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.

The Purton Hulks....

When we were at our last campsite at Slimbridge Gloucestershire we visited the Purton Hulks Ship Graveyard......It really is a fascinating place....
The Purton Hulks form the largest ships graveyard in the UK.

It started back at the beginning of the 20th century when a number of hulks were beached to help shore up the bank between the Gloucester and Sharpness canal and the River Severn which was in danger of being breached....

There are currently approximately 80 old ships and barges to be found along the riverbank at Purton.....
Many of these old ships are unique examples in the UK maritime record and before our very eyes they are being destroyed by both human and natural forces....

There is quite an eerie atmosphere about the place and if you ever get the chance to visit the area a visit to Purton should be on your list.....

In the meantime and just in case you don't get to visit the hulks I have posted below a few of the images I took during our visit.....

This Plinth lists a number of the Ships and Barges to be seen.

Touching Base....

The eagle eyed among the regular visitors to this blog might well have noticed that I am currently back in my home area...
The post box numbers shown in my last post were the give away as BH**** are the first two letters of a Bournemouth area post code....

Anne and I have been back in the area for the past two weeks.....
It's been great to catch up with my Daughter and Husband and my Grandsons and also see the latest improvements to their house that they have been involved with....

The car went back to my favourite garage for it's annual MOT and service and I have also managed to get out on my bike and pedal around some of my old cycling loops in the area....

Out on one of my old cycling loops

Talking about my cycling...... I have struggled a bit this year with energy and breathing problems.....

When we were here last in the spring a medical check revealed that I had a faulty heart valve...
Apparently it is allowing some of the blood to flow back into the heart rather than be pumped fully around the body.... This has cause me to have moments of slight breathlessness as well as a lack of power and energy....

Obviously as you can see from the picture above it hasn't stopped me getting out on the bike but it is something that needs to be investigated further.
During our stay in the area over the following few weeks I am booked in for a number of medical tests to determine what should be done to sort the problem..... as soon as I know more I will let you know here on the blog.....

Post Boxes- Not Just One But Three

After my last post in which I featured a Penfold Post Box Peter Roberts left a further comment giving me the challenge of finding a Fluted Post Box.....

Not being one to pass on a challenge today I went out on a Post Box hunt...
As with any challenge it is always better to exceed the challenge and achieve just that little bit extra....
Below I have posted images of what I found......

Original Challenge- Victoria Fluted Box No:- BH23 5D

Quite Rare Edward V111  No:- BH23 47

Close-Up of Edward V111 Door

George V1 Box  No:- BH23 42

Well there we have it ...... the result of a day spent post box hunting....
I promise that I won't post any more P/O Boxes..... Well maybe..!

First September Ride And A Post Box

Yesterday being the first of September I figured I should tick off my first ride of the new month......
Since we have been at this location I have sorted out a good cycling circuit of approx fifty miles along some lovely quiet and almost traffic free roads and lanes so it has been good for my regular rides....

Some weeks ago Peter Roberts of  thediaryofmybike.blogspot.com  commented on this blog and mentioned unusual post boxes and on this latest cycling route of mine I kept on passing an unusual shaped postbox close to the entrance to Berkeley Castle which is situated a couple of miles from our current campsite.....

Because we will be moving on again in a couple of days... yesterdays ride will be my last in this area so I stopped and took a picture of said post box....

So Peter.... this one's for you....

Note that my Fulcrum Racing Zero Spokes Almost Match The Post Box :-)

Busy...Busy..Continues.

Anne and I have still been filling our time with lots of walking and visiting various places of interest and we have been busy everyday....
Add to that the cycling rides that I have been managing to squeeze in between everything else and with the good weather that we have been enjoying recently I would say that everything has been pretty well perfect....
We have even had various people come out and camp with us for a few days....what more could a couple of 'Old Age Travellers' want..? 
It certainly has been a good summer of full time camping......

Following on from my comments about a Cave in my last post.... since then we found an even better cave to visit....
This one was more difficult to get to..... 
Our visit required us to cross a very narrow bridge over an 80 foot gulley and scrambling up a very slippery cleft in the rocks..... Well worth it though because the cave turned out to be a real 'Grotto' of a place.....

Not only could you live in a cave like this you could even hold a party for all your friends.......

Over the scary bridge

Along the narrow and slippery cleft in the rocks

And then into this.....