Yesterday we set off on a bike ride to York to meet my son and his girlfriend for lunch. It was only 25k there so set off quite late morning and enjoyed an unusual lie in and lingering breakfast on the decking.

All the cycling around here is stunning. The ride was easy apart from the first few kilometres which were very hilly and gravelly due to a new road surface. None the less the route was very enjoyable and included a beautiful off road section through fields of yellow flowers.

We enjoyed a really nice pub lunch with my son and his girlfriend and had a good catch up as I haven’t seen him in ages. Unfortunately I have no photos of our lunch, something I only thought of on the way home!

The return ride was again easy as my lovely husband cruised at a slow speed so I could draft off him. Since I’ve only just got back to riding and have lost some fitness this was very much appreciated.

Unfortunately closer to the domes he had a problem with his bike which meant he was stuck in a smaller gear. It wasnt a major issue though as it was pretty much all uphill for the last few kilometres anyway. For me this bit was tough as I didn’t want to stand up due to the loose surface so had to grind my way up in my very lowest gear huffing and puffing in the hot sunshine. I will admit to abandoning the idea of the final hill which is 20 percent and would be tough for me on a cool day with no gravel.

In the late afternoon we went to the local village of Malton to stock up on food. We were then able to enjoy the best picnic in the world on the decking. The views really dont get better than this.

Today I took a cycling rest day so that I’m able to go again tomorrow. Instead I went for an early run. I had worked out a half road/half trail route by consulting with Komoot the evening before. Unfortunately after jogging through a field of cows with diarrhoea (never seen that many cow pats in my life), I then entered a field of shin high stinging nettles. After navigating my way along a kind of path (well in my mind it was a path) I got to the far side of the field to find no more signs or styals.

At this point I retraced my way back through the nettles (ouch ouch ouch) and then dodge hopped the field of cow pats again.

Unfortunately I wasnt as adept at nettle dodging so even now 5 hours later I can still feel my legs tingling. Still its not a trail run if you don’t get lost, fall over or get nettle stings right?

For the rest of the morning I’ve sat on the decking working on ‘my book’ (dont ask – I really dont know if I’ll ever finish it). My husband went off for another bike ride and also remembered to take the go pro with him this time so I’ll look forward to seeing that in a bit.

Tonight the chef at the local pub has returned from his holiday so we are hoping to get a meal and we will back in search of veggie burgers.