A lovely morning in Mansle – slightly hazy but not yet hot. Went to the store with Colin to pick up some fresh veggies and a baguette – didn’t leave for a ride with Neil until 1:30. Colin and Neil had already mapped out a picturesque route for Neil to take me on so we knew were we were headed – or at least Neil knew and I just followed.

There were lots of little hills, but I didn’t have to stop other than to take on some water – it was very hot. We passed many fields of hay, sad-looking sunflowers with hardly any blossoms left, cows, corn, etc. Went thru the town of Bayers that has a chateau, but it was closed, so continued on to our destination which was the lovely town of Verteuil-sur-Charente. It also has a large chateau (with a new slate roof)), and is, as the name says, on the river Charente. There are several cafes right on the river so we chose one to sit and have a drink at.

The cafe was very relaxing and friendly – there was an orange cat lying next to a planter – looked pretty tired from the heat. There were also two very fluffy chickens running free – they looked more furry than feathery, even their feet.

The cat wasn’t as zonked out as he’d seemed – we saw him on the bridge trying to get to a bird that was on one of the bridge’s flower planters. There were also two old cars in mint condition – a green Citroen 2 cv and a red original Fiat 500.

I was very tired and Neil and I discussed if I should stay and have a cup of tea while he rode home and brought the van back to collect me. After finishing my glass of wine I declared that I would be ok and could make it back on my bike. He offered me an energy bar to eat before we left but I said I didn’t like to ride right after eating as it made my stomach feel sick so declined.

The bill for my glass of wine and Neil’s beer was rather outrageous – 12 euros! That’s just over $18, but I guess you pay for the location (and the entertainment). As we left we passed the orange cat that was now playing with a small snake – my bet is the cat was having a lot more fun and ends up winning the game.

Rode back by a slightly different route – a bit longer but with fewer hills. I ended up having to stop twice to push the bike up the last part of two of the final hills – I guess I should have taken the energy bar – I just had no strength left and my legs felt like rubber. I did make it home ok – we’d ridden just under 38 km in all, but the heat was intense and totally sapped me.

Had a quick, cool shower to rinse off the dripping sweat, then ate a small, late lunch while Colin and Neil went down to the pub for a beer. The pub is putting on a special dinner tonight – we had to put in our food choices a few days ago – Colin and Neil both got the mussels with fries, and I had chosen the chicken curry with rice.

It was a pretty fancy affair with two long tables with tablecloth and place settings already in place. Many of the folks at our table were Brits who lived in the area, so we did have other people to chat with. The Brits and Neil were all fluent in french and Colin can get by – I understood a little bit when the conversation was in french, but mostly they spoke english.

The chicken curry was delicious – boneless breast meat, and a little spicier than what I had at the ‘snail’ restaurant Colin took me to in July before I went to Worcester. It was a lovely evening, and we got back home around 9:30.

Today’s Vuelta wasn’t taping until 7 tomorrow morning, so watched a little bit of tv then went to bed at a fairly decent time.

I meant to get up nice and early so I’d have lots of time for yoga and a good breakfast before Neil came to pick me up at 7:00 for the drive to Cheltenham, but – either the alarm on my ipad didn’t go off, or it did but I slept thru it. So much for my plan!

I woke up on my own at 6:22 and immediately went into hyper-mode. Luckily I’d done all of the cleaning up and most of my packing yesterday so didn’t have that much to do. I really wanted a hot cup of tea even if I didn’t have time to eat much, but that didn’t work out either. I’d steeped the tea and stirred in the honey then went to fill it up with milk – but the milk came out in a slimy blob – it had completely turned overnight. I did gobble down the pasta that was leftover from yesterday’s lunch and made a quick feta cheese bunwich for later, and was just doing the few dishes when Neil arrived.

I quickly tidied up the kitchen, emptied the fridge of anything that wouldn’t keep, took out the garbage and brought the bike inside. I think I made Neil wait less than 5 minutes – we were on the road by 7:02, so not bad. I hate making people wait, and being in a rush, but all seemed ok so I started to relax a bit, even though Neil is a bit of an aggressive driver in addition to being on the wrong side of the road (ha ha).

The drive to Cheltenham didn’t take very long – had a nice chat with Neil along the way. He seems like a very nice fellow, and dropped me off right at the train station. I decided to catch the next train to Bristol rather than explore Cheltenham a bit, so went right in and got a ticket for 7:52.

The ride to Bristol also didn’t take that long – it seemed a much longer journey when I arrived on August 1 – maybe that was the milk run. I did leave the Bristol train station for a short walk to the river and around a couple of blocks, but didn’t want to go too far and maybe get lost. Also the full backpack and camera bag were quite heavy. The train station is actually quite nice – fairly big but not huge, with nice old scrollwork and lots of flowers.

