In praise of the pootle

[sevenfourate]

Absolutely - just being out is a pleasure in itself; even better as it's unhindered by a lot of the crap people acccept they're going to have to endure when driving - traffic, parking issues etc; and if you can do it off road you avoid all the dickheads too

……more and more: the times and routes I ride are to avoid ‘people’. I’m guessing I’m far from alone….

 

[simongt]

……more and more: the times and routes I ride are to avoid ‘people’. I’m guessing I’m far from alone….

Rode from Norwich to Diss a year or so back via Mulbarton & Old Buckenham for the first time in a while. Because of the increase in dormitory villages and rural industrial sites, it was more like an A class road because of the extra traffic.
No longer an enjoyable route.

 

[mjr]

Rode from Norwich to Diss a year or so back via Mulbarton & Old Buckenham for the first time in a while. Because of the increase in dormitory villages and rural industrial sites, it was more like an A class road because of the extra traffic.
No longer an enjoyable route.

That was too busy 30 years ago and it's got no better. Nicer to follow the railway and then enter via Intwood or Caister.

 

[rydabent]

I've tried my hand at quite a few different kinds of cycling over the last few years. Started out with long-ish, fast-ish road rides, then discovered MTB'ing and started pushing my boundaries at that too (until a few nasty crashes made me promise to Mrs Chris to reign it in a bit!).

But over the last year my favourite rides have been the ones where I've made up a packed lunch, taken a thermos flask and an OS map (sometimes even a pair of bin's for some en-route birding) and pootled through the local back lanes and bridleways.

There's something very nice indeed about a lower distance and pace ride where you can take your time and smell the roses.

Here're some pics from today's pootle, a couple of hours up and down the Exe valley

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You are exactly right. Take time to stop and smell the roses so to speak and enjoy your surrounding. Most of us are not racers, and have little need to ride fast. Besides if you ride fast you get home too soon, and then what.

 

[simongt]

Another advantage of the pootle is that you can do what the late Jack Hargreaves would suggest.
Stop at a field gate or a gap in a field hedge and simply gaze over the vista before you.
Ponder why a group of trees or a ditch or a barn or a certain crop or whatever are where they are and let your mind wander.
Wonderful.