Long time no see...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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?