MISCELLANEOUS

METHODS OF COPING WITH HILLS

When we were "bike-walking" or pushing our bikes up hills, which were sometimes bloody steep and quite long, I would put my head down, so that because of the visor on my helmet I could not see in front of me how steep or how far it was ahead, and then I would count out my steps, one for every year of my life! And then I would allow myself a peep to see how far I had gone. 71 steps takes one quite a long way, and it is remarkable how distracting it was to think about what one was doing, what milestones had occurred etc, as I counted my life over and over....... Hills began to be measured in lifetimes.

When I was dealing with biking up hills, sometimes I would know, looking ahead, that there was no way I could bike it, so off I would get and walk. Most times, however, again I would put my head down so that I could not see ahead, and let my body, especially my legs, tell me when I had to change down or get off, rather than letting the hill psych me out. I tend to go for endurance in such instances, gearing right down, and pedalling evenly, rather than 'attacking'. Of course with this method, one must always snatch a look from time to time to make sure one does not crash into anything unexpectedly.


FLORA AND FAUNA ALONG THE WAY

Flora

The hedgerows were full of many varieties of plants, and I meant to do an even more indepth photo essay but that just did not happen. It is quite difficult to stop to take photos of everything that one would ideally like to record.

Here are some pics of various things I saw and was able to photograph.

One had to be REALLY careful not to brush up against stinging nettle - it was everywhere, and very large, and sometimes made harvesting blackberries a bit tricky.

Fuchsia

Rowan trees were growing wild everywhere in Scotland, and they were laden with berries

                             I loved the way moss decorated the tops of posts and rock walls.



Fauna

We saw many many pheasants. In the south we saw trailer loads of them being taken to be released, so that, as a lady we were talking to said, "the posh blokes from up north can come and shoot them," and then went on to describe the seasons for various birds. In a couple of places there were signs warning of "pheasants on the road", and indeed we scared up a couple of flocks. In another place we asked some men heading into the fields if they were going hunting, and they replied that no, they were not - they were off to round up some pheasants that had the "cheeky" habit of getting onto the road.

We saw signs for Exmoor ponies, Shetland ponies, a rabbit boarding establishment, falconry reservations, plenty of hawks, crows, pigeons, doves. We saw rabbits, badger road kill, a ferret, and in Scotland I saw a red fox.

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