I'm not normally mistaken for a sheep farmer, so either sheep are colour blind or shepherds frequently wear luminous yellow cycling jackets; then again perhaps it was just a bleat in hope. Plaintive sounds continued to rise from the other side of the dry stone wall; peering over I was met by twin lambs demanding nourishment from their mother, while their hungry mother looked hopefully and bleated angrily at me. It's hard to enjoy a flask of tea with that racket going on and besides I had already done my bit for the Ovis Aries family this morning. I had woken to find a sheep embedded in my fence, stuck fast between sheep netting and the wall; sheep normally panic when approached and then manage to get free but this one had to be carefully disentangled before liberation. Liberating the bike from the garden shed had proved less troublesome. Freewheeling along country lanes is a great way to enjoy the Mournes and I made good progress despite a few steep gradients and a seized break cable. A few tools are all that's needed to solve most bike problems and likewise very little equipment is needed to draw sheep. Water-soluble pencils are perfect when travelling light, a sketch book and a brush complete the kit. Despite their continued protests I managed to sketch the sheep; beginning with a quick drawing and some shading before dissolving the pigment with the brush. The brush I used has a built in water reservoir. A high degree of control is possible using this method and it's perfect for detailed work. A looser feel can be achieved by initially wetting the paper and then drawing onto the damp page; when dry use a sharp lead to complete the shading and pick out some detail. Later that evening I discovered that long winter months spent walking in the mountains are an inadequate preparation for the first outing on a bike; but tired leg muscles are nothing compared to inadequate padding on the seat.