Sublime Sunday Bike Ride - Getting ready for the Dreemport Challenge

I was very excited to sign up for the new Dreemport Challenge this weekend, focused on healthy living. If you haven't heard of it yet, then what are you waiting for?

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Head straight to Hive account@dreemsteem's post:Life is Short.Start Fresh

to participate in 6 weeks of getting back to being a healthier more committed version of yourself 😍 It's easy to get involved and requires little more than a personal commitment to oneself, to focus on a few daily activities that will improve your general sense of well-being, and then write about it at the end of each week, and submit your post to Dreemport.

If you want to know more about Dreemport and how to register on the site and participate in the community to get more eyes on your content, then you can read this here:

How do I use dreemport? It's easy! :)

Anyway, when my husband suggested that we go on a family cycle around the local woods today, I thought, what better way to get my mind and body focussed on the weeks ahead than to simply get stuck in right away, get out into the fresh winter sunshine with its crystal blue skies, and enjoy the offerings of nature.

We headed out through the back of our neighbourhood, up through a few local residential areas, cutting through a community park, and finally making our way to Burnham Beeches, which is a National Nature Reserve, Special Area of Conservation, and a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the South East of England. We love walking and cycling in these woods and being that they are so closely situated to Pinewood, Shepperton, and Bray Studios, it is little wonder that their majestic backdrop has been used as a film set for such films and franchises as Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, and some of the Harry Potter films, to name but a few. source

You can actually go and see the Cage Pollard from the 1990 film, *Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner. source

The Cage Pollard, which is about 400 years old, provided the backdrop for one of the most memorable moments in the film, the burial scene and has since become a star in its own right.

I have also been to Pinewood Studios a couple of times, to watch recordings of tv shows, to attend an old-fashioned Drive-In theatre, and to attend an end-of-year work do. It was during the latter that I was stood chatting to some work friends after our meal in the main corporate suite, when the owner of a deep and gorgeous, very recognisable Irish voice, excused himself as he brushed past me, gently moving me aside - none other than Pierce Brosnan. Day made up haha❣️ He was on set filming Die Another Day. We had caught a glimpse of him earlier dining in the private dining room next door to the suite and he had decided to take a shortcut through the suite to the set. Sadly, I didn't get any photos 😕(too many burly bodyguards! 🙄That, and the exercise by myself of a certain modicum of decorum 😂) But, I digress...

Back to our cycle ride today 😅... This time we didn't venture off the main roads that run through the National Nature Reserve (we sometimes go offroad but hubby was on his road bike today!). There were lots of families cruising around, walking, running, cycling, scooting, out with their partners, children, and dogs.

I took my electric bicycle out today, although I did do a lot of the hard work myself too... before I get roasted for doing that! 😆 My back has been a bit tender these past few days and I didn't want to risk being stranded and in pain lol. At least with the electric, I didn't have to do the heavy power work uphills and I could stop and take a few pics on my phone and not have to worry about being left behind by my speedster hubby and kids. I did make sure that whenever I was doing the work, I was in 6th gear so that it required some effort 😎

Here are a few candid snapshots from our ride. Most of the trees in the pictures are very bare. This is partly down to it being winter here in the UK (so a lack of green tree foliage) and partly due to the age of some of the trees which run into hundreds of years - and the fact that they contain a lot of deadwood.