Birthday treat

Darren's birthday treat today is a cycling mini-break and we set off on it today.

We started from Bicester on our e bikes, and our first stop was for coffee at Woodstock.

We are sat on the pavement of quite a busy road, but a duck appeared on the opposite pavement, saw us and crossed excitedly over to see if we had any food. Unfortunately we didn't, so she pecked my shoe and then headed off around the corner to hassle someone else.

On through Brize Norton with the big RAF base where military planes passed almost constantly overhead and a stop for part one of lunch.

I couldn't partake in the second lunch break as I had already eaten all of mine at the first stop, but Darren finished his sandwiches at a lovely little village with a beautiful ancient church.

Then on to the main stop of the day at Bibury. It's a real tourist honey pot with numerous coaches parked on the main road.

Basically it is a collection of beautiful cottages built along side a wide and clear stream.

There is also a trout farm so we bought more coffee and watched the trout swimming about and leaping out of the water at feeding time.

By now we had cycled a long way and my battery was getting very low, so I switched it off for a while and had to face the headwind with no assistance.

Feeling very tired I switched it on again with the hope that the battery would then last most of the way to the finish at Cricklade. Very annoyingly we rolled up the attractive Main Street to our hotel and it was still going strong.

View of the town clock from our hotel window.