Over the last year's I've explored a lot of the local forest trails on my gravel bike, but there are still random blanks on my mental map of the forest, so today I decided to explore one of them. I start normally on familiar roads and trails, at one point being chased by an out of control dog. The last month has been very wet and grey the forest floor a mess in places.
I soldier on and the sun decides to make a rare appearance bathing the forest in beautiful light. I pass a group of gravel cyclists traveling the other way, a rare site in these parts despite the lovely gravel roads.
Despite these roads being familiar so far, they still form part of a working forest and on occasion that's bought home, no more so than at one section where I take a break. A combination of the incredibly wet month and heavy machinery has destroyed this section of forest and left it a mud bath.
A few kilometres further on and I'm finally turning away from the familiar and into the unknown, a grassy trail leads me deeper into the forest. I'm following a route I'd plotted earlier twisting this way and that, joining dots and traversing a part of the map I'd yet to explore. There was no telling what surfaces I'd be riding on or even if those trails existed.
As I got further in, the trail did started petering out until finally I was bought short by a tangle of boughs over a boggy section. I heaved and hauled my bike through, but it soon became apparent there was no onwards journeying this way. Another path yields the same result and I'm faced with a decision.
Consulting the map, I decide to re-trace a few hundred metres and find another way through. A wise decision as I'm soon onto better surfaces winding my way pleasantly under mossy pines. The trail meanders around and before long I rejoin my intended route further on . It's not long now before my side adventure is over and I emerge onto more familiar trials, but the adventure was not over yet. I came across a barrier at a broken bridge, it looks like some fool has tried to drive across with dire consequences.
Faced with turning back for several kilometers, or doing what all the locals have been doing, I followed the locals through a makeshift gap, dodging the holes in the bridge and through the gap on the other side. Onwards now as we start to get closer to home, the scenery is lovely on this late autumn day.
The last kilometers are back through familiar gravel roads, the surface mainly good and firm, though where there are puddles they are deep and long. Me and the bike are completely covered in mud, like the creature from the black lagoon.
Finally we roll back into the garden where the wife barricades the door until I shed all my muddy layers. Both me and the bike need a good hosing down, but what a lovely morning in the forest and quite an interesting adventure exploring blanks on my map.
Overall just under 37 kilometers of muddy slippery autumnal fun.
