Weston Super Mud and More Babies.

Last Wednesday we all went to Weston Super Mare to the beach. The weather was still good and it would be great for the kids to have a day at the beach.

The tide was very low once we got there, and the beach is very shallow. Not quite the white sandy beaches of Sydney but as good as it gets in the South West of England.

Aimee and Elise both had a donkey ride on the beach. Elise's donkey even managed a quick trot at the end as well. We all had a good time by the beach and even had fish and chips for lunch too. We did find a really nice restaurant where the food looked great but unfortunately it was fully packed, so we had to go to the place across the road. The food here wasn't so great, even Elise mentioned that the restaurant across the road looked much better.

Last weekend I took the chance to catch up with my friends up north. I went to see Anne, Dave and their daughter Jennifer on Friday night in Manchester. Here's Jen studying Dave's position in a game of ASL that we were playing.

On Saturday I went further north to Preston to see Claire, Jeff and their new arrival Bethany. She was only four weeks old when I saw her. Here she is in my arms, probably wondering whom this strange guy was holding her very tentatively.

A Couple of Snakes...

Here are a couple more photos that were taken by my sister from the Longleat Safari day.

This is Elise holding a real live python snake. It was very brave of her to hold the snake! There was also a big tarantula that you could hold as well. I chickened out of that one.

There was a place that also contained absolutely loads of snakes. I was being very brave to enter the snake pit and play with them, despite taking a few bites.

Safari Time!

My parents, sister and two nieces are visiting me for a few days in Bristol. It does mean that I have a very full house but it makes a welcome change for a while.

Here the two worst offenders are in my house, one distracting me while the other stuffs 'surprises' down the side of the sofa for me to find later on.

The little terrors are taking over my house, leaving a mess wherever they go. It's even worse at dinnertime when all the rice that doesn't make it into their mouth goes on the floor. I think I'll be cleaning up after them in the weeks to come.

They're taking over my car too!
No doubt putting dirty shoes on the seats and half chewed sweets under the seats.

We went to Longleat Safari park on Tuesday. I was wise enough not to visit the monkey enclosure. Even without a car aerial there's still plenty of room for them to scratch the car and take bites out of it.

A very strangely named Bongo! I thought Elise was making it up initially but they are called that.

A close up of one of the cool rhinos that they had in the park.

There were also some deer in the park which if you wanted to you could buy a cup of food for them to feed from your car. You can see one of the deer making a secret drugs score in the background.

When we got to the tigers and lions they were all lying down. It was quite warm in the midday sun so they all looked like they were playing dead. A word of advice, unless you have air con in your car don't visit the park in a warm summer.

Overall I wouldn't really rate it as an experience to remember. It was quite expensive per person and didn't feel right to see the animals from inside your car. I'm sure it must have been a good revolutionary idea to see animals in their natural habitat (the UK!) from your car. I think visiting a large zoo is much better really.

More Llanwrtyd Wells Biking.

Last weekend I went to Llanwrtyd Wells with Leslie and Steve to get in a couple of days mountain biking. We set off on Friday night to make sure that we got a full days cycling on Saturday. We planned to stay at the Neuadd Arms which is right in the very centre of Llanwrtyd Wells.

I was quite pleased to be able to fit all three bikes and three people with luggage into my car. It was a tight squeeze but it all did fit, even if I couldn't see out the back of my car.

On Saturday morning we set off at around 10 am on the Esgair Dafydd off-road circuit route, which started and finished in Llanwrtyd Wells and according to the guide should only take 3-4 hours and go for 26km. With Leslie and Steve being beginner bikers and also my ability to get lost I figured it would take the better part of six to seven hours, i.e. a full day to complete.

Initially there was a very steep climb up some rocky single track, which was quickly followed by a tricky descent over a similar rocky track. Then we encountered the first of three fords, which we would have to cross during the day.

I went first and as I cycled across the ford my bike started to get deeper and deeper into the water till I could cycle no more and half my bike was in the water! I had to put a foot down and dismount from my bike to walk the rest of the way.

Leslie and Steve didn't do much better, unfortunately Leslie put more than a foot in the river as well.

