Arenig Fach up.

8°C,light wind and dry. Some cloud above 500m.
I hiked with MapMyRide+! Distance: 10.21km, time: 08:15:00, pace: 48:29min/km, speed: 1.24km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2142574688

Stuart at about 10.15. The first paths were a bit tricky to find. The map was clear enough but on the ground, no signs, so stiles, nothing. I have always wanted to walk the Migneint Moors, now here’s my chance. It wasn’t as boggy as I expected but kid heather was hard work. This spring has been quite dry, I’m grateful for that.
The trick here is to look well ahead to find strips of grass that run between heather fields for easier passage. It’s worth getting to a ring contours for the view ahead. Even here, grass is in big tussocks, so each stride is awkward. People with shorter legs might struggle. I wouldn’t bring a DofE group here.
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Arenig Fawr evening

10°C, dry with light high cloud.
I hiked with MapMyRide+! Distance: 13.75km, time: 04:35:00, pace: 20:00min/km, speed: 3.00km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2142590177

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At 4pm, I decided to go. I was parked and in a good place to choose from a few options. The weather is very stable right now and it hasn’t rained for weeks. I threw some rude in the rucksack including my stove and supper. That turned out to be a very good idea. Just in case, I packed a spare torch too.
The route started simply, then a possible ascent onto the west of the ridge opened up.
These aren’t massive mountains, so making the first top was easy enough at 700m.
I got my breath back while taking photos and then took the ridge East. The summit is visible all the way. A cairn at the top has very good shelters. There was an ideal spot to get the stove out and make cous-cous. To improve it, I sliced up some cheese and had a very pleasant meal in a rather wonderful place. Familiar mountains were visible in each direction. The Rhinogau, Cnicht, Snowdon and the Gliderau.

Southport front.

11°C, sunny with strong W, dry.
I rode The Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 62.68km, time: 03:11:43, pace: 3:04min/km, speed: 19.62km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2127494444

Overnight rain dampened the ground somewhat. It dried up during the day.
HDR; although I like the hdr effect on photos like this, it is only an effect. The app uses a kind of bass-relief method rather than genuine multi-exposure merging to create the high dynamic range. It might be interesting to try out the techniques with my new Fuji X-10. It’s a compact camera capable to taking multiple exposure at the same instant. This way, the merge should work without any smudges caused by movement.

Cross the moss.

11°C, brisk NW, dry and sunny.
I rode The Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 49.14km, time: 02:35:15, pace: 3:10min/km, speed: 18.99km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2123818616

Not much improvisation on kid route today.

Also took two brisk walks totalling about 8 miles. Although there are plenty of public footpaths across farmland around here, there are few circular routes. The best routes use very little road.
I shall sleep well tonight.

Walk to recover.

19°C, bright sun building wind later.
I hiked with a medium pack:  Distance: 16.74km, time: 02:52:01, pace: 10:16min/km, speed: 5.84km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2114464646

The idea was to walk a few miles across farmland and practice DofE Bronze terrain navigation. Yesterday, I was all aching with a cold and it spread to my chest. Cycling was out of the question on this beautiful day.
Despite a few changed public rights of way, I made no navigation errors. Quite the opposite, the navigation was too easy really.
The ground is solid, soil is all hexagon cracks like in those pictures of deserts.
The route covered land formerly on a WWII airbase.fradBunker

This is some kind of bunker, it has a chimney but no windows or pill-box style slits of any kind. Inside was fairly fresh water full of duck-weed (or something similar).

The next bit involved crossing the old runways by a public right of way. However, something got in the way. There is a new housing estate being built. No signs of the path were visible nor were there notices on lampposts. I dropped in the housing office. The woman there didn’t know where the path was diverted to, but was adamant that I couldn’t pass through the building site. Obviously.
I knew that but she tried to divert me along a road. I didn’t want to do that, lie path must be somewhere. She then said ‘I’d have to say the path is closed’. No it can’t be, that would be illegal.
What home is it if you don’t know but prefer to say something that is wrong.
As it turned out, I found it behind a supermarket, against her advice.
The rest of the route map very nice. There were a few fallen massive trees to clamber by.

The day’s total milage amazed me. More than Ten miles. I had imagined about six. For 2,500 calories, I felt remarkably fresh despite feeling ill yesterday. What am excellent way to recover.

Three score and twelve miles.

14°C, mostly sunny with light wind.
I rode Racelite with MapMyRide+! Distance: 116.03km, time: 02:39:32, pace: 1:22min/km, speed: 43.64km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2099631971


The view from Bosworth Battlefield visitors centre. North is the village of Mkt Bosworth.
On the return leg, I happened upon this sign:​

I sense some frustration in the people of Sheepy. It’s a straight road just off a fast A road. The boy racers probably tear around in their hot hatches while throwing a trail of MacDonald’s packaging out their windows. This time of year, the long narrow land-fill sites in our hedgerows are hidden by growing plants. The winter always looks the worst. Am I sounding grumpy? Okay, I better stop then.

Spring and body chain.

14°C, clear and cloudless. Moderate easterly.
I rode The Paddy Wagon with MapMyRide+! Distance: 90.07km, time: 03:41:13, pace: 2:27min/km, speed: 24.43km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2085174905​​

Fitted the summer wheels and a new chain. The weather was nearly perfect, a brisk easterly built up later. These wheels are excellent, quick and light to handle. Overall, a fine ride on a fine spring day.