – both walkers and cyclists.

Passed several ducks on the grass between the canal and the path – they were all ‘roosting’ and didn’t even move when I approached – at first I almost thought they were rocks. They didn’t even twitch as I passed – obviously not shy of people.

Sky was very cloudy but didn’t seem that threatening – I’d looked up the weather forecast and tomorrow and the next day are supposed to be crappy so I figured today was probably the best day to ride until mid-week.

Made it to Hanbury (where the Droitwich canal meets the Worcester to Birmingham canal) in around an hour, then rather than going west about a mile into the town of Droitwich I continued north/northeast towards Birmingham.

Every once in a while one of the locks has a building – I think they used to have folks that would monitor the canal and help with the locks, but now are houses.

Rode another 1/2 hour to the town of Stoke Prior that looked very pretty. There were quite a few canal boats moored, and houses and pubs right next to the canal. I knew I’d have a fairly long ride back home so turned around there.

At one point I came upon two dogs coming towards me with no people in sight. They both had collars on so I figured they weren’t wild strays – one was a slim mid-sized beize dog, the other a rather chubby jack russell. They completely ignored me, and as I passed them I could hear voices coming from a boat on the canal – I couldn’t see it because the reeds and other bushes on the canal’s edge were too tall. The dogs seemed to be keeping pace with the boat, so I guessed that they belonged to the boaters and were just being given a chance to stretch their legs a bit.

The wind was picking up again so I was glad I’d turned around when I had. I was getting pretty tired by the time I got home, and rain was threatening again – good timing today. ‘Young’ Neil popped by to confirm the timing of giving me a lift to Cheltenham on Friday to catch the train to Bristol.

The rain started in earnest around 7, then slacked off, then started to really pour just before 9 – dirt paths will all be pure mud tomorrow, so I’m very glad I took the ride I did today.

I had a fairly ambitious ride planned, but changed my mind when – guess what? – black clouds rolled in. I did go for a short ride north up the canal, but turned around at the fourth lock when it started to rain.

For a Saturday there weren’t very many people on the canal path, and because of the rain from the last few days it was fairly muddy in spots.

The end of the first path through the woods that had been closed off ever since I arrived has been re-opened – it was only about 30 yards of repairs right at the north end of that section. There was an alternate route that made that part of the ride somewhat longer so it was nice to be able to go directly through.

The rain didn’t really get going hard – more like a steady drizzle, although the wind was again quite strong, and the dark clouds persisted until much later in the afternoon. I probably could have completed the original ride that I’d planned but by the time the sky cleared a bit it was too late.

I got a chicken pie for dinner – I’ve been eating a lot of fresh pasta and wanted a change. It was ok, but a little too much dough for my taste so I think I’ll stick to pasta, potatoes and bread for my carbs.

Today is the first day of the Vuelta, and it was the Team Time Trial. It didn’t start until around 5:00, but they didn’t show it on tv here until very late – think it was around 9:30 or 10:00. And even then they only showed highlights. Tomorrow they’ll only be showing an hour of the race at 7:00 in the evening – I’ll have to try to avoid reading about it online.

Beautiful sunshine that began the day turned to large black clouds around noon. I ended up being like the buddha in the garden – sitting in a corner in deep contemplation.

OK – so my contemplation involved tv, sudoku puzzles and peanuts washed down with red wine, and my sitting was done on a comfy chair rather than a rock, but so what?

Rain rain go away….had to wait until afternoon before the rain stopped and I could go for a ride. Went into the city centre via the most direct route, which meant riding on the sidewalk part way down. Most folks, as usual, were happy to let me pass without having to ride on the road, except one fellow did have something to say as I went by him. He didn’t try to impede me however, so I just ignored him and kept going.

Right as I was nearing the centre a car was pulling out of a parking lot and didn’t even look for anyone – if I had been walking she wouldn’t have seen me either. She pulled her car right across the sidewalk but couldn’t get onto the road as traffic was coming. I stopped, of course, and waited for her to either back up so I could pass – although she didn’t even look at me, so that didn’t happen – or pull onto the road. Finally there was a break in the oncoming traffic so she did pull out, but she proceeded at such a sharp angle that she almost ran me over – I actually had to back up to avoid getting hit. I yelled a couple of choice expletives at her (first word started with ‘f’ and second with ‘b’) but I’m sure she didn’t hear me any better than she’d seen me.

I got off and walked the bike for a bit – luckily part of the centre is closed to traffic so was able to ride again after a couple of blocks. I had looked up health product stores before leaving, so tried to find the first one without luck. I found the shopping centre it was supposed to be in, but couldn’t find the actual store so went to the next one on my list – only a couple of blocks away.

Got what I needed – soap, shampoo, toothpaste and oregano oil (in capsules, rather than drops, but better than nothing). Rode around a bit – the old part of the centre is really great with lots of pubs and small shops.

