Will's Life.

More Ketchup.

2009-09-07T18:42:00.006Z

One of the main reasons that I moved closer to work was so that I could cycle into the office instead of having to drive in.

At work there was a sweepstake as to how long it would take me to cycle to work in the morning. The cycling route would be about 16.5 miles long on the back roads. It takes me roughly 28 minutes to drive into work without any traffic on this route.

Here are some of the guesses of times from people at work.

In the end it took me just over 50 minutes to get to work. I was really surprised how much longer each of the guesses were. The ranged from Wiki's time of 54 minutes to a high of 1hr 45 minutes from John. Needless to say that Wiki was very pleased to have the closest guess.

An amazing view of a field of poppies on my way to work.

My ride to and from work goes down Streatley hill to work and up it on the way back. It's a very steep and quite long hill which was graded on the Tour De France when it was over in the UK. So far I've managed to cycle about half way up it before giving in. It's about half way along the route home so I don't really want to tire myself out in cycling all the way up it. Maybe one day I'll conquer the hill, one day.

Unfortunately I managed to come off my bike on the second week of cycling in.

It was only a small accident at relatively slow speeds. I was just at the top of Streatley hill and rode into a covered manhole on the side of the road while trying to avoid cars overtaking me. The problem was that the hill had only just been resurfaced so there was plenty of gravel to fall onto and the drains were quite recessed.

My handle bars on the bike came off a little worse.

In some ways I was quite glad to come off at such a slow speed as I was only going faster and faster on the bike and it would only have been a matter of time before I came off. Then it would depend on how fast I was going and how serious the fall would be. I have slowed down a bit since the fall, which is a good thing.

It was my friend Dave's daughter Jennifer's birthday recently and there was a party for her.

Just don't ask, it was a hot summer's day and they are playing some kids game while we watched on.

Jen enjoying herself in her own unique way!

Just about every chance that I've had I've been out cycling on my road bike in The Peak District near to where Debbie lives.

Out in the middle of nowhere in the Peaks on my road bike.

There is a steady climb from Upper Mill into the peaks. It's not so steep as to be totally tiring but steep enough to get the heart racing and have a good sweat. Once you reach the top of the hill after about half an hour of climbing, you can fly back down it again on the way you went up. It feels so surreal coming down the hill as you don't have to touch the breaks and you feel as if you're flying down the hill at about 50kph for ages. Needless to say it's so much fun and I could do it again and again.

More views.

Debbie and went to Alton towers for a summer day out. It's only about an hour away from her house in Manchester. We had an amazing day out and considering it was a Saturday in August it wasn't that busy either. The longest wait we had was for about 45 minutes and that was only once.

A great view of the Nemesis ride.

It was very funny as on the end of each ride you get to see a photo of yourself on the ride. On every photo there was a picture of me yelling with a big smile and Debbie screaming with her eyes closed and the look of terror on her face!

The Oblivion ride. Probably my favorite even if it was the shortest.

Stress, stress, stress...

2009-06-10T21:55:00.011Z

Ok, I know it's been ages since my last update and for that I apologise. I have been very busy recently with so much going on I've not had the inclination or time to update the blog. I think in the future I'll have to try to photograph more and write less. I find it's the writing, spell checking and rereading of the blog that takes the most time and effort.

I've been out many times on my road bike and racked up 1000 km on it. I love riding on the roads and the speed that you can achieve gives me a big rush. I think that my real love is still in mountain biking, but when out on my own I do enjoy a road ride to help improve my fitness levels.

Anyhow, first I've moved house so that I'm within cycling distance to work. Well Beedon anyhow and I'm 16.5 miles from the office now. A roughly long one-hour cycle to work but at least doable on a nice summers day.

Packing my kitchen in Bristol, can you find the Debora in the photo?

A very empty living room!

Another bonus is the less money that I'll give to Tescos for their lovely petrol, and also the extra time that I'll get back from not being in the car for three hours a day for three days a week.

My new smaller living/dining room.

The disadvantage is that I'll have to be in the office five days a week and with a 25 minute drive to work now it almost works out to be the same time gained and lost! Also with the tax that I'll pay for renting out my Bristol house I'll only just about be ahead financially as well! Hmm, maybe this move isn't as good as I thought it would be...

My dubious movers outside the Bristol property. Well at least they were cheap to hire and didn't break anything. I have lost a mop in the move though.

Debbie and I outside my new rented place. Smaller than before and in the middle of nowhere!

It has been very stressful moving house, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else unless they really wanted to move. Estate agents really are the devils spawn. They take quite a lot of money and do very little. I had a nasty run in with Lesters Estate Agents around Wallingford and a rental deal fell though with them because they wanted to charge me so much money for doing very little and I wouldn't agree to their charges.

However having said that Ocean estate agents in Bristol were very good to me and their advice has been spot on and I can recommend them for the Bristol area.

Wiki and Mike out with me on a road ride on a summer's day.

Road cycling isn't without its perils though. Once when out on my bike with Wiki and Mike, white van man tried to overtake me on a country lane bend! As he was parallel to me and about to overtake Mike as well another car appeared around the bend. At this point both cars slammed on their brakes. The red metro coming towards us went into a four wheel skid and I thought that the van was going to slam into me to avoid hitting the red metro head on.

Fortunately both cars managed to stop in front of each other and we cycled on. Needless to say the two cars had stiff words to say to each other as we carried on. I thought I was a gonner and about to be run over while cycling. Not a bad way to go, but I wasn't quite ready to die.

My move hasn't all been good. I had a run in with Esporta my gym when I tried to quit them. It was my fault for not reading all the small print as they noted to me when I tried to leave that there is a three month notice period on my contract. This is totally ridiculous, how can anyone know what they're going to be doing in three months time.

Fortunately for me I have a sympathetic doctor and she gave me a doctor's note for the eczema on my hands and with this I negotiated the three month notice to one. I'll certainly never be joining them again and wouldn't recommend them to anyone else.

Cycling with Susan on her shiny new mountain bike.

I've also been out on several off road rides with Susan. I was surprised after cycling for a month on my road bike how difficult it was to get on my off road bike and cycle around the single track trails! It was as if I had forgotten how to ride a bike off road. It didn't take me long to get back into the swing of things but it did take a few shaky minutes.

A Proud New Arrival to the Man Clan.

2009-05-13T18:31:00.004Z

After passing on it for the past three years, I finally decided to buy a new road bike on the Cycle to Work scheme. I could have bought a new and better mountain bike, but I figured a new road bike would be more appropriate given that I'm planning on moving closer to work in the next few weeks.

The Mud Dock in Bristol

I chatted to a few people to get some advice on the best make and type of bike to buy. As per usual I decided not to go half-heartedly and get a sub £1000 bike and save some cash. It would be a false economy for me as I guessed that in a couple of years I'd be yearning for a better bike.

Getting another Trek was a good idea as I could buy it from The Mud Dock, where I bought my mountain bike previously. Taking advantage of their good advice and free five star servicing for the lifetime of the bike would save me some money too, even if I was going to move away from Bristol. I can always take the bike somewhere else if I didn't have time to drop into Bristol at a later date.

I had to go to get fitted for a bike. It would a proper road racer, so it is a good idea to get measured up professionally on the bike. The Mud Dock has a very good measurement device to take my precise measurements, so the new bike can be initially set-up for myself. It isn't an exact science as each person does have his or her own preferences but it is a great start to how the bike should be set-up for myself.

Here's the torture device used for measuring for a new bike.

At one point in order to measure my inside leg measurement properly, I had to stand on the higher platform, lift the horizontal pole so that it sat very tightly on my crotch. Then step off the higher platform so that the pole was virtually supporting my weight! Fortunately the pole was spring-loaded; well they said it was spring loaded, because it was the stiffest spring that I've ever encountered. Standing down from the upper platform and then trying to stand flat-footed on the lower platform was quite uncomfortable and also very funny!

The rest of the measurements went without any problems and were considerably less awkward too. Fortunately my work place was very efficient in getting the Cycle to Work vouchers, and within a week I had the voucher and was ready to pick up my bike.

Where my bike was born.

As per usual picking up my new bike wasn't quite straightforward. During transit of my new bike the handlebars had managed to damage the carbon frame of the bike. Lucky for me it was only cosmetic damage and the shop kindly offered me £100 to spend in the store if I wanted to still take it. I could have asked them to reorder the bike or get a £100 discount on the next model up, which was £300 more. Seeing as the damage was purely cosmetic, and I didn't want to throw more money at the bike I went for the £100 of extra equipment that I knew that I would buy for the new bike.

My new bike!

I certainly hope that my tried and trusted mountain bike won't get too jealous of my new road bike. The road bike is certainly getting preferential treatment right now. I often think of the mountain bike as a rough and tough male bike, and the road bike as a slight female bike. Hopefully they'll get along fine together. I'll certainly be getting plenty of use out of both of them in the years to come.

Since getting the bike home it's done nothing but rain and blow strong winds all weekend. It's now three days since I got the bike and I've still not had the chance to ride it outside. Hopefully I'll be able to play with my new toy tomorrow after work, or on Tuesday.

Oh, and on less important news, I'm going to be moving out of my house before June 20th. I've already let out this place and need to find somewhere to live closer to work!

Crossing The River Wye on My Bike.

2009-04-20T22:13:00.013Z

We just had a great weekend mountain biking in The Peaks with Susan, Wiki, Catherine, Emmanuelle, Dave and Ben. Straight after work we drove up to Manchester to Debbie's place, where we would stay for the weekend. Debbie was kind enough to welcome everyone into her house for the weekend trip.

Friday evening curry at the local British Raj was the order of the day. A damn fine meal it was too and for only five pounds a head a bargain as well.

We met up with Dave on Saturday morning to drive down to the planned route start point. I planned to do a White peak route today and a shorter Black peak one tomorrow.

Totally unintentionally we had matching cycling clothes for Saturday, it was very funny to notice this at the start of our ride.

Matching Clothes.

That is all of us except Susan, she obviously didn't get the memo.

Except Susan

We started out on tarmac roads though various villages with one gentle climb up a hill to warm us all up. Then there was a really fast straight downhill section on the road. Dave led the charge, with Ben following and then me. At the end of the run my breaks were smoking, quite literally. I had to use them all the way down to keep to a sensible speed and maintain a little control.

Then we went off road along some uphill single-track paths. Unfortunately because it was such a nice day there were quite a few walkers around on the paths. Making some cycling impossible if they didn't give way to you.

In the guidebook that I was following it said that the next section would be one of England's best climbs! It was meant to be a tough uphill section on polished limestone. Once we followed the track up hill it turned out to be almost impossible to cycle up. We all had to stop and walk our bikes up the hill.

Here's Emmanuelle carrying her bike up the last part of the hill.

As it turned out we later discovered that we probably took the wrong route up the hill, as there was another parallel route from the base that zig zagged up the hill instead of going straight up the direct route! No wonder it was so difficult for us.

Lunch on top of the hill with some great views of the White Peaks.

The graveyard of bikes while we were enjoying our packed lunches.

Dave fooling around started to charge at me, and I managed to get this great shot just before being run over.

After lunch we continued on the route down a lovely single track to a disused railway bridge. Then we came across a river crossing. There was a bridge that we could have taken, but there was also a track into the river and across the other side. It looked shallow enough to ride across for the first few yards, but we weren't sure after that.

Dave attempted the route first, and came off about two-thirds along the river.

He shouted back at use to not bother trying, as it was too deep. His back wheel does look a little submerged.

Undeterred by Dave's wise words, Ben tried to cross next, with the same result.

Then I had a go. It was shallow enough at the start, but about mid way there were bigger algae covered rocks, which would have been difficult enough to cycle across without the ever-deeper flowing water as well.

Here I am making a good rate of knots on the river.

Only to end up with the same result as Dave and Ben.

Susan was the final person to try crossing the river. This time she took a slightly different route from previous attempts.

However, the final result was exactly the same.

I managed to get a rather nice grease pattern of my large bike cog on my calf muscle on the river crossing!

Just on the other side of the river was a small cottage selling hot drinks and some snacks. We had to stop to dry off a little and have a laugh at our failed attempts to cross the river without putting a foot down.

Tea break.

After a tea break we had a very nice uphill climb. It was one of the steepest ascents that I've tried on my bike and it was a zig zag ascent up a grassy valley side. While Wiki and I managed to get about half way before having to stop for a breather and to walk a little bit. Ben managed to get all the way to the top in one go. He certainly earned his title of king of the hill for today.

He later said that he didn't want to stop once he got half way up otherwise he wouldn't be able to carry on at all.

We had to stop again later on when Susan had a slight problem with her bike. Unfortunately Ben managed to put down his shades at this point and forgot about them till much later on in the day. He decided to go back for the shades, as he knew where he put them down. We waited for him to return...

And waited...

And waited...

It wasn't until almost an hour had passed before we decided to stop waiting and split up into two groups. One would carry on to the car while the other would back track looking for Ben. Just as we split up we saw Ben coming towards us. He had got lost on his way to find his shades!

The rest of the ride consisted of some tarmac uphill climbs and one very rutted downhill section along a grass field. I was so glad to have a full suspension bike, but even that wasn't enough to stop me shaking all the way down the hill.

In the evening we ate out at a place just around from Debbie's place called Flaming Nosh. It was a small pub converted to a restaurant. We met up with a couple of Susan's friends in the area, Penny and Helen.

While waiting for our table we ordered some drinks. Penny asked for a glass of water only to be told that she couldn't have one unless we had a bottle of wine as well! I believe this to be illegal. If we hadn't had booked our table, then I would have walked out on the spot at hearing this. I couldn't believe that the place was so tight as to not give us a glass of water. The waitress, who wasn't that nice all night long, just mentioned credit crunch times and shrugged her shoulders.

The food there was decidedly average and it was obvious that they had cut back on certain ingredients in the food. I certainly won't be going back there again.

On Sunday I decided that we should do the Blue John figure of 8 route again. I had forgotten my Black Peak mountain book guide so it was the only one already programmed into my GPS unit and a route that I knew well.

Here we are, less Dave, getting our bikes ready by the cars.

I think we all had slightly tired legs today after yesterdays all day ride. The climb up the broken path at the start didn't help either.

Today the weather was excellent, totally clear skies and hardly any breeze. I think that yesterday's weather was better for mountain biking, as it wasn't so sunny. Still I shouldn't complain as we rarely get good weather in April.

We had a nice lunch spot again, in the same place that Dave and I stopped for a break the last time.

From here Catherine and Emmanuelle had to get back to Oxford, so the rest of us carried on the route.

It was much better terrain at the top of the hill. While before it was quite wet and boggy for Dave and I, today it was much drier. There were some nice technical ruts to cross over and you had to carefully pick your way though the dips and bumps on your bike.

The big drop on the back of the first hill was just as good this time as before. Ben absolutely loved coming down it at speed, while Susan, Wiki and I took a more sedate pace down the hill. It was still just as enjoyable as I remember it from last month.

The steep trail drop down the back of the hill.

We did come across a couple that were going the other way at the bottom of the big drop. The bloke managed to get up the first steep section without hardly stopping, while the girl managed about half of it. We waited for a bit while watching them attempt the climb up the track.

The other riders going up the hill.

The epic climb back up the other hill on tarmac appeared to be much easier for me the second time around. I think that because I did it before in one go I knew that I could easily do it again. Time appeared to pass much quicker this time around and before I knew it I was at the top again.

At this point Susan, Ben and Wiki had to get back too. It was at exactly the same point as last month. I could have gone on alone, but figured it was enough biking for one weekend and I'd rather get back to spend some time with Debbie.

On our way back just above the Blue John cavern.

We saw some parascenders around the hills today. There were even more of them on our way back.

They made quite a sight flying over the hills in the clear blue skies.

For me it was a lovely weekend out on the bikes in The Peaks, with perfect weather for this time of year. The first day did seem a little sedate for me, and I'm sure I could have gone on much further later on into the day. Either that or start a little earlier as we didn't get going till eleven thirty.

Still I had a great time and can't wait till we plan our next weekend trip away mountain biking. Where next though? I do have a guidebook for The Lake District and also Dartmoor!

Les Gets 09, Red Runs.

2009-04-15T20:00:00.012Z

Just the same as last year, Helen, Aran, Elise, Aimee, along with Andre, Neil, Soli and I went out to Les Gets for a weeks skiing and snowboarding. This time we were going to meet up with Louise and Piers at Les Gets to make for a very busy chalet.

Day one – the drive.

Andre, Neil, Soli and I were going to drive down to Let Gets and everyone else flew down.

We had a ten thirty booking to cross the Channel Tunnel and then a long drive down to Dijon, which meant setting off at seven to avoid the rush hour traffic.

It’s the first time that I’ve ever taken the channel tunnel, and all I can say is that it’s truly uneventful; then again I guess it should be. I would happily take it again, as it was very quick and efficient. In under and hour we were driving off again from Folkstone without much of a wait at all.

