Autumn

After completing my account of the South Riding I planned to have a little break before writing about the next cycle trip and get back to some running. Ha - fate has a way of chewing up my plans, spitting them out, and then laughing at me.

At the moment I am not running at all. Somehow or other I have messed up my knee and walking any distance is painful. As I am not going to run before I can walk (Yay I can legitimately use a well worn phrase or saying) I am a bit stymied.

The problem seems to be at the back of my knee, just above the calf. It feels like a tendonitis sort of pain that happens when I stretch my leg forward (as you do when you are walking). Luckily it doesn't affect the rather more limited, circular leg movement of cycling - so that is my current fitness activity.

Today I rode through the woods at Ashridge and it was glorious. The sky was cool blue, streaked with white and although the sun was clear, bright. the temperature was a little nippy but this kept you feeling fresh. Overnight there had been rain and the leaves and grass glistened as if bejewelled. As I looked at the landscape of undulating hills the wooded areas had the variegated colour of early autumn, whilst many of the fields were freshly ploughed and a rich brown that added to the colour pallet.

It was good to be out and days like this are the reason we run or ride. They pay for ll the days when it feels like hard work

Today I alsoI found this video full of lovely time lapse photography of trees and autumn leaves that reminded my of my ride. The landscape might be central European and certainly the end sequence shows a starry night we cannot match in the light polluted South of England. Nevertheless it is a celebration of autumnal beauty - exactly what today's ride felt like.