I stopped to consult the ever-handy map and then noticed that I was in front of a tattoo parlour. I considered going in to get my existing tattoo embellished, which is something I’ve wanted to do for some time now, but decided to wait for another time.

Rode to the cathedral – approached it from the back, where they’re doing a bunch of stone-work. I followed a paved path, hoping it would lead around to the front but ended up in a fenced area where all the stone was kept, and where several workers were. I asked if the path continued and was told no, but I could get through a gate which he then opened for me.

Next I rode to the canal, then along the canal-path all the way north, then east, until I left it at the forest path that leads home. I’m getting familiar with the various paths now and have no trouble finding my way even if I take a slightly different route sometimes.

I had to kill a fairly large spider although I did apologize as I whacked it repeatedly with a shoe. It had been in a corner of the stairway and I had left it, reasoning that it was catching flies or other bugs and that was ok. Then as I was watching tv later I saw movement on the floor and there it was – scuttling across right in front of the tv – it gave me no choice!

Got up fairly early but didn’t get going on my ride until around noon. The morning had been quite sunny but, as seems usual here, clouds moved in and the wind picked up as the day progressed.

Headed south, then west to the small town of Powich. The only times there wasn’t a cycle path or sidewalk were, thankfully, very quiet side roads so at least I wasn’t riding in fast traffic. A couple of the paths were next to very busy highways, but being on a path rather than on the road was much easier on my nerves.

Powich seemed like a very nice place but the highway goes right through the middle and traffic doesn’t seem to slow down much. I turned off the main road and followed a small side road west for a mile or so – passed some sheep farms, then turned back as the wind was getting pretty fierce and I didn’t want to get caught in a storm.

By the time I got home I’d been riding for almost 3 hours – much more ambitious than yesterday! Did some more laundry – no problem with the door this time.

Still fascinated and repulsed by the latest Trump-storm – who needs the Y&R when the president of the US can’t keep his mouth shut?

It rained off and on during the evening – sometimes quite a downpour, sometimes just drizzling – so nice to be warm and snug in Colin’s house instead of huddling in my tent.

Another lovely morning – blue sky, with a bit of a breeze. Decided to take myself out for lunch, so following a suggestion from Colin headed to The Bull Inn in Fernhill Heath. It’s not very far north of Worcester, although part of the ride was on a very busy road.

The ride started out on a cycle path, then I had to ride on the sidewalk, then when that ended I rode on the grass at the side of the highway, but that also ended about half-way to Fernhill Heath. I tried riding on the road, but it was not pleasant – cars gave me no room at all and I almost got sideswiped more than once. I took a chance and crossed to the other side which actually had a narrow sidewalk that was much safer, even though you’re probably not supposed to ride on it.

Found the inn right away, although it didn’t open for another 10 minutes so took a little tour around the town – it’s a very pretty place. When the inn was open I asked if there was a place to lock the bike up and the bartender said that if I went to the garden at the back I could just take it with me. There was a large grass area with picnic tables, as well as a covered part that I chose to sit under with the bike right next to me.

Sat for a bit and had a pint of a very good local cider that was on tap – watched TMZ-live on the ipad and got caught up on the Drumpster’s most recent ridiculousness (what an ass).

Ordered a ‘mini’ fish and chips for lunch – glad I didn’t ask for the ‘regular’ size as it was huge. The fish was excellent – nice and fresh and not too much batter, and the fries were crispy but not greasy. It came with mushy peas and home-made tartar sauce – all very delicious – some of the best fish & chips I’ve had.

The ride back was uneventful – not a really long ride altogether today, but I’m still a bit sore from my tumble yesterday.

Decided to ride today to Worcester Woods Country Park – another of the places Lyn had recommended to me. I had actually ridden past it a few days ago but hadn’t entered as I was headed elsewhere at the time.

Riding around the forest was very pleasant – totally quiet and relaxing. Found a large field – Newton Green (I think) but went back to the path instead of riding on the grass. At the east end I thought I’d like to see where a small side trail went, so rode thru a muddy spot in a depression and started to slip as I went up the other side. I stopped to get my balance then started riding again but almost immediately hit a tree root at an odd angle and started to go down to the right. I then realized that the pedal had flipped over when I’d stopped and my shoe had clipped in so I couldn’t get my foot down in time and dropped over towards the mud. As I fell my face hit the handle bar hard and my foot was still clipped into the fucking pedal. I ended up on my right side but at least didn’t slide down into the mud. I lay there for a moment wondering if anything was broken – either on myself, the bike, or my camera, then managed to get my shoe out of the clip so I could roll myself over and get back upright. My lower lip was split and already swelling on the right side, and it was then I felt something on my right forearm – I had landed on a stinging nettle and welts were already appearing. At least it was only one plant and only my lower arm and not my legs, face, or neck – I dowsed it with water a couple of times and started riding again.