Once across the channel it felt like a very quick drive down to Dijon. Despite the four of us being in the car for just over seven hours it didn’t really feel like it,

The Lovely Plastic Hotel Room. The door is to the En-suite.

Our cheap hotel in Dijon was very basic. I’ve stayed in worse, but it was literally a plastic room! The ensuite was especially small, I could barely turn around in it. Fortunately for me I had ear plugs so managed to get a good nights sleep, unlike everyone else. They said in their rooms they kept hearing people moving about all night long.

Breakfast the following morning wasn’t any better. The food was terrible, it was an all you can eat affair, or rather all you would want to eat. At least Andre took away plenty of hot chocolate and honey sachets for the rest of the week.

Driving up the mountain hills.

We finally arrived at Les Gets at lunch time the following day. Everything was as it was last year. Out for dinner in the evening was a little expensive. Then again everything is more expensive this time around as there is almost a one to one exchange rate between the pound and euro.

Quite looking forward to the snowboarding tomorrow. Will have to wait and see what the snow is like and how good I am.

Day Two, back to the bike.

I had real problems sleeping overnight. I woke up at one in the morning thinking of snowboarding. Then couldn’t get back to sleep till three thirty. I even thought it would be a good idea go out snowboarding in the middle of the night!

I eventually managed to get a few more hours sleep and made it out to the slopes without any problems.

The top of the bubble car houses.

My first run wasn’t the best run, I expected to be quite rusty and not be able to pick up straight away from the last day last year. However my second run was much better and I felt much more confident after that.

I did a few runs down to Let Gets once with Soli and once with Helen, Aran, Elise and Aimee. After lunch I went out with Andre, Neil, Soli and Piers to explore further. We even did a small steep red run in between the blue runs.

[SnowFilm1]

When I saw we did a red run, only Piers and Soli managed to do the red run without falling over. It was really steep and there wasn’t any run off to slow down. Initially Andre had a big fall about half way down, and then I went down and had a slight slip onto my bum, before catching up with Andre to see if she was ok.

Great views down a blue run.

Finally Neil came down and we all watched him. He must have had the biggest fall, or rather the biggest set of falls. His last one was the funniest one as his skis came off about half way down and he slid down the slope the rest of the way, not being able to stop himself.

I think I managed to reach my limit of snowboarding skills today, as towards the end of the day I was finding it difficult to turn when the route was trickier.

Day 3, aching legs

But only for the first run. ☺

Today for our morning run Andre, Louise, Neil, Piers, Soli and I went out to explore some of the blue and red runs to the East.

Piers looking at a Black run.

We had some amazing views of the Alps from the top of our runs today.

The weather was great yet again, though it did rain a little bit yesterday afternoon. This did make the runs a little icy first thing this morning, but after a bit they were fine. I had a dream that it was raining last night, but fortunately I was only dreaming it.

Our group at the top.

From the top we could see what I think was Mount Blanc. The peak is in the distance.

We did a few gentle blue runs from here and spent the entire morning around here. A few of us even did a red run again. This one wasn’t nearly as steep as yesterday, and a lot more fun.

Some more excellent views.

After lunch Soli and I went off to do a few red runs while everyone else did their own thing. We found a couple of great runs to do, which were steep enough to be fun, but not too hairy.

A view part way down one of the red runs.

Soli also tried to do a bit of a run, which had some beginner moguls. He did quite well too. There is also some footage of a snowboard teacher and his student coming down the moguls. I just know that if I were to try them I’d end up like the student in this video.

[SoliMogul.AVI]

Soli and I did have a bit of an adventure at one point when coming down a red run Soli wiped out trying to keep up with me. One of his skis then went flying off piste down the steep hill.

I had to quickly snowboard down the hill off piste to find the ski. Fortunately some locals sitting on a bench on the side saw the ski fly off the slopes and knew where it was. Unfortunately I was a fair way down the hill from the ski. I had to wade my way up the hill thigh deep in snow to get the ski. Believe me when I say it was exhausting work trying to walk up a hill in deep snow.

Aimee doing an Alien impression!

I was quite pleased with my days snowboarding today. I confidently rode the blue runs and even did a few red runs too. I’m quite happy to tackle red runs now. ☺ However, on one blue run I was getting to relaxed and caught an edge tumbling over in slow motion. I think I just stopped concentrating for a bit!

Andre took some footage of me on the way down a simple blue run.
[MeOnTheWayDown.AVI]

Day Four, hoping for another good day…

Today didn’t start off too well. I had a big’ish fall at the beginning and this put me off my stride for most of the day. I spent the days snowboarding with Helen, Aran and Soli for the morning while Elise and Aimee went out to ski school.

This picture gives you an idea of the height of the runs.

After we picked up the kids from Ski school we went out for some blue runs all together in the same place that I was out yesterday.

Aimee in full flow.
[AimeeSkiing.AVI]

Elise, Aran, Helen and Aimee at the top of a mountain run.

Me, Helen and Aimee.

We had lunch at the top with the same spectacular view of the mountains as yesterday. This time we made packed sandwiches as the restaurant meals were very expensive to eat every day. The cost of a main course meal was £15 each! Drinks were also very expensive.

Sandwiches on the slopes.

After lunch we did a couple of blue runs before finishing the day off. Soli, Elise and Aimee did a few mini jumps and the first time down I decided to follow them and even did a few jumps of my own.

The second time around I had Aran try to film us doing the same mini jumps. Unfortunately both Elise and I messed up our jumps and ended up in the deep snow in a heap!

Watch Aran in the background!
[AimeeAndAranSkiing.avi]

To be quite honest after three long days snowboarding I had enough exercise (!) and started to feel quite tired. We didn’t really ski till the end of the day when the snow-lifts closed at five thirty. We were out till three or four each day, from a nine thirty start.

I suspect we’ll do another three days this week till Friday and then start the long car journey home on Saturday to get back on Easter Sunday.

Day Four, less icy please.
Unfortunately day four was anything but les icy, it was much more icy in the early morning. Fortunately the ice was only on the beginner slopes where the pist basher had been around flattening the slopes.

Self photo.

Once we got around to the big “bowl” of runs they were much less icy. I initially thought I would stay off the red runs today and stick to the blues. However, once Piers and Soli dropped off into a red run and everyone else went down the blue one I had to follow them down the red run.

The drop off on a blue run. ;-)

Me just before I tackle the red run behind me.

As it turned out he red run was fine and quite enjoyable in the end. We ended up doing a few more red runs during the day, but they weren’t so nice. It was much too slushy and consequently bumpy on some of the runs.

Group Photo at the top of a run.

We still managed to complete a very long day on the snow till four, despite the poor conditions. I think tomorrow I’ll take a day off from the snow and rest for a day. My left ankle and knee have been a little sore and by the end of the day today I was hobbling to get around.

Elise skiing.
[EliseSkiing.AVI]

Aimee skiing.
[AimeeSkiing.AVI]

Day Five, rest day.
I had a rest day in the morning today. I’ve strained my left ankle and knee over the past few days, so decided a day’s rest would do it some good. Most of the morning was spent cleaning up the chalet, this morning and watching a film too.

After lunch I met up with Piers and Soli to give them a snowboarding lesson on the kids slopes. Helen, Aran, Andre and Neil were there to watch and have a good laugh. While teaching them to snowboard I was reminded how far I’ve come along in snowboarding from when I was a beginner. Things that they found very difficult to do, which are second nature to me.

Tomorrow will be the final day out snowboarding, so I’m looking forward to a full day and a good end with some easy blue and more challenging red runs.

Once we finished with the lessons we went for a few après ski drinks in the local bars. Something about being out on the slopes and then a very refreshing drink afterwards is really satisfying.

Day Six, the final day.
Starting today I was a bit unsure on my snowboard. I’m not sure why but I had the butterflies when driving up to the slopes for the first time this week. After dropping off Aimee and Elise at ski school for their final morning, we headed out to the slopes.

As it turned out after the first run I was fine. Helen, Aran and I did a blue run down to the back bowl of the resort. From there we coincidentally saw Aimee and Elise on their ski school while getting on a chair lift.

Aimee and Elise at Ski School

Helen being a beginner was thinking about doing a red run, she was undecided whether to do one on her final day or not. After we saw Aimee and Elise going down the blue run that we were about to do, then we had to do the red run that Helen was thinking about.

My Red Run.

Initially Helen sent me down the red run to see what it was like while she did another blue. I though it was quite easy so we all did it when we got back to the top. As it turned out Helen was fine on the red run and Aran even managed to film her going down the run, though his camera work was a little shaky at times because of the steepness of the run.

[HelenRedRun.AVI]

After this we picked up the kids and all went for crepes. I had a very sickly sweet Nutella crepe, and it was absolutely fantastic. I’d been resisting all sweets and deserts all week so decided to treat myself on the final day.

In the afternoon I was ready to stop and call it a day, however everyone else was going out together on a blue run, so I was ‘pushed’ into coming along. It wasn’t too bad, but my left knee and ankle were suffering a bit.

Aimee and I in the Bubble Car.

Previously Aran and I had agreed to switch snowboard and skis for some fun on the final day. We went to the nursery slopes in the late afternoon to switch equipment. I tried some skiing down hill. Initially I just did some snowploughing, which turned out to be quite easy. For my next few runs I tried some parallel turns. It was difficult as expected but not totally impossible. I was lucky not to fall, but had a few close calls.

[MeSkiing.AVI]

Meanwhile Aran was trying some snowboarding. It proved a bit more difficult than my skiing exploits. He had balance problems just trying to stand up and do a toe or heel edge. I guess I was quite lucky to be able to take to snowboarding so easily. Still, it was very funny to watch Aran try.

[AranSnowboarding.AVI]

I was very pleased with my snowboarding during the week. After the first day I was probably where I was on the last day last year. I can now confidently do blue runs and wouldn’t hesitate to do any red runs either. I’m progressing well in balancing on the board and starting to think about doing some tricks now. ☺

[Train.AVI]

Travelling back.

On Saturday we (Andre, Soli and Neil) drove back to blighty. We ended up not stopping over anywhere overnight and decided to do the entire run in one day to get back early.

I managed to get back to Bristol by one am on Sunday morning. I was quite tired, but happy to be home.

On Monday I went out for a bike ride as I hadn't been on my bike for over a week and really wanted to use it. I found it quite easy to generate the power though my legs after a weeks snowboarding and definitely feel fitter.

One thing that I found a little odd was that I couldn't go fast enough on my bike. I felt as if I was going in slow motion and wanted to go faster down the hills. Maybe the week on my snowboard had raised my expectations of how fast I could confidently go on my own power...

Blue John and the Epic Road Climb.

2009-03-16T09:44:00.007Z

Last Saturday Debbie and I went out to the Blue john Caverns in the Peak District. I never knew that there were any caverns in the Peak District that you could visit. In fact there are several caverns, some that you can take a boat tour in and others that you can walk around.

Before we went down into the caverns we took a short walk around the area. There is a literally broken road that passes around the caverns. I guess they must have built the road a while back without the knowledge that it would collapse later on for whatever reason.

The broken road from the top.

The Blue John Cavern is named because of the Blue John stone that can be mined from the cavern. In fact this is the only place that Blue John can be found in the world! To this day Blue John is still mined from the cavern by hand. They're not sure how much of it is left, and they only mine it in the winter months while the summers are reserved for the tourist visits. The stone doesn't have any use other than for jewellery, but it is very fragile.

They used to use children to mine the caverns, unfortunately they don't do this anymore. So the kids have to be sent to school and adults mine the stone.

An example of the tools used to mine the cavern and a map of it.

About two thirds of the way down the cavern the lights suddenly went out around us! The guide only had one torch and started to say that this was unexpected and they have some gremlins in the light system. He would have to run up to the top to flick the trip switch to turn on the lights again. At first I thought that this was part of the tour and a hoax, but it turned out to be totally true!

Since he had only one torch and no one else had one, he had to take it up to the top leaving us in the complete darkness. He led us down to the next main cavern and then took the only torch upstairs. We would have been in total darkness if it weren’t for a few mobile phone lights and my camera screen light. We must have been left there for around ten minutes or so.

Debbie walking along the narrow cavern tunnels.

It did occur to Debbie and I that the tour guide could have been a complete nutter and not part of the tour guides. He could have led us down there and abandoned us there for his own mad schemes!

Fortunately this wasn't the case and a while later he did turn on the lights and eventually return to continue the tour.

The calcite deposits built up from the flowing water in the cavern walls.

The steep steps that we had to take into the depths.

Exploring more caves.

A very confident explorer, obviously without a clue as to the possible danger that he's in.

The tour lasted around an hour and was quite good considering how small the caverns are. It was quite good to see the caverns and it was a shame that you couldn't explore more of the other paths on your own. We had seen about two thirds of the cavern depths and the rest would require some climbing equipment. Someday it would be great fun to come back with a pot holing tour and the equipment required to explore further.

Blue John! We're rich...

On Sunday Dave and I took a half-day bike ride around the cavern hills. We started off in Castleton and our route was to take us up to the top of the Blue John cavern hill Mam Tor back down and back up again all before lunch,

From Castleton we followed the tarmac road up to the entrance of the Blue John cavern via the broken road. From the start the top of the hill looked quite daunting but in the end it wasn't too bad. You could have taken the direct road up to the Blue John cavern up a road known as Winnats Pass or The Devil's Arse!

The broken road at its worse.

From the Blue John cavern entrance we continued to follow the road further up to the top of the sister Man Tor hill. It was quite tough going to climb up to the stop straight away and we had to walk the last hundred yards, as it was much too steep and rocky to cycle all the way up.

Once we reached the top the view was worth the extra effort.

From the top we took the ridgeline along the hill. There were two paths to follow, one was labelled as a footpath and the other a bridlepath. We obviously took the bridlepath. It started to get quite boggy again after a while and the Dark Peak started to earn its namesake once again.

Towards the end of the ride along the ridgeline we encountered an older bloke on a bike cycling the other way on the footpath. A stonewall divided us so we couldn't see how much easier it was to follow the footpath, despite it being illegal.

Dave got to the bloke first and started to chat to him. As I caught up I cycled over a particularly muddy section and came off my bike rolling off into a stream! The bloke watching me laugh and roll into the stream must have thought what an idiot. Still I had fun and nothing was hurt other than my pride and muddy clothes.

The start of the route long the top of the hill.

More great views along the ridgeline.

After talking to the old man we came across a break in the wall and we crossed over to a great rocky single track. For a few hundred yards we were in single-track heaven on our mountain bikes. It was really good fun to follow the trail bouncing off the rocks on our bikes.

After that at the junction we had some sand to deal with before the path started to descend along the back of the hill. What a descent it proved to be. Towards us came a couple of scrambler bikes and I was quite surprised that they were allowed along the same route that we were on along with some walkers as well.

About half way along the descent, with walkers slowing us down, as we couldn't really over take them either.

Along the descent we came across some walkers. Dave stopped to let them walk a suitable distance away. I stopped a little further up to get some great shots with my camera.

Once the walkers had walked out of sight we continued down the hill. I must admit it would have been much easier to do the descent in one long go rather than have to stop half way down. When I tried to restart I suddenly realised how steep the descent was. Getting on my bike made me feel quite unstable to get going again. Nether the less I managed to start cycling again and once I got going the rest of the descent proved quite a bit of fun if a little hairy in places too. I must have walked a bit of it when there was a big drop on both sides and the path was only a few inches wide.

The view up from the bottom.

From the bottom of the other side of the hill we followed a trail that started of as a gravel trail but then turned to tarmac. Well saying it was tarmac would be complementary as it was more large potholes than tarmac. Some of the potholes also has some big drops on either side of tarmac, which were only inches wide.

At one point I almost came off my bike along the narrow tarmac. I was trying to concentrate on looking ahead rather than worrying about what might happen if I came off the tarmac into the holes either side of me. I wobbled a bit on my bike and had to lean a bit to straighten up the bike. Fortunately I made it to the main road.

Once we were back on the main road we had a great winding road climb back up to the top of the hill. I started off on the climb and quickly got into a rhythm that I felt I could keep till the very top of the hill. Once I had got to a certain point nothing short of being run over by one of the many passing cars would have stopped me from getting to the top in one go.

I think Dave must have suffered from delusions on the ride up as he said he saw a female road biker overtake him and he enjoyed watching her bum as she cycled past. I however came across a male road cycler who I chatted to on the way up! He was definitely a male as we had a good conversation about the advantage of a road bike over a mountain bike on a road climb.

Dave making his way to the top of the hill.

We had completed three quarters of our planned route for the day, but had to really get back home by now. So we took the main road back to the Blue John cavern and back down the broken road to Castleton.

