
Catching up?

Is spring finally sproinging? Whilst it hasn’t exactly been a long hard winter here in the UK it is still nice to pass the equinox and feel, on occasions, the increasing warmth of the spring sunshine.
I currently have a number of work-in-progress blog posts on the back burner (as always) which I’d like to get finished and uploaded – the story of our epic singlespeed cycling journey down the length of Sri Lanka being one of them, along with my aforementioned trip to Nepal. I often find it difficult to complete the stories about my longer trips, sometimes it’s hard to figure out what to include and what to leave out; and I find also that I need to be in the right frame of mind to put them over as creatively as I’d like to – call it writer’s block if you will – but I need a quiet and contemplative mind to be at my best; when I return home I am usually straight back into the cut & thrust of work, and life, in general, and struggle to find those creative moments that I need (to enjoy doing it, and thereby write something that is palatable to the reader). I know what I mean, even if you’re confused.
The Bluebell Wood
I am now in my third spring of owning the wood (where did all that time go?) and I am back to enjoying it as much as I did in the first few months. As regular readers may be aware I had a few problems with unwanted interlopers causing a lot of problems during the first eighteen months or so – not least the burning down of my wood store and compost toilet – and undoing much of the hard work I was putting in. I did genuinely consider selling at one point, something that should have been a constant source of joy was proving to be to an overwhelmingly stressful experience, but I reasoned that things would eventually calm down and stuck with it. Things have calmed down, and besides there’s nothing in there now that can be set on fire; perhaps one day I will be able to build another loo. Instead I have been slowly putting in sections of boundary fencing in order to demarcate the wood as being private property; scrounging and recycling used timber as usual. Extensive fencing wasn’t really in my plans, I had no desire to keep people out of the wood, unfortunately the bad apples have spoilt it for the good ones; the health, protection, and biodiversity of the wood is my number one priority. Going in to the future I plan to have ‘open days’ at certain times of the year so that local people can come and enjoy it, and I still have plans to work with local schools for field trips and nature projects. Friends, though, are always welcome.
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My lovely dad came and helped with the fencing. |
Talking of wildflowers, I am still very much in the learning curve of identification; I have some truly wonderful flora abounding – swathes of Wood Anemone, Lesser Celandine, Wild Garlic, and English Bluebells begin to carpet the ground at this time of year followed by a kaleidoscope of others throughout the seasons – some of my favourites are Yellow Archangel. Red Campion, and the delightfully named Opposite Leaved Golden Saxifrage.
This year I found, for the first time, a small colony of Snowdrops flourishing in a quiet corner. I have also recently discovered what I think may be a mature Guelder Rose or Dog Rose, I’ll identify for certain later in the year.
In other news:
I have recently been working in London on a refurbishment project and have taken the occasional window of opportunity to get out and explore some of its green spaces on my bicycle. A thorough circumnavigation of Wimbledon Common was disappointingly lacking in any Womble sightings. I did however discover that there is a fully restored windmill there, and I found some excellent singletrack. Who would have thought it possible to find singletrack in the heart of the capital?
The expansive Richmond Park was also charming, and surprisingly natural. I sauntered past a very nonchalant herd of deer who seemed far less interested in me than I was in them.
(Considering it was created as a deer park in the seventeenth century by Charles I it shouldn’t really be a surprise).
In such a densely populated area it is a surprisingly beautiful place to visit, and it’s status as a Nature Reserve, Site of Special Scientific Interest, and Special Area of Conservation, cement that fact.
As a Royal Park it is also quite posh. I called in at the cafe at Roehampton Gate for a cup of tea and whilst idly perusing the menu I noted that they served such delights as Sourdough toast, Quinoa salad, and Spinach smoothies, along with some things on the menu that I didn’t even know were food; the corresponding prices, as you might imagine, matched the lofty intentions of the fare. I elected to eat somewhere else.
In fact it is so posh that they even had a Park Tool work station for passing cyclists with any minor mechanical issues. (For those of you that don’t know what I’m talking about Park Tool are very expensive).
And finally:
My first little adventure is in Scotland, where intend to tour the North Coast 500 on my bicycle over ten days or so. I then intend, if I find it suitably captivating, to have a go at whizzing round very quickly – 40 to 48 hours will be my goal – solo and unsupported. The current record of less than 30 won’t be in any danger, but that was set in a fully supported effort.
After that my plans are fairly loose. Sometimes one can have too much choice, and I am having difficulty deciding where to go next.
A bicycle tour across Europe is one such possibility, as is a Vanlife tour of Alpine resorts taking advantage of the ski lift systems and just riding my bike down hill.
The autumn and winter will be spent in Asia. I like sunshine and wearing flip flops, and have no great appetite for a UK winter when I can spend my time productively dossing around in warmer climes.
I might then finish my trip with a month or two in New Zealand just for good measure (and the very good trail systems around Rotorua and Queenstown).
There are a few other things I’d quite like to try too.
For years I’ve been meaning to learn to surf, I would also like to learn to kickflip a skateboard (my mum wouldn’t let me have one when I was a kid – she said that I, not it, was too dangerous); and I’d like to spend some time practising wheelies, I can pull a wheelie but not as well as I’d like too.
I’ll keep you posted ?