Geek dressing - and well-oiled bicycles

The glory in being older - and not so much wiser but, perhaps, more indifferent - is that I can happily admit to being a geek without fear of ridicule. There is something truly liberating about embracing this middle age of indifference to critics and cynics alike. Three things matter: health, family and friends. Oh, as do safe cycling gear and perfect grammar and documenting this journey in a blog. So that's six things that are important to me...

Do I look like a prawn in this?
We arrive at 8pm in Salema and eat giant prawns and clams at the restaurant that is three minutes' walk away. Unpacking the 'beast' can wait. This morning, we gear up and put together our bicycles for a 30k round trip to my favourite beach bar for more prawns. I am dressed neck to knee in cycling lycra with a sexy blue helmet that has a headlight attached. The cycling shorts are necessarily padded and unnecessarily unflattering. Do I care? Do I f***. Don't get me wrong - I adore wearing F.M. heels, Ted Baker dresses, tailored shorts and worship my collection of Teddy B bags. But, just for now, I am embracing the geek in me. I wouldn't have been seen dead in this garb at 18. Come to think of it, I wouldn't have been seen on a bike either. And if I had cycled then, no doubt, without the hi-vis tops etc, I would have run the risk of being seen dead on the roads. What was acceptable at 11-12 years of age quickly became uncool and I recall selling the bike my parents bought for me not long after it was gifted to me on my birthday. But today, I was a kid again. We climbed a 1 in 6 hill by bike and whizzed down it again at 38mph. You can't do that in a pair of three-inch heels.

I have always taken a walk on the geek side - Heather and Siobhan, you knew this when you bought me a journal for this journey. A journey that, in all honesty, does remind me of being 18 - or, at least, in my early 20s.
So far, there have been hints of time spent with friends skiing in Italy and Andorra, driving around Somerset and Gloucestershire and exploring Germany. The feeling of taking off on a whim, should the weather change or should we be inspired by something elsewhere, is liberating. I spend time thinking back to escapades with Victoria, Jackie, Clare and Alan and with my brothers, Adam and Kevin, too, and it reminds me that happiness doesn't come with the Queen's face on it, just the faces of friends and family.