Sailing along on my bike

I got a new bike for my birthday . . .

my new bike then

It's not my birthday today, the bike was bought back in September a week before my birthday; I was very disappointed that I couldn't ride it away from the shop there and then, I had to wait for a new bicycle to be delivered and put together. The inner 6 year-old me wanted to throw a tantrum in the shop and yell "I want my bike NOW!!!", the grown up me politely said "OK, I'm happy to wait".

On Friday we collected the 'new green bike' from the bike shop . . .

my new bike now

Yesterday was spent buying and putting together the car roof bike carrier, I think Cliff and I earned our "putting stuff together using allen keys" badges. Then in the afternoon it rained a lot, so we stayed indoors in the warm and dry.

But today was dry and sunny . . . it was the day to take 'new green bike' for it's inaugural ride.

Route 11: Wicken Fen to Ely and back

We started our adventure by driving with the bikes, to the National Trust Wicken Fen car park. From here you can choose to follow the National Cycle Network route south to Cambridge or as we did, north out of Wicken Village across the Fens to Ely.

The fen tracks eventually join the route along the high dyke beside the Great Ouse river. You can just see Ely cathedral on the horizon.

The cycle route then crosses the main river bridge and continues along the Riverside, busy with rowers form Cambridge University boat club, narrow boats and river cruisers.

We parked the bikes near a little green outside Peacock's Tearoom and went in for a cuppa and lunch.

Tea comes elegantly served and there is a vast choice of teas! We sat outside in the little front garden to enjoy the sunshine.

Then it was time to cycle back. I was reliving the lovely time I'd had cycling in Holland last year, now I have my very own 'sit up and beg' style bicycle! I was also remembering sailing along on my bike to junior school - I used to pretend my bike was a boat (I was reading all the Swallows and Amazons books at the time).

The sun was sinking low in the November sky but it wasn't cold, it was clear and bright.

As we neared Wicken again, we could just see the higher wooded land on the edge of Suffolk, near Newmarket.

So that was 'new green bike's' first road trip, time to put it/her?* back on top of the car for the drive back home. Cliff's bike has a quick-release front wheel and stows easily inside the car.

  

I've just checked the distance and to my surprise we had cycled 17 miles! It really didn't seem that far . . . I was enjoying riding 'new green bike' too much to notice!

Celia

xx

PS do you think 'new green bike' needs a name? I don't usually name my bike, but she's so lovely. What do you think? Any ideas?

An interlude of calm at the turning of the year

. . . between the busyness of the pre-Christmas retail extravaganza and the cookathon of Christmas itself . . .

Although for me Christmas is actually a quiet time of year, now that the main focus of my work is selling my prints and cards (rather than working on projects for publishers) I am swept up in the pre-Chritsmas retail extravaganza - and that is well under way by October!

So now there is a little lull. The weather has been relatively mild with only slight frosts and no snow, but a procession of dramatic gales is sweeping across the UK. Here in East Anglia we get the tail end of them, brief periods of heavy rain and strong gusts followed by clear skies again.

This morning we drove to the Fens in bright sunshine under clear blue skies and set out for a walk. But soon the clouds rolled over us and rain fell . . .

. . . swiftly followed by a rainbow. 

As I was carefully picking my way around a muddy area by some fencing, I looked down and spotted a broken stick . . . NO! not a stick, it was an antler . . .

On all the walks I've done over the years I've wished to come across a shed antler and until today, I never had. This antler is quiet small, but beautifully tactile, I guessed it was from a Roe Buck – their mature antlers have 3 prongs, this one has 2 and knob lower down (near the palm of my hand) which means it's one of his second pair of antlers. A Roe Buck sheds his antlers in November and starts to grow the buds of the new antlers in December, he will be starting to grow his first full set this winter.

Near the end of our walk, Cliff spotted movement in a field of rough grass . . . I zoomed in with my camera . . .

Yes, a deer! But I was unsure what sort. Luckily it turned and I got some more close-ups . . .

Large black edged ears, a black muzzle and a white bottom. I'm familiar with a Roe Deer's auburn summer coat, but back home I did some research and this is definitely a Roe Deer with it's grey-brown winter fur.

I can't see any antler buds on its head and it has a large area of white fur beneath its small white tail, it is also fairly small (not much larger than a greyhound) - so this is probably a young female.

Yesterday was the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year – from now the days will start to get longer . . . 

. . . and even though the coldest weather of the winter is yet to come and Spring is 3 months or more away, there is the a tiny hint of optimism in the air – here in our garden the snowdrops are already pushing their way through the decaying leaves.

Whatever Santa brings me for Christmas, I already have 2 lovely presents - a Roe Buck antler and I have mended ankles – thanks to excellent treatment, advice and special insoles from Nats-the-physio and Paul-the-Podiatrist . . . I'm enjoying inspiring winter walks once more :-)

I hope you can find time in the run up to Christmas for an interlude of calm between the storms.

Celia

xx

Fen . . . it's all about how you look at it

Winter has arrived . . . in the morning the grass and roofs are white with frost and the hens' water is frozen. This morning it would have been very easy to snuggle down into the blankets and stay there – BUT is was sunny! A glorious deep blue sky and a low winter sun was just too good to waste

. . . we went for a walk . . .

Cliff is planning a route for the local walking group, for the last Sunday in the year; it's a Fen walk, so we've been checking out a network of Fen tracks and droves (after 20 years I think I've convinced him that there's more to the Fens than just flat fields).

I'm proud to say I'm a "Fenwoman; I know that may provoke snorks of derision and mentions of webbed feet and dubious ancestry, and I don't care! The Fens are unique and they are made by the people that have lived and worked there for centuries. Not just since the drainage of the Fens but Dutch drainage engineers in the 17th Century; the Fen story goes back longer than that: Medieval trading ports; Roman canals taking goods to the far reaches of empire and Neolithic fur traders all played their part.

Today, what can we see? Water held back from the land by strong straight earth banks; the long deep waterways are called 'lodes', they take water from the smaller 'dykes' and feed it into the 'levels' – those long man-made rivers that take the water to the The Wash (the large bay on the North Sea coast). East Anglia has been spared the torrential rain of recent weeks and although water levels are high there has been very little flooding. You can see the water in the lode is much higher than the fields on the right.

Fens are a landscape of air, water and earth; you have to accept that mud, "slub", "clag" is a fact of life. The beauty is in the details, you need to learn to look and to listen. The wind through the reeds which line the edge of the lodes and dykes, is like the rustle of taffeta or the whispers of a hushed crowd.

The air is rarely empty . . . skeins of migrating swans, charms of goldfinches and here – a flapping flock of lapwings cross the sky.

The grey and brown tangles of dead vegetation are alive with birds, like this female reed bunting.

And occasionally along the lode you will see a magnificent mute swan in full sail.

Have I convinced you to look at the Fens?


Celia
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