Mojo Working

Derwood has a track on the Mojo Magazine Cover Disk this month - good news.

The photo is of Pete, Rowan and the kite - on Dunwich Beach

Grimsby

After trips to Hartlepool and Castleford this summer, it was only a matter of time before Rowan and I got to Grimsby. The National Fishing Heritage Centre is about the deep sea fishing that was the lifeblood of Grimsby - it was a bit of a disapointment, but we still had a good day out.

In the town centre was this fountain - very pleasant: a similar idea for Castleford was rejected by the Council for fear that people would piss in it. Well if they can get away with it in Grimsby then anywhere is safe.

Brambles

The brambles in the garden are cropping well. The usual problem is "what can we do with all?" Blackberry crumble gets a bit wearing after a while. So this year I am making a bramble cordial which is going down very well with Rowan and her friends [we have not had a chance to drink it yet]

Monday we cycled to Bolton Percy and met up with Chris, Ted and family for lunch in the cafe - always a good activity.

The photo is of the Benjamin Britten memorial statue at Aldebrough - climbing on it is part of the experience.

Aldeburgh 3

Here are the happy three on the way back from the Italian restaurant to the hotel. Aldeburgh is just the right mix: no candy floss, not snooty.

Beach Volleyball

Rowan and I developed our own version of beach volleyball at Aldebrough [no bikinis, no sand, no net but more fun]. Explaining the rules to Danielle was difficult.

Aldeburgh 2

On the second day of our holiday, we met up at Dunwich with lots of family, including Steve and Jane who are en-route to a new job in the Seychelles, and Edward who is seen here looking to the sea. Rowan and Jane swam in the North Sea which is always a brave thing to do.

Aldeburgh 1

We have spent last week at
Aldeburgh in Suffolk where my mother kindly invited us to stay with her in a hotel for four days. It was great, very relaxing with the stony beach a hop skip and a jump from the hotel door.

Here is the hotel

New Photo 3

Here is another shot - still on the abstract side but a little more linear.

Flag Map

Rowan devised a project for herself this holiday - draw a map of the world with each country being filled in with the colours of its flag. I had to convince her that fitting in Liechenstein, Gambia etc would be too much, but she got pretty much everywhere else in. Here it is - sideways for some reason.

New Photos 2

I worried about yesterday's new photo being too normal. This one may be a bit too abstract. From my muse - Aberdovey Beach [can a beach be a muse?]

It is one of my new favorites.

New Photos 1

I am working on some of the photos from Wales for next year's exhibition. I am not sure if this will make the cut - could be too conventional - but it is pretty dramatic.

Athletics 3

And here is the finish of Rowan's 75m sprint.

There are some quicker girls in the other sprints - so she doesn't have it all her own way.

Athletics part deux

And here she is coming up to the finish and her win. Rowan went on to a sleepover at Frances', Danielle and I had a nice evening together.

The cycling at the Olympics just gets better and better - more screaming at the TV today. Rowan's favorite is Victoria Pendleton who goes in the final of the women's sprint tomorrow morning - fingers crossed.

Athletics part un

Friday we had the Greys round for lunch. Saturday we gorged on the cyclists triumph on the Olympics. Sunday Rowan was in her athletics league races. Her friend Frances accompanied us. After 200m of the 600m this was the situation [boys and girls run together.] Tune in tomorrow to see what happened at the finish.

Cas 2

The River Aire was pretty dramatic at Cas - the incessant rain in the Pennines all makes its way down here sooner or later.

Cas

When I did some work in Castleford a few years ago there was talk of a programme by Kevin McCloud [of

Grand Designsfame]
doing a programme on re-designing Castleford. I never heard any more of
it, even though it was very obvious that the town needed any bit of
help it could get.Then out of the blue the programmes emerged. The first one was shown last week

Big Town Plan. It was very inspiring and focused on a new bridge across the River Aire. So Rowan and I took the train to have a look at it. Two things stood out - it was fantastic and it was being used by lots of local people to walk on, look at the river etc - it seemed very successful.After that we walked into the town centre and got some food for a picnic from Marks & Sparks. Rowan is partial to their Sushi, so now came the acid test for Cas: would they have sushi? With some trepidation I asked the fearsome looking assistant. "Oh yes love its over there". Times are changing.

