Every Mile

I fear I may never wear a skirt again.  Well, perhaps in hippy drop out style an ankle length something or other, possibly tie died, maybe with layers.  But definitely nothing that reveals my shins.  The weekend involved a sideways slide into a ditch and a certain amount of whipping with nettles.  Sounds a little Fifty Shades of Grey, eh?  All the rain has kept people off the paths and trails and has also encouraged growth in the undergrowth.  Nettles are so high that there is a danger of slapping strands of foliage across not just your legs and lower arms but even your face.  All a little interesting for the very average rider who kind of struggles to maintain direction on a narrow single track at the best of times, so when you try doing it with your eyes closed to avoid the worst of the nettles ... well, just interesting shall we say.

The weekend was one of those where plans were made, plans were changed, and everything worked out just about right anyway.  Possibly with the exception of the Sunday afternoon downpour anyway.  A sneaky Friday off work saw me in the Lake District on Thursday night, where giggles and wine seemed to be the order of the day followed on the Friday by a rather sedate walk which included coffee, streams, information boards and gardens.  A sense of how I might have been in my 40s if life had somehow been different kind of lingered, but that was one of the many parallel Alisons who seemed to exist this weekend.  Friday night was expected to see a move to the South Lakes, but a stop in a layby and a study of the weather forecast (aren't Smart Phones a great thing?) saw an abrupt change of direction.  Peak District it was.

Peak District.  There are a lot of ... well ... Peaks there, aren't there?  I think we found a number of them (Garmin tells me 1000m of them).  My legs stopped recovering after the hills, which I've never known before.  They hurt, proper hurt, not the kind of hurt you can just tell yourself to Man Up and deal with.  Ow.  But I didn't cry that much ... ... ... staying off the bike for a few days this week.  Curiously.

And because I love this song by Train, the way the words move:

"On the other side of a downward spiral
My love for you went viral
And I loved you every mile you drove away"