Aberdovey 6

After a final cycle ride to Bird Rock [photo] we sadly set off home once more. It had been a great week with lovely weather, Rowan made her customary friend [Scott the golfer this year] and we all enjoyed it.

Aberdovey 5

We visited the Corris Craft Centre as usual, but this time Rowan persuaded Danielle to take her to the awful sounding King Arthur's Labyrinth. She loved it of course, so I got a walk in whilst they were down in the caves and we were all happy.
The photo is of the family on the beach.

Aberdovey 4

Our annual visit to the Talyllyn Railway was the usual joy. We walked around Nant Gwernol quarry and disused tramways then caught the train back. It was particularly good to see on engine driven by an all-female team: Rowan is talking of volunteering at some stage - time will tell.

Aberdovey 3

We took the train to Borth then walked along the cliff-top to Aberyswith where we got the train back to the hotel. It was a beautiful day and a great coast walk.

Aberdovey 2

Danielle had to work on a conference call on Monday morning, so Rowan and I had a walk along the beach into Aberdovey for our first day ritual. In the afternoon I cycled to Bird Rock for the first time [photo]. This is 7 miles or so inland but it used to be by the sea; Cormorants and Choughs still nest on it even though the sea has long.

Aberdovey 1

Off for our annual pilgrimage to Aberdovey in Wales. The weather was fantastic all week. The photo is of the beach - as can be seen it meets my requirement of having at least a 100 metre exclusion zone - more like half a mile.

Leaf Mould

I have never lived anywhere long enough before to actually make leaf mould. The books say things like "leave for five years then gently turn and leave until your grandchildrenvisit". Anyway this year the first Hob Moor Leaf Mould emerged and it is great - hard to believe that leafs can turn into soily stuff. Just have to wait another five years now.

Osprey

One of the highlights of the Scotland trip fpr me was seeing an Osprey fishing in the evening at Kenmore. It was a great sight to see it pluck a pretty big fish from the River Tay where it leaves the loch. The only down-side was that Danielle + Rowan were back in the hotel

Hair

The photo is of lush Perthshire. Today Rowan and Danielle went to Leeds to get Rowan's hair cut and done. I went a ride to Knaresborough: great route with a perfect apple pie at a cafe by the river.

Harry Potter

Our train back from Pitlochry [photo] went well - direct to York. It was the morning of the release of the last Harry Potter book. This lead to two features of the journey. Firstly Rowan's anxiety that the postman would not have been able to fit her copy through the letter box - he could. Secondly there were at least 200 people reading the book on the journey: a real example of modern communal experience.
Rowan finished the book on Wednesday, the tardy parents are still 200 pages off the end.

Route 7 Day 5

The weather was good once again today. The ride took us through the rich lush Perthshire lands from Kenmore to Pitlochry. Another good ride, with Pitlochry seeming like Blackpool compared to the sparsely populated land we had passed through.
The photo of Kenmore has a couple of deliberate mistakes in it - anyone spot them?

Route 7 Day 4

This was the best day of cycling. The Sustrans route up Glen Ogle [photo] was fantastic: an old railway line climbs up the pass [compared by Queen Victoria to the Khyber Pass - but with worse food no doubt - ] then drops to Killin where we went to the folklore museum that was great. We finished the day by cycling the length of Loch Tay and staying at Kenmore.

Route 7 Day 3

This day involved a pretty tough climb through the Queen Elizabeth Forest, followed by this dramatic cycle track by a loch into Callander where we went to a fantastic Toy Museum

that cheered Rowan up after a pretty hard morning. We finished up at Lochearnhead in a hotel that had a Rowan Bar, so all's well in the end.

Route 7 Day 2

Day Two of our ride took us from Balloch to Aberfoyle where we shared a B&B with a French family. The ride was great, including this old rail viaduct that has been made into a cycle path. Behind us sheep were being driven across the river by the farmer. Aberfoyle is definitely the Highlands, it felt good to be getting to the mountains. Once more the rain held off.

