August 16, 2004
Wight
Cowes was a different place at the end of last week from the sleepy provincial backwater I've experienced before: streets densely packed with visiting yachties, every crap pub, restaurant and fish and chip shop fully booked, marquees all along the esplanade. Thanks to our gracious host and hostess we rose above all that. We hung out eating, drinking and making merry from late afternoon to late night, with ringside seats for the thrilling aerial stunts of some lunatic flier in an over-specced biplane, and later for a splendid firework display.
Saturday was glorious, blazing sunshine from dawn till dusk; Sunday all drizzle and haze. Each, in its own way, offering good conditions for some strenuous but enjoyable cycling.
I came home exhausted, cold and fretful, but all in all it was a pretty good last gasp.
Posted by matt at August 16, 2004 11:42 PM
Glad to hear it; it looks wonderful, though I'd naturally have taken two extra days and done it on foot ;)
You really need to get over your cyclophobia -- you would really have enjoyed these rides.
Btw, Movable Type tells me that yours was the 1000th legitimate comment on this blog. That must merit some kind of prize :)
I'll take £1000 in un-marked bills, please. Or a visit to Paul McKenna's cyclophobia clinic.
I am also slightly offended by your ascription of legitimacy to any of my comments.
I'll get to that in due course. Thanks for your good luck message, by the way :)
[Stairs] So, when you say "by foot", would this be walking or running? I ask because those look like glorious trails for running on...
Running, given the choice, because it feels amazing, and makes me feel alive (hate to sound overly new-age, but it is the finest tonic in my cabinet), but over that sort of distance, hiking would probably see me coming out of it in better shape. A mix and match would probably be ideal :)
Ah, goodo. Can't argue with you about the feeling alive part. Given that I'm no ultra runner either, I'd probably be hiking too...
