Push Bike

Another major discovery made recently was finding in the back of the lock up a couple of bicycles. I had bought these about 4 years ago – one for me and one for my girlfriend. However, after using them just a few times they were stored and forgotten. But…with the Summer weather and the fact that within a few miles of our cottage there are something like twenty village pubs  the die was cast. Time to use peddle power. Two essential items for enjoying a bike ride are: 1) an OS map with the height contours so you can plot the most level route you can and 2) check the opening times of the pubs you are planning to visit. There is nothing quite so upsetting as working up a sweat on the old bike, getting to the pub ready for a pint only to find it doesn’t open until 12.30 or it’s closed for the afternoon and reopens at 6.30pm. Coming from the city where pubs are open all the time even from 8am; the fact that in the country they actually close during the day takes a bit of getting used to. Anyway although the first initial ride (to the Home sweet Home pub in the hamlet of Roke and an excellent place) was only a 3 mile round trip, within a few weeks we were banging in round trips of 30 miles and even including hills or more accurately hillocks.