Cyclokairos

 

In 'Saving time' Jenny Odell distinguishes between two sorts of time: chronos and kairos. The former is “clock time”, the type of time that rolls on unimpeded, the one used to measure how quickly something can be achieved, the one that ensnares us in our work. The latter describes “transcendental moments”, and it is the number of these you experience that Odell argues mean more than how long or short your life is.

I chanced a canal towpath and a few bridleways this weekend. Optimistic: February was a dryish one, but April has been wet. The section of towpath was a new one for me. I've ridden the Stratford-upon-Avon canal between Lowsonford and Wotton Waven, but no lower. Jumping on at Wilmcote and heading north, things looked promising:

And then they didn't:

A little weaving, a little walking. What did I expect? The winter was wet, and spring has hardly got going. Little sun, little warmth, plenty of precipitation. A quiet strip of towpath though with no one else to be seen (apart from those on the narrowboats).

Edstone aqueduct was soon reached.

I left the towpath at this point for the firmness of a country lane. A left at Newhouse Farm put me on a familiar bridleway. It's a sealed track to start, a driveway for some residential properties and Cutler's Farm. My usual route takes me past the farm and on to a dirt track that ends at Kington Lane. One alternative is a left through the farmyard (easy to miss the turn) and up through Austy Wood before dropping down to the canal. But I veered right before the farm, up a grass track that skirts Knowle's Wood.

Good going until of course it wasn't. The route onto Langley is beneath a canopy of trees and even with them being deciduous it's unusual for it to dry out. Horse riders often come this way too, churning up the soft ground. No weaving, just walking.

It was a similar story the next day. I had to nip to my mum's and the usual route is an out and back along a paved greenway (a Dr Beeching victim). I did the out but opted for the scenic route for my return. It can be the height of summer and rain a distant memory, and Poors Wood will be wet. I think I mentioned the winter had been wet, and April too, then factor in that it tipped down the night before, and you end up with this:

There was plenty of that. But I was on the bike-that-never-gets-built-until-it-was-built, at least either side of the wood (mostly bike-walking there). It's a dream to ride, so plush I often find myself looking down at the rear tyre to check it isn't going flat.

It even matches my trainers.