There is something so special about cycling in the extreme heat , when it seems too hot to sit still, walk or run. A gentle cycle is the perfect traveling pace , to chase , meet and to feel the breeze .

There are minor caveats, hills are best avoided unless you want a serious workout (!), and also a good time to avoid main roads where fumes are at their most pungent from boiling buses and troublesome trucks.

Cycling through balmy green spaces and stopping wherever and whenever you like if you decide you want to stop to lie down and look up at the sky through sunglasses and Factor 50, picnic on the grass with brie and lemonade and the very best that literature has to offer , I'm currently enjoying As It Seemed To Me by John Cole, a political memoir.

Cycling is the ultimate freedom machine , not just in terms of reaching destinations but also in terms of stopping wherever and whenever floats your boat , no parking stresses, traffic wardens are not interested in us , and starting up again whenever your food / sunscreen/ reading supplies expire!

Two wheeled summertime bliss.