After this we had some great downhill single track, which was a little muddy as well and slippery on the grass too. In fact most of the ride all day was quite muddy and wet thanks to plenty of short showers throughout the day.

Next we had a fantastic (for me) 2km climb up the side of a hill. I started out cycling up to see how far I could get, but at about 3/4 of the way up I decided not to stop and continue till I got to the top. I was very pleased to be able to make it to the top without stopping, however it was quite a level stone track and none of it very steep either. It probably took me around twenty minutes to get to the top.

Leslie and Steve however took a little longer as they had to walk up most of the track. Once we got to the top there was an immediate rapid descent down the other side which was just as much fun!

Once we got to the bottom there was a great view in between the hills. We all had to stop to admire the view and marvel at the fact that we couldn't hear anything else but each other and the sounds of birds, sheep and the stream that we followed.

We eventually had to cross another ford of which neither of us was successful in crossing without putting a foot down.

By this time it was getting close to lunch and we saw an abandoned farm by the river. The farm was on the other side of the river, there was a narrow bridge that we could have walked over or there was another ford to try to cross as well! Leslie went first and put the usual foot down, then I went and you can see my effort here:

Steve decided not to get wet feet again and walked across the bridge instead. Of course the only reason he did this was to protect my camera from the water.

We decided to stop here for lunch. It did hail a little bit while we were sheltered under some trees and eating our packed lunches! Lucky for us that we arranged packed lunches or we would have to rely on my hunting skills and would end up with cold nettle soup.

After lunch we did manage to get a little lost, as the directions weren't very clear. We had to cycle down a very steep rocky track and then realise we couldn't cross the river and cycle, read walk back up the steep track.

Eventually we found the correct path again after asking for some directions from a local farmer with a home counties accent. Are there any welsh farmers out here?

Now we had another long steady climb up to the top of another hill. Although this climb wasn't as high as the first one it did feel worse as we were all a little tired.

The effort was worth it though as there were some fantastic views from the top.

Here's Steve sitting down near the top of the hill where we decided to stop for a water break.

You can get an idea of how steep the drop was by the trees on the side, which were pointing directly upwards.

We stopped here for a while to admire the view and we also saw a red kite flying around the trees as well.

We were all agreed that even though our legs ached from either walking for cycling up here, the view was fantastic and worth the effort.





Here you can see the view directly down the steep hill onto the river that we were mostly following.

The hill kept going up and up around each bend. At one point you could see what you thought was the top of the hill till you came around the bend only to find out that the hill went even further up. I still felt quite energetic by the time we reached the top of the hill but Steve and Leslie were flagging a little bit.

Eventually we ended up climbing to the top of Esgair Dafydd forest at around 500m from sea level according to my OS map.

Here I am near the top of the hill enjoying a break while waiting for Leslie to catch up.

We all finally made it to the top and then came down the other side of the hill.

It was an exhilarating descent down the other side. Probably about a 1km descent zig zagging down a wide track. I got up to some hairy speeds but enjoyed it all and had a big smile on my face by the time we reached the main road at the bottom.

Finally there was a 4km ride back on tarmac roads, we all got to ride even faster because of the smooth downhill surface. Everyone enjoyed the days riding despite some tired legs.

Sunday's cycle started a little later and unfortunately staying in bed got the better of Leslie so she didn’t come out.

Steve did make it out with me though. We decided to do half a days riding today so we could get back home in plenty of time.

We only did a short blue run near the bike lodge from the Real Ale Wobble. I knew the run as I had done it before the last time I was here. Initially there was a 6 mile cycle along tarmac to the cycling lodge.

Then there was another great ascent up the hill to the top. I didn't think that I was going to ride it all because legs felt a little tired, but ended up doing it all anyhow. I always 'lie' to myself when trying to do something that will really push me. I tell myself that once I'm around the next bend I'll stop. Then once I get there I convince myself to go around the next bend and so on, till I reach the top! A little crazy I know, but it works for me.

Once we were at the top we had a fun descent down the side of the hill on a very muddy and watery single track though the forest trees. We both ended up covered in mud but with big smiles on our faces.

