Clarity

After two weeks of trying out cycle commuting in the Winter and trying to find a route which enables me to avoid riding through muddy water up to my hubs, I took advantage of the good old Freedom Of Information Act to quiz my County Council on their plans for the maintenance or possible improvement to the Downs Link.

I found out some things that are very encouraging - they are currently prepping and resurfacing the stretch between Bramley and Birtley Green - not very far, but they will be using the same high-quality surfacing that they have used between Peasmarsh and Bramley, so hurrah!

Also, the major drainage issues are being looked at on the part of the route that is not currently being resurfaced, although there are longer-term plans to close the gap between Bramley and Cranleigh and have the whole route surfaced to the same quality. Sigh. That would be just great.

I've also received a mail from the Ranger advising that he's been looking at the more dangerous of the trees along the route and making them safe - this is reassuring following the recent storms.

So soon, it may be possible to use that whole offroad route all year round. That would make life a lot easier.

I couldn't resist cycling through the snow this morning. Eight to ten centimetres were predicted, but I didn't believe a word of it. I thought that we would see five centimetres at the most. Considering how awful and downright dangerous the traffic was during the wind storms in January, I thought that I would most likely be safer riding to work offroad. With my super-duper riding gear from Terrys, a flask of hot coffee and two chocolate bars, I set off into the crunchy snow with a warning to be careful from the slightly concerned other half.

The morning had that lovely muffled quiet that often seems to go with snow. The first part of the journey was not too much fun as the snow and slush were banked up at the sides of the road, meaning that I had to move quite a long way into the lane. Consequently what little traffic there was sprayed me liberally with the slush and muck from the centre of the lane. My legs were wet in minutes, but two sets of trousers dealt with that remarkably well.

Once I got off road things became much more enjoyable.



One of the most fun things about cycling in the snow was seeing and identifying the number of animal and bird footprints. I had no idea that this route was so trafficked in the morning! I think I managed to identify fox, deer, rabbit, pheasant and duck tracks along this stretch alone. By the time I got to the hill just before my office, I was starting to get a bit chilly and was glad to be nearing a hot shower!



The bike was extravagantly clogged with ice and mud and the security guard looked suitably impressed. My colleagues however just think I'm mental I reckon. Well I enjoyed it. The ride home was not as pretty and was a bit wetter, but all in all it was a fun experience.

Rather than stay in and miss the rare Winter sunshine today before the cold fog rolled in again, we decided to take a walk to Winkworth Arboretum. I've seen crocuses and daffodils in sunny sheltered gardens since about the second week in January, and I've seen snowdrops over the last couple of weeks in woodland. I looked forward to searching for signs of Spring in the trees and plants. I didn't need to look far!



I was stunned at how many daffodils there were out. There were many more green spears without flowers as yet, so I think the display will become even more impressive. There were also many buds on trees and shrubs and a profusion of bluebell leaves coming up.



I wonder what the coming week's severe cold weather will have on all of this growth? I hope it will only slow it down and not damage the emerging foliage. With a bit of luck we will have a very long daffodil season this year. Last year's seemed so short as it was so warm.

There were many robins about on this walk - it seemed everywhere we looked there was a little brown fluffball sat in a tree. I didn't see any nests, although I have seen one baby rabbit munching at the side of the road last week. That did give me a surprise - I wasn't expecting to see baby rabbits for some weeks yet.

The air was lovely and cold, most likely due to the freezing fog that was lurking in between the hills. The sunshine was nowhere near as warming as yesterday's, but was bright and clear and invigorating.

We ended this walk with a cup of tea of course, and I went home with renewed desire to get on with some painting and knitting. I'll get the time from somewhere!

I caught myself a real bargain with this one. One of the worthies on ACF decided that he had one tent too many and put this little beauty on the For Sale section with a paltry requirement of GBP90. It's been used, there's no doubt about that, but it is not damaged at all and soon lost it's musty smell after being pitched at the front of the house and having the cool air flow through it all day. It's amazing how warm it got inside whilst the sun was shining on it. It's a Spacepacker Plus MK1 from Robert Saunders and weighs a daftly light 2.2 kilos. What would I want with so light a tent you say? Weeeeeeeel, I like cycling, I also like the Isle Of Wight. I also used to like camping. I intend to combine all of these things in the Summer.

The item came with no instructions as such, so it took me a little while to figure it out. Once I had a look at it on the Robert Saunders website things made a little more sense!





(Those of you with tenty experience will see that I've not put it up quite correctly, but this was only to air it and for me to see what it's like inside.) It's just tall enough in the inner tent for me to sit up in, which is great. I never was a fan of old ridge tents in which you could only lie down, after having wriggled in first. As it has two "ends", there is a lot of potential storage space. Only the inner tent area has a groundsheet, but I guess unless I'm camping in wet weather (which I don't plan to do) storing items on the ground, contained in plastic bags if need be, should be fine.

It really is the perfect size for me. It's big enough for one large person, and would be snug for two small people. It would not suit my Beloved at all however - just far too small. He would not be able to lie down straight or sit up in it, which would not do at all.

I think a Testing Phase in the New Forest is on the cards! I now need to visit Peglers to see what's been going on with modern fabrics in terms of ground mats and sleeping bags. What fun!