Another cycle ride

After our trip back into medieval times at Wells on Monday, Tuesday was quietly "modern" (it also pelted with rain). We went into Weston so I could get a couple of pairs of trousers so that when one pair is damp, I can wear the other. Actually bought some waterproof trousers; now watch it be sunny. Actually this may have worked as yesterday WAS sunny and so is today. Oh and Tuesday night we went to see the new Harry Potter movie about the Half Blood Prince. It was good but I will need to sit down with the earlier HP movies so I can get the thread. I'd only seen the first one before this one. And despite my daughter's earnest recommendations [blush] I've never read the books.

Yesterday I did a lot of exercising. I walked into town, then back. Walked the dogs to the field of clover and watched them gambolling around then walked them back. Did 45 minutes with a Leslie DVD including strengthening.

Then when Sheila came home she and Dave suggested we cycle over to West Huntspill and Pawlett, two villages about 7 miles away. Only a bit of it was on roads thank goodness, the rest was on quiet country lanes lined with tall hedgerows. So beautiful and peaceful. I didn't bring my "big" camera so here are some photos courtesy of Blackberry.

This pump used to supply the village of West Huntspill with all of its water. Most of the houses we cycled past are fairly recently built; post WWII anyway. Like the nifty white socks? I bought them 7 to a pack at Marks & Spencer. My feet had been freezing before this. Aahhh, warmth now.

And speaking of WWII, do you know what this is? I would have cycled past it obliviously but Sheila pointed it out. It's a pillbox. Used for anti-invasion. West Huntspill is not that far away from the estuary so I suppose it would have been constructed so that the Home Guard could protect the countryside if the Nazis came up the river? Or perhaps there used to be an airfield somewhere around here; they were also used near airfields. Ah yes, just checked Google and there was one in Weston. Several miles away but the countryside around here would have keenly felt the danger during the war.

In this photo we see what the pillbox was actually defending. It's a Barrage Balloon Shed and we had now actually cycled into the country lanes around the village of Pawlett. If you don't know what a barrage balloon was, you'll have to go research it ;) I'm not going to tell you EVERYTHING [laughing]. But as for this shed, according to the website http://worldwar2airfields.fotopic .net (but I took this photo, it's not from that Website), "The Bellman barrage balloon shed at Pawlett was operated by the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) and used from 1940 in the development of barrage balloon cable cutting experiments. Royal Aircraft Establishment aircraft flying from RAF Exeter and later from RAF Culmhead took part in these experiments. The barrage balloons were kept fully inflated and thus required a shed of considerable size for storage purposes." Again, I wouldn't have noticed it if Sheila and Dave hadn't pointed it out. Modern history. Apparently there's a barrage balloon shed in a Foyle's War episode that we've seen. I'll have to review that again.

This day though, rural England snoozes on much as it has done for centuries thanks to those brave folks back in the 1930s and 1940s that said "We shall fight them everywhere".

My Alberta friends might think this is rather short wheat? Not having much acquaintance with wheat fields growing up in Montreal and now in the Southwest, I don't know.

Sheep again. There's an advantage to doing a daily blog rather than showing folks a huge photo album. I can post multiple sheep photos and, unless you're reading days at a time, you won't say "Oh another sheep photo." There was also a lovely herd of Friesian cows but we were cycling downhill and I couldn't stop. I had to ask Dave and Sheila if Friesians were dairy or beef. They're dairy. Learn something every day.

We passed several riders in the lanes so I finally hopped off my bike and took a quick photo. As they passed me by I said "I hope you don't mind, I'm an American" in case they thought I was with Secret Service or something. And the fellow smiled and said "Ah, that will be £15,000 or I'll sue you--that's what they do in America, isn't it?" He was laughing as he said it and they both wished me a good holiday here. Whew.

Today, as I said, it's sunny again so I am going to go put on a t-shirt (yay! no blue jacket!!) and take the dogs for a walk.