As Mr H and Mr Rich Crowther had entered one of those long 'man at one with his bike' races, Hatch and I and the two boys, and Grumpy (new name for Scrumpy, still having to wear her plastic anti-scratch post-spaying hood) found ourselves in the New Forest last weekend.
We didn't see much of the 'big boys', as they waddled out to their bikes at the crack of dawn with a squeak of padded-arse & lubed bumcrack defiance, two perfect specimens of the MAMIL (Middle Aged Man in Lycra) in action. And then went on to cycle the 62 miles at such a pace that they both got 'Golds' – for coming in under 4 hours and 2 mins. Not bad actually, but you can't of course tell them that.
Hatch and I and the 'little boys' hoofed off on what transpired to be a two hour walk (note to self – trainers with mesh toes are useless in boggy fields, grr) including the highlight of a reptiliary complete with a dozing adder and the obligatory 'did I see it or did I imagine it' frog or two.
Our crabbing exploits that afternoon got us nowhere, the Lymington crustacea had clearly had their fill of bags of smelly bacon bits by the time we arrived and having both boys dangling precariously on the edge of the hugh harbour wall did neither Hatch nor I any peace-of-mind favours. So we very sensibly sought solace in a pint.
A couple of shots from the weekend – none of the cycling but one particuarly fine one of Hatch's backside (never have I forgotten trying to climb a wall ten years ago on a weekend away, getting stuck and hearing Hatch & Fitz hooting with laughter at my sad state, unable to go neither up nor down the damn thing..) This photo brought it all back – ha!
And a couple of photos of the boys – the blond one is Tony and the dark one my godson, Jack.