Tree 1 : Leg 0

interestingly as I stood in the shower watching the water run down my leg, it didn’t occur to me that I’d managed to bring home a piece of the forest with me..

Sure, I’d brought lot’s home on my bike and some on my clothes, but not in my body..

Sounds sordid I know, but I’d never noticed the graze on my leg had turned into a raging blood torrent cos I was pedalling so fast..

It happened like this..

I was riding my bike in Delamere Forest when me n sam decided to have a race (well I raced off and he chased me). This invloves me riding as fast as I can down a long downhill and then up the otherside, however, this time I noticed a new track I’d not been down so I jammed on the brakes and turned left onto the new track.. turned out to be a great (awesome) trail which was mainly downhill and was heading vaguely in the right direction. It was wide enough to go fast(ish) not too many overhanging branches to smack my head on and no major logs in the path..

..until I came round a left hand bend and there was a deer in the path..

I don’t know who was more surprised.. anyway I went right, the deer went left and all was OK apart from me smacking my leg into a tree stump, but not enough to fall off. Sure it hurt, but I was winning the race so I wasn’t going to stop..

..cut to the car..

Hmm thats more than a graze thinks I.. I’ll sort it in the shower..

So, there I am in the shower watching the blood wash away except for this stubborn dried clot hanging to my shin. I tried flicking it off but it wouldn’t budge so I ran my finger over it.. I figured it was a big lump of skin so I tried to peel it off.. It came away in my hand and then the pain shot up to my brain..

After a lot of swearing I finally got round to looking at the offending lump of skin.. turns out it was a piece of wood ! I guess I’d speared my leg on a stick or something, not the tree-stump I thought..

Anyway, I kept the wood (about 3cms by 1cms) for posterity. Worst thing is, I’ve been back since and I can’t find the same track even though I’ve retraced my steps.