A nice day out in the sun!

Today dawned gloriously sunny, so Mrs Grumpy and I decided to cycle over to Brill on the Longstaff tandem.  This tandem is a bit lighter and more sprightly than the Dawes touring tandem we use for commuting and cycle touring.  Brill is most famous for its old windmill, of a type known as a "pin mill": the entire superstructure pivots into the wind on a pin.

This is a picture of the mill - it's not been used for milling since about 1902, and is a bit decrepit (it dates from the 17th century).  However, after climbing the hill, it provides a pleasant backdeop to some splendid views.  Unfortunately today the mill was shrouded in scaffolding and plastic sheeting for restoration by English heritage.

We didn't stick about too long at Brill, but set off again home via Quainton, where there's another windmill, but of a more conventional type.

The weather today was just splendid - sunny with big puffy white clouds scudding about, and the temperature was just about perfect.  We had no mecahnical problems (for a change - both tandems have recently suffered rear wheel spoke breakages).  This was a bit of a relief, as on a previous visit to Brill on this tandem, the freewheel contrived to come apart near the top of Brill hill!

Several "nature points" were scored.  Butterflies were plentiful, particularly orange-tips (Anthocharis cardamines), which were especially numerous in the hedgerows near Brill.  We also saw a melanistic grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) in the woods near Woburn, where they seem to be fairly frequent.

About 63 miles all told!