It's CUSTARD APPLE season right now in Taiwan, which is why I'm smiling, and they grow them big here (pic). It's one of my top three favourite fruits, along with honey mangoes and persimmons.
Nobody in Hull has ever seen a CUSTARD APPLE, even if it is the City of Culture 2017.
And they were selling them in stalls all along today's ride (pic). So I wasn't looking much at the coastal scenery. The CUSTARD APPLE sold here is the real thing, not like the 'custard apples' in Britain (outside Hull). They're cherimoyas.
The CUSTARD APPLES came from plantations right by the stalls, so environmentally conscious types will be pleased to know they don't have many food inches (pic). The Taiwanese also cultivate a CUSTARD APPLE–cherimoya hybrid called an Atemoya. It's said to taste of pineapple.
They also evidently have developed a CUSTARD APPLE that grows its own packaging on the tree (pic). We bought one the size of a grapefruit and scoffed it for lunch.
It was delicious, rather tastier and richer than UK supermarket cherimoyas, with thicker flesh, and nice hints of ripe pear.
Then we cycled the short, wind-assisted ride to our hotel room in a small fishing village down the road. I was so happy I was singing to myself:
Poland and Spain, and the Proms, and test cricket
Stops on long bike rides to wee in a thicket
Real ale, art deco, and baths in hot springs
These are a few of my favourite things
South Indian thalis and soft CUSTARD APPLES
Well-surfaced railtrails on which sunlight dapples
Tailwinds and downhills and all cycling brings
These are a few of my favourite things
When the tyre bursts, when the shops close, when it's dark and cold
I simply remember my favourite things, and then I don't feel so old.
Luckily Tim was so busy worrying about his panniers, which are continuing to fall off at regular intervals, he didn't hear me.
Miles today: 43
Miles since Fuguei: 313
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