Today’s guest picture is another of Laura’s views from the icy shores of Lake Michigan.

After the drop in temperatures last night, I was expecting an icy morning here today. It was an agreeable surprise to find that warm air from the south had blown in, and the thermometer stood at a very reasonable and ice free 5°C at breakfast time.
This should have been the cue for a rush to get out the bike and eat up some miles. It should have been, but it wasn’t. By the time that I had grappled with the crossword, drunk coffee with Margaret, made some honey sandwiches, and watched the birds for a moment (seeing a great tit, several blue tits and a coal tit). . .

. . . it was nearly twelve o’clock before I finally got going.
I chose a route with an easy start and headed off down the main road into England, and then through Longtown and out on the Brampton road. This should have been a doddle, but an unexpectedly brisk wind made it hard work and by the time that I had done 15 miles, I was beginning to think that I should have brought more food with me.
Turning off to head east straight into the wind, reinforced this view and I was happy to stop and take a picture looking back down the road I was cycling along.

Mrs Tootlepedal tells me that wide verges mean that this is probably one of the roads which was made when the land was enclosed into fields. I like these roads because they are well drained and consequently their surfaces stay in good order. It helps that they are not pounded by heavy timber lorries.
There was pine tree catching the sunlight nearby.

I crossed the A7 at Blackford Church . . .

. . . and found some more picturesque pines a little further on.

I had done about twenty miles into the wind by this time and was more than pleased to turn for home and get a little help every now and again from the mainly cross winds.
I stopped near Justicetown to eat one of my honey sandwiches, and as I got off my bike, a flock of birds floated gently and silently down out of a row of trees beside the road and into a grassy field. It was rather uncanny, there were no bird calls and no flapping of wings, just a gentle glide down to the grass. As I munched my sandwich, as if at a given signal, they rose as one, circled round over my head and perched in a tree behind me.

I got a fuzzy picture of one quite far off in the field . . .

. . . and I wonder if they were fieldfares.
I headed on back into Scotland, went through Gretna, dived back into England again for a mile or two, and then entered Scotland for the last 15 miles home.
Just after I left Gretna, I came to the Black Sark, where a man making the new steps for the footpath by the bridge last year told me that he had seen otters. I stopped on the off chance, walked down the steps and admired the bridge . . .

. . .but found that any potential view of otters was hampered by yet another fallen tree.

In spite of a fairly helpful wind, I found it quite a slog from Gretna, which is 18 feet above sea level, to the top of the hill at the Kerr which is 500 feet higher and I needed a couple of stops to admire the views to stop my legs getting too discouraged. There are one or two welcome sections of down among the pervasive ups.

I liked the late afternoon light in this shot of the open country just before the final summit.

I got home before the sun set after 41 miles. I was pleased with the distance, but a bit unhappy about how long it had taken me. I will take more care with my nutrition on the next occasion when I go for a longer ride.
Here is my route map. My Garmin bike computer tells me where I have been in case I can’t remember.Those interested can click on the map for more details of the ride.

When I got home, I found that Mrs Tootlepedal had been gardening. She had been cutting back a berberis under the walnut tree, but had paused in the middle of the task to go and have a cup of tea with our neighbour Liz. When she got back, we shredded the rest of her cuttings and Mrs Tootlepedal showed me a fungus that she had found in the garden.

I will try to get a better picture of the fungus tomorrow.
Then we had a meeting with our plumber to discuss a possible new boiler.
In spite of the generally slow pace of things, it had been quite a full day, so I was content to let the rest of the day unwind gently without me dong anything to upset it.
No flying bird today but a couple of cheery perching chaffinches instead.

Well done for cycling so far. I loved the sunlit views.
Yes fieldfares. They are quite flighty.
Thank you for the ID. They way that they floated silently out of the trees beside the road was quite uncanny.
Full day is right! Too bad you didn’t see an otter.
I never see an otter so I wasn’t too disappointed. A friend saw one when out cycling recently so I haven’t entirely given up hope.
Keep your eyes peeled!
I will.
Nothing wrong with a bit slower,it’s not a race,at least you got out on the open road and completed a Google distance 👍👍
I used to be very slow as a hill runner even when it was a race so not much change there. 🙂
It seems like your windfarms have more turbines in them all the time. I hope your electric bill is dropping like a stone.
Too bad you didn’t see an otter.
It was nice to see the warm looking sunshine on the countryside. They say we’re in for another cold snap.
Because our electricity price is pegged to gas, our prices are going up like a rocket rather than falling. Also we had a much less windy year than usual last year which hasn’t helped.
Those are beautiful views from your ride. It has turned warm here, too. The weather of late has been a roller coaster ride.
Fortification with honey sandwiches was an old standby back in the days when I was running.
Not enough honey on mine on this ride.
The final scenic view is very beautiful indeed and I enjoyed the pine trees.
There are a lot of them sprinkled about the roads in North Cumbria.
That sounded like a strenuous ride. Your Garmin computer must be a very useful record keeper.
An excellent ride. “It should have been, but it was.” ?
I have corrected the error. Thank you for your editorial skills.
🙂
Beautiful big view scenes!
The light made up for my slow progress.
Lake Michigan looks very cold! Those verges are indeed very wide! Love the photos of pine trees and the countryside views. A very colourful Garmin route and lots of ups and down hills !
The Garmin route which helpfully distinguishes between fast and slow is mostly coloured slow!
I’m so heartened to find out you actually linger a bit some mornings, it makes me feel less guilty. An amazingly full day – the photos are beautiful in the afternoon sun and I am glad to stopped long enough to take them!
I find morning lingering is more seductive every day. You must remember that I only write about my active moments on the whole. I do a lot of lounging around reading newspapers and complaining about the government.
🙂 That would be increasingly easy to do based on what I’ve been reading on BBC news of late.
An ideal region for tootlepedaling it seems. How wonderful the weather cooperated. It’s always good to have a bit of sunshine.
Especially as it has been generally rather gloomy of late.
Our weather has done a lot of fluctuating. We even had a Tsunami warning from that volcano exploding somewhere out in the Pacific. A town just up the road from us claimed a rise of about a foot and a half. I have no idea how that’s measured.
If it did nothing else, it took our minds off the stupid antics of our ‘heads’ of state!
I read about the tsunami warning. I am glad that it was a minor event in the end.