I Should Keep My Mouth Shut....

Just before we left Dorset I was out on the bike for a morning ride when I achieved another first......
I had just got to the top of quite a steep hill and was a bit out of breath when out of the corner of my eye and in a split second I saw it zooming in on me.....
One of these fellas was heading my way...and at speed.

These Fellas Can Cause Some Pain...

 Yes...it was a wasp.... In the blink of an eye it had gone into my mouth and stung me on the back of the throat....

It caused me to stop riding my bike as quickly as it had stung me....

Bearing in mind the bad reaction that I have when I get bitten by midges and similar insects I was obviously concerned that I might have a similar reaction to the wasp sting....

I have been stung by wasps a couple of times before and I have never had an adverse reaction to the sting ...but this was the first time I have ever been stung in my throat.... I managed to cough up and spit out my attacker without it managing to sting me again. 

My main concern was that my throat would swell up and make breathing and swallowing difficult..... I had a drink from my bottle and waited for about ten minutes.....

Yes my throat did swell to some extent and it was very painful and the pain became worse when I swallowed but after the ten minute wait it did not feel like it was getting any worse so I remounted my bike and continued my ride.....

It was about three days before the pain and soreness had gone......

A lesson learned here.... In future I will keep my mouth shut..!!

Next.....

We had only been at our first campsite in Devon for about three hours when I got bitten on the back of my left leg by a large dog......

I have met this dog a number of times over the past eighteen months and he has never attempted to bite me before... but on this occasion he obviously took a dislike to me and showed his displeasure of my company with his teeth.

I recieved about eight punture wounds on my leg and my leg was also quite badly bruised....

This all happened a week ago and the bruising on my leg is still very painful....

As these sort of things seem to happen in threes... I am now wondering what the third thing will be..... 

Will I get trampled on by Deer or maybe I will be attacked by Wild Boar.....

If I manage to survive my next attack I will post the details here on the purpletraveller blog.....

Dog Bite on my Left Leg....

Six Weeks in Dorset and Now Moved On......

Our six week stay in Dorset has now come to an end and we have re-located back to Devon...
We will be here in  Okehampton for a couple of weeks and will then move on to Tavistock....

Our stay in Dorset was the usual mix of medical check-ups...... car service & MOT and catching up with family. 
My Daughter and my two Grandsons all have their birthdays in early October so it is always a pretty busy time of year.....
However we still managed to fit a lot into the six weeks and did a fair bit of walking and I also covered a good few miles cycling around some of my old regular training loops.... 

I had hoped that some of my old cycling mates would have been able to join me on one or two rides but sadly that was not to be.....
A few of us managed to meet up for a drink during my second week near Wimborne but as they are all still working for a living they never seem to have much spare time...... 

I am so glad that I have left the pressure of work far behind....... Not being able to call my life and time my own has never sat comfortably with me....
That has been the real bonus of our full timing adventure....... every moment of our lives is our own..... we are not selling any chunks of our time to anyone else and every day belongs to us......

This time of year really is a great season to go both walking or cycling..... The changing colours of the trees is magical and this Autumn we have had some wonderful sunny days which just serve to make those colours even more vibrant.........

One morning Anne and I woke up and decided that it was a day just made to go picking blackberries....so that is what we did......... spent the day picking blackberries...

It brought back a memory of when I was about six or seven years of age and picking blackberries on the Isle of Portland with my Father........
Funny how things that we do ...see ...or smell......years after an event can awaken a memory buried deep in our minds by the passage of time..........

Below are just a few pictures taken on a couple of our woodland walks during our stay in Dorset.......

Woodland walk near the campsite....

Ealy Morning in the Woods....

Blackberries....some ready for picking.