It was a great half-day ride and according to my guide you could do the entire route without putting a foot down if it was completely dry and you were good enough. I think I have a while yet to get that good! It was a really good route because we encountered all types of terrain from tarmac, rocky, sand, muddy, boggy, grass trails. Lots of tough uphill climbs and fast downhill descents. One that I'd love to do again with more time to complete the entire route next time.

Langsett Ride.

2009-03-10T20:11:00.004Z

Last weekend I went out on a ride around Langsett reservoir in The Peaks.

The weather was quite good cycling weather, not too windy and not too cold either for this time of year. It could have been a little drier though as I was to find out.

Langsett reservoir.

I planned a short ten km ride around the area from a guidebook. I also had a new GPS toy, which I wanted to test out. I bought a new Garmin Oregon GPS unit to help my navigating around on my bike routes. I figured it would be very useful when I'm out on my own. Getting lost in a group of bikers can be quite good fun, but when you're on your own it isn't so much fun.

A view from the North America peak down to the reservoir.

The ride started off with a gentle if rocky climb up to the top of the peak near the reservoir. Towards the end of the climb, I had to walk as it was proving difficult to cycle though the dense ferns. There was a path but I was unable to see it to cycle though it easily.

From the top of North America, a trail that I was to follow.

The trail along the top of the peak was very difficult to follow. The previous nights heavy rain had caused the trail to become very boggy and almost impossible to ride. As a result I ended up walking half the route while it steadily climbed.

Dark Peak, I now know why.

At the other end of the peak the boggy path was replaced with a decent downhill trail at Mickleden Edge. As usual in the steep valleys around here there was a good drop on one side while the other was a steep hill.

It was a fantastic ride along a gently dropping path down into the valley. I managed to get up quite a bit of speed along the descent and came across a few other mountain bikers going the other way.

The start of the descent along Mickleden Edge.

At the end of the long descent the trail had a sudden climb just after a ford, because I had built up some speed I flew though the ford and managed the quick climb without stopping. I had a fantastic grin on my face after this.

The Mickleden Edge route from the other side.

After this there was some more downhill sections into Delf Edge. It was quite enjoyable, if a little scary at one point as I was going down some long stone steps. Still I made it and was very happy that I managed to do so without going over my handlebars. ;-)

It was only a short two-hour ride, but a very enjoyable one. To think that I was only twenty minutes drive from Debbie's house and out in the middle of nowhere in The Peaks. Absolutely fantastic!

Let it snow, let it snow, but not in Bath.

2009-02-26T19:30:00.007Z

A couple of weeks ago it snowed quite heavily for the best part of a week. As you can imagine the country ground to a halt and most people became very lazy and took a couple of days off work. I couldn't believe the number of people who suddenly couldn't get into work without even trying. Maybe it's just me...

Here's the snow from my office window at home in the early hours before I set off for the gym.

Fortunately for me I could easily work from home and cycle/walk to wherever I really needed to go. For me it was business as usual and the only disruption to my week was an extra day working from home and not being able to cycle to the gym.

I did take the opportunity to build a snowman in my back garden. I'm quite proud of my effort and it was great fun to play in the snow.

The following weekend after the snowfall Debbie and I took a day trip to Bath to see the sights. I'd been to Bath many times before but never as a tourist. Most of the time it was to see someone or to do some shopping.

We took the train out on Saturday morning from Bristol Parkway station. The tickets were quite cheap and because we did some online research we got some half price vouchers for the tourist exhibits that we wanted to see.

Here's Bath Abbey. I'd walked past it many times but never thought to stop and take the time to see inside it.

We started off visiting the abbey and then wandered around the town looking at the sights and sounds of Bath. We were surprised to find that all the snow had melted in Bath, despite the surrounding area still being quite white.

A statue just outside the abbey on the way to the abbey crypts.

We also went to see the Roman Bath Spa. This would have been quite an expensive place to see, given that each ticket was £12.00! Fortunately our vouchers gave us a two for one offer.

Even though the actual space of the Baths is very small the owners had done quite well to make a visit to them last quite a while. It took us a good hour or so to walk around the place, and we could have taken much longer if we stopped at every exhibit.

We had audio guides, which talked your way around all the interesting things to see at the Spa. The tour took you around several levels in the Spa and there were quite a few scale models showing what the place would have looked like in Roman times.

The main courtyard of the Roman Baths. You can see the steam coming off the very warm water.

It was quite impressive to see the hot spring water bubbling up from the ground and I could quite easily see how the Romans would have thought that it had magical healing properties. It would have been quite refreshing to take a dip in the spa despite the cold outside temperatures.

Debbie overlooking the source of the Spa water.

A great day out in Bath wouldn't be complete without a couple of pints of Guinness. So after stopping at a local pub we took the train back to Bristol.

We had a good time in Bath and I had a very different perspective of the place from before. It's amazing what you can find on your doorstep. After living in Bristol for over twelve years it made a refreshing change to see a place from a tourist point of view.

Mountain Biking at Superbowl XLIII

2009-02-10T21:09:00.005Z

Still having problems uploading video to my web blog. Will have to look into another way of showing video.

A couple of weeks ago I took a couple of days off work for a long weekend. It was Superbowl 43 on Sunday night and as is traditional with my university friends we get together for beer, food, games and to watch the Superbowl. We normally alternate between each of our houses for the venue, as we tend to turn the house into a gaming mess. This year we were at Dave's place in Manchester, and his wife and daughter went to visit his in-laws place.

On Saturday morning Dave and I went for a mountain bike ride out in the Peak District. I chose a route around Chinley Head just west of the Peaks from a mountain biking guide that I had.

Here we are at the start just before setting off.

While it didn't rain that morning it was incredibly windy out on the Peaks. We managed to get a little lost several times trying to find our way along the bridle paths.

The hill doesn't look very steep, but believe me it was quite steep.

Here's a video of Dave trying to climb up the bridle path. It looks very silly but he is trying to cycle up a steep incline.

[Dave cycling video]

It was just so windy out there that we were being blown all over the place. We even had to cycle a bit to be able to move downhill if the wind was against us. If you weren't careful then you could have been easily blown aside while cycling along.

The sheep had the best idea and huddled together in the shelter of the walls.

Here we are just before a nice drop. Just before the drop we were quite sheltered from the wind, but as soon as you came over the hill the wind hit you full in the face and it was difficult to stand up.

[Video of the wind]

Dave braving the windy weather to get a photo.

In the second half of the route we were on the other side of the hill and in the shade of the wind. Since the sun was out and we were sheltered from the wind, it felt quite warm for once.

I was very pleased to be able to complete the fifteen miles without any problems with my back. After a full week of exercise I didn't have any problems cycling around and felt very good. I really can't wait for more rides later on in the year.

My muddy bike after the ride. :0)

The rest of the weekend was taken up playing games, computer and board and drinking too much beer. We hooked up two xbox 360's for some multi-player Halo 3 games. In the end we ended up playing more co-operative games rather than against each other. It was probably more satisfying for the non-Halo players as they weren't cannon fodder for Dave and I.

Phil, Dave and Jase tucking in to our Superbowl meal of wings, ribs and potato wedges. I'm very glad that I got some exercise to work off the weekend's food excess.

Another great Superbowl weekend for the four of us. I think Dave won the most games out of everything that we played.

On Sunday night after the Superbowl I went back to Debbie's place to spend the night there. While it was quite cold at Dave's place in Southern Manchester, once I neared Debbie's place in East Manchester it was snowing quite hard.

Road, wot road?

For the last few miles of the journey I could hardly see the road! Fortunately I knew the route quite well and knew where the road went. This was to be the start of a week of heavy snow for the UK.

My car outside of Debbie's place, Debbie's snow covered Micra is just behind my car.

Mossley Canal Walk.

2009-01-18T21:47:00.004Z

Last Saturday Debbie and I took out her parents dog Sam for a countryside walk. The dog is actually called Sam dog, as Debbie's sister is called Sam as well.

This is Sam dog staring intently at his favourite toy, a ball. Actually he has several balls to play with and any that are thrown are his favourite.

We took Sam dog for a walk around the back of her Parent's place, which has a canal and river path to follow in a small forest.

It was very muddy in places and we even came across a few mountain bikers along our route. They looked quite muddy and at times I wished I could have joined them on their ride.

Along the path is an old unused rail line that leads to a retired power station, which must have been run with local coal.

This is one of the wrecked buildings along the path.

There were lots of locks along the canal as it was quite hilly around the area. There was also a lovely stream running alongside the canal. I could easily imagine that Wiki would really enjoy paddling along the canal in her canoe, while Susan would much prefer the choppier river.

Sam dog appeared to be happiest when his ball was thrown into the water where he could swim out to retrieve it. We were sure that once he deliberately pushed his ball into the canal so he could swim after it.

The forest was where Debbie and her sister grew up as kids. This was basically their back yard and they had many a fun time exploring the area and hanging around there with their local friends.

Debbie used to climb this hillside in her youth, what an excellent place to have as a playground.

It was a really pleasant route to walk and my back didn't hurt too badly while we were walking either! Some day I'll have to come back along this route and explore more of it with my mountain bike. Maybe Debbie will come with me on her bike too...

Nieces making dust in my house and Christmas.

2008-12-29T10:22:00.014Z

Unfortunately I'm having problems in uploading video on eBlogger. Hopefully they'll solve the problems soon. There are currently placeholders for missing video files.

On the weekend before Christmas my two nieces Elise and Aimee paid me a visit in Bristol to stay for a couple of days. Fortunately for me Debbie was on hand to help me control the two terrors.

On Saturday we went to @Bristol, which is a science exhibition that is permanently on display at the newly refurbished Bristol docks area.

Here's Debbie watching Elise work a water pump at the @Bristol exhibition.

The exhibition was actually very good and there were lots for kids and adults to do and play with. I particularly liked the main water display in the middle of the exhibition, which showed how water could be moved around by various mechanical mechanisms.

The exhibition could easily be taken over two days, as one day wasn't long enough for us to see all the exhibits. It was all set over two floors and we didn't even get to see the various shows on offer throughout the day.

Aimee dressed as a Crocodile.

All the displays had some form of active participation in order to learn what was going on. I can highly recommend the @Bristol exhibition, for the £10 entrance fee it was a bargain of a day out.

Here we are playing virtual volleyball!
[Volleyball video]

Afterwards we went for French pizza at Pizza Provencale in Clifton. I think Aimee must have had too much banoffee pie for desert as she had a slight tummy ache later on in the evening.

On Sunday we played some games of Carcassonne and also twister. I think Aimee must be a fast devious learner as at one point in Carcassonne she promised to help Elise out later on providing Elise helped her out now. However, later on in the game she didn't help Elise out and instead took advantage of her position to help herself win the game!

Aimee, Elise and I struggling with our arms and legs at Twister.

We also had several fun card games of snap among other things. The games of snap started to get particularly tense.

Very competitive snap!

[Snap Game video]

On Sunday evening my sister Helen and Aran arrived to pick up Aimee and Elise. We went for Yo! Sushi for dinner at the Bristol town centre. I had a one third off my bill voucher, which I figured would save us quite a bit of money. The meal turned out to cost £90, which cost us £60 after a discount. I'm not sure whether to be glad that we saved £30 or shocked that the meal was so expensive. From now on Yo! Sushi is only a lunchtime activity to keep costs down. ;-)

My Christmas week was spend at Debbie's place in Manchester this year. It was a refreshing change to spend a quiet Christmas this year as relatives and children normally surround me over these few days.

Debbie and I just locked ourselves in and ate too much, drunk too much and played too many games over Christmas day and Boxing day. I couldn't think of a better way to spend my Christmas holiday.

On the Saturday after Christmas I had a chance to go for a bike ride around the Peaks near to where Debbie lives. I didn't go out for too long but it was an exciting ride.

The route up to Hartshead Pike was particularly cold and extremely windy as well. I found some really nice bridle path routes up to the top, which deserve some more exploration on a later date.

An excellent bridle path, which next time I'll have to cycle down rather than up!

At the top of the pike it was really windy and I had to shelter myself from the harsh frosty wind to take a break. On the way down I had to walk the first hundred yards as it was much to icy to cycle down. I even had problems walking down in my cycling shoes and did wonder at one point how I was going to get down on my chosen route.

Debbie and I went down to Brighton to meet up with a few of Debbie's friends, Jane and Lindsey for New Year Celebrations. We also met up with Steve from London as we went to Uni in Brighton so knew the place quite well.

Initially we went out to a house party at Lindsey's sisters neighbours place. It was a very nice modern house that the party was at. However, we did feel a little out of place. It was a party full of London city types, I think we must have been the only people there who didn't go to a public school.

We were there for some great food and after stuffing our faces moved on to a pub in the town centre. After a couple of pints there we moved onto a gay and lesbian club for the New Year celebrations. One thing I can say about a gay club is that, at least the music is much better there. I also felt much safer there as everyone was quite friendly and very easygoing.

Lindsey, Jane and Debbie.

We all had a great time there and danced in the New Year into the early hours. The following day was spent mostly driving. Seriously, Debbie and I drove back from Brighton to Bristol taking about three and a half hours, then from Bristol back to Manchester, taking another two and a half hours. I think I had had enough driving by then!

Lucky for me, I was given some Yo! Sushi gift vouchers for Christmas. So Debbie and I had to go and spend them in Manchester Selfridges Yo! Sushi.

Mmm, yet another fantastic meal. :-)

Bad Back Garden.

2008-12-04T21:21:00.002Z

I'm afraid that I've not had many updates recently, mainly because I'm still suffering with a bad back so can't get out on my bike that much.

On the plus side I've been seen by another doctor today and he's put me on the waiting list for a NHS physio. He said it'll take about two to three months before I get seen. Other than pay for one I don't see what other options that I have right now.

I have been still going to the gym and playing the occasional game of squash, but nothing too strenuous. Just enough to keep me going without going too mad without exercise. It's about as much rest as I'll ever get while I can still move. :-)

The gardeners have completed my back garden now, here are the results.

I quite like the new BBQ pit area, unfortunately I probably won't be around in the summer next year to have a few parties.

Can't wait to get back on my bike soon, maybe something over the next few weeks...

Breaking my back.

2008-11-17T21:16:00.005Z

My garden is in the process of being re-landscaped. Work started around ten days ago and they haven't quite finished yet. They have removed all the large plants and trees from the garden and dug out a BBQ pit at the end of the garden where it used to drop away quite steeply. They have also re-laid the patio and made it much larger. There is only the pointing to do on the patio and the borders to be cleaned up by the gardeners. They're just waiting for a dry day to finish the pointing.

My garden after the biggest plants had been removed.

Removal of the very dubious patio. A lot of love went into that patio, but not a lot of skill.

Since my holiday week in Barcelona I've had back problems. For some reason the base of my spine really aches when I'm standing up or walking for long periods. Because of this I've not been exercising fully during the week or riding my bike as much as I would like to.

Another view of most of my back garden after they have dug out the BBQ pit at the end.

Initially I went to my doctor to see if he knew what might be up. He said that it wasn't a slipped disc or any torn muscles on my spine. He then suggested that I go for some x-rays at the local hospital. After I got the results, the x-rays showed nothing conclusive. His only advice was to rest it to hope that it got better.

The side of my house which was overgrown for the eleven years that I've lived here, now it's all lovely and gravelled.

I spoke to my fitness instructor Mark about my back and he said he would take a look at it during my next gym session with him. During the session he concluded that it was my hip flex flex muscle being contracted due to all the cycling and office work that I do on most days. Because of this extra pressure is put on the base of my spine, which is why when I stand up or walk for long periods it aches so much.

Anyhow as a result of this he has given me some extra stretching and gym exercises to stretch out my hip flexor and hopefully relieve the pressure on my back. There is almost certainly some muscle damage on my lower spine, which will probably take a bit longer to heal.

Laying the foundations of the BBQ pit.

Mark is also going to stop giving sessions at Esporta, the gym I go to. He says that they £600 a month that they charge for him to work there is just too much and I totally agree with him. He can still see me at a local sports academy, so I may consider changing gyms to this sports academy as well. Esporta charge me £54 a month and that's only for part time membership. I'll welcome a chance to change gyms to somewhere much cheaper.

The view from the pit to the back of my house.

This time last year I went on the Real Ale Wobble, I had signed up to go again this year with Wiki, Catherine and Peter. Unfortunately because of my back I couldn't really go, despite having paid up for the event already. I probably could have made the ride but it wouldn't have done any good for my back and probably made it much worse. After I told everyone else of my decision not to go, poor Wiki came down with a virus and bad knees, so she decided not to go, and because of this Catherine wasn't going to go. So Peter could have gone on his own, but decided obviously not to.

I'm quite annoyed that I couldn't do the wobble this year as I'm sure I would have really enjoyed it and it would have been a weekend to remember. Oh well maybe next year, and I really can't wait for my next bike riding weekend away with my good friends.

The state of my garden so far. Hopefully my next blog entry will show a completed garden.

