Wine Tasting

We had a wine tasting at home yesterday, Carl & Jill are staying here and Peter & Pushpa came as well. It was "free" with the inevitability of us buying some wine. Really good fun, and some good wine too.

The CTC cycle rally at York has looked to be on its  last legs for years now, and sadly this year they have had to cancel it. It started after the war as a way for cyclists to convene again after the disruption of the conflict on people's lives. Very sad to see it go but a sign of the times.

The photo is of a strange monster found lurking in the Bramham swamps.

News

Friends Paul and Kelly came round for lunch last week. Then Rowan and I walked with Lily and Chris in the woods yesterday, and today we have Carl, Jill and Cecilia coming to stay. So it has been busy.
Greg and I have made a first stab at recording our musical efforts; a re-recording of my classic "Taking A Mop To The Sea". Worry not I will SoundCloud it once it is finished.

The photo is of a strange tree growth at Bramham

Walking and Cycling

The woods at Bramham really are idyllic. We all three walked there on Bank Holiday Monday.
On the Sunday I did the Pateley Bridge ride that I first did a few years ago and have been meaning to revisit ever since.
It starts by following the river up to Masham and then going over the tops to Lofthouse above Pateley Bridge. The return is through Ripley and Knaresborough. It is a ride with everything, long but rewarding.

DoE 2

One of Rowan's fellow campers was a Russian girl who had a good eye for a photo. This shot captures them striding out on their trek.

Hob Moor

The Friends of Hob Moor had a photography competition for shots of the Moor which I judged for them. In the under 16s category there was one shot that was so good, I went out to try and get a similar shot. Here it is, of the Minster looming over the Moor.

DofE

Rowan is just back from her first Duke of Edinburgh award camping / walking / surviving trip. It all went well, pouring rain, bulls in field, tired companions on day one, then lovely weather today and first back to base.
This is the before picture.

Good Riding

Sunday was a perfect weather day for cycling, so I rode up to White Horse Bank,then through the North York Moors, Castle Howard and back to York. 150km of great riding. If you click on View Details below it might show you more.

Mary RIP

Mary Myers was a Sheffield Quaker who I had done some work with in Southend over the last year. A retired psychiatrist she continued to do some consultancy with Alder [who I also do some work for]. She was a marvellous work colleague, very sharp and good fun.
So we were all very surprised and sad to hear of her death this week following a stroke and coma, she had been in fine form. Not a bad way to go.
She will be missed.

Eurovision

The three of us watched Eurovision on Saturday night. A great evening was had by all. Amazingly one song was actually quite good; Norway of course [famous for "nulle pointe"] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjm-kCOMaPY

Brooke's Market

It is not often that I come across a hidden bit of London that I have walked through, but last week I found Brooke's Market off of Grays Inn Road with these pollarded trees looking European and dramatic.
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/738853

Sparrow's Nest

Mr Sparrow to Mrs Sparrow
"I have found this perfect place for a nest. A cover from the rain, plenty of food nearby that gets replenished before it runs out"
Mrs Sparrow
"So how come no one else has nested there?"

The answer is that it's a bird feeder, not a nesting box. Not anymore though ...

Southend Staircase

Also in Southend is this beautiful staircase with strange inset windows.

Super Southend

I was down in Southend again for work last week. I have developed a bit of a soft spot for the place and the people I have been working with. This statue is outside the Civic Centre and I like it very much.
After nephew Will's radio show last year, friend Derwood in California now has a show on 

 http://transcendentalmusic.org/radio

I listened to the first show and it was great.

Nesting News

We have Mistle Thrushes and Song Thrushes nesting in the garden this year. This is a Song Thrush having a nice bath.

Spring

Spring is finally coming to the Wolds where green is splashed about the trees. This shot is on Open Access land at Towthorpe.
Question: What did Labour ever do for us?
Answer: The Right To Roam.
A marvellous legacy in a time of constricting freedoms.

Marathon

Here is a photo of Danielle in her sprint to the finish line, with her time beneath. Shame about the Shane McGowan lookalike trundling on behind ...

Bluebells

I took Rowan to the Bluebell wood at Bramham. She insisted on keeping her hood up, so here is the photo!

Half Marathon

Danielle ran her half marathon in Leeds yesterday. Big event, with 2000 runners. She did a new personal best and raised plenty of money for the Quaker cause she was supporting - thankyou everyone.

