Bimbling.

Yesterday I went for a short off-road ride despite, or because of, the wind. 
Today My wife and I walked to the nearby town of Letchworth, had an excellent lunch in Morrisons and returned by train.
We arrived at the station 15 minutes before the train was due, and could see it parked, waiting to come into service, a few hundred metres down the track. It still managed to be two minutes late. Well done First Capital Connect!

Anyway, here are a few Photos.

Makes a change to see a Hertfordshire ditch full of water.

Langley valley. Dyes Farm.

Edge of Langley Valley. That is DRY sandy soil. It was extremely windy up there.

Monument to E.M. Forster

Graveley pond.

Roxley Court, Willian. An estate cottage. Possibly the lodge.

Willian church and snowdrops.

Not Constable Country. Willian pond.

Village sign and The Fox pub (excellent food).

And finally!
Guess the guest celebrant at St Hugh's church in Letchworth.
Yes, the pope himself!

Cyclists - Outlaws in the Mediaeval Sense.

Anyone remember this term from school history lessons : caput gerat lupinum? 


Apparently it passed from English law in 1789, but I confidently expect the government to officially re-introduce it some time soon for non-motoring victims of motorists.

After all, recent court cases (which are a rarity in themselves) already illustrate its de-facto use as a legal principle.

Yesterday I fished out my cycling helmet from the shed and began wearing it while riding.
I have not worn it for several years. In a civilised nation I would not need to. However, in this third-world, morally bankrupt kleptocracy, even the minimal amount of protection it offers exceeds that offered to me by the law.

For a more carefully worded  explanation than I can give:

https://beyondthekerb.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/futility/#more-571

https://beyondthekerb.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/at-the-going-down-of-the-sun/

http://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/death-on-the-streets/

See also:
Helen Measures, Kenan Aydogdu - legally sanctioned killers.

First cyclist through the flooded underpass

Coming home from work today (Tuesday) I decided to try the flooded underpass, despite the barriers still being in place. I was in luck. The water has all been pumped away, leaving just a centimetre thick layer of slurry on the ground.  The walls tell their own story:

The high water mark can been seen near to the top of the photo. As you can see it was a double high tide like in the solent!

Flooding.

On my way to work yesterday (Friday) morning my way was blocked by a flooded underpass on Hitchin Road. Although it was still dark, it was obvious that this route was completely impassable.
After work I returned that way to have a better look.It had been raining fairly persistently through Thursday night, but I was amazed at the volume of water; where had it all come from? I have never seen this underpass flooded before.
This is what it looked like:

Looking south from the shared footpath/cycleway (NCR12). The route follows the right hand side of the fence, straight into the water.

Looking north. The two black dots in the water just left of the lamp standard are the tips of wooden posts placed to keep users of motor vehicles from using this route.

Looking out across the flooded field.

The water in the underpass must be 2m deep.I assumed at the time that this enormous volume of water had something to do with the pumping station just out of shot - perhaps using the field as an emergency storage reservoir. However, once I reached home I saw lots of pictures on the internet of localised flooding in the Hitchin, Stevenage, Hertford area. I can only conclude that the land is now so saturated that all of Thursday night's rainfall remained above ground and just ran downhill until it could go no further.

Obviously I appreciate that these floods are insignificant compared to others around the country, but they are novel to me, living as I do in such a dry, well drained region.

Great North Road

As this ancient highway passes within just a few hundred metres of where I live, I thought that I would make some effort to learn more about it.

Most (all?) of its route has been by-passed from London to just north of here at Baldock, so it should be easy to access, on foot or by bicycle.

To begin with I just took a few photos. There are lots of leaves on the trees as they were taken in October.

Two shots of the Red Lion. My favourite Stevenage High Street pub, and a former coaching inn.

White Lion. Another former coaching inn. 

Two former coaching inns at the north end of the High Street. Now private residences.

Former farrier's. now a florist.

Looking south, then north along a section of the Great North Road now used as car parking for Stevenage Leisure Centre

The former (I'm using that word a lot) line of the road adjacent to the police station. As can be seen an underpass was built before this section went out of use.

This is Lytton Way which bypasses the Great North Road in the centre of Stevenage. Here the roads cross at an acute angle. The old road is in the dead centre of the picture behind the fence.

The famous Six Hills. They are thought to be Romano-British burial mounds.

And finally, at a fork in the road, the Roebuck Inn. To the right of the picture is the Great North Road leaving the town southwards on its way to Knebworth.  On the left is the road to Hertford.

No cycling today.

Its not the weather stopping me.

Last night on my way back from work the punc***e fairies all ganged up on me and my rear tyre split, causing my inner tube to do likewise. Luckily I had only a few hundred metres to walk.
So today I am going to have to walk to Halfords to see what they can offer.

Nothing from Schwabe though. That tyre was less than eight months old.

And here are some pictures of some of Stevenage's wonderful pedestrian/cycling facilities.
They were taken on new year's day and are not the result of heavy downpours, but just persistent, light rain.

This is particularly galling. It is mostly the result of water running in past blocked drains on the adjacent dual carriageway.

***update 8.Jan.14***
Not really an update as there is no change.
This flood still exists.

Still Doing Nothing

Nothing to see here.

I have various projects planned that I am currently shy about committing to (virtual) paper, so here is another deadly dull blog entry. 

 I did a little geo-caching and was quite enthusiastic, but was then struck by a prudent thought. It is all very good fun walking/cycling around my local area looking for secrets, but then what? If I am visiting a new place I will be investigating the art, architecture, geology, heritage, wildlife or whatever. I am not going to go, for instance, to the Peak District and start grubbing around behind lamp-posts and in ditches. 
I do not need a reason to visit interesting or exciting places as travel and exploration is my passion anyway.
Therefore geo-caching is currently on the back-burner.

Geo-caking and Trig and Sustrans milepost spotting will still go ahead. 

I am planning to work some extra hours over xmas, but only on days I am already rostered to work. I will still have my days off and intend to use them wisely. I must put in the miles (kilometres actually) now, even if I have nowhere interesting to go, otherwise I will seize up and lose the ability to cycle further afield when I do have the opportunity.

Today, after work, | rode to Aldi. I managed to fit £36.00 worth of groceries in my four panniers and strapped to my front pannier. 
I have only ridden 49km so far this month; only half of what I need to have done by this day in order to reach my monthly target.

Next year is going to be SO different!


Just to brighten up this entry, here are a few photographs I took while walking in Fowlmere and Shepreth last month.