Gridiron time in Wembley again!

2008-11-06T16:02:00.001Z

Has it really been a year already since I was last at Wembley watching the American football?

After getting back from Barcelona, the following weekend was the annual Wembley NFL American football game. I met up with Phil and Dave in Milton Keynes, and was to meet Jason later on on Sunday at the stadium ground.

On Saturday morning I took the opportunity to get some exercise, since it had been a week since I had a decent work out. I had also been on holiday for a week, a sure way to put on some extra weight.

I decided to go for a short two hour bike ride around Milton Keynes at Phil's place.

Some nice steps that I decided not to ride down! They started off quite steep but levelled off towards the end.

I had a very pleasant ride around the Milton Keynes countryside. Initially I wasn't too lost, but after an hour I managed to get very lost as to where I was. I started out cycling around some roundabouts in Milton Keynes and the next thing I knew I was out in the countryside beside a canal. It was all very pleasant for a Saturday morning. I saw lots of dog walkers and joggers along the way.

The canal as it crosses over an aqueduct.

I cycled a few miles out to Cosgrove and back, most of the time taking turns whenever I thought the route looked more interesting than the path that I was following. I saw lots of narrow boats along the canal and while they looked interesting I wouldn't really ever want to live on one.

The canal turned out to be the Grand Union Canal that runs from Birmingham to London!

Once I got back from the ride my back was literally killing me. It hurt a little on the ride, and had been hurting over the past week while walking in Barcelona. However it wasn't until after my cycle ride that it really started to ache. I could barely sit down properly or stand up straight for the next couple of days!

On Sunday we made our way to the American football game at Wembley. In a case of last minute changes to plans, Phil managed to get 'mates rates' for a very nice Corus hotel beside the northern end of Hyde Park. We (Phil, Dave and I) had a double room each for a very cheap price in the centre of London. I even had a nice view of Hyde Park from my room.

Our seats this time in the stadium weren't as good as last year, as we were more in the far end seats towards the corner of the stadium. Still we had a good enough view of the cheerleaders last year, so this year it was time to actually concentrate on the game.

The two teams playing were the New Orleans Saints versus the San Diego Chargers. The Saints were going to be the home team so their cheerleaders appeared and we were all encouraged to support them as the home team.

Drew Brees making a pass while under pressure from the San Diego offence.

To be honest I wasn't really that bothered about the game this time around as both teams weren't that interesting to me. However the game turned out to be a very good high scoring one.

The usual suspects, Phil, Dave and Jason.

Well I had to take some photos of some cheerleaders with my camera.

The final score for the game was 37-32 to the Saints. We even managed to see a few touchdowns at our end of the field. It really did come down to the last minute of the game before the final winner was decided. The Chargers could have won the game on a last play hail mary lob into the end zone too.

A fat Burt Reynolds look alike being molested by the Saints mascot.

Video footage of one of the touchdowns. As it turned out this was the game decider.

On our way out of the stadium it was the usual long wait for the crowd to move though the nearest tube station. On the way were a few mounted policemen. As I approached one of the horses, it decided that it would take a nibble out of me! I guess I looked quite tasty to the horse and I think I should change my choice of deodorant.

The lovely horse that slobberer and took a nibble on my waterproof coat.

After the game Dave, Phil and I took a detour into London's Chinatown to have a late supper. We went to one of my favourite cheaper restaurants. I ordered some roast duck, salted pork, black bean eel and Chinese vegetables for us. The food was really good and it really reminded me of some of my mum's cooking. Very very tasty.

Once we got back to the hotel it had gone eleven, but none of us wanted to turn in quite yet. We spent the rest of the evening drinking and chatting at the hotel bar till gone one.

It was really good to meet up with my University mates once again, and a fun time was had by all, as per usual.

Barcelona Life.

2008-11-04T15:17:00.018Z

Warning: There is a little explicit content on this web blog entry.

A couple of weeks ago Debbie and I took a five day trip out to Barcelona. I'd never been there before, but Debbie had lived there for a few months a few years back. We were both looking forward to some time away together.

We set off on Sunday afternoon with a short BMI flight from Manchester to Barcelona. From there we took a short train trip to the centre of the city. Our hotel, The Pratik was small but perfectly functional and very clean. There were some vending machines in the hotel lobby, as it didn't have a restaurant area. Of particular note was that some of the sandwiches had a sell by date of November!

Upon arrival we immediately took a walk along Las Ramblas to see some of the main tourist sights. We had some great seafood paella for our first evening meal there along the main stretch. One other thing we discovered in Barcelona was the number of gelato ice cream shops. I think we may have pigged out a little too much on them over the five days there. :-)

One very impressive entrance way!

I got my chance to try out my first bit of Spanish in one on the first night. I knew I managed to fool the man behind the counter after asking for a couple of ice creams and then he replied with a few sentences of Spanish, which totally threw me! I had to confess my English then and he then replied in English, which was much better than my Spanish. I guess he's used to dealing with English tourists.

One of the exotic windows on Casa Batllo. We visited the inside of this building later on.

There were loads of examples of Gaudi architecture throughout the city. I guess it's one of the things that most tourists go to Barcelona to see. Debbie is a particular fan of his work.

Debbie in front of some mural along the way to Park Guell.

On Monday after a fantastic breakfast of croissants and coffee, we went to Park Guell by bus,. Park Guell is the famous Gaudi park that was build for the Barcelona aristocracy. It was full of very strange buildings and sculptures and quite an introduction to Gaudi for me.

A runner doing some stretches along one of the coves in the park. What a fantastic place to be able to exercise in the morning!

The level of detail was amazing to see in each and every Gaudi piece. It was only an introduction of what was to come later on though.

We were fortunate with the weather as it was sunny and quite warm on the first three days and rained a little on the fourth and quite a bit on the day that we were due to leave. Because of this we decided to do the outdoor stuff early on and the interior of the buildings later on in the week.

A panoramic view of the top terraced area from the middle. I felt like I was in a bull-fighting ring at this point!

From the top of the terraced area you could see most of the city to the Mediterranean Sea. To be honest Barcelona doesn't really have a fantastic skyline. Most of the buildings are quite low down, but there are a couple of really striking landmarks in the city skyline. The Sagrada Familia and the Plaza de las Glorias, which looks like a multicoloured London gherkin.

Me sitting on the edge of the terraced area with Barcelona behind. You can see some of the detail of the crazy mosaic paving on the terraced walls.

Some of the strange lines and shapes of the gatehouse to the park.

Around the park there were various Mediterranean plants. Here's a close up of some aloe vera.

Me having some fun with the many water fountains around the park.

A James Bond moment in between the impressive support columns that hold up the terraced area.

From the park we took a gentle walk back to the city centre. Along the way we visited the rather impressive Sagrada Familia church. I wouldn't be understating it if I said that the building is one of the most impressive buildings that I've ever seen. While the Twin Towers were amazingly tall in impressive in their size. The church is just so much more amazing in the level of detail and size.

The outer view of the front of the church.

An example of the fantastic detail on the church walls.

It's still being built but despite this you can walk through and around the church and see most of it. They have obviously thought about keeping as much of it open to the public as possible during the construction period. I guess the church is also famous for having started construction in 1882 and still continuing today.

A zoomed in view of the inner church supports.

Once you step inside the church into the main entrance hall the immense size of the building hits you. It's just such a large open space with such an attention to every detail. Just sitting down on the side seats looking around had me in awe.

The main entrance way to the church. The construction scaffolding makes it look like a rocket launch pad.

A view of the back entrance to the church. Note the detail on the building. It just looks like a mess from a short distance but close up you can see each and every detail.

There were lifts to the top of the towers at the front of the building and also at the back. We only took the lifts at the back towers as the front ones had a considerable queue.

From the top of the tower you had a commanding view of the city. You could walk around the towers looking outwards and examining more of the details. There were also various supports interlinking the four rear towers, which could be traversed. On the lift up to the top of the tower Debbie suddenly realised that she is a little scared of heights. She did cope very well, but wouldn't go too near to the edge on the tower lookouts and struts.

The top of one of the towers.

Along one of the struts there was a fantastic stained glass window.

You can see the big difference between the old dull construction and the new areas though one of the windows in the tower.

While descending the tower lower down there was an amazing long spiral staircase. I managed to get this great shot of the steps going down.

On Monday evening we tried to find a recommended restaurant slightly off the tourist path in my guide book. The restaurant was just off Las Ramblas a few hundred yards along a street. What the guidebook didn't mention was that the street was along the immigrant quarter of the city. Along the way we encountered a small red light district and a few prostitutes plying their trade! Anyhow after a little searching around we finally found the restaurant but unfortunately for some reason it were closed for the day!

In the end we headed back to the main strip and picked a main restaurant. It turned out to be a meat feast BBQ grill house. Your choices on the menu consisted of meat, meat or some more meat. Oh, I did have a tomato and half a small jacket spud with my mixed grill. I think it was a bit of a tourist trap, but it was certainly better than eating along some of the dodgy places we saw around the red light district.

On Tuesday we took a trip down to the local meat and fish market. There were some great displays of fresh meat and fish that really reminded me of the Hong Kong markets. The only big difference being that the seafood in the Hong Kong markets were alive in cascading fish tanks while in Barcelona it was more like the traditional seafood on display on ice.

We had a fantastic seafood tapas lunch at one of the many restaurants around the busy market.

Opposite the market was a small museum of sex, which we had to take a quick tour of. I was very shocked to come across a bloke in the museum who was quite clearly playing with himself while viewing the images in the place!

Nuff said and just don't ask!

We also took a nice walk down to the Marina, which Las Ramblas leads down to. There was a very new entertainment area with some shops, restaurants and large cinema along the port.

In the centre of the gothic quarter of the city is Barcelona's main cathedral. It would be quite impressive on its own but after yesterdays church, it really didn't compare.

An interior view of the atmospheric cathedral.

In the evening we went out for a recommended sushi restaurant in the northern part of the city. It turned out to be a hidden gem of a restaurant with a gruff looking owner who was a spitting image of Mr Miyagi of The Karate Kid movie of he 80's. After the meal we went for what is Barcelona's most authentic gelato ice cream parlour. Needless to say the ice cream that we had was fantastic.

On Wednesday we decided to visit two of Gaudi's most popular buildings, the Casa Mila first, then the Casa Batllo.

The top terrace chimneys of Casa Mila. Gaudi would never consider conventional chimney tops, he had to make them detailed.

The great view from the terrace to the inner courtyard of Casa Mila.

The Casa Mila building is actually a functional apartment and office block so you could only visit the top terrace, top floor and one of the apartments. Inside the top floor was a museum showing the theory of the design of some of Gaudi's buildings, while on the lower floor they had preserved some furniture of Gaudi's time and also some of his own furniture pieces.

More of the detail of the chimneys.

From then we went to Casa Batllo which is Debbie's favourite Gaudi building. From the outside it really did stand out from everything around it. It's a fusion of organic and aquatic shapes and themes, while all the buildings around it are very uniform. To the right of the building is a Barclays bank, I couldn't think of anything any more different sharing the same space.

The rear dinning room of the building with the entrance way to the courtyard.

Again the building was still occupied on most floors, so we could only visit certain areas. I'm not sure whether I would prefer to live in the building or opposite it to see it every day I opened my curtains.

Pulling funny faces between the pillars.

More of the exotic Gaudi chimneys on top of Casa Batllo.

An example of the scales on the roof of the building.

Even on the top floor the servant's quarters were fantastically shaped.

In the centre of the building was a lift and small courtyard and also some great blue tiles. The tiles subtly turned a lighter blue towards the top to give the illusion of light when it was darker outside.

An example of the tiles in the centre courtyard. At the bottom of the window are slits, which could be simply opened to even out the temperature in the building. Old fashioned air con!

On our final evening out in Barcelona we went for tapas and plenty of beers. We were going to go from tapas bar to tapas bar having a little tapas at each one and a beer. In the end we only went to two tapas bars before we had had enough food, we did have plenty of beers though. A fantastic way to spend an evening out eating at a steady pace and drinking beer in between courses. I even sampled veal accidentally on one of the meat tapas dishes. I wouldn't say it was anything special, but would certainly not eat it again.

On the final morning in Barcelona we went back to the meat and seafood market to have a final seafood tapas lunch and to get some photos of the place.

One of the many seafood stalls.

Barcelona is an expensive city to eat out in, I'd say comparable to London in price. The food however is very good and I can thoroughly recommend the place to any seafood lovers like me, unlike London. I really enjoyed the generally friendly atmosphere in the city as well as all the Gaudi architecture.

How my back felt after the weeks walking.

I'm not sure why but the four days walking was really causing my lower back to ache. More on this on a later update.

We had quite a funny moment when on the final day we were buying some souvenir books. I said it would be better to pack all the books into our one backpack rather than separate them out. Since I'm quite used to walking around with a heavy backpack, so it didn't bother me. However with my bad back I couldn't walk too long with it, so Debbie had to carry the backpack most of the time.

I don't think she was so impressed with the idea of putting all the books into it, but she did see the funny side of me putting all the books into one bag and the letting her walk with it. Then to make matters worse I wanted to walk back up the hill to Casa Mila to buy a book that I had seen earlier on. :-)

Chilli anyone?

All in all it was a fantastic city and a fantastic few days holiday for me. I think the four full days that we had there were enough to explore the main tourist sites. Any more time there would probably be spent visiting the Olympic stadium or coliseum or the man made beach.

Long time no see...

2008-11-03T20:16:00.010Z

Unfortunately it's been way too long since my last web blog update. I've just been much to busy with too many other things to do. Anyhow, here is the first of a few updates from things that I've been up to in the past month.

The new Cabot Circus shopping centre opened up in Bristol a few weeks ago. A week after it opened Debbie and I took the opportunity to pop down there. They have kept half of the old shopping centre and just added some new areas to the place. It's a shame that they didn't demolish the entire centre, as the old half looks really run down in comparison to the new parts.

A lot of thought has obviously gone into the planning of the new centre, as there is a new cinema and a few restaurants/bars on the top floor of the shopping area with easy access to the car park. Most of the shops are much the same as any other shops in a shopping centre, but they were all much bigger. The only big downer to the redevelopment as that they still insist on charging for parking spaces. It even costs £2.50 for late night parking there!

Here's the new Nandos at the shopping centre.

One of the best things about the new centre is that it has a Yo! Sushi!!! Despite it being an expensive meal, it's one of the things that I really love. If I could eat there twice a day and every day of the week then I would do. There is also a new official Apple store which is nice to have in Bristol.

I also went on a short ride along the Bristol to Bath cycle route on the same weekend. It was very foggy that morning, which made the ride all the more enjoyable. Despite it not raining the amount of moisture in the air meant that I was quite wet afterwards.

The fog made for a very atmospheric ride along the long cycle path tunnel.

On the following weekend I was up in Manchester to see Debbie. I took the opportunity to have a bike ride near her place. She lives in Stalybridge, which is ideally located next to the western edge of the Peak district. I'm really looking forward to many more rides around the Peaks in the coming months.

I went on a short local ride up towards the Hartshead Pike. I'd seen the tower near her place from a pub that we visited once before.

Here is the Pike.

It was a very nice ride around the local area. Most of the ride was on the roads to get towards the Pike, but some of it was also off road around the Pike.

I had a really nice long climb up to the Pike without stopping along the way. As per usual once I started to climb up the hill I didn't want to stop till I got to the top.

The ride up to the Pike. I saw a couple of joggers running around on the Saturday morning. They must have run up to the top, bloody nutters! ;-)

Big Sis's 40th.

2008-09-18T20:59:00.008Z

Last weekend was my sister's 40th sensible birthday party. She already had a beer up birthday party the previous weekend at a pub venue that she had rented out. Apparently the party carried on back at her place till 10.30am, when Aran had to stay awake till the last guests left so nothing was nicked.

Here she is attempting to do some DJing!

He also had to make sure the party ended before Aimee and Elise got home! ;-)

Here's Helen doing the washing up at her own birthday party.

Her party started around 3pm and Debbie and I arrived an hour earlier hand to try to help out. Helen was expecting around seventy adults and twenty kids to turn up. Fortunately for her the weather held out and it was quite sunny all day.

Towards the end of the evening Aimee was feeling a bit poorly. Probably because of too much ice cream and fizzy drinks.

If you're wondering, she's looking a bit white because Elise was doing some faqce painting for the kids in the evening.

All in all it was a good party and I got to catch up with lots of Helen's friends. I even got an invite to go snowboarding next year with Andre and Neil again. They are planning on driving down to Les Gets on April 4th to meet up with Helen and family. Much the same plan as we did this year. I think I'll have to think about it and decide at the last minute. Mind you how can I turn down an opportunity to go snowboarding?

Paddling on bikes.

