Taking Stock

It's been a busy few weeks: settling into the new job, preparing for our Skye trip and getting some miles in.

The daily commuting has seen my monthly kilometre-age jump from 251.54km in March to 352.94km in May to 567.1km in May. Most of those are frequent short trips, but I did get two 100+km rides in during May.

The first of these was the Historical Commercial Vehicles annual London to Brighton Run, undertaken with a merry band of Friday Night Ride chums.

The second took place yesterday, where we rode to a charming tea shop near Potterspury (about 10 miles northwest of Milton Keynes), where a group of CycleChat members were stopping for lunch en route from London to Marton (somewhat near Warwick).

along the Sewell Greenway between Dunstable and Stanbridge

my Sherpa: bike porterage between platforms at Leighton Buzzard station

Fellow riders of a different sort

A bit of route checking during lunch

Comparing GPS routes over lunch

Quirky lunch stop at the ARTeaRooms near Potterspury

The past weeks, I have also been taking every opportunity to enjoy the poppies.

Poppies are my favourite wildflower. I care little about wartime remembrance associations. For me, poppies growing in their hundreds were one of the magical discoveries of my first trip to Europe 25 years ago. Ten years later, they were blooming extravagantly all over rural Hertfordshire the week my ex-husband proposed to me. (A rash disastrous marriage can't spoil the wonderment I still feel about poppies!)

A further seven years later, southern France was simply ablaze with poppies during my first "proper" holiday there.

And they are settling the fields ablaze all around my new (ish) rural home here in Bedfordshire. I just love the sight of them, growing wild and free along our roadsides and cycle paths, dancing lightly in the breeze against backdrops of lush tall grasses and huge daisies.

along the busway near Dog Kennel Downs

along the busway near Clifton Road

Next to the Cross Check at the train station.
It's as if somebody knew...