Caught the shuttle bus to the airport and sat down at a cafe right in front of the Ryanair check-in counter. Finally got my morning cup of tea, then sat and ate the food I’d brought and logged in to the airport’s free wi-fi.

As soon as my flight was listed on the board I checked in at the counter and was okayed to go to security. Every airport must have slightly different rules or training – this time I didn’t have to remove my shoes, even though they have metal cleats, but they wouldn’t let me bring my saline solution. The bottle was too big, and even though it wasn’t full he wouldn’t let me take it – I hadn’t had a problem when in the same situation coming here from Limoges, but oh well – it was very cheap and I’ll just have to get another.

Had to run the gauntlet of all the duty-free shops to get to the waiting area – dozens of expensive perfumes, all of which smelled like mosquito repellant to me – I don’t know how anyone works there all day without throwing up from the overpowering stench. The Bristol waiting area is huge with lots of comfortable seating, as well as more shops and cafes. There was a Superdrug store so I immediately replaced my saline solution – had to use my visa card for 1.99 p as I had spent the last of my cash on a bottle of water.

We had to walk and walk to get to the gate – felt like we were walking half-way to France. Finally boarded and left only 12 minutes late. Unfortunately there were quite a few small children on the plane, but only one was extremely unhappy. He cried and screamed the entire flight – only stopped long enough to get another breathe from time to time. The father did all he could to soothe him, but little guy was having nothing of it.

Landed right on time, then trooped in to the passport control. I wasn’t too far back in the line so the wait wasn’t that bad. The couple with the screaming child came in very late – he still wasn’t happy so a security lady came over and lifted the barrier ribbon so they could cut almost to the front of the line – I let them go right ahead of me. I asked if the little fellow was teething, but the parents said no – he hates being restrained and just wanted to be let loose and run about. They were very nice and grateful to have been let to the front of the line.

The passport control guy took quite a while to clear me – I could see his lips moving as he looked at the various stamps in my passport and was counting to himself the number of days I’d actually been in each country. In the end he didn’t say a word and added his stamp to my growing collection and let me pass.

My welcoming committee was waiting for me right outside the main door – Colin and the very excited little ones. It’s much hotter here than it ever got in Worcester – felt like summer again instead of fall, which is what it seemed like for the last 24 days.

The drive back to Colin’s was nice and relaxing – driving on the right side of the road again and all. I was very hungry so snacked on chips while waiting for Neil to BBQ some burgers. Nice quiet evening watching taped coverage of today’s Vuelta. Got to bed earlier than I have in days – very tired.

Did an early load of laundry so it could start drying while I went for my last ride in Worcester (sob! sob!). I didn’t go far – only around the nearby trails and paths. Rode by the pond to see if they really were cleaning it up – who did I see with a trash bag in her hand but Lyn! The cleanup crew were almost finished for the day and had retrieved the bicycle from the pond, but many plastic bottles were still floating about. They hadn’t had a boat or canoe so had reached whatever they could with long poles and had to leave the rest – too bad.

For a brief moment I considered removing the pedals from the pond-bike – it didn’t look like it had been in the water very long, but discarded the idea – just more heavy stuff to carry around. The path I was on led to the local pub so I rode around to the back again – the same two old fellows I saw the other day were sitting at the same picnic table but no kitty (I may have forgotten to mention them before). I asked where the cat was and they said over there – sure enough it was lounging on one of the other tables. I stopped to take a pic of it, then they told me it always hangs around there and everyone feeds it. I told them if I was treated kindly and fed all the time I’d probably hang around too – we all had a good laugh as I rode away.

Next I went to the local community orchard that Lyn had told me about – she’d been there yesterday and harvested a large bag of fresh apples. It was very nice – many apple trees as well as plums, and some berries.

Back at the house I did some cleaning up – vacuumed the whole house and cleaned the bathroom, then did another load of laundry so everything will be nice and tidy when I leave. I took the bike lock I’d borrowed back to Jane – she said she’d dropped by a few times in the last couple of days but I must have been out riding so missed her. It’s too bad since I would have liked to visit with her more as she’s been very kind.

Went to get the pedals off Colin’s bike so I can take them back to France and put them back on my bike but the right one just wouldn’t come off – and yes, I was twisting the allen key in the proper direction. I went next door and enlisted Philip’s help, but he couldn’t budge it either. He said ‘Lyn might be able to do it – she has a good grip’ so he went and got her. Sure enough, within a moment she got it moving and then the pedal came off easily.