2008-09-07T20:14:00.018Z

Last weekend I went to Ross on Wye and the Forest of Dean for a couple of days mountain biking. We were planning on going Canadian canoeing on Saturday and then mountain biking on Sunday. However because of the extreme weather we couldn't go canoeing.

It rained even more on Friday evening on our way to the youth hostel some of it torrential. It's often rained hard on a Friday before our rides, but never this hard.

We stayed in Welsh Bicknor in a local youth hostel. The hostel was located down the bottom of a zig zag single track road that was quite treacherous to drive down. There was only one passing point along the long lane and on one side were a steep wall and the other a big drop into some trees. The road was also very bumpy and I scraped the front of my car a couple of times on it.

There were eight of us on this trip. Susan, Wiki, Dave, Peter (Emily's fiancée), three of Wiki's friends Catherine, Caroline and Nick. The boys stayed in one bunk room and the girls another. It really reminded me of a reality TV show or being back at school on a school trip!

Starters on the ride, Catherine, Nick, Caroline, Dave, Susan, Wiki and Peter.

On Friday evening Wiki had bought me a birthday carrot cake, so we tucked into that along with a home made improvised pasta meal on Friday evening.

On Saturday morning it started out dry but quickly started to rain by the time we set off on our ride. All eight of us started on the ride in the initial light but constant drizzle. We were of quite varying ability on the ride and because of this and the large numbers we started off quite slowly. It was a really nice single track with tricky tree roots to negotiate. As the morning progressed the rain started to get much heavier without any sort of break.

Decision time at a T junction.

We got lost from the very start of the ride. Even with Dave's GPS unit and a couple of maps it was very difficult to navigate though the forest trails. There were so many trails in the forest and a junction at almost every few hundred yards.

We had a good long uphill ride which Wiki and I really enjoyed, while waiting for everyone to catch up we found a good spot to stop for lunch. Once Dave arrived at the lunch spot he said that I couldn't have enjoyed that uphill ride but I really did!

Lunch in a sheltered spot in the forest.

Just after lunch four of us took a shorter route back to the car park while the other half of the group pushed on. Wiki, Dave, Peter and I decided to carry on the ride. We still suffered from the same problems as before in trying to find our way along the route and got lost several times.

The rain still poured on us, but that just made me even more determined to cycle on and it was really good fun too. We found some trails that were really water logged and covered in mud. Then we came across a trail that was littered with nettles and we were all stung over our legs and arms.

More navigating in the pouring rain.

We finally got back to the car park after 16 miles, and 2800 calories. It was lots of fun and we were all absolutely caked in mud and soaked through. We couldn't have got any wetter if we had jumped into the Wye and swam out, in fact we would probably have been much cleaner.

Celebrations after a great days riding in demanding conditions.

In the evening after some welcome showers we walked to a local pub across the river from the hostel. It was a good 30 minute walk which would prove quite entertaining at times as it was very slippery on the mud. Even more so on the way back as it was pitch black on the route and only half of us had torches.

We had a good look at the river Wye on the way to the pub. It was flowing very quickly and quite a bright brown as well. There was plenty of debris on the river such as a gas canister, a hay bail and several trees!

A hay bail being washed away in the river.

The local pub served fantastic pints of Guinness, or maybe it was that I was really looking forward to a pint after the days riding. There was also a curry house next to the pub, which had quite good food and great value for money as well. It only cost £106 for the eight of us and we were all totally stuffed. We did something which proved to be a really good idea. Each of us ordered our food as normal, but instead of just eating our own food we shared around all the main meals so we could each have a taste of everything.

The following morning we took a short walk along the Wye at Symonds Yat. At this point along the river there should have been some rapids and what would have been the end of our Canadian canoeing trip.

Island on the river rapids, no rapids and no island either

There were only four of us (Wiki, Dave and Peter) who were up for riding some more of our killer loop route today. It was quite overcast for the day, but at least it wasn’t raining. Caroline and Nick went on a shorter bike route on their own, while Susan and Caroline went for a walk into the forest to see some sights.

Overnight we put all our wet gear into the hostel dry room. This consisted of a permanently warm room in the basement of the hostel, like a big airing cupboard. Our clothes and equipment dried out really well in the room, but as it wasn't cleaned it was as stiff as a board and still covered in very dry mud. It was however much better than putting on wet clothing.

Bike cam!

The ride was still quite muddy because of the recent rain, but at least we didn't have the constant rain to contend with as well. Most of the ride consisted of some really nice hills to climb and one gentle climb that even Dave enjoyed!

A camper van for sale that we thought would be ideal for Susan. Here's Wiki hugging it for her.

After several climbs we found ourselves near the peak in a forest when the GPS device and maps said we needed to find a path to the bottom of the hill across a stream and main road. We tried several paths down the hill but none of them really led to where we wanted to be. Initially it was fine and fun to cycle along a muddy path with a big drop beside us, but this trail led to another dead end.

Just before the downhill off road route.

Eventually about half way down the hill we decided to walk the rest of the way through some dense ferns and undergrowth down the steep hill. Dave did comment that this was his worst nightmare for a bike ride, as he had to ride up the steep hill and then walk down it! :-)

We then decided to stop for lunch in a tree clearing surrounded by the ferns. As it turned out it was a very pleasant place to rest for a bit. After a bit of digging around Dave had fortunately found path across the stream to the road. We were fully prepared to cycle or swim across the stream!

Lunch stop view.

Once we had crossed the road we had yet another challenge as we wanted to be on a trail just above us, but couldn't find a path onto the trail. We decided to start climbing up the hill, either pushing up our bikes or carrying them. Once we got to where we thought we saw a trail it turned out to be a short plateau and we had to climb up even further to find the trail we wanted to be on.

Not the mountain biking experience we wanted, but fun all the same.

After managing to get back onto the trail that we wanted to be on we had to cycle up a few more climbs, but this time they were covered either side with brambles and nettles! It wasn't that pleasant but yet again we all came out the other end with smiles on our faces and laughing at the pain that we were in!

The last section of our ride consisted of a really good if slippery single track though a forest with some nice jumps. Peter was in his element here as he used to do some motocross. He really appeared to enjoy the jumps and short steeper downhill sections. This short section finished with a big drop back down to the road. Wiki and I decided to walk down the final drop but Dave and Peter rode down it, twice!

It doesn't really look that steep but believe me it is. Peter coming down at the end.

Here we all are after the second day's activities. As you can see we're all considerably drier and a little less muddy.

We all met up again at the cycle shop in mid afternoon. We had covered another 14 miles, and around 2000 calories. What I was really pleased with was that my bike had covered just over a thousand miles over the 18 months that I've had it, during today's trip. Hopefully I'll have another thousand miles of just as enjoyable riding on it too!

It was a fantastic weekend of riding in the rain, mud in the Forest of Dean. Even though we were all disappointed to not have gone canoeing on Saturday I think the days riding on our bikes more than made up for it.

Thanks to Wiki for most of the organisation of the ride.

As usual I can't wait to get out again. :-)

Tourist Mode.

2008-09-03T20:24:00.003Z

Debbie visited Bristol last Friday to Sunday, so I took the opportunity to be a tourist in my home town. We did the usual Park street shopping, Rocotillos milkshake (the best milkshakes in Bristol) and the Bristol suspension bridge.

Given the current summer we were really lucky with the weather and it was quite warm and sunny all day.

One end of the suspension bridge.

I took three days off work from Monday to Wednesday as it was going to be my birthday on Tuesday and I didn't really want to be working on that day. I went up to Manchester with Debbie on Sunday night and planned to spend Monday with Dave out mountain biking and playing games, and Tuesday with Debbie.

I managed to forget my cycling shoes, but managed to remember everything else, so couldn't go cycling on Monday morning. Fortunately Dave wasn't in a mood to go cycling either as he had just recovered from some virus. Unfortunately I managed to catch some sort of virus or cold from either Debbie or Dave! I'm currently coughing like the old man that I am.

On Tuesday I was out with Debbie in Manchester. We caught the train into town as it's only a twenty minute ride away from where she lives.

Here's the famous pub at Staleybridge station called The Buffet Bar. It's a fully licensed pub actually on the station platform. Apparently people come to the station just to drink at the bar.

Debbie gave me a tour of Manchester cathedral. It was a very impressive structure from the inside with lots of history and ornate designs.

Here are some of the really intricate designs in the centre of the cathedral. There was also a carving of an elephant, which was made from a description of one without ever having seen one. It did look a little odd!

Debbie treated me to lunch at Yo-Sushi in Selfridges. We managed to eat quite a bit of sushi and ran up a bill of £35! It's one of the things that I really miss about Sydney, more so because in Sydney it's so much cheaper than it is over here. I'm sure I could have eaten just as much sushi and it would only have cost fifteen pounds.

After the filling meal we did a bit of shopping around Manchester and then finished off the day with a few drinks in a bar in the city centre. From where we were sat in the bar in Manchester Debbie could see one side of the cathedral with a few bushes. We were very surprised to see four different people take a leak beside the bushes from five to nine pm! One of the blokes wasn't even trying to hide himself behind a bush and we could see everything... eeew! Debbie tried tapping on the window but he didn't take any notice. I was very surprised at none of the blokes used the toilets in the pub or shopping centre instead.

Bar the pee tree, all in all I couldn't think of a better day to spend my 38th birthday! :-)

Riding Marple on a Sunny Day.

2008-08-27T19:47:00.007Z

Last Saturday I went out on a mountain bike ride with Dave around Marple, which is located just south of Stockport. We were really lucky with the weather given the summer so far, as it was quite sunny but a good breeze kept temperatures down.

Here's Dave making really important decisions like which sunglasses to wear on the ride.

The route started off with a very steep and rocky climb. We didn't really get very far up the climb before we had to get off and start walking. I tried to ride as much of it as I could but had to stop for a hundred yards or so when I started to lose momentum and traction on the rocks.

In fact the ride started off with a few of good ascents. Here's Dave cycling up a hill past some parked cars.

I felt really good all day throughout the ride and managed to ride up all the ascents bar the first one. There was the usual fantastic scenery on the ride and at one point it did get quite muddy and the smell of cowpats was all over the place, yuk!

One of the muddier sections of the ride.

We eventually climbed up to a height of 1250m to the top of a hill along the Pennine Bridleway in the Peak District.

There were some even better descents, one had rocky trail with a small stream running down it which made it more exciting as it was quite slippery with the water on the rocks. I really enjoyed the descent as I made quite a good pace rolling over the rocks.

Here's a good view over a village along the Pennine Bridleway.

Me with a cheezy thumbs up.

We did see a few other riders and plenty of walkers along the same route. All of them were quite friendly and ready to offer us directions if needed.

An example of the tarmacked hills and some of the stunning scenery on the ride.

About three quarters along the ride just after ascending a good hill Dave started to suffer from cramp. I think his legs had finally had enough of the climbing. At this point we both decided to cut the ride short and took a quicker path along the roads back to the car.

Fortunately Dave had his lucky heather on his bike to avoid any injuries. :-)

We stopped at a local pub on the way back for a quick drink and a light lunch. I think it was one of the best ham and cheese toasted sandwiches that I've ever eaten, mainly because I was very hungry at the time.

I was really happy with this ride, not only because no one was injured, but because my fitness levels were finally back to what they were before my big accident and swollen ankle. Can't wait for our Canadian canoe trip and mountain bike ride around Ross on Wye in a couple of weeks. First I have to survive turning 38 next week.

Dave was quite tired after the ride and flaked out once we got back to the car.

On Sunday we went out for Wagamamas lunch in Manchester centre. We met up with my friends Claire, Bethany and Jeff from Preston.

It was really good to catch up with everyone for lunch. For some reason though Bethany only started to cry when I had hold of her. I guess she must have been unhappy that she couldn't see my handsome face when I had hold of her. :-)

From left to right Claire, Debbie, Anne, Dave, Jennifer, Bethany and Me.

Body Worlds to Wii Fit.

2008-08-19T20:35:00.006Z

Last weekend I went to the Body Worlds exhibition in Manchester. It's an exhibit of Gunther von Hagen's work of plastination of the human body.

The exhibition is rather surreal especially when you think that you're actually looking at human cadavers in various poses. It was fascinating to see the cadavers and what the human body looks like under the skin.

One of the exhibits in a glass case. The body is put into a pose where they are looking though a telescsope.

Some of the cadavers were behind glass cases but others were in the open. You couldn't actually touch any of the exhibits, but you could get really close to them. I was expecting the process to show the bodies with a plastic sheen on them but in fact they looked very matted.

They were in various poses so you could see how the muscles contract in the body. There were also plenty of exhibits of the organs of the human body as well. The only bits that I found a little disturbing were the exhibits of the human foetus's and one picture of an exhibit of a woman who committed suicide while being heavily pregnant.

Some of the exhibits had the human body split up, for example one had the spine and connected brain pulled away from the front of the body while the back of the body was further pulled backwards.

I quite enjoyed the exhibition, but it isn't for the faint hearted as some of the body parts aren't exactly pretty.

On Sunday I was around Dave and Anne's place to play on their Wii Fit. It was quite funny to watch other people play on it and even funnier when Dave and I had a go at the hula hooping game.

I can see the appeal of the add on for the Wii but as an exercise device I don't think it's any good. Lots of fun when friends are around or for watching your relatives make a fool of themselves.

Here's Dave having a go at hula hooping.

Here I am trying the same game! What a great hip action.

A Pause for Breath - Pt 2.

2008-08-12T20:32:00.005Z

I found a racing pigeon in the neighbour's house extension the other day. It looked like it was quite badly wounded because it was flapping around on the floor but not getting anywhere. I picked it up and took a closer look at it. It appeared as if its next was bend badly because it wasn’t moving its head at all.

After chatting with the neighbour he said that he saw the pigeon on Sunday but was too busy to do anything about it, it was Tuesday when I saw it! The builders of the extension also must have seen it but done nothing about it as well.

I noticed that it had some pigeon racing tags on its feet so I looked up the details online to find a number to call. Unfortunately it was late in the day and I only got an answering machine. By the time I got back to the pigeon it had stopped flapping its wings and barely moved. I noticed that it was still breathing and figured that the only thing I could do was to break its neck to put it out of its misery.

After having to kill the pigeon I buried it in my back garden. Fortunately Lola hasn’t dug up the pigeon to this day. Quite sad really but there wasn’t anything else I could have done for it.

The work allotment is looking very healthy recently. We’re even getting a lot of produce from it as well.

Last Thursday I went out for a welcome brief cycle ride with Susan and John from work. I really wanted to get Susan back on a bike as soon as she was able to ride and get her on a beginners ride to get her confidence back. John had always hinted that he wanted to come along on one of our after work excursions, so this was the ideal time for him to tag along.

Susan back on a bike! Yipee. ☺

We did a short one-hour route that I had done before. There was a really heavy rain shower just before we were about to set off. We decided to wait in Susan’s car till the heavy shower had passed, as we would really have been soaked through if we ventured outside.

Here’s John just after the good short downhill section.

The shower passed quite quickly. And we stared off on our ride. The start of the ride consisted off roads and a couple of minor hills. About half way round the ride we went off road on some single track-trails.

I must admit that I really enjoyed the ride even though it only lasted for an hour and was on gentle terrain. The downhill section was quite muddy and as a result quite enjoyable too. It was ideal for Susan to get back on her bike and for John to have a go at some off roading.

Me, a little muddy after coming back from the ride.

On the same day as the bike ride there must have been some air show near work, or a practice session from RAF Benson. Earlier on in the day we heard some low flying planes overhead but didn’t take much notice of it. Then later on in the afternoon the Red Arrows overflew the office!

It was a spectacular site to see them flying around the manor house in formation, with smoke trails as well.

I guess that the manor house where I work must have been the centre of their display as they flew all around us.

Just before we set off for our ride we saw a Eurofighter doing a vertical climb above us. It was so loud we could barely hear each other. It must have gone almost vertically straight up into the clouds which was very spectacular.

Deirdre and Allen have been visiting the UK for the past couple of weeks. I’d been out with them a couple of times around Oxford. We finally went out in Oxford along with Kate and Mike, for some food and beers last Friday.

On the way into the town centre by bus we had an incident on it. The bus had stopped to pick up some passengers when all of a sudden the bus had to turn off it’s engine and not move as there were two young girls standing on the doorway stopping the bus from closing its doors.

There had been an angry exchange of words between the bus driver and one of the girls. Then one of the girls called out to the rest of the bus that she was sorry that she had to stop the bus but the racist bus driver wouldn’t let her and her friends on the bus. I just shouted out that I didn’t care and to get off the bus!

As it turned out what had happened was that the girls had jumped the queue to get on the bus. The bus driver told them to go to the back of the queue and they replied with plenty of attitude, to this the bus driver told the girls to get off the bus as he wouldn’t let them on. So then the girls decided to stand in the doorway and not get off. The bus driver then called for help to deal with the situation.

