Tuesday 8th March light SW sunny intervals
and cold
A day of
cycling as far as I can north. Two special birds are available;
Richard's pipits at North Landing, Flamborough and a first winter
surf scoter at Filey.
At last
there is a light wind and almost behind me too. The first road is
very straight and very flat.
Through
Horncastle and Wragby; north to Market Rasen and I stop to buy a
large Danish pastry from an independent bakers. Nearly all of the
products are in plastic cases sealed in a plastic wrapper. The Danish
pastries aren't and the young shop assistant is confused when I was
for the bought item to just be given to me. I don't want a paper bag.
I am going to devour it straight away. “I can't do that,” she
says.
To Caistor
and the mostly gentle falls and rises becomes a chalk hill to climb.
The route along the ridge gives views for miles to the west and a
steep bendy downhill stretch takes me into the village of BIGBY.
For those
who don't know the term BIGBY let me explain. A few years ago there
was a film with Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson called The
Big Year. Based on the real adventures of three Americans, Sandy
Komito, Ken Kaufman and Al Levantin, the film told how each wanted to
be the birder who had the biggest 'carbon' birding list in the USA in
a particular year. The book of the same name is fabulous. The film I
like being more an exploration of relationships. Anyway a 'carbon'
year list chase is called A Big Year.
BIGBY is
for the birder who wants to avoid carbon as much as possible. A pure
BIGBY is when a birder doesn't use any fossil fuel transport at all
in a whole year. My personal BIGBY has the use of a few ferries to
get me to Shetland and Fair Isle. This is allowed as long as I am
honest and say that when placing my list on record. I wonder if one
will ever have to say how Green one is in other ways as well?
Bigby, I
like it! Oh sorry, it stands for Big Green Big Year.
Through
more country lanes and onto a dual carriageway towards the Humber
Bridge; I turn off at the past roundabout before it and go into
Barton-upon-Humber. Here I find a guest house which is superb and the
owners, Rachel and Simon are very friendly. I have cycled over sixty
miles today and gosh, don't I feel it. My knees feel swollen and my
hands feel stiff, being stuck in a grasping attitude. C'est la rue!
So the
year list is 181, which is still twenty one ahead of this time last
year.
61.94
Miles 1963 feet elevation up 1873 feet elevation down
Kenn Kaufman wasn't one of the three main birders in the Big Year book. It was Greg Miller.
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