Burley Trip 09/10/2024
Wednesday
Our ten riders set out to ride to Burley, led by Bill. I was delighted that Steve was able to adjust Jules’ brakes, using my multi-tool. He needed a tiny Allen key to do this, and most tool kits don’t have this size. I carry a fair amount of kit, and although I’m useless at bike maintenance - I ‘have all the gear and no idea’ - my contribution to the group is that I often have the tools, if others have the competence to use them!
The morning mist lifted quickly, and we rode in the most amazing clear sunshine after the previous day’s cloud and rain. The River Avon was flowing well as we crossed at the ford, with regular sightings of free-roaming pigs and ponies. Local drivers are obviously more confident than me, as they drove through the fast-flowing water, and all steamed from the exhaust as they exited the water. We also watched the bin lorry create a spectacular bow wave as it attacked the ford at speed, presumably to ensure it had the momentum to complete the crossing before water inundated the exhaust! I would not have stable blood pressure if I had to do that type of driving!
Soon the river, Claire punctured. It was the usual BER team effort to replace the tube. She’d managed to pick up a sharp flint, presumably one raised from the bottom of the river by the rain. We pedalled up and down to the Canadian War Memorial, which had many laminated poems from a modern war poetry book, on the fence around it, along with Union Jack and Maple leaf flags.
Thinking about free-roaming pigs led me to look up pig phrases, to expand my knowledge of trivia. Thus, the phrases new to me were:
It’s like trying to teach a pig to sing — it frustrates you and it annoys the pig. An exercise in futility.
When you wrestle a pig you both get dirty, but the pig likes it. This is a lesson in not stooping to someone else’s level. Once you get down in the muck, your opponent has won without even trying.
Buying a pig in a poke. This one harkens back to a scam from the Middle Ages. Apparently, meat was scarce, but dogs and cats were plentiful. Enterprising rogues would sell a closed sack of meat to customers claiming that it contained a suckling pig when in reality it was something else. Thus, it is an evocative way to say caveat emptor — buyer beware!
Living high on the hog. “High” in this context is not an intoxicating high. Apparently, this saying refers to the best cuts of meat on a pig, which come from the back and upper legs. If you’re eating the best cuts of meat, as opposed to the knuckles, ears, and tail, then you are living the good life.
We pedalled back across the New Forest and ended our day with a walk across a small suspension bridge across the River Avon, to ease our aching legs.
31 miles pedalled.
Cathy MacTaggart
Comments