Breaks on the road

To be totally honest life on the road is not all romantic bowling down country lanes, enjoying cream teas at village teashops, visiting places of cultural or historic interest - life soon comes to revolve around much more basic things than those.  Yes, I have done a fair amount of bowling along and I have been tempted to stop off at a number of cafes but I've only had one cream tea, honest!  Most of my breaks are roadside breaks and these can be broken down into phone breaks, camera breaks (also often combined with Twitter breaks), snack breaks, pee breaks and view breaks.

• phone breaks: these are a good excuse to text someone at random and the nice thing is you usually hear the beep of a reply pretty quickly and that's an excuse for another little break further down the road, or immediately if it's rather hilly.  Now if you want to text me and give me an excuse for a break, you're most welcome!
• camera breaks: well, I try to keep these to a minimum.  I've seen so many potential shots that if I'd taken them all I'd still be in Devon!  It requires strict personal discipline though, kind of reminds me of the discipline involved in our school days.  Like not being allowed to talk in the corridors between lessons and having to walk in single file.  It must have been a nightmare for the extroverts, Tracey Dear how did you and Olwen cope???    I try to restrict myself to no more than 2 or 3 camera breaks a day and will often post them to twitter because my tweets are geotagged and come up on this website http://tweetedtrips.com/map/408/sarah-bowen-aroundthecoast/?loggedout=hjtw6w8d4ptydpf so you can see at a glance where I am (although I actually started in Looe, not Yealmpton).
• snack breaks: well, there are lots of these.  In reality I could do with a nose-bag so I can just graze constantly.  My appetite at the moment reminds me a bit of when I was pregnant - not only did I nibble non-stop all day for 9 months but I also took up a plate of goodies to bed each night :-)  So the first snack is a banana + bar of chocolate (Yorkie biscuit & raisin works well); then comes the energy bar break; followed by brazil nuts and dates; protein shake plus crisps - and that's all before lunch!
• pee breaks: ah, now for those of you of a sensitive disposition I suggest you skip this one; for the likes of Jasmine Clayden, read on!  Well, it has to be said that there's a knack to a successful pee break.  Of primary importance is the location, near a road junction is not good but on a bend can be.  Ideally you need a post or fence or gate to lean your bike, also a hedge or bush so that you can at least be partially hidden from traffic coming one way is helpful.  The terrain has to be taken into consideration - too much vegetation is not a good idea, equally very dry, sandy or gravelly ground is risky.  In addition to that you have to think about the lie of the land, is it flat or is there a slight slope?  One time I spotted some old discarded planks lying on top of some long grass near a gate, half-hidden by a hedge on a quiet windy road.  Perfect.  Until the top plank shifted at the critical moment and began to slope ominously towards my right shoe!
• view breaks: ahh, these are the best.  These are the ones where you don't text or click the camera or rummage for food.  You just stand there for a few moments and lose yourself in the magnificence of it all, feeling very small but very very grateful.