Pannier Practice

Decided to go out for lunch today, via some peddle power. Left The Cottage and got straight onto the cycle track in the direction of Bangor.

Flowers were just coming into bloom in the verges - including the first Blue Bells that I've seen this year.

And a more than a few Wood Anenomies as well - they were carpeting the forest floor. 

Soon enough we were down by the Menai Straits, enjoying a bit of a summer holiday feel! The colour of the sea looked tropical.

While we were down by the sea, we went onto the pier. It's a great viewing point.

You can look back and get a full view of the mountains from the end.

The ride was also a bit of a test run for Clare's new touring gear - panniers, handlebar bag and GPS holder. We've no fixed plans yet, but we're both quite keen for a big expedition by bike before too long, so it's been good to be able to give things a test run close to home.

We arrived at our destination - a pub called The Slate, ready for a big feed at 14:20. Unfortunately, they'd stopped serving food at 2pm! Nooooo!... We spent a few minutes discussing whether to try and make it back to The Cottage on an empty tank, or maybe getting some crisps to tide us over. We must have looked really tired and disappointed as the barmaid came back over to us (after telling us that the kitchen was closed) and said that the chef was waiting for a lift home but would rustle us up a quick sandwich if we wanted! What a result! What hero! We didn't decline!

Fully fueled up on tea and baguettes, we made our way back up the hill to The Cottage, stopping briefly to chat to two friends who were walking down to Port Penrhyn. It was uphill and into the wind, but we felt good and arrived back buzzing... Very lucky to be able to do a 26km ride, via the seaside and a nice pub, almost entirely on cycle tracks from our front door!