Greenway in Spring

Screenshot from 2023-05-20 17-43-11.png

It was a beautiful day for a longer e-bike ride, my first of the year. I bought my Specialized Turbo Levo HT just before lockdown, and it's still going strong, although Specialized did have to replace the battery.

I don't know if that calorie count is accurate. I have read that cycling on an e-bike burns roughly 2/3 what you burn on unpowered bikes. But that's what Strava estimates. I would guess it was more like 450, personally.

I took it nice and easy, stopping to admire the flowers, and the views.

I also had to slow down frequently for people and dogs, as everyone else was on the trail this afternoon, too.

The may, or hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) was out everywhere, with its heavy perfume pervading the air. It reminded me of a line from Patrick Kavanagh's poem that became the lyrics for Raglan Road:

her own dark hair like clouds over fields of May

I snapped a few photos as I was going round (it was just over 25 km) from the saddle:

I feel lucky to live near this trail, because it is almost totally off-road and leads through some really lovely countryside. The above photo is Norton Common, not strictly part of the Greenway, but just coming up to NCR 12, which I usually pick up going south for a bit before getting back on the Greenway at another section to avoid the only section that is on roads. The trail-markers seem to say you can ride on the pavement, but the surface is pretty rough and there are a lot of side-roads to contend with, so it's not as much fun as cutting through the Common.

This guy lives in a livery yard that is bang on the trail, and you have to get off to walk through it because they've put up a complex chicane to force cyclists to slow down, which is understandable. Mr. Chestnut here was kicking the door to his box, and looking in a specific direction so maybe he hadn't been fed yet.

Screenshot from 2023-05-20 17-58-06.png