Finally, Sweetie Petie had an amazing adventure with a friend!
Last Sunday, the lovely Lance drove up from Woking to meet me. We planned to drive up to Grafham Water, cycle around it, then come back to Stevenage to get something to eat and catch a movie.
I met Lance at 10.31 (I was a little late) in a local park's car park. A huge hug made me feel relaxed. Then he revealed he lost the back wheel to his bike somewhere on the motorway. It just fell off. I thought this was going to ruin our day. We took a trip to Halfords but they couldn't help. But we remembered that there is cycle hire at Grafham Water, so off we went, with both our bikes on the back of the car.
I'm not sure what time we arrived at Grafham Water. Lance hired a bicycle, which was quite reasonably priced for a whole day's usage (until 6.30pm). We made our way around the lake, travelling in an anti-clockwise direction. The route was reasonably flat, which was nice. Only a few ups and downs, but that's ok. Lots of lovely scenery and wildlife. We had a look at some of the flowers, and I was amazed by the number of dragonflies. One particular flower had three pairs of mating beetles on it, and just seemed like a very popular flower in general.
As we approached Perry on the southern side of the reservoir, we stopped for a quick drink, and then headed off again. We were going to have a little look around the village but there wasn't really anything to see. We took a diversion to have a look at the nearby prison, HMP Littlehey. It was nothing special. We then headed onwards around the circular route. Just before reaching the dam, there was a little ramp that I cycled over. That was a bit fun. Then at the dam, the path goes down away from the road, but lots of people make their way up the hill. We did this to have a look, and then went back down the hill. I noticed my front tyre was a bit soft, so pumped some air into it. But air was coming out, and I noticed that the innertube had cracked just by the valve, meaning I'd have to throw it away as it can't be repaired (it happened once before). Thankfully I had a spare. After changing that, we reached the point where we had started.
Back at the start, Lance treated me to an ice cream and we had a sit down on the grass. We looked at our options for what to do next, but I felt that I hadn't cycled enough, so we decided to go around again. This time we went faster, and made no diversions. About a third of the way around, I decided I'd had enough, but when we got to Perry again it felt rather good. It was more sunny the second time around, and I started to catch the sun on my arms and face. I had my factor 30 with me and I regret not using it.
When we reached the little ramp, I went over it fast and it felt like I had taken off. That was cool! Then at the dam we went along the road instead of on the stony path, as it was nicer and smoother. I'm sure that's what most people do. The second time around took us about an hour (I don't know how long the first time took). Back at the start again, we decided to return the hired cycle and head back to Stevenage.
We arrived at the Leisure Park in Stevenage where we planned to eat and watch a film. We had already decided on Shrek Forever After 3D, and discovered there was one starting at 7pm, which gave us an hour to eat. We chose to eat at Pizza Hut where I had a barbecue deluxe with a garlic bread starter. It was delicious! The film was very good too. It was the first time I had seen a film in 3D, and I was amazed. Actually, it was the adverts before the film started that amazed me the most, as they were actual real people and things rather than animation. A football flew into my face and I shouted! It was that scary. Also, during the film, someone's face was right in my face. So I vowed never to watch a horror film in 3D.
After the film, Lance dropped me back at the car park where we first met, and after another huge hug, we went our separate ways. But we are going to meet again and do more cycling, so I am looking forward to that!
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