The Grass is always Greener

What a wonderful day, but still a slightly strange day.

Apart from Carl having a ride out a few weeks ago to deliver some ppe to a local hospital and acquiring a flat tyre on his way home, thus putting an end to his volunteering, this was our first ride since 22nd March because of the covid-19 lockdown the country is going through. Essential journeys only until this week meant that our bikes stayed in the garage. We felt it was the right thing to do.

With the slight lifting of restrictions this week, allowing us to travel anywhere for a picnic or other activity so long as we made sure that social distancing of 2m took place, we were eager to get out on the bikes. The current restrictions mean that you are only allowed to see one other person outside your household and so, because there's two of us it meant we couldn't meet anyone else.

Over the last eight weeks we have been getting the bikes prepped for our adventures. This has included fitting Outback Motortek crash bars, pannier racks and top rack, and investing in Mosko Moto luggage. We're new to soft luggage but we absolutely love this gear. It is quality stuff.

We are giving a shout out to these two companies as they have been good to us. We decided that we wanted their products and after they saw our plans for the future with our round the world trip, the two identical bikes with their brand number plates, with just the promise of what we intend to do, they looked after us well, particularly Mosko Moto. We hoped we wouldn't be disappointed with the stuff we bought because of this, and so far we're not. A huge thank you to them.

So, back to today. Carl sorted a round route of about 120 miles using our go to satnav for the bikes, Calimoto, and off we went. Boy did it feel good to be back riding. I can't describe it.

We rode for a couple of hours before stopping for lunch at Bodiam Castle. The castle car park was obviously closed but we pulled up in a lay-by and had our picnic just the other side of the river. A very pleasant spot where, aside from one or two walkers, we were only disturbed by the sheep who came to see what we were up to.

Carl got the drone up and hopefully got some nice footage and showed me how to fly it. No, I didn't crash it!!!

We enjoyed cheese sandwiches, filter coffee and loose leaf earl grey tea. Yes, you read that right. Well, there's no need to slum it just because you're on a bike!

Another hour or so saw us take some very pretty lanes, smiling and waving at other bikes and cyclists. It was good to see no large groups of bikes, which we would see on a normal Saturday out. Everyone it seems is being sensible with the new freedom. And that was the strange thing about today. When we go out on the bikes it more often than not is to meet up with friends for breakfast or a brew and enjoy a ride together. We can't do that at the moment. The lack of proper socialising is weird. I can't process it very well and I'm really not sure how I feel about it all. It's just incredibly strange. Different times indeed.

We stopped for another socially isolated brew, overlooking a field of buttercups.

One of the nicest bits from today though was when we returned to the bikes after our lunch. Another biker was just leaving; a Spaniard living over here for a couple of years because of his work. It was really very interesting talking with him. He was so grateful that he had happened here just before the coronavirus pandemic put us all into lockdown as Spain have had it far worse. What was really interesting though was his opinion of our country.

Over the last few weeks on Facebook there have been constant, and I mean constant, posts in a bikers touring group about Spain. Everyone gutted that they can't get there this year. Will the borders open up? Won't they? Who else has cancelled their trip to the Picos mountains? Don't get me wrong, we understand all this and appreciate the frustration, but it has been relentless with the speculation about whether anyone would get to Spain this year. It's been all Spain, Spain, Spain, as if that is the only place in the world!

Anyway, this chap today said he couldn't understand why more people didn't bring their bikes over here. He thought it was a far more lovely place to ride than Spain! His exact words were "yes, ok, I suppose we have the mountains, but this country has so much more and your roads are so good". He is very excited to be able to ride and explore our beautiful nation over the next couple of years of his stay. And it is beautiful. He is right.

We don't always see what is under our nose and sometimes we have to take a step back. We tend to ride small roads and lanes that are off the beaten track and we see gorgeous places and stunning scenery. It's all there, right where we live, you just need to look. I guess human nature means we just like 'different'. It's easy to get bored with what you have, but we shouldn't.

As the saying goes - the grass is always greener.

But is it...?

On our return home we had this - thankfully the only flat tyre of the day.