We had to wait around half an hour before some help arrived, a police officer even walked pass the bus and wasn’t called for help. The other bus company officials quickly sorted out the situation by giving the girls a lift to their stop by car and we went along our way. I guess this is a case of Oxford’s finest teenagers in action!

My bed partner Colin, for one evening at Kate and Mike’s place in Oxford.

We eventually all had a good time out on the town in Oxford. We even went to one of my favourite pubs The Star Royal where I used to often go as a student in Oxford.

I was very sad to have to say goodbye to Deirdre and Allen as we parted ways on Saturday. I’ll have to visit them in Sydney sometime next year! ☺

A Pause for Breath - Pt 1.

2008-08-11T20:14:00.005Z

Apologies for the lack of updates on my blog recently. I've been very busy and haven't been able to make the time. Still here we go...

I had to change all four of my car tyres a few weeks back. It almost cost me an arm and a leg. I was surprised to find out that a new tyre on my Alfa was considerably more expensive than each one on the S2000!

Unsurprisingly the tracking was out on the Alfa as well, despite it only being two years old. There has also been a bit of the centre roof console that came away from the ceiling. Fortunately it was easy to push back into place, even if it does pop out again occasionally.

Here's the underside of my car while the wheels were being aligned. I was surprised how smooth it was under the car.

I managed to get stung by a wasp while doing some pruning in my back garden. I was cutting back my rather large grass plant when I felt a very painful bite on my right ankle. I looked down to see a wasp on my ankle. I quickly brushed it off and looked up to see several more wasps ahead of me. After quickly backing off I decided to stop pruning the grass and move on to other parts of my garden. I guess there must be a wasps nest in the grass plant which I'll have to deal with eventually.

As it turned out I managed to do everything that I shouldn't do with my wasp sting. I didn't put any vinegar on the sting, which would help neutralise the poison. I also went to the gym the following morning, which I shouldn't have done as doing exercise with the sting only spreads the poison.

The ankle swelled up again and I initially had a few problems running on it as well. It felt like three weeks ago all over again! To this day I still have a lump on my ankle and it does still itch a bit too!

One weekend while up in Manchester, we went out for a walk around a reservoir in the Peak District. There were some great views but I did wish I had my mountain bike with me as well.

Beer Weekend.

2008-07-21T07:24:00.005Z

I got together with some of my Oxford University mates last weekend for some beer, gaming and reminiscing about how better things were when we were students.

Greg starts to fill my beer fridge in the garage on Friday afternoon.

Jason took the train down to Bristol from London and called us for a lift from the station. Unfortunately by the time Jason had arrived at 7pm we had all had too much to drink to drive! We still walked around to the station to meet him though.

Friday night was spent mostly catching up and playing four player games of Halo two on two connected XBoxes. I had to bring down my computer monitor to the living room for a second screen to play on.

Friday night food with Dave, Phil, Jason and Greg.

Unfortunately Dave's daughter Jennifer who was in Portishead with his in-laws, had to be rushed to hospital as she was having convulsions brought on by chicken pox. So Dave left us at 7am on Saturday morning. She later made a full recovery and Dave came back on Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

I did have a game of squash booked for Saturday morning with Dave. After all it would be the only exercise that I would get over the weekend. Since I had already paid for the court I decided to go and have a knock around anyhow. As it turned out I quite enjoyed it and the time passed very quickly and I had a reasonable work out too.

XBox gaming on Friday night.

The rest of the weekend was spent drinking some more, playing card and computer games and eating much too much than we should have. A great if very different weekend from my recent activities.

Just don't ask! My dining room furniture is out in the garden.
A little higher Jason?

Be careful people canoeing is dangerous out there!

2008-07-17T21:48:00.003Z

I went out last Thursday week for more paddling at Reading canoe club. This time I took out a narrower canoe which I found quite a bit more unstable and much more difficult to balance in.

Unfortunately while out on the water I was cut up by another canoeist and fell into the river. Fortunately didn't drink any of the Thames spring water but did find it very cold and lost my sunnies too. I managed to swim to the side of the bank and a couple of very helpful canoers who were passing helped me out to right my canoe and do a deep water rescue to get back into it.

What did annoy me was that the canoer that cut me up was from the same club and didn't even approach me afterwards to apologise or even see if I was ok. Wiki said that he's known for being rude and never giving way to other people. Other people in the club did come up to me afterwards to see if I was ok.

This Thursday I went back to try some more canoeing. I was a bit nervous of falling in again as I went out in the same narrower canoe. The weather conditions weren't perfect but not as bad as last week when it was quite gusty.

Fortunately it was all fine and I didn't fall in this time.

Some of the more expensive canoes at the club.

However, at one point as I turned the canoe around I was overflown by around half a dozen geese! They were just taking off and came within a couple of feet of my head! It was quite shocking but at the same time really exciting to see the large animals so closely. I really wished I had my camera with me at that exact moment.

I was also rammed from behind by a couple of rowers! I was innocently paddling along when all of a sudden the rower hit the back of my canoe and then hit my paddle. I dropped the paddle and then held onto their boat as they came beside me. Fortunately they apologised quite a bit and helped me retrieve my paddle. No harm done but I was determined not to get angry with them as I was only a beginner.

The problem is that the rowers can't see where they are going as they row backwards and the canoests can only see in front of them, so the two are bound to collide more often than not.

Later on in the evening I was paddling along beside the bank when I saw a large group of about eight beginner rowers in front of me. They had a cox that was shouting instructions to them. As I came up to them they started to veer toward the bank on the right so I overtook them on the left in the middle of the river. Then just as I passed them their cox shouted at me to stay beside the bank! I was quite annoyed at this as I would have stayed by the bank had they not blocked my way. Grrr!

Here are prime examples of the rowers on the river. In the background you can actually see the beginner rowers and the cox that shouted at me.

Still at least I didn't fall in this time and I feel I am improving at paddling, but only very slowly. It's not as easy as it appears to paddle along in a canoe while trying not to roll into the water too.

Two mile cycle, two mile walk.

2008-07-12T16:28:00.003Z

This Saturday I went out with Steve to ride the Quantock hills near Taunton. I was going to take him around a beginner’s route that I had in my mountain biking guide book. We were only planning on doing a days cycling.

Here are the bikes as we're just about to set off on the route.

Unfortunately after a couple of miles of riding Steve came off his bike on a small muddy dip in the bridle path. He didn't quite go over his handlebars but did do a face plant into the ground!

I was riding ahead of him and I heard a crash an "ouch!" behind me. I shouted behind me to see if Steve was ok and he said no. I stopped immediately and ran back to see him. There was quite a bit of blood streaming down his mouth to the ground.

Some of the great views just before Steve's accident.

I immediately got to work and pulled out my restocked first aid kit (thanks Susan for the new supplies!). Steve sat down and I checked out his face. In the end there was a nasty cut on his upper mouth/cheek and it also looked like his front side tooth had been chipped as well.

After a few minutes and mopping up to stop the flow of blood we started to walk back to the car. We eventually managed to make it to A&E in Taunton and after an hour the doctors and nurses saw him.

It turns out that his tooth was fine, it normally looks like that! :-) They literally superglued, his cut together and sent him on his way.

Steve did say that he was quite angry that he went over as it wasn't a very difficult obstacle to ride over. He was quite unlucky though, as there was a tree branch 'hidden' under the mud in the dip, which he hit with his front wheel. He was also quite unlucky to land exactly onto his mouth. There wasn't any other damage to his arms or legs.

This is the muddy dip that caused Steve's accident.

Oh, well two rides in a week and two trips to A&E. I think I'm going to start to run out of friends to ride with soon!

Does anyone want to go mountain biking with me then?

Watch out for Sheep Farmers!

2008-07-07T20:51:00.017Z

Susan, Wiki, Ben I met up last weekend to ride around the Peak District. We all met up at work in Wallingford and drove up to Ashbourne where Susan's friend had a holiday house there where we could stay for the weekend.

Despite trying to set off at 4.30 we eventually got away around 6. We stopped for a pub lunch along the way and finally got to Ashbourne at around eleven. We immediately went down to the pub to meet up with one of Susan's friend's Helen.

When we got back from the pub around 12.30am we should have been sensible like Wiki was and go straight to bed after unpacking the cars. Instead the three of us stayed up a bit later drinking till 2am.

Because we went to bed so late we had a slightly later start. James met us in Ashbourne because he decided to drive up in the morning. We finally got going around 12.30, due to a long drive to the start point near the Cat and Fiddle road on the A537.

Here we are at the start carpark.

We started with a great downhill section that was quite fast and also quite wet. We were all splashed with mud on the way down and grinning like Cheshire cats.

Susan, with what was a clean light blue top.

Ben with some freckles.

Wiki reading the map to decide where to go next, with James in the background.

After this we had some really great rides up and down the hills in the area. I really felt quite unfit on our first major climb. I had to even walk the last quarter of it. Wiki and Ben breezed up the hill and even Susan managed to make it up to the top without stopping. I guess not doing any demanding cycles in the past four weeks really showed.

There was one really rocky fast descent down a single track, which we all really enjoyed. James did struggle a bit on the descent, but the rest of us came down with massive smiles on our faces. I did take it a bit easy on my descent; I guess memories of coming off my bike five weeks ago still haunted me. I was to get much faster towards the end of the day and have much more fun though.

At the bottom of the long rocky descent we had to wait for James as he had a puncture. At this point Wiki and I were on the menu for the local midges. We both picked up plenty of bites on our arms and legs while waiting.

Here's Ben with a great shot of the terrain that we rode. You can get a good idea of the gradient in the picture.

We eventually decided to stop for lunch around 3pm. We were really fortunate with the weather today as heavy showers were predicted for the weekend but it hardly rained at all while we were riding. We did have a short shower when we stopped for lunch near the Cat and Fiddle road.

Wiki having our home made sandwiches overlooking The Peaks.

It doesn't look like it's raining but it is, hence the rain macs we were wearing. With his mud freckles and capped mac Ben did look like a school boy.

A video of our lunch surroundings.

After lunch we carried on our planned route. There was a short ascent on the Cat and Fiddle road, also known as Britain’s most dangerous road! I had particular fun driving along the road in my car later on in the day. If only I still had the S2000.

We had another steep climb later on and at this point my quads suddenly started to cramp up on me. I was quite annoyed because I was so unfit compared to what I can usually do. The cramp initially stopped me cycling, after a short break and thigh massage I continued to try to cycle along but then they started to hurt even more. I eventually had to walk up the hill and take a short break at the top for my legs to recover enough to carry on. I never did really fully recover from the cramp for the rest of the day.

A short video of James and Ben riding.

We came across a lovely ravine along the route.

Along the ravine there was a great very rocky single track that was slightly uphill. We had lots of fun trying to cycle along the rocks, as they were very big and small and made great obstacles to try to ride over. We did walk about half of it as well.

A nice view while riding the rocky single-track. Susan had a particular fun time trying to ride along the rocks.

Just after the rocky single track we started to descend again. We rode along a single-track bridleway, which was littered in some small and medium rocks.

I followed up on the rear and about half way down I saw Susan sat down on the side and Wiki and James around her. I immediately stopped and noticed that Susan's bike was upside down on the side.

She had had quite a bad accident when riding down. When I got there Wiki called to ask whether I had my first aid kit with me. I did and promptly went over to Susan and Wiki to apply some first aid. I saw Susan with quite a lot of blood on her front as her cheek had quite a deep cut on the right. Both her knees were grazed and her right elbow was very badly damaged as well.

I told her to stay sitting down and asked how she felt. She said she was fine but her right elbow was hurting quite a bit. She obviously didn't realise her cheek was so badly cut so I just looked her in the eyes and said you look great but need to sit down as you're in shock. It did cross my mind to take some photos but I figured it wasn't really appropriate and besides I was busy enough dealing with everyone around me.

Fortunately there was a group of young walkers coming up the hill at the same time. They had a couple of guides with walkie-talkies. They also had a much larger first aid kit and someone who was better qualified to help Susan out. Ben who's a paramedic had also cycled back up the hill by this point and he helped out too.

The teenage walkers all stopped around Susan and just watched on. At this point I looked at them and asked them to move on, as they weren't helping by staring at Susan and crowding her.

Susan's cut in the first hospital we visited.

Wiki and I decided to take our bikes back to the cars by the shortest route so we could take Susan to hospital.

We started to walk back up the hill to the nearest road. Once we got to the road we saw a local sheep farmer who pulled over. We then asked him for some help, either directions to our cars or even better a lift to them.

The farmer was a little odd, dressed in jeans and a loose open shirt revealing his very proud beer belly. Initially he wanted to drive Susan from the accident to the road while we went to get the cars. Then he gave me directions to the cars, I say me as when giving directions I noticed that he only spoke and looked at me despite Wiki having the map and asking for the directions.

Just as we were about to set off I asked the farmer again if he could give us a lift to the cars as that would be quickest way to get Susan to the hospital. He finally agreed and Wiki told me to get in the front of his 4x4 while she sat in the back. We just left the bikes on the side for now.

The journey was quite eventful as the farmer did drive very quickly along the single-track roads. I think if anything had been coming the other way we would have had a head on collision. Wiki was obviously quite alarmed at his driving and said so too! He then said that he was in control and was aware of any other cars. Then Wiki tried to make up for her comment by saying that he must know the local roads very well. I just sat there waiting for the farmer to chuck us out of his car. :-)

I tried to make pleasant conversation with the Farmer. After introducing myself and Wiki the farmer then just grunted and never did give me his name. We continued to talk about his sheep, he had several thousand and apparently could distinguish each and every one as if they were human! He also mentioned that he has never had a passport and a holiday for him would be going to the local sheep market further north.

We eventually got to the cars and followed the sheep farmer back to where we met him. By this time Susan and everyone else was at the same road junction with the walker's minibus. I was very grateful to the farmer for our lift as it saved plenty of time. I was about to shake his hand when I noticed that his right hand was down his crotch inside his jeans!!! Whether this was to keep warm or to deliberately avoid shaking my hand I don't know. Anyhow I promptly pulled away from a handshake and just thanked the farmer and we headed off to the nearest hospital.

With hindsight Wiki and I could quite easily have got into the car with the farmer and never been seen again. Getting into cars with strangers and all that!

We went to the nearest hospital in Buxton, which catered for minor injuries and after an hour or so we were then sent to a larger hospital in Macclesfield as Susan needed some x-rays. Susan ended up waiting at this hospital till midnight before she was discharged. She had made an appointment to see a specialist who could stitch up her face wound and not leave a scar. The appointment was at 7.30am the following day.

Day 2,

We had an even later start on Sunday. James volunteered to take Susan to the hospital as he said he would get up around 6.30 anyhow. While they were at the hospital Ben and I took her bike back to the bike hire shop and cleaned the blood off it too.

Unfortunately there was a mix up at the hospital and Susan's appointment was at a hospital in South Manchester, Wythenshawe. She was only told this after waiting around an hour so she missed her appointment at the new hospital. When she got to Wythenshawe she was told that she would have to wait till 4-5pm before she could be seen. Grr!

Susan was going to be at the hospital all day, fortunately her friend Helen went to see her as she lived locally. The rest of us went for another ride near Chesterfield, around the Linacre Reservoirs. We eventually started riding around 3pm.

We found a short very muddy route, which wasn't so bad, but the amount of excrement on the route made it quite unpleasant. There were loads of flies around as well. James appeared to quite enjoy the route though while the rest of us were just happy to be out of the mud.

An example of the mud route!

My bike trapped in the mud. At this point I had to stop and take a different route.

We were all caked in mud at the end of the day.

As were our bikes.

We then stopped to have our packed lunches at a pub. Because of the mud we decided it would be best to stay outdoors. It was very sunny when we stopped for lunch, our weather for the weekend couldn't have been much better considering the forecast of heavy showers.

For some reason the mud just didn't stick to Wiki, well either that or she just managed to avoid it. I compared her legs to mine.

I made very good use of my car over the weekend. At one point we managed to fit four bikes and three people in it. It did smell a bit ripe in the car with that much mud!

Poor Susan was eventually discharged from hospital on Sunday evening. Ben went to meet her and they stayed the night at Helen's place. Lucky for Susan Ben didn't have to go to work again till Thursday so could stay with her. She's generally fine now if very battered and bruised. I guess mountain biking is quite dangerous, but then again it would be as much fun if it wasn't.

I got back to Wiki’s place in Stoke Rowe near Wallingford at 11pm after a short stop at a motorway services for some dinner. I crashed at her place, as I needed to be in the work office the following morning. It would have been really pointless to drive back to Bristol by 12.30am go straight to bed to be up by 5.30am to drive all the way back to Wallingford again.

The following morning word had got around about Susan's accident. People at work were asking me what I had done to Susan in the morning!

Wiki and I agreed that there wasn't a boring moment over the entire weekend, except for waiting at the hospital, but that gave me a chance to catch up on some needed sleep.

