Head Over Hills....

Viewpoint on top of Holmbury Hill today.

I know, not much of a view point, but behind the camera was a fantastic one......Drifting smoke from farmers bonfires and tiny specks of aluminium going in and out of Gatwick Airport.....Clear as a thoroughly polished pane of glass, you could see the South Downs and the sea I reckon. Who wants to see that though! Lee & I are much more interesting......not;)
It was great to get back up in the hills with my mate Lee:) He hasn't been in 16 days! He's had colds and stuff and of course he works bloody hard welding all week long etc! Not to mention his little kiddy Evie:) Lee is married to my Twin Sister Nicola to;) Lee & I have known each other since 1980! I may have told you before. And the really daft thing is.............he doesn't even know about this Blog! I just never thought of mentioning it! I think that makes me a little odd, but we already new that anyway;) Don't worry Lee, I will tell you all about it soon:)
Anyway, I am glad you have been enjoying my recent reminiscing about my Haemophilia & poems:) But I thought a little mountain biking post would do just as well eh:) Kayaking went out of the window as the wind was too strong down at Lulworth! But the wind was pretty good for cycling today. It was cold but you soon warm up......actually, you end up taking stuff off! Not too much mind, as we didn't want to get ourselves arrested!
The weather was clear and the sun shone all day long. We drove to the car park right on the farthest side of Pitch Hill with the intention of riding over to Leith Hill via Holmbury Hill. A long ride with loads of up hills and some very fast downs too:) We set off at about mid-day from the car and headed up to the viewpoint on top of Pitch Hill. That took about 17 minutes of up hill riding. Took a photo for time reference and started off down the hill to Peaslake Village. Took another photo of a whole bunch of mountain bikers sipping tea bought from the little shop there, checking out eachothers bikes etc. There is only one shop in Peaslake and that is it (see second photo below). I think we are like Marmite to the locals......You either Love us or hate us;)

Peaslake, Surrey, Today.

Half an hour (up hill) to the viewpoint and highest point on Holmbury Hill & more photos for time reference we made our way down towards Holmbury St Mary's Youth Hostel. This is all downhill and gave us the chance to rest our legs a bit but not so much our arms! And (note the title of the post) My front tyre slipped on some wet roots and I went right over my handle bars and whacked my left knee & left foot on my bike and ground! I fell off well though and Lee said I looked just like a stuntman:) Thank goodness I had a nice big injection of Factor VIII before I left:) I got back on and carried on through the Yoghurt Pots, (namely, because that section is a series of roller coaster type ups and downs, with each dip full of a disgusting yoghurty substance, basically rain and mud that never dry's up) Then down Telegraph Way to near the YHA and then on to the beginning of a very long up hill section that eventually leads to the Tower on top of Leith Hill, the highest point in the south of England! More pics and a sarnie, cake and hot chocolate MMMmmm!!!! And then back down the way we came from and via the other two viewpoints again we found ourselves back at the car. The photo at the top was taken on our second passing at the top of Holmbury Hill. We had been cycling for exactly 3 hours by this stage! Lee was very tired and I too as beginning to have enough:) But before passing through the tiny village of Peaslake again we literally shot down "Barry Knows Best" A very fast and twisty downhill section that was in perfect condition today! We have never been down it so fast! It was F*****g brilliant!
The whole ride took 3 hours and 46 minutes in total and we covered a distance of 17 miles, all off road and half of it uphill! We Loved it despite being tired at the end, I was almost falling asleep driving the 22 miles back home! Anyway, after a nice hot bath whilst listening to my i-pod & enjoying a zero % alcohol Cobra Beer, I feel great:) I have just taken my HIV & Hep C pills and will soon feel like I normally do this time of night! But at least I can look back on today and be happy again:) (My HIV drugs make me feel funny, not my Riba btw)
So....I hope you enjoyed that. Not as colourful as my dreams and poems maybe, but..........I did it, therefore I post it;)

Jason

P.s. I don't know if you can tell, but the top photo of us sitting on the bench together has been altered in Photoshop. Behind Lee's left shoulder were a man and a women standing right in the way! I hope you can't tell that I had gotten rid of them;) Photoshop is such an amazing tool:)