Here's Steve coming down the track slippering and sliding on the mud:

I had yet another great weekend cycling out in Llanwrtyd Wells. I'd love to take some more of my friends out there and sample some more of the routes over the summer.

Biking, Eyes, Birthdays and Snow!

I went down to my sister's place in Farnham last weekend. It was my dad's 65th birthday on Friday so we planned a trip to London for the entire family.

On Saturday morning I had a quick ride around Caesar's Camp near to where my sister lives. I hadn't done much exercise for the past ten days because of illness so I was eager to get out on my bike again.

Here's the view from the top of a hill at Caesar's Camp. It was very quiet because it was early Saturday morning and I only saw a few dog walkers around the place.

Because the place is only a few miles from Helen's house I decided to cycle there and back as well.

For some reason there were some cows at the army training camp as well and as usual they were in the way of my cycling path! You can get a good idea of most of the terrain around the camp from this picture as well. While it's not an ideal off roading site it is certainly better than nothing.

Unfortunately on my way back from the camp I fell off my bike again! I was waiting at some traffic lights to turn left and I didn't realise that I had a front puncture from some glass on the road. As I pushed off to turn left the front wheel just slid from under me as the metal rim made contact with the tarmac. I bruised and grazed my left knee quite badly from falling on the road but other than that only my pride was damaged. The poor woman behind me in her car looked quite shocked at my fall, but I smiled and waved at her to say that I was ok.

It was quite typical for me to survive the off roading without any problems and then fall over on the simple bit on the way back home.

Later on in the day we caught the train to London for a spot of Chinese lunch and to take a trip on the London Eye at 3pm.

The train trip into Waterloo station was a nightmare as the usual 40 minute ride ended up taking around three hours! At first there were some engineering works which meant we had to take an alternative route into London and then there was a fire on some signals which caused all trains into Waterloo station to be cancelled.

At one point we were all packed like sardines on a train for about 90 minutes. What made it worse was my bad cough. At least most people on the train were quite friendly and also very understanding.

We finally made it into London and didn't miss our allotted time for the London Eye. I remember coming here when it first opened and came to the conclusion that it was ok but probably not worth the £14. I came to the same conclusion again today!

At least this time it was during the day so I could see more of London but all the same for a thirty minute ride it wasn't that great.

Even my nieces Aimee and Elise didn't think it was that great. What didn't help was that just as we got off the Eye it started to rain quite heavily so we had to run for shelter and decided to head back to the underground instead of hanging around outside around the Eye.

For the rest of the afternoon we visited a great Italian ice-cream parlour which serves ice-cream in the shape of Italian food. You could get pizza or spaghetti shaped ice-cream which even tasted great.

Elise ordered some spaghetti ice-cream while I stuck to some mint choc chip which had way too much cream for my tastes. I even had a banana milk shake to complement my gluttony.

After this we went for some shopping around Covent Garden. I had planned to look for some new shoes, but just ended up with a couple of new tops from Muji and Icebreaker.

In the evening we had a great Chinese meal in China Town. While the main courses weren't that great the two starters of roast duck and lobster more than made up for it.

On Sunday morning it snowed quite heavily for a couple of hours. Most of it settled as well and we had a great time playing out in the snow while it lasted.

Elise couldn't wait to get out in the snow with all her skiing clothes on.

Even my mum and dad joined in the fun. Here you can see my Dad, Aimee, Elise and my mum in my sister's back garden. You would never think that this photo was taken in the start of April rather than the middle of winter.

We had a funny snowball fight as well around the back garden. At one point my dad was chasing and being chased by Aimee and Elise trying to throw snow at each other.

I helped Aimee and Elise build a snowman in the back garden. Even with both the girls trying to sabotage the snowman by passing a large branch through its middle for arms and also knocking half its head off in an effort to shape the head. It was one of the best snowmen that I've ever built. With the help of Helen it had all the trimmings as well.

At one point the carrot nose of the snowman fell off and Elise innocently put it back on the snowman's waist!

Surprisingly enough most of the snow had melted by lunch time, mainly because it was April and the daytime temperatures were quite high in the sun.

As you can see Aimee was quite taken by the snowman!