An Evening Ride

My current favourite evening ride takes me around the peninsula.
Starting off posting the day’s letters in my local box on past Penzance’s triffid and heading to Battery Rocks for a swim, it is good when the tide is right for diving Thanks to Carol and Patrick the buoys are a real treat this year, the first is painted with oyster catchers and waders, the second has a mermaid and seals and the third has star fish, after that they are plain orange.
On up Paul Hill which is always a bit of a chain snapper but worth the effort and past the gate post with it’s mysterious hole After St Buryan and Crows an Wra there is a wonderful down hill swoop to the airfieldmore hills and on to St Just, a rugged little town built around the square with its healthy mix of pubs, the Co-op, two branches of Warrens and more pubs all dwarfed by the solid church tower catching the evening sunDown Nancherrow Hill and up the other side to the north coast where foxgloves are at their best, pink campions everywhere each with its face tracking the sun like mini Goonhilly dishes The little clump of orchids that I watch out for each year is doing well Turning right at Gurnards Head takes me up the last hill to home.
It’s a fantastic ride which ought to be 30+ miles but is probably only about 26.

Spring

Last Friday the Very Hungry Caterpillar introduced Google by celebrating the first day of spring. I thought it all started on 21 March but I'm not going to quibble over a day. It has been a fantastic week, early mists giving way to clear blue skies and wall to wall sunshine.The solar hot water panel is doing its thing, buds are bursting all around I've cut the grass, eaten purple sprouting every evening and even had my first swim at Battery RocksThe larks are trilling and washing is flapping on the line.I've had my first T shirt and shorts bike ride in glorious sunshineeven if it was a bit nippy cycling home in the evening. The moon seems to have gone missing so the night skies are awesome, the mighty procession of Taurus, Orion and the winter Triangle are shuffling off to the west and Arcturus is bright in the east heralding spring.