Just by the wall Layla met a new friend, Bradley the English Pointer. Lovely dog.
Monday, July 31, 2023
Sunday, July 30, 2023
Waterton Wall
Thursday, July 27, 2023
Wednesday, July 26, 2023
Archive Travel
Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Archive Cycling
Monday, July 24, 2023
Summer in the City
Sunday, July 23, 2023
From the Archives
Saturday, July 22, 2023
Early Harvest 2
Friday, July 21, 2023
Ridgeway Trip 6
I finished the Ridgeway at Streatley, then next morning rode up via Abingdon to Oxford where I got the train back to York.
Thursday, July 20, 2023
Early Harvest 1
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Ridgeway Trip 5
Tuesday, July 18, 2023
Hey DJ
Rowan went to a club in Hackney at the weekend, where her friend was doing her first DJ set. Rowan took the picture - pretty cool I'd say.
Monday, July 17, 2023
Ridgeway Trip 4
The morning did its best to be miserable, rain, traffic, the army shutting Salisbury Plain for the day, getting lost on a new retail-hell park. But I was fine, the day cleared and the ride across the Wans Dyke on to Silbury Hill and Avebury was great. Then up onto the ridge to Barbury Castle, and finally to a bizarre hotel up on the downs above Swindon, that used to be an RAF hospital.
It is hard to get a good shot of the stones at Avebury. Having a main road through the middle of the circle does not help. But I am pleased with this shot, gets a bit of the majesty and loneliness of the site across.
Sunday, July 16, 2023
Interesting Weekend
We set off Friday lunchtime for Worcester to celebrate a friend's 60th with 70 people on a glamp site. Trouble was Danielle's dental appointment in the morning led to her having her second wisdom tooth out. We got as far as south of Sheffield when we decided it was daft to go camping with a bleeding mouth and instructions not to do anything energetic. So we came home; it looked a fantastic event too!
Then Sunday morning I was mowing the lawn (natch) when I felt my back go. A good few years since the last time, but unmistakeably it had gone into spasm as per many times before.
So I think we shall put this weekend down, as part of the ageing process (POTAP), like so many other things.
In between all that friends Paul, Justin and Andy came round to watch the Joux Plane stage of the Tour, accompanied by beer and Ukranian potato cakes. It was a cracker.
Here is Justin on his Moulton bike.
Saturday, July 15, 2023
Ridgeway Trip 3
Thursday, July 13, 2023
Ridgeway Trip 2
The first day on the route proper, sometimes on back roads, sometimes on holloway tracks like this on. I passed hill forts and dikes, amazing views, favourable wind, but 1400 metres of climbing; all together, a big day. Arrived at Iwerne Minster and stayed at pub night. The bad news, it was steak night. The good news, they did tuna which was delicious.
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
Ridgeway Trip 1
45 years ago I walked and wild camped with my girlfriend Sue along the Ridgeway from Streetly, on the Thames between Oxford and Reading, to Avebury and then on other ridge routes across Salisbury Plain through Dorset to Hod Hill near Blandford Forum. It was a great trip (albeit we did not really know what we were doing) and I had always wanted to complete the ancient route to Axmouth on the coast where the chalk gives way to the red Devon sandstone. The fact that this route has been in existance for several thousand years is amazing enough, the fact that it can still be traced and experienced together with very many amazing sites (Avebury, Stonehenge etc) is also amazing.
So with a free week I packed the bike, booked accommodation and took the train to Exeter from where I cycled to the sea at Exmouth, then along the coast to Seaton. It was a route that the French would describe as "tres accidentée" meaning very hilly. I was all set to start the route the next day.
Looking east from Sidmouth. In the foreground the sandstone cliffs, in the distance the white chalk cliffs of Dorset.Monday, July 10, 2023
In the Blood
Danielle was down in London at the weekend for a Quaker meeting and to remember her friend Gwen, who died earlier this year, with other friends. Rowan continues to show her creative side when taking photos.