Watch out for Sheep Farmers!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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)!

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.

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.