Except for Susan's accident it was still a fantastically fun weekend! I eargerly look forward to the next trip, hopefully once Susan is much better.

WS Bring a kid or two to work day.

2008-06-29T09:45:00.009Z

Last Thursday I went canoeing again with Wiki at her Canoe club in Reading. This time I felt confident enough to attempt the 5km time trial. I was thinking I could do half of it and stop since it was a figure of 8 around the river.

In the end I did the entire time trial. Well I got half way around and as usual felt it would be a shame to only do half of it so continued on. At the end my hands did feel a little numb, probably because I was holding onto the paddle too tensely. I managed to complete the time trial in dead last in a time of around 45 minutes. I was quite pleased but could have gone faster, mind you I could also have fallen in as well.

Wiki was quite pleased and impressed that I had manged the entire time trial, more so because it was only my second attempt on the water.

The next time below mine was around 38 minutes but that was by someone that had been canoeing for a year, so I have some time to improve my canoeing. It was really good fun to do the time trial and what was even better was that I didn't ache at all the following day. I look forward to the next time I can do some more.

It was national Slave labour day at work on Saturday. I had my nieces working for me at the office for the day, while I played on the bouncy castle, bungee trampoline, inflatable slide, electronic clay pigeon shooting and ferris wheel.

They look like they are enjoying programming for me in C# and C++. They took to MS Dev Studio quite quickly after an intense course.

Alternatively it could have been the Wallingford HR summer BBQ day on Saturday and I could have taken my two nieces out to it for some fun.

When we got to my work place the main gate and side gate to the site were closed. Very odd I thought so I gave Becky a call to find out whether she was there and how she got into the site. At first I had a horrible feeling that I had arrived on the wrong day as from the entrance you couldn't hear anyone else and no one else was around. Thankfully other cars started to arrive behind me and one poor woman was inside the site trying to get out too.

I eventually managed to call security for the site and they promptly arrived and opened the gate for us. When I asked them why it was closed they just said that they were on a break! What can I say...

Here I am being mugged by Aimee after she had just had her face painted.

We all had lots of fun at the BBQ. Everything was free and there were plenty of fun things on for the kids to play with. They both initially ran straight to the big bouncy castle for a good jump around and then onto the inflatable slide.

After a quick go on the bungee trampoline, Elise and Aimee had a round of crazy golf with Becky's daughter Bethan. Fortunately Elise, Aimee and Bethan got on very well throughout the day. It was a shame for Becky's son Sean though as he definitely wasn't going to go and play with the girls today, being a boy obviously.

Elise just after having her face painted as a tiger! I wanted to have my face painted as a tiger too, but there was too long a queue for it and they said that they would only do my face after they had done all the children first. They obviously don't know me...

We also had lots of fun on the ferris wheel that had been set-up in the car park. It wasn't that big a wheel but it did move quite fast!

From the top of the week you could see quite a distance. You can make out the climbing wall, bouncy castle and inflatable slide beside the manor house in this video. The girls were screaming all the way around the wheel, as was I!

The terrible threesome after some face painting.

Elise, Aimee and Bethan at the top of the slide. They both got a couple of small nasty burns from sliding down it though.

Our support manager, Tony had obviously had enough of some of the kids...

We were all quite surprised at how quickly the stalls started to pack up in the afternoon, much to Becky, Bethan and Sean's disappointment as they were about to get on the ferris wheel. Even though the event was listed to end at 6pm, the ferris wheel stopped at 5, and other things started finishing quite quickly afterwards. I think only the electronic clay pigeon shooting actually went no till just before 6.

Afterwards when most people had left I showed Aimee and Elise around the manor house and grounds. I took them to my desk at work, they were particularly impressed by the machine room and the main entranceway to the manor house.

Then we went for a brief walk around the grounds to see the boat house and allotment. We looked out for some frogs but didn't find any around the pond.

We all had a fantastic day out and my nieces really enjoyed themselves. I'm already looking forward to the next time when I can take them out for a long weekend extreme mountain biking in the Welsh hills... :-)

On the high seas.

2008-06-20T09:48:00.006Z

Seeing as my ankle still isn't good enough to cycle or work out properly on, Wiki suggested that it would be an ideal time to try some kayaking and canoeing.

On Thursday after work I went with Wiki to her canoe club in Reading. Here's Wiki coming in after doing her time trial.

The conditions weren't exactly perfect to be out on the water. Quite a few of the people in the canoe club said that the strong winds weren't very good for canoeing and even worse for a beginner like me to start out on. Needless to say I was a little nervous and this really didn't help my confidence!

After a shaky start I soon took it it and I really started to enjoy myself. I think my own tenseness didn't help at the beginning, but as I relaxed and got used to it I started to get much better. On my first go on the river I did bump the front of the kayak on the side bank a few times. Fortunately it's quite strong on the front and no one noticed.

Here I am just paddling by Wiki with my phone camera. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my proper camera along for the day.

After Wiki finished the half hour time trial we both went out in a Canadian two-man canoe. It was really good to get out on a much more stable boat and paddle up and down the river together.

We then had a quick go on an indoor paddling machine which is specially made for improving your paddling technique. It was quite good as you didn't have to worry about balancing the kayak and could concentrate on your paddling motion instead.

I then went out for a second time on my own in the kayak while Wiki watched on as she was tired from the time trial and the Canadian paddling. I almost rolled over at one point, when I was trying hard to turn the kayak around I lent into the bend and started to tip to one side. Fortunately I managed to balance myself again and didn't fall in!

I really enjoyed my time out on the river and would really like to do some more. It was quite good exercise for my upper body and an ideal complement to all the cycling that I do.

Here I am just coming in after my second go in the kayak. Can you see how tightly I'm gripping onto the riverbank?

As usual for me, I managed to cut myself on my right knee while getting out of the kayak. Well it wouldn't be the same if I didn't have some sort of injury.

I can't wait to get a chance to get out in a kayak again. It's something else to have fun doing and to get some exercise!

Lola's been getting braver and braver around my house now. She quite happily wonders around the ground floor now as long as I leave the doors open for her. Here she is working on her tan in my back garden.

Dodgy Ankle.

2008-06-11T20:05:00.003Z

After three weeks I still have a dodgy ankle. :-(

I've done my best to rest it as much as I can and it did feel quite good at the end of last week. So good that I went to the gym on Friday, only for a gentle work out, no cardio exercise.

On Sunday I went for a brief twenty-mile bike ride. I stayed on the tarmac and just explored bits of Bristol. My leg still felt generally fine after this.

However, on Monday evening it started to swell up again around my ankle. I decided to give the gym a miss on Tuesday morning and rest it, but during the day the swelling didn't go down at all so I decided to visit the doctors for a second opinion on Wednesday.

After seeing the doc today all he said was that my tendons around my ankle were badly damaged and they would take a while to heal fully, anything up to two months!

I'm still hoping that it will be much better by the end of this month as I plan to do a lot of cycling in July.

Gammy Leg!

2008-05-30T21:26:00.004Z

I've had a few issues with my right leg since falling off my bike last week.

I was hoping that it would heal quite quickly after a few days rest but unfortunately not. I did visit the gym last Tuesday for a shorter than normal work out. I didn't do much running or any rowing, but I did everything else that I would normally do there. My leg felt generally fine at the time but I didn't push it too hard.

However, after going into work on Thursday it was hurting quite a bit all day. When I got back home I noticed that it had swollen up quite a bit and also turned a shade of grey! There was also a dark bruise that wasn't there before either.

I decided to take a visit to A&E after some dinner because I knew how long a wait there can be. A doctor eventually saw me and her diagnosis was that my leg wasn't broken or fractured in any way. The reason it was swollen was that I hadn't rested it properly in the past week. Oops! I think that everything I did was opposite to everything I should have done with it. I would have laughed but the doctor was quite serious at the time.

I was told to rest it for the next week or so and to also try to keep it above my heart so that the swelling would go down. The reason it was still hurting was also because I didn't rest it properly. When I spoke to Allen about it he was very surprised that they didn't take an x-ray of it just in case there was a small fracture on the bone, then again there's the NHS for you, trying to save money all the time!

Here's my leg while I'm working from home. It is a bit awkward to try to work while having my leg propped up and I'm sure health and safety would have a fit if they saw me working like this! I'm at an angle to my monitor, slouched on my work chair and with one leg on another chair! Thankfully I can take regular breaks while working at home.

It doesn't look like I'm going to be able to do any exercise till my leg heals properly. This won't be for at least another week or two. It's going to be a difficult week for me!

The allotment at work is coming along quite well. There have been signs of the long lost tadpoles in the pond. Some of them also have sprouted small legs too! In the foreground are potato plants, behind them some rhubarb and onions after that. There are also green beans, tomatoes and lettuces in the allotment, as well as other vegetables.

Wonderful views, life is great, crash back to earth!

2008-05-22T23:26:00.007Z

I've just had one of the most painful showers in recent memory. Probably about as painful as when I last badly fell of my bike.

There are a couple of images of my wounds later on, so you have been warned.

Susan, Ben and I went out on another cycle ride around the Wallingford area today after work. We started off at a bike shop in Pangbourne and then cycled towards Whitchurch-on-Thames, where we were last week.

Here's Susan smiling for the camera in a forest trail that we were riding.

We went off the track once down a slight hill to try to get back to the bridleway that we wanted to be on. Unfortunately it ended up in a dead end so we had to walk back up.

Within the same forest we also found a small enclosure with some huts and what appeared to be an electrified wire and wire fence around it. It was a very strange set-up in the woods and looked like something you'd find in a horror film. I should have taken a picture of it because it was a bit spooky. I wonder what it is used for?

After getting very lost at one point (how lost can one get in a small area?), we eventually came across a fantastic view over Goring. It really was quite a breathtaking view over the small village on a warm spring evening.

We were all quite happy and cycling along the bridle path along the river when we came across some steep steps down into a dip. Ben went first and managed to negotiate them, he later said that he was very close to coming off his bike at the bottom of the steps.

I went next and after three steps went straight over my handlebars and landed on my right shoulder and side. I remember everything stopping for a split second as I went over the bike and the next thing I was landing on my right side and trying to cross my arms. Fortunately I instinctively managed to cross my arms so just rolled a few times down a step without breaking anything. The biggest problem, other than the steep drops, was that I was going too slowly. I knew that I was going too slowly when coming down, but at the time didn't want to go any faster as well. The next time I'll have to tackle the steps at a faster pace.

Me with my big mouth open for the camera after the fall, I'd been sat down for a few minutes before this was taken.

My bike is where it landed after I went over. I sat up after falling and immediately felt pain down the right hand side. I knew my leg was quite badly bruised as it was shaking a little as was I from the shock of the fall.

Susan took this from the bottom of the dip.

After the fall I eventually walked out of the dip, there were some equally steep steps on the other side, which were quite painful to climb up with my bike as well. At the top I decided to get on my bike and try to cycle on. We were already heading back, as it was around 8.30 by now. Fortunately it was only a few miles to the cars and none of them were uphill miles.

We stopped at a pub for the usual drinks and evening meal. It was a really nice meal, walking back to the car after sitting down for an hour wasn't so good. I think I more limped back rather than walked. :-o

I managed to drive back to Bristol and got home around 11.30. On the positive side (the cup is always half full for me), the pain in my leg really helped keep me awake for the drive home.

This is my leg injury, it hurts more than it looks as I think it's quite badly bruised on the muscle. Hopefully nothing is fractured on the bone, I'll have to wait and see how it feels in a few days time.

My right arm was also badly grazed, but what surprised me were the wounds on my right shoulder. I guess I must have landed on it harder than I thought.

It was still a really fun ride, and after I've got over the injuries I'm sure I'll look back on it with very fond memories. The most annoying thing for me right now is that I can't go to the gym tomorrow morning. :-(

Can't wait for next weeks adventure, I think a weekend at home resting will do me some good for now. :-)

Witnessing the birth of a new life, (and how to cycle over a lamb)!

2008-05-18T21:02:00.005Z

I’ve been up to the Peak District last weekend for some more cycling around the area with my good mate Dave.

Here's Dave doing his Tango man impression.

We started of with a good climb up a very rocky hill. It was quite tiring to climb up the hill after a week of exercise, but I made it up to the top eventually.

We saw three other bikers along the way, which were on a similar route from the very beginning. We kept catching them up and then letting them go on ahead for the first few miles.

Dave came off his bike along the top of the hill. I was just following him when his back wheel skidded on a rock and he slid off into the bushes.

Then we had a great descent along the side of a hill. At some points the path was only six inches across and with a sheer drop on one side it was quite exciting to ride along. Both of us kept thinking not to look down or even steer down the hill. We both made it down and had a good laugh over the past couple of miles.

This is a panoramic view just before the side of the hill ride.

At this point the bridle path had come to and end and we had a choice to either turn back or take a footpath over some fields. We decided to push on on the footpath and had a few styles to negotiate along the way.

There were also plenty of streams of various depths to cross. Some of them were quite easy and a few quite tricky as well. Neither of us got really wet feet but we did have to put our feet in the water at least once.

Here's Dave crossing one of the streams. You can just see a little drop on the right, which put Dave off a little as he came to it. Of course I managed to cross the stream without any problems, honest!

When approaching one of the small lambs it turned to see me and then came straight towards me. I had just come to a stop and the lamb ran straight into my front wheel. I caught the rear right of the lamb and saw it limp off. I had to cycle off while hearing it call out in distress, because I knew I couldn't do anything about it. Dave who was following me said it was fine once it had stopped hobbling around.

Some of the violent attacking lams on the hillside.

We saw some highland cows when cycling up one hill. I didn’t notice them till Dave saw them. I think I was too busy concentrating on my cycle up the hill.

At one point Dave came across one of the highland cows, which had just given birth to a calf. Here you can see it eating up the afterbirth off the calf. So fantastic and yet so disgusting at the same time!

We then had to negotiate some really rocky up and down tracks along the top of the hills. It was quite a challenge and some of the rocks that we had to cycle over looked much too big to cycle over but with some speed and a big smile I made it over them.

One of the rocks decided to get its own back on me. As I cycled over one my front wheel kicked up the rock and it went straight into my right lower leg. At first it didn’t hurt to much but as I tried to cycle on it started to hurt more. I came to a halt and found a nice big bump on my leg.

When coming down the hill there was one track, which was covered in loose white stones. It was quite fast going coming down the track and at the end both Dave and I had insane smiles on our faces. We both said that at one point we almost came off the bikes at speed. I think if either of us had come off down the hill we would have had quite a serious accident.

Once we got back to a main road we headed back to the car. There was one final good uphill cycle to finish the route off, and a marvellous few hours out in the Peak District.

Here we are back at Dave's communicating to each other in our usual way. Just like at work.

Jennifer was obviously very impressed with her dad.

More extreme sports on Sunday afternoon. I even had a go next, Dave wasn't needed to push me though.

Fairweather Thursday biking on Wednesday.

2008-05-17T16:18:00.005Z

Last Wednesday I went out on another ride with Susan around Wallingford. Wiki gave us a good route to follow from Stoke Row. We started at Wiki's house in Stoke Row and then followed some roads and bridle paths towards the south through mostly forests.

As it turned out I only took some photos of trees and none of the route that we followed or any of anyone cycling either. Still they were a few pretty pictures of very green trees.

We found some great single tracks trough the forests and also managed to get very very lost while cycling though Bottom Woods.

There was plenty of wildlife around the area, from loads of rabbits in the fields to grouse and deer in the woods.

Susan picked up a puncture in the woods after a small climb. Fortunately I had the tools to replace the inner tube. Then upon coming out of the woods we thought we had come out at one point when it turned out we actually came out somewhere else. We eventually ended up at Whitchurch-on-Thames, much further south than either of us had expected.

The only real problem was that it was about 8pm at this point and only I had lights on my bike. We did eventually get back to the cars in Stoke Row but it was gone 9.30 by then and quite dark.

The only thing left to do was to stop off at the local pub for a quick drink and some much needed food. It was a really fun ride in the end, despite getting hopelessly lost.

The Quantock Hills, at last!

2008-05-12T15:44:00.013Z

We finally managed to arrange the long discussed Quantock Hills ride last weekend. We all met up at my place in Bristol after work on Friday afternoon.

Once everyone got to my house it started to rain and then as I expected the light shower to pass, it then started to thunder and thunder hard! We must have been right under the thunderstorm in the local pub that we ate dinner at. There was lightning all around us and very heavy rain as well. We were sat under a sloped glass extension in the pub so could see the heavy rain pouring down the roof. It was quite amazing but didn't bode well for the weekend.

As it turned out the weather for the weekend couldn't have been sunnier or drier. Actually we probably would have like a little less sunshine as it was very sunny on Saturday and even sunnier on Sunday.