Went over to their place for dinner – the food was excellent and so was the company. We had very tasty boneless chicken (thighs, I think), wild rice, carrots and peas and a lovely salad with perfect avocado. And for dessert – cheesecake with strawberries. I really enjoyed being there and getting to know them a bit – they are very nice people.

Somehow the topic of the US and the Drumpster came up – and once again, as intelligent, sensible folks, they just couldn’t understand how he was the president. They agreed that there is something seriously wrong with him – and how long can this gong-show go on? But will Pence really be any better in the long run – he’s not crazy but is scary in his own way.

Oh well – I’m in Europe with my bike and my camera and having a wonderful time – bullocks to the current American political circus (or should I say freak show).

Got going at a decent time – just after 11:00. I intended to just ride over to a health-food store that I’d looked up online and pick up some vitamins, but there was no store anywhere near where it was supposed to be. I then decided to ride down into the city centre and go back to the store I’d gone to a few days ago, so I rode over to the canal, which wasn’t far away, and headed down.

The clouds began clearing a bit, but the wind had picked up. I rode until the canal path ended (right before the river) then had to go on a road for a tiny bit before I found another path thru a park. I followed it past a nice large playing field, then it veered west thru bushes and wildflowers to the river.

There’s a new pedestrian/cycle bridge over to the other side, where there’s an amusing-looking arrangement of sculptures of men (one with a bike!).

I ended up passing a woman with two little girls, as well as two teenagers each with a large dog, three times as I kept stopping to take pictures and they would catch up and walk past me. We all laughed the last time I called out ‘bicycle – again’ as I rode by, and one of the guys joked ‘are you following us’?

I was going to ride north along the river then cross back into the city centre, but saw a sign indicating that the town of Lower Wick was only a short distance away by cycle path, so I thought – what the heck – I’ve come this far, and followed it.

I passed thru part of the town, and saw another sign that the ‘old Powick Bridge’ was very close, so again kept riding. The bridge was at, or near, the site of both the first skirmish and the last major battle of the English civil war that was between 1642 and 1651.

I knew I was very close to Powick (where I’d been last week, but didn’t see the church) so once again thought – I’ve come this far, I might a well keep going. I had looked online a few days ago to find out exactly where the church was, so had no problem finding it. As I approached the closed gate I saw a lady get out of a car and open the gate. I saw a sign that said ‘clergy only’ so asked if I was allowed to go in. She said she didn’t think the church was open but that she saw no reason I couldn’t come onto the grounds.

The church has different parts that were built at different times, going back to the 12th century. There are various graveyards as well – some extremely old and worn, and some much more recent with new flowers. After walking thru the graveyard a bit I was heading back to the side of the church when the path went thru some bushes. Just to be safe I pushed the encroaching branches aside with the back of my gloved hand, but one of them sprang back right after I’d passed a brushed my right leg just on the inside of the knee. A moment later the stinging started – I never knew nettles grew that large, but at least I’d evaded most of them – it could have been a lot worse. Dowsed the leg with water, and continued on around to the front of the church. I tried the door but it was locked – oh well.

Retraced my route back to the river Severn, where I turned north towards the next bridge over to the city centre. The whole way along there were lovely fields to the left and groupings of flowers – a really nice ride. At one point, where there are wide stairs down to the river (and where the swans hang out) there was an emergency vehicle that had an inflatable boat at the back. They didn’t seem to be in that much of a hurry, so maybe they were just going for a practice paddle or something. Had some good views of Worcester Cathedral across the river.

Got across the river on the next bridge, then found the health-food store I’d been to previously. Got the vitamins Dominic had recommended, then tried to get back onto the canal to ride home. Unfortunately the road I chose didn’t have access to the canal, so I just kept riding on the road. I took Colin’s advice from a few days ago and took ownership of my piece of pavement – instead of trying to get as close to the edge as I could I rode a little further away where I felt more comfortable and not one car tried to crowd me or sideswipe me while passing. It wasn’t exactly relaxing, but not as bad as I’d thought it might be.

Got back to the house after almost 3 hours of riding – not bad considering I’d thought it would be more like one hour or less. When I was changing into my non-riding clothes, I saw that my right shin as covered in blood – I have no idea what I hit or whacked it on and it didn’t hurt at all but it sure had bled – that might explain the strange look two little girls had given me at the store, though.

Ate a late lunch, then went next-door to Lyn’s so I could use her computer and print my boarding pass. Her husband Philip was very helpful and did it all for me – all checked in and ready for boarding on Friday!

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!