Garden Time

Rowan was at an athletics meeting for school yesterday [she won the high jump], so Danielle and I did some more work in the garden. It is really coming on again after a couple of fallow years.

Bramham Woods

More Woods

Through the woods the path reaches Hetchell Woods is a magical place with these Sandstone crags above the river and disused railway line.

Bramham

There are some deciduous woods near Bramham, mid way between York and Leeds that are a real delight. I walked the dog there yesterday for a few hours, Red Kites above and just three people. The bluebells are out, the leaves getting there and everything feels fresh for the summer. I do like a good pathway, and this shot shows it well, I hope you can make out the shimmering of the bluebells amidst the green.

Rowing

Greg and Maxine saw Danielle in her winning row last week, and here is the photo to prove it! It is winter again today after last weekend [aka summer].

My Shoe

Rowan took this photo of Milo using my shoe as a pillow.

A Ride Too Far

York Quakers are in the process of re-developing part of the Meeting House, to make it more accessible and fit for purpose; the rooms are let out to countless groups during the course of the week.
Danielle is part of the committee charged with raising the money, and is running a sponsored half marathon. We are also looking at the possibility of having a sponsored bike ride. With this in mind I plotted a route connecting the five Quaker meeting houses in the administrative area [3 in York, Thirsk and Harrogate] and rode it on Sunday. It involved some brilliant off-road sections but came in at 130km which is a bit too long for people. We shall have to rethink - great ride though.

On the ride I stopped, as I often do, at the obelisk that marks the Battle of Marston Moor; a poignant place.
I got chatting to a man on a motorbike who was taking part in Round Britain Rally http://www.roundbritainrally.co.uk/ which was something I had never heard of but which sounded fun. A bit like geo-caching on Nortons I think.

Marston Moor

A Novice No Longer

Danielle was rowing in a regatta again on Saturday, and her eight won. She even got a prize [an engraved cut  glass whisky glass] and is now officially a novice no longer.
In the evening we went to Sue and Eddy's for a meal, very pleased to see Patrick and Julia there too, and some people new to us [who in typical York style seemed to know lots of people we know too]. He is a film director who made Brassed Off amongst others - and is working on one on Northern Soul; all very impressive.

Giro!

Today the Giro starts. Achille, the Italian disabled man who I worked with in Oxford when I left Liverpool introduced me to the charms of the Giro D'Italia [Tour of Italy]. I have always followed it since. In the 80s this involved listening to French radio reports of the day's stage on very crackly am broadcasts. Then there might be a snippet in the paper the next day with the results on. To get up to speed I would buy a copy of the Gazzetta dello Sport in Soho and find the full results [translating the text was a lot less easy than doing the same from the French in L'Equipe]. Then Andy Hampston won [an American] then Stephen Roche and the coverage started to get a bit better. Now it is all over the TV, so I no longer rely on still photos of the race to capture its atmosphere; something has been lost.
This year Cavendish has already won a stage, and Wiggins is a favourite so even the BBC have dragged their parochial selves into giving the results.

The photo is of Gianni Bugno, a Giro winner in 1990, that I took just after he had won the World Championships in Stuttgart in 1991 - I was wandering around behind the stands and there he was with gold around his neck. I think his weariness contrasts with the joy and pride of those around.

Bunhill Fields

In London last week I walked from Liverpool Street to Kings Cross on a lovely sunny evening. I sat for a while in Bunhill Fields off City Road. This was the non-conformist burial ground [a Quaker Meeting house is nearby] which I discovered when I first moved to London. Some of the more famous residents have been given a spruce up and made more visible - here is William Blake's stone.

Peter Scott

Another shot from the London Wetlands Centre. This is a statue of Peter Scott http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Scott who set up Slimbridge.

Walking on Hob Moor we have developed our own language to identify the various people we come across, and their dogs.

There is Slow Lady who walks very slowly with the one dog that Milo has sworn as an enemy on a lead. We have to avoid by about 100 metres to avoid any scrapping [the dogs, not us]. She has the ability to stand at strategic spots with her dog meaning we must construct elaborate detours.

Then there is Treat Man, who always gives Milo a treat, and whose dog, a black Labrador, is Rowan's favourite on the Moor. He is a fellow bird watcher [the man not the dog], and told me he had seen an Oystercatcher flying over the Moor last week - another first for the list.

Finally Posh Hat Lady, has a strange dog and is very friendly.