Route 7 Day 1

Our family holiday [part one] was a six day cycle ride in Scotland. We followed the Sustrans Route 7 from Glasgow to Pitlochry. We used our free GNER tickets to get to Glasgow with the bikes - this went fine. Then the first day took us by the Clyde to the foot of Loch Lomond at Balloch where we had a humble and great B&B. It was 20 mile ride which was fine for the afternoon. With about 1/2 mile to go it started to rain "Shall we shelter?" say I. "You're joking!" came the combined reply: I must be training them right.
The photo is of a steam boat outside the Glasgow Science Museum

Le Weekend

We had a busy last weekend. Rob Cath and Lilly [the last two on the photo] came up on the Friday, then Kelly stayed for the rest of the weekend. Great to be able to offer guests the extension, and great to see everyone. We did a lot, eating at Vanilla Black and Betty's [which went down well with all] then taking Rowan to her first competitive triathlon in pouring rain. She did really well and came 6th girl.

Alnwick

Last week Rowan and I took the train to Alnmouth station, walked on a great cross country path to Alnwick, then looked around the gardens there - it is a really impressive place. On the way back we stopped off at a very sunny Newcastle and had a look around the Millennium bridge and the Sage.

Brownie Princess

Rowan was struggling with her Brownie party where she had to go as a princess [not her natural style] until we remembered her Indian suit that she last wore at a wedding. We just about squeezed her into it and it proved fit for purpose

Barry Trotter

Last photo from le Tour - this is the start house with Nelson looking down. Rowan has had a busy social start to her holiday. Playing with friend Kiri on Tuesday, then going round to Clara's yesterday - this involved seeing the new Harry Potter film which went down well.

The Light

I spotted the light on this church on the Euston Road on Saturday. It was the first day of the holidays on Monday, so Rowan and I went to our traditional haunt - the National Railway Museum and had a great time. I had a great game of badminton with Edward, my first workout since doing my back the other week. The chiropractor has got it nicely back in place [famous last words]

Website

We have a new Friends of Hob Moor Website

http://www.friendsofhobmoor.org.uk/

which David and Peter have revamped. It has got quite a lot of interest going already.
The photo is of spectators at le Tour in London.

Tour de Bolton Percy

The photo is of Paul, Sarah and Markus at le Tour. Sunday Rowan and I cycled to the cafe at Bolton Percy, she on her racing bike: basically I struggle to keep up with her on the hills now.

Le Tour

I went down to London on Saturday for the prologue to of Tour de France. I met up with niece Sarah and Markus and friend Paul at the Commonwealth club where we had a peaceful and cool beer before braving the crowds. It was packed but we managed to get a great spot on the barriers 20 metres from the start. Paul and I stayed there whilst the others walked on to Hyde Park. It was a great day.
Last time the Tour was in the UK I went down to Brighton with Mark and Rob to watch Chris Boardman nearly win the stage. On the way back we had to keep ringing home to see if Mark's twins were on the way or not. 13 years on and Mark could not make it to watch the Tour because he was taking one of those twins to an audition for something musical. So it goes.
The photo is of Dave Zabrieski, the US champion. I was hoping he could win, so that the headlines could read "Zabriekski makes his Point" but luckily he was on a bad day.

Jamming

Friend Adrian came round for pizza, crumble and a jam session. He is a semi-pro jazz pianist, so he used our piano in the extension and I played guitar. He is a very good player, so he did me the honour of playing with me. It was great to be playing again: the polished play of a jazz player is never going to come to me but my playing made a "contrast" with Adrian's. Good stuff.

Golf

Today is Rowan's last day at school. The holidays start here. Our cycling trip to Montrose had to be re-scheduled to the Highlands once I discovered that the Open Golf championship was taking place at Carnoustie the exact time we were due to be there. The thought of no accommodation and many many 4x4s and their occupants meant a change of route was inevitable.
The photo is of the Lady of Goole.

Shark Basking

Rowