Not a pretty sight.

Following my return from France I began to feel the effects of a cold - as did others in the party - but decided to ignore the symptoms and go out cycling anyway. On return from a trip to Gloucestershire on Monday my throat was getting sorer and by Tuesday morning it was extremely painful. At 6am I went down to the kitchen to take some cough medicine and blacked out. I came to my senses (just) to realise I was lying on the kitchen floor in a considerable amount of my own blood from a cut lip and eyebrow. The inevitable visit to A&E followed. I have a slight fracture to my left checkbone (not enough to warrant an op fortunately), several stitches in my lip, a cut over my left eyebrow, a black eye, considerable swelling to the left side of my face, a possible slight rib fracture and bruises all over. I think the moral to this tale is that it is foolish to ignore one's body's messages and to go cycling no matter what. I did get some good steam train photos, however.