Rode past a really great looking playground and another large field – lots of kids everywhere. Headed home after stopping at the store for more supplies.

The right side of my lower lip is very swollen and bruised-looking but the skin only broke on the inside and it didn’t bleed very much. The nettle welts went down but the whole area is throbbing off and on, although it’s not that itchy – wish I had some aloe to put on it. I also discovered blood on my right knee, but the wound is fairly minor so I didn’t even notice it when it happened.

The fresh lemon I used as part of my salad dressing at dinner stung my cut lip, and eating was a bit awkward but I was so hungry I didn’t care.

Rode down to the festival around 11 – noticed for the first time a couple of signs that said ‘do not cycle on the footpath’. I wasn’t sure what to do – the path had started out as foot/cycle then suddenly you’re not supposed to cycle anymore. I tried riding on the road a bit, but it wasn’t that pleasant, so ended up back on the sidewalk. There weren’t many pedestrians so I didn’t feel that bad about breaking the rules.

Found the festival grounds without much problem – the festival itself actually goes on for a couple of weeks with lots of things happening at various places throughout the city, but what is going on right now at the park is only for today.

The first thing I came to right at the entrance was a free bike inspection booth so I naturally headed straight to it. The fellow was very nice and had a look-over of Colin’s bike for me. It didn’t need any chain oil, but one of the brakes was making a slight noise so he made a small adjustment and said everything else looked ok. I then took it right across to a free bike lock-up – they give you and your bike a ticket and won’t let anyone without the proper number leave with a bike – I also, of course, locked it to the metal fence they had setup for that purpose.

Walked around and saw it all – first were the food vendors – several tasty looking choices, then the main music stage. Listened there for a bit, then strolled through the market part – booths of all sorts – animal rescue organizations, clubs, food products, jewelry, handicrafts, hobby stuff – a great assortment of things, with something to interest almost anyone.

Checked out a couple of the exhibits that had been judged – photography, of course, was especially interesting, but there were lots of other things as well. Lyn from next-door has won first place in handicrafts for the last three years but didn’t enter this year – all of the other participants in that category are likely breathing a sigh of relief.

Went back to the food vendors and decided on a perogie with bacon, spinach and cheese – the sign even said ‘not a pasty’ but that’s exactly what it looked like. I took it into what I thought was the ‘eating tent’ but saw that it was actually a beer tent that also, lucky for me, had cider on tap! So I sat and ate my pasty-that-wasn’t-a-pasty and drank a pint of lovely local cider while listening to a local singing group. The group was huge and consisted of dozens and dozens of women and a few men and they were really quite good.

I have to mention that the folks that were pouring the beer and cider did an incredible job – the line-ups looked so long I thought it would take forever but it was only a couple of minutes – really efficient and I think they must have made a mint because the customers never stopped coming.

After eating I headed over to the ‘kitchen tent’ for the wine tasting, which apparently started a few minutes early, although I didn’t miss any of the tastings. The presenter was very knowledgable and managed to give a lot of information about the wines and where they came from and how they are made and taste, mixed with a fair amount of humour. We tasted 3 whites, 1 rose (that doesn’t look right without the accent over the ‘e’, but you know what I mean) and 2 reds – a couple from South Africa, one from Italy, the rest from France (I think).

Next up in the kitchen tent was an excellent chef from a local restaurant that showed us how to make fried duck breast, lentil and vegetable cassoulet and poached pear. He also was very entertaining as he made the dishes, and the end product was delicious.

After that I wandered to the other side of the park where the kid’s area was, as well as the dog agility place. Lots going on, including face-painting, which I thought was cute. I took a picture of a little girl getting her face done – really pretty colours – but the face-painter moved her hand right when I took the pic so it covered most of the face. As I walked away a lady came up to me and asked if I was a professional photographer – I didn’t know why she was asking but of course I answered truthfully and said no. She then asked if she could see the photo I had taken and then I wondered if she thought I was a child-stalker or something and that was her little girl I’d taken the photo of. I showed her the pic and offered to delete it but she said it was ok as the girl’s face couldn’t actually be seen because of the face-painter’s hand. I walked away feeling like I’d just been accused of being a child molester or something and that everyone in the whole area was looking at me with loathing and scorn. Then I felt very guilty – oh my god – I should ask permission of everyone before I dare take a picture! I left almost immediately, feeling like shit after such a wonderful afternoon.

I stopped briefly at the band stage to listen to a couple of songs – decent covers of REM and U2, but felt so lousy all I wanted to do was get home.

Found my way to the canal path and rode home – the sky, like my mood, was now very gray. Had dinner then face-timed Dom – felt a bit better after talking with him and seeing the kitties. Watched the final few events of the World Athletics Championships – have really enjoyed them for the last week and a bit.