Along for the ride were Ben (Susan's flat mate), Wiki, Susan and James (work friend Becky's husband). Here they all are on Saturday morning outside our accommodation at The Hood Arms. Possibly the last time we were seen in one piece. :-o

The route started off with a gentle uphill ride along the main road from the hotel in Kilve to Holford where the actual Quantock route started.

We had a nice uphill climb of around 500ft in well-shaded forest. It was a good climb to start the ride off with as it warmed everyone up for the days riding.

There were quite a few people that we saw all day along the Quantock hills, something that surprised me. I guess there are a number of car parks at the edges of the hills which makes it quite accessible to lots of people.

Here's Wiki looking particularly cheerful around the top of the hills as Ben cycles off.

Wiki had a new compass that she wanted to try out on the day. We had quick practice before we set off from The Hood Arms. Immediately Wiki proclaimed that we should head right along the main road from the pub, obviously we needed to head left!

There was a very good, and also very steep and rocky descent into Smith's Combe. While we were struggling down the descent two extremely fast mountain bikers literally flew past us. They must have been barely touching the ground on their way down. Ben went down the route very quickly but these two other riders were something else. I guess if you have the courage you can just let yourself go and fly down the tracks. If you do make a mistake though I'm guessing it would be hospital time.

Wiki managed to get down this descent with only a few stops and she didn't even walk any of it, which made her particularly pleased. Unfortunately Susan did fall over when trying to stop when going down, but she wasn't seriously injured. I think the steepness of the slope meant that while she could stop herself, her bike wanted to continue down the hill with her in the way.

One of many steep climbs throughout the day. Unlike Wales where there are a few long and sometimes steep climbs on a days riding, the Quantocks was more of a case of shorter climbs but many more of them. Ben labeled me a hill-climbing demon as most of the time I was first up to the top of the hills, I blame my big thighs. At least everyone's smiling in this photo. :-)

After yet another climb we decided to stop for lunch in a shaded area before leaving the forest. The sun was particularly hot around lunchtime and only Susan had put on any suntan lotion. We all had bought some along, but none of us thought to bring any along for the ride, as it was quite overcast when we set off.

Here's Ben after another climb to some fantastic scenery of the north coast and Bridgewater Bay. Unfortunately we went the wrong way at this point and had to turn back down the hill for a bit.

Susan coming down a good gentle but steep decent. You can get an idea of the speed when coming down the descent in this movie. I remember when I was coming down this hill in front of Wiki. I stopped at one point just after negotiating some steps as the track got a lot steeper, and Wiki shouted at me to get a move on. So spurred on by Wiki's voice I just rode down the steep bits to the bottom. Then when Wiki got to the bit where I stopped, she stopped too and then realised why I had came to a halt for a minute.

Here some of us are at the very peak of one of the higher Quantock Hills. We were all very happy to have made it this far up to the peak.

A better idea of the terrain around the peak. Everyone else had made it up by this point.

An even better panoramic view from the peak.

I recall that at one point I was following Wiki and she ran into a muddy track, I tried to go left around her and my front wheel just dug into the mud when I was moving along. I ended up vaulting over my handlebars as my front wheel just stopped. As it turned out I flew along past the mud and landed on my hands and ended up lying chest down a few yards further ahead. Wiki and Ben said it looked like quite an impressive vault. It was a total reflex action on my part to end up laying on my front avoiding all the mud too!

On the way up what turned out to be the final and longest ascent Susan spotted a herd of deer on the right. Wiki and I completely missed the deer as we were busy cycling up the hill. I guess if you do walk up you might see a little more of the scenery.

Even Wiki and I gave up trying to cycle up to the very top of this hill. It was around 4pm by now and we were all starting to feel the affects of cycling all day. On the way down the hill we saw what was probably a group of beginners on a bike ride with a couple of tour guides. A couple of the beginners we carrying obvious injuries.

Around half way up the hill Wiki was saying that she really wanted a fizzy drink. Quite unusual for her as she doesn't normally drink fizzy drinks. We all put it down to exhaustion and heat stroke and had a good laugh over the subject. We were actually starting to run out of water at this point. Both Ben and I only had small amounts left in our camel packs and everyone else had run out by now.

I still had some energy at the top and while waiting for the others to get here I did my Capricorn One film end scene of running towards the camera while Wiki took some photos. I did feel a little odd at this point as my legs didn't feel tired at all, despite everyone else saying they were suffering a little. I put it down to my own delusions of grandeur.

Once we finally descended back into a valley we came across a relatively shallow ford. It appeared as if cycle tracks went into the river for around 50 yards. While everyone else decided to cycle around the river route to the right I really wanted to try cycling through the ford.

Once everyone else had got to the end of the ford I started across it. I did manage to get to the other side without stopping at all, which I was quite pleased about. However at the end of the ford there was a ten-inch lip that I had to put a foot into the ford to pull my bike up to the bank. I must admit about half way along the water I was slipping quite a bit on the algae covered rocks. I did wonder whether I would make it at that point.

Here's a shot looking back at the ford and path.

At Holford on the way back to the inn, we found a very nice and quite posh hotel. In our very muddy state we weren't allowed inside the hotel, but we were served drinks outside. James had some very tasty scones as well. He did eventually share out the last scone to the rest of us as he just couldn't manage any more. ;-)

Wiki even had her fizzy drink that she was craving.

We got back to The Hood Arms at around six and as well has a good shower all had a well-deserved drink. It must have been one of the best pints of Guinness in recent memory for me.

Dinner was in The Hood Arms as there wasn't much choice of anything else in Kilve. There is only one pub and one corner shop in the village. After dinner everyone else was quite tired so went to bed relatively early at 10.30. I was still up for at least one more drink, so Susan and I stayed up for another hour with a couple of drinks.

We managed to complete around two thirds of the actual killer loop that we were following. Including getting lost a few times we did 18 miles which is a good days cycling off road.

Sunday started with a drive down to the southern Quantock Hills. This area is mainly forested and it was a good idea to cycle here for half a day, as it was clear and sunny from sunrise.

We started at a car park, which was quite high up, so the first few miles were just quick wide tracked descents. Eventually we reached a small stream with an incomplete bridge. We all took turns crossing the steam. Everyone made it without putting a foot down in the stream, but it was very muddy on both sides of the stream.

Here's Susan's attempt.

We decided to just cycle around the forest tracks without following any map directions. Whoever was in the lead would just decide to follow whichever path looked most interesting to them.

We came across a single track which was quite muddy and grassy. It turned out to be a great track as it was slightly downhill as well as being technical. It came to a grassy junction where we stopped for a short break. It really felt as we were in the middle of nowhere in the forest at this point. A very calm and relaxed feeling.

At this point we were counting our injuries from the previous day. Can you guess who's knee this is with the big bruise? Fill in the opinion poll on the left of the blog to have a guess.

Here are the group after we finally decided to look at the map for some more sensible directions. I think Wiki had decided to stop testing her compass and map reading skills at this point.

On the way back to the cars we had to go over the same unbridged river as before, here's James crossing it.

And here's Ben making the crossing and also making it look much easier than the rest of us did.

A few more climbs later and we eventually reached the cars again. We then headed back to the inn for a shower and then back to Bristol. We only managed 8 miles this morning, but we were only out for three hours and most of the routes were wide-open tracks.

At Bristol we went to Wagamamas for a late lunch. James had to get back at this point, but the rest of us went for a brief shop and tour around Bristol.

I took everyone around parts of Clifton and down to the town centre. Here's a view of the old unused cranes by the Arnolfini.

And here we all are enjoying the lazy afternoon Sunday sunshine.

I had a fantastic weekend and would like to thank Susan, Wiki, Ben and James for coming along for the weekend and making it as much fun as it was. It was just as good as the Real Ale wobble, but in a very different way. The much warmer climate made it much more of a pleasant ride rather than the challenge that the wobble was.

If only every weekend could be as much fun! :-)

We're already planning our next trip, I've heard mentions of possibly a canadian boat river camp out and also a ride around either the Lake District or Peak District. I look forward to them both as I know I'll enjoy it with such great company on my adventures.

Car repairs, cycling, bomb sites and bluebells.

2008-05-12T09:34:00.002Z

I'm having to make some minor repairs to my new car as it ages. After all it is just over two years old now. My S2000 was six years old and I never had any problems with it. However my Alfa isn't ageing as well. It has already had one of the windscreen squirters stop working and now some of the interior trim is coming away. The squirter was easily repaired by taking apart the tubing, but the interior trim is proving a little more difficult. Here's my temporary botch job to hold the trim in place for now, till I can get some better glue for it.

Of course I could take it to the local Alfa dealer to have it repaired under warranty, but I'd have to take a day off work for that and really don't want to unless I really can't repair it. As an object I do still like it, but as a reliable car it is testing me. :-)

Last Monday on the bank holiday I took the opportunity to cycle around Cheddar Gorge and the Mendips again. It was still quite muddy on the routes despite the recent spell of good weather. It's always nice to do a route twice, the first time to figure out where to go and the second time to try to do it with minimal stops.

You can just about make out my tracks here where I came to an abrupt stop in the mud and had to put my foot into the mud to avoid falling over.

I took a slight detour on the long rocky downhill section of the route and came across this interesting sign, which was directed at people entering the path that I had just come from!

Last Thursday Susan and I went out on a really nice ride around Russells Water, a small village near the work office. There is a small nature reserve there and as a result some really nice tracks to ride.

Here we are at the village with our two cars parked up.

Around the nature reserve there were plenty of bluebells in the forests. They looked like a blue mist over the undergrowth and smelt fantastic.

It was a really pleasant ride and we discovered some unexpected nice tracks. All preparation for the Quantock Hills that we're about to ride this weekend.

More on this ride to come...

Parents leaving and the work allotment.

2008-05-07T19:59:00.004Z

Just over a week ago my folks had to go back to Hong Kong. It's difficult to believe that they had been over here for five weeks already.

On their last night here my mum made one of my favourite meals. Lobster with ginger, spring onions and noodles. It was a great meal and everyone enjoyed it.

In this photo you can see Aran, Eric (a friend of my parents who used to run the 'other' take away business in Alton) and Nanette (Aran's mum).

Here's Elise showing me her tiger mask that she made at school with a friend. It was very impressive.

It was very sad to have to say goodbye to my parents. I'm not sure when I'll get to see them next, possibly much later on this year, or more likely sometime next year.

At work we have been given some space on the manor house grounds for an allotment. Claire, Richard Bridge and Simon have been working on it the most, with occasional contributions from other people within the company.

It's coming along quite well and some of the vegetables really are growing. The proof will be in the tasting, but it should be good to get some produce from it.

Here's Emily, Richard Bridge and Richard Body around the pond, which has some frogspawn!

This is Susan and Ian, and you can see the vegetables in the background. The rhubarb is on the right. Actually quite a few more vegetables can be seen now that the sun has finally come out.

Weston Super Mud and More Babies.

2008-04-24T19:44:00.002Z

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...

2008-04-20T20:53:00.002Z

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!

2008-04-16T08:59:00.008Z

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.

2008-04-14T22:06:00.013Z

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!

2008-04-06T20:47:00.008Z

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!

Molly is a Monkey!

2008-03-25T16:22:00.009Z

I spent Easter weekend with my Sister's family and my folks who are back from Hong Kong for a good few weeks.

Here's a picture of Molly, a purple monkey that I bought for Aimee quite a while back. It's quite satisfying to know that she still likes Molly and by the looks of her, has been cuddled so much that she's almost worn out.

For Saturday lunch I went out with my parents, Aimee and Elise for Yum Cha in Southampton. I think the last time I went for Chinese lunch was with Allen out in Sydney. It was really satisfying to have Dim Sum lunch again.

On the way back from Southampton we stopped off at a Chinese supermarket for some supplies. Aimee and Elise were both given a fortune cookie. On the way home they asked whether they could open the cookies in the back of my car. Not really thinking I said yes. Unfortunately this meant lots of crumbs in the back of my car. Never mind, live and learn.

Here are the two little blighters on their Christmas scooters when out for a walk.

On Saturday night I went out with Helen and Aran for a few beers. It was good to get out with my Sister for some drinks. It was one of Aran's friends 40th birthday party. We all got quite merry and had a good time. However we all suffered a bit on Sunday morning.

I went out for a mountain bike ride on Tuesday over the Mendips. The planned route was a 24 km ride over the Mendips, starting at Cheddar.

I packed my bike into my car and was quite surprised at how much space the bike took in the back. I guess my choice of estate wasn't totally driven totally by practicality. I just couldn't bring myself to buy a more sensible Volvo or A4 estate car. I see so many of them on the roads and really didn't want to join everyone else.

I got to Cheddar just after ten and the Cliff street car park was very empty when I arrived. Following a route in a book that I have and also an OS map was quite easy.

However it does mean that I do have to stop every few minutes to check that I'm heading in the right direction.

My route started with a very steep 2.5 km climb, so steep and muddy that I had to walk about half of it. I was quite disappointed with myself at having to walk so much of the climb. I think I'll have to work out harder this summer to get much fitter.

Once I got to the top of the climb there were some spectacular views of Cheddar and the Cheddar reservoir.

At the very top of the hills there is a marker at Beacon Batch. I was quite pleased to be able to make it to the top and there were some great views of the surrounding countryside.

There are some great single track routes leading to and from Beacon Batch which I really enjoyed. Some of the routes had some very red dirt along them, which really reminded me of the dirt in Australia.

On my way down I took a slight detour though Rowberrow Warren. Just past the warren there was a strange set of settlements, and this bird was carved out of a tree on the settlements.

It felt a little unsettling to be there on my own and images of me coming across some hostile locals encouraged me to move along rather than hang around and take more photos.

Unfortunately all these photos were taken with my phone camera as I couldn't take my proper camera along. It was a simple choice between my lunchtime sandwiches or the camera.

On the way back down to Cheddar there is a great 1.6km downhill ride though very rocky single track. I decided to not go too slowly on this track to have the most 'fun'. I did almost come off my bike a couple of times. Once when I rapidly came up to a gate along the path and almost went over my handlebars trying to stop quickly.

At times the downhill route was quite steep but I figured that my momentum and a bit of luck/skill would carry me over the rocks.

At the bottom of the long downhill, just before entering Cheddar there were a few cows! I thought I had taken a wrong turn, but it turned out that I was in the right place and the cows were just there to congratulate me for not falling off my bike and arriving in one piece.

Once I got back to my car the car park was full of tourists and I was attracting a bit of attention. More so probably because I was covered in mud and had a massive smile on my face too.

It was an excellent ride and I really enjoyed it. The only down side was that I managed to lose my bike trip computer somewhere on the downhill section. I was also very lucky with the weather as it was raining the week before and the week after this day. Roll on the summer and even more adventurous bike rides. I can't wait!

Other misc photos...

2008-03-03T21:12:00.007Z

Here are some photos that I've taken recently and didn't post and thought you'd like to see.

On our way back from the slopes, Elise forgot to take her skiing helmet off. It looks like she didn't trust Aran's driving in Les Gets.

On the way back to Geneva airport we drove though Geneva and I managed to get a photo of the UN building. Not sure what the three legged chair is about.

My best mate Dave who I go out mountain biking with in his wife's new ball gown! Just don't ask, I didn't want to. Each to their own, as long as he's happy, which it looks like he is. Anne's mum took the photo for me.

Did you know...

2008-03-03T20:37:00.005Z

That there are cars with more than two seats?

Well I found this out the other day, and I even went out and bought one today. I'm amazed that there are cars with such a big boot space as well. I was always under the impression that cars only had two seats, but this one has five! Now my mountain bike and snowboard can be moved around inside my car rather than on the outside. I can even stop riding my bike to Bath and back on Sunday mornings, as I can drive there and back with it now. :-)

I went to a car Supermarket (Motorhouse) to look at an Alfa Romeo 159 estate. It was a 200 mile round trip from Bristol. The car turned out to be a real lemon of a car. The interior had been stamped all over by kids, the bonnet didn't close properly and it had a dead flat battery. Even after connecting an external battery it still wouldn't start. All this from a car that was only 18 months old. Even worse was that Motorhouse wouldn't negotiate the price and offered me a rock bottom price for my car. I was quite disappointed with them and wouldn't go to one again for a car.

I eventually agreed a price on a 159 estate from Black & White near Newbury. They were all very helpful and gave me a good price for my car and the new car.

I think I'm going to miss my S2000, it has been the best car that I've ever owned. After three years of ownership there has never been anything to go wrong with it. I wonder if I'll be able to say the same of this new car? I'm convinced that when I drive it around the corner the wheels will fall off and the steering wheel come off in my hands. I'll have to get the RAC coverage where one of their vans follows you everywhere you go. I'm also going to have to take some lessons on reversing it as well, given that my cars for the past ten years have only had a small boot over my shoulder.

Mind you I do like the look of the 159, even for an estate.

Now how do I lower the top on this thing?