After the Race

And here is Rowan relaxing after her win. The days of either of us keeping up with her are long gone.

I try not to go on about the weather too much on the blog [many readers do not live in the UK and so are not obsessed by it] but just to let you know it has rained pretty much non stop for a week here [or it seems that way]. And this is summer.

Millenium Races

Each year there are running races by the river in York. Danielle does the 5K and improved on her time by a minute. Rowan not only won her one mile race in under 5 minutes but also managed to get Palmour mispelt in a new way to go on the list [this is the 115th version of the name]

CTC 4

The place we stayed at was an old RAF airfield from the war which is now the fire college, with people coming from all over the world

to train there. This is the plaque outside the base.

Press

If you look at the photo from the local press concerning the CTC rally you will see Rowan right behind the cake-cutters. All the children were very keen to get in the photo, the adults seemed keener on keeping dry.

Cooke

As always with holidays it is great to go away, but it is also great to come back home. We have spent the weekend re-grouping, chilling and watching the Olympics. We were all screaming as Nicole Cooke won the cycling - fantastic.
The photo is another of the great windsurfer.

Punch & Judy

Despite the rain the children were captivated by the Punch and Judy show. It was, of course, a cycling Punch and Judy man on a cyclable theatre.

Relations

Alison and Geoff drove over to see us at Moreton in Marsh, we all went to Ask for a pizza. It was great to see them. Today was our last day there - Rowan and I did a 43 mile ride which took in Chipping Norton and the Tews [classic Cotswold villages]. We were first to a pub in Wigginton where we had some great food - I told the landlady that there might be "a few more cyclists" coming for lunch. She nodded, probably thinking it unlikely. By the time we left it looked like about 50 at least would be visiting - I imagine she is still recovering.
The photo is of the birthday tea at an Indian style stately home - with rain.
I have added a few more photos for the past two weeks' posts, so scan back to see them.

CTC 3

The rides have been good all week, Rowan so far has racked up over 140 miles, there really is not stopping her on the hills. Yesterday we rode to Stratford Upon Avon on an old railway line, then had a lunch at our favourite restaraunt [Carluccio's] which made us all very happy after 5 days of Fire Service canteen food [think 20 years ago then twice as bad as that].

Rowan has made friends with Hannah and Ben and we keep meeting lots of interesting people. Good times.

CTC 2

The first CTC event, was a 38 mile ride that took in the Rollright Stones and Edge Hill. It was a really good route that reminded me just how beautiful the Cotswolds are, particularly the villages. There really is no other way to see them than on a bike, it is the perfect way of moving from one amazing place to another. We had lunch at Upton Hall, a National Trust place. Rowan rode really well and left us in her wake going up the hills [really]. The photo is of Elliot, a boy who rode with us one day, and put up with Rowan trying to beat him up all the hills

ctc 1

Saturday we arrived at the CTC event in Moreton in Marsh. We are staying in the Fire College with 500 other cyclists. As we walked into the canteen on the first night the average age and my heart both fell. The idea had been to ride with other families to give Rowan some riding companions - and the sea of white hair and lycra did not seem to fit the bill. But. We need not have worried - we soon found some great people and Rowan is cycling like Lance and has made some good new friends. We are all very happy now and enjoying it a lot

Tandem Memories

Twelve years ago Danielle and I entered a tandem road race. It was one lap around Lake Vrywyny in Wales. 12 miles of furious effort. Just when we were about to make contact with the leading group a tandem team fell off in front of us. This led to two reactions from the Palmour tandem. One of us said "Are you OK!" the other said "Get out of the way, we're coming through!". You choose who said which.
Anyway 12 years on and we stayed over at the Lake Vrywyny Hotel, it is a beautiful place, no doubt about it.

Windsurfing

Danielle and Rowan went to Bala to learn to windsurf. it was rainy and it was windy but they loved it and they both were successful at sailing the things. Big Success. Me I went a ride round the lake. Photos to follow

People of Harlech

We took the train to vist http://www.harlech.com/ Harlech Castle for the first time. It is a very impressive castle, well preserved, not too big and with an interesting history.

The photo is on the balcony at our hotel. This was our seventh year of staying at the same hotel which is pretty amazing all round.