at last...

[MooN]

I managed to work up sufficient motivation and energy to move my fat arse off the sofa and into the requisite number of layers of clothing to make riding possible at this time of year.  I'm obviously getting old because it never used to bother me that much and we all know that we used to have "proper winters" when I was younger...

 We now have a 6pm curfew  ( from the french "couvre feu" = lights out... in case you wondered...   ) which although tecnically reduces available riding time, for me it means that Madame finishes wrok an hour earlier so I don't need to go and pick up the kids as she can bring them back  so it actually lengthens my available time by at least an hour and a half.   Result!

 Checked tyre pressures once out of the shed and though expinting a drop after nearly a month I was surprised to find someone had stolen nearly a kilo of air from the rear tyre and another half from the front. My Trusty High tech foot pump remedied the situation and I headed south and west.  I had no clue where I was going so I just used a compass app on the phone to keep heading that way. The app has a waypoint memorisation feature that I like so when I've had enough, rather than  switch on a navigation app to get me home ( they always use the same routes basically) I swith to waypoint tracking and it just puts an directional arrow on the compass pointing to Home in a straight line....  hours of Fun!   There was some snow about but only in the shade, and some of the roads through the woods were bloody slippy as it hasn't defrosted for days in there...  

I spent 2,5 hours doing 150k, South West, then West for a bit then followed the arrow home. I also managed to take a couple of pics.

Any way, enough verbiosity;

 

 

I couldn't be arsed to walk away far enough to get the antenna AND the bike in the same pic 

 

I found an old viaduct down a dirt track, built in 1880 - 84

Oh look!  a Castle for our colonial friends. This is Druyes Les Belles Fontaines, built by the duke of Nevers about 200yrs befors Columbus was born... ( 2nd 1/2 of the 12th century). 

 

from here I rode west for a while before switching on the Home waypoint tracker.  Got home around 5:15pm and as the sun was starting to set the temp was dropping rapidly so good timing. 

 

[XTreme]

Brilliant Chris.......and that looks a lot like a railway bridge surely!

Do you have any old stations or former tracks where you are?

[Grasshopper]

Lovely countryside.  Thanks for the castle photos!  

[Pedro]

Good effort on putting on such a long distance in cold weather. I am currently missing it a lot and have only been stuck at home for a week.

What kind of GPS do you use?

 

[Catteeclan]

Good pics Chris, look so much more clear than over here.

That does look like a railway unless it's been filled in. Not a lot of room for a tow path either.
Quite surprising how much tyre pressure is lost in colder weather.

[Sir Fallsalot]

If your feeling the cold @MooN keep an eye out for a heated jacket it transforms a cold ride

[boboneleg]

Superb Chris, some cracking roads there.  I do the same as you sometimes with the compass on my gps, just head south/north whatever and see what roads it takes you down.

[XTreme]

12 minutes ago, boboneleg said:

Superb Chris, some cracking roads there.  I do the same as you sometimes with the compass on my gps, just head south/north whatever and see what roads it takes you down.

Did you know any of those puddles Bob? 

[MooN]

55 minutes ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

If your feeling the cold @MooN keep an eye out for a heated jacket it transforms a cold ride

to be Honest Fred, it's the palaver of getting all togged up that puts me off. Back in the day i'd bung on a jacket, gloves lid and away, and deal with the cold. it now takws f'kin ages, getting the bike out of the shed ( 1st time I've had one worth trying to keep in good nick) , change out of normal clothes into proper riding trousers with liner, jacket weighs a ton with it's various liners, by the time i've got boots on trousers and jacket on i'm sweatiting like a bastard, lid, keys, glasses, telephone, wallet fuckmine it takes nearly an hour... go outside and the sweat freezes, glasses fog up, and so on and so on... once i'm riding i'm fine but getting ready is just such a bloody PITA these days.  I may of course be possesed by the spirit of victor Meldrew...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MooN]

1 hour ago, boboneleg said:

Superb Chris, some cracking roads there.  I do the same as you sometimes with the compass on my gps, just head south/north whatever and see what roads it takes you down.

rapidly becoming my favorite technique Bob. great minds an all that, eh! 

[MooN]

On 19/01/2021 at 18:39, XTreme said:

Brilliant Chris.......and that looks a lot like a railway bridge surely!

Do you have any old stations or former tracks where you are?

tis indeed a railway bridge, built to transport replace the canal for transporting firewood to Paris.  There are some sections of old railway that are accessible and I've done ride reports on most of them before ( waaaaaaaay back when) but most of them have been ploughed under and the buildings either converted and in use or simply dismantled. the main disused line locally has been turned into a " Voie Verte" or green way and is inaccessible to motorised transport. 

[XTreme]

1 minute ago, MooN said:

" Voie Verte"

Same as here......"Via Verde".