Mud fun in New Forest

Visualizzazione ingrandita della mappa
Sunday afternoon I went for a ride in the New forest with Sarah. After a late wake up and a satisfying bruch with panckakes, beacon, chocholate milk and cereals we headed for Southampton Train Station where we took the train to the center of new forest: Brockenhurs.
It was a bit cold, and the sun was mostly covered by clouds, nevertheless we started cycling with the idea to get to the sea through bike and foot paths. Even if we started a competition to see how many wild animals we could see, we soon lost track of the score: too many ponys. Some of them where nice and friendly, others slowly walked away when we tried to aproach them.
Next time I go there I want to buy a proper map, because the one we used was not really detailed and soon we got lost in in the numerous paths that cross the forest...that actualy in not a forest at all!! The route that I recreated through google maps is not exactly the one we followed: I can't recall all the detorus we took. We took it easy, cycling slowly and enjoying the landscape that is mostly grassland and bog. The "New" Forest was established as a deer-hunting ground in 1079 by William the Conqueror. It was a comon land, this means that the Commoners were allowed to graze thei animals, dig clay and gather wood in the area, and most of these rights are still valid now!
On saturday afternoon it rained a lot, so most of the paths were really muddy. It was fun to face those conditions with a bike that obviously is not meant for it: the wheel kept sliding and sinking in the ground, but the small weight of the bike and the absence of frictions allowed to travel smoothly on grass and hard ground. Someone would say "lovely"...!
Anyways, after finding some deers we finally got to the sea. The sun was setting, we finally saw the Needles which we couldn't see in October, and we decided to cycle along the coast to Lymington, and then take the train back home. But we didn't consider the fact that there isn't a proper path! Just a narrow track, often blocked by fences that finally ends in a bright and wet green field. When we managed to get out and find a proper road our feet were soaked, our shoes covered with mud and the bikes were dirty as well. In the cold night we struggled with our last strokes on the peddals and finally we found the station.
Best way to recover from this small but tiring trip? A nice, hot, homemade Pizza!

Gelatina ritrovata

I haven't even had time to write a post telling you that my bike was stolen...and I am already writing that I got it back!
A stupid joke from stupid friends?
An amazing bliz of the police?
No, just the advantage ov knowing a lot of people. But let's procede with order.
On Friday night, after the Italian Society social night at Stags some of us decided to head to a house party, but in the end is just me that gets to Milton road. It was really cold so I locked the bike as fast as I could and walked in the party. It was a nice party and everything was ok, untill I looked out of the window and saw that my bike was missing.
The day after I uploaded this picture on facebook and tagged as many friends as I could. Then I sent it to the National Oceanography Centre mailing list, to some cash converters, bicycle shops etc. At first it appeard like somebody was using it since a similar bike was seen close to the university. Yesterday morining I went to check all the bike racks of the campus, talked to the security people and waited for one hour on the road where the bike had been seen on monday.
I was demoralized and I was already thinking of how to replace my beloved track bike. Many options where available, but none would have been perfect: I won Gelatina at an allycat in Parma, and the wheels at an allycat in Florence...it was an itinerant trophy!
Finally today a friends of mine calls me: apparently the housemates of a friend of his stole a bike on friday night, so he was going to their house to check...and then he calls me again to ask for the pin of my lock...Gelatina was safe! In fact, because of the cold, apparenly I didn't lock it to the street lamp, but just the wheel and frame together. The thieves walked away with the bike without any trouble. Shame on me!
Now, it is really hard to decide what to do. I am infinitely grateful to the friend who rescued my bike and I have a present for him. I want the thieves to understand how wrong they behaved but nevertheless I don't want to create problems to my friend, so I will probably just talk to them to have my spedometer back...and they are better give it to me.
One really funny thing happened: just after I got Gelatina back on thursday, while I was riding home, I have been stopped by this guy that I had never seen before, but who thought that I was the thief! And it happened again this afternoon! This means that my strategy was effective, and therefore I am a little less worried about the faith of the human society.
The only thing I can say is that I have been really lucky. Thanks to those who helped me. I hope we can all go riding our bikes together when the weather gets better!