This Blog

• having lost sanity, Free Dictionary.
• Stories to explain this expression, World Wide Words.
• To drive someone round the bend: to make someone angry or annoyed, Macmillan Dictionary.
• To round or rounding a bend – literally to go round a bend or figuratively, to make a change of direction.

There’s more to the term round the bend than at first meets the eye.  For me it’s what I do with my spare time that keeps me sane and nowadays that particularly means cycling, astronomy, photography, geology, travel & more.  If I don’t get out on the bike for a while, image the night sky, or investigate some rocks I can feel the difference – it’s a slippery slope so best keep pedalling, physically or metaphorically .

I have certainly been driven round the bend by others or circumstances.  It still happens but I’d like to think that now I’ve got a few miles on the clock I deal with it better, unfortunately not always though!  If I have ever driven somebody round the bend I certainly regret it, though I’d like to think it was unintentional.

Life is also by choice or by chance about change as we progress there are many twists and turns; some good, some bad that we have to deal with.  Rounding these challenges and opportunities, so our life is plotted. Looking back such changes are often seminal in nature and tend to define who we are, what we achieve and how we deal with life itself.

Fundamentally, I hope this blog does what it says on the tin – it is about the aforementioned pastimes, my related experiences and how they enrich my life.  It started as a record of my cycling trips, tours and thoughts etc. that have contributed to my life on a bike for over 50-years.  As a result of knee problems my cycling has by necessity now become less ambitious and I’ve expanded the blog to other matters that together keep me occupied and happy.  At times when I’m  on my bike, looking at the night sky or make a personal geological discovery life is good.  In this blog I hope to capture these and other experiences, as well as just record stuff that comes my way.

Finally, what is round the bend sums up what makes these pastimes such a pleasure – they’re an adventure the moment you start and unfold as you overcome each challenge  that hitherto were unseen or unknown round the bend.

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Postscript: Why Part-1?  (i) Because the plain roundthebend website address was not available, and (ii) Because I don’t know what’s next i.e. round the bend, maybe there will be a Part-2?