Lighthorne

Up the M40 to Lighthorne today.

I was expecting a nice relaxing day on the bike, mostly on bridleways.

Actually I had an exhausting day; bridleways weren't there, or ran across ploughed fields, or through a marsh. So I wound up walking the bike rather a lot.

The worst moment was when I followed a bridleway into a wood, couldn't work out how it was supposed to go, got to the edge of the wood at a five foot high fence topped with barbed wire, at which I A) heaved the bike over, and B) climbed over myself using a handy tree to hold on to, but which yanked my arms out as I descended back to the ground.

Or possibly it was the dog. As I was approaching the farm (on a bridleway), I could hear the dog yapping, and when I came through the gate, it did its display of aggression. The owner was calling the dog, but the dog took no notice, and the owner took no action, whiich is why the dog took no notice. As I was passing the farm, the dog kept making little rushes at me - now I don't care if I run over a dog with my bike when it's not my fault, but I'd guess the owner would be unhappy. And when I managed to get a bit in front of the dog so I could pedal-sprint away, it decided to take a bite at my leg. It missed and got a mouthful of trouser.

Should I have complained to the owner? On past experience, it's not worth the effort, I wouldn't have been believed, and no action would have been taken.

In the course of the day, I crossed the M40 twice (that's always fun) and found some really well-designed caches. The bike performed well (it's the one with the gears that don't need a grip of iron) and I didn't fall off, although at one point, it was a near thing. 47 caches, 2 DNFs.