In recent weeks I’ve been paying more attention to distant features and objects while out on a bike, and I’ve become intrigued particularly by a feature that, depending on weather, is visible to the west from near Little Orton, above a line of hills. It appears as a sort of grey block, over the tree line on the high ground in the distance.
I’ve tried taking a bearing on it with a compass and scrutinising the appropriate terrain on Google Earth, but there’s nothing that looks like a suitable candidate in that direction for miles.
So today, I decided I’d ride over to the high ground near Polesworth, a bit closer to it, and see if I had a view of it from there. I planned this as a sort of westward extension to a Twycross Bypasser.
I felt the uncomfortable prickle of cold, spotty drizzle on my legs as soon as I emerged from the garage with a bike, but the forecast was favourable so I expected this would stop soon. It did, but unfortunately not long after I’d pedalled through Orton the skies opened and I was rained on rather heavily for about 15 minutes. Haven’t had to contend with that for a while, and I certainly didn’t expect it. To make matters worse, because I couldn’t find a pair of cycling socks before I set off, I put on a pair of civilian socks instead, so my feet didn’t dry out as quickly as they might have.
But when the rain stopped the bike and I did dry out quite nicely in the lukewarm wind.
Bit of a slog getting to the high ground near Polesworth – nice to do some new roads I suppose, but what a climb to get up there. I could not see anything that looked like it might be the mystery object. I’ve come to the provisional conclusion that it’s the top of a tower block in Birmingham, about 17 miles away from my vantage point near Little Orton. But I will find out.
The way back down was a lot of fun, reminiscent of the BMX event at the Olympics. I hate having to brake while coming downhill. What a waste of hard-won kinetic energy.
Apart from the rain, a nice run out. I listened to coverage from the Olympics mostly, then 6 Music. 40.16 miles.
https://www.strava.com/activities/5716838414
That’s a wrap for July then, on 594 miles. Shame I didn’t do another 6; I haven’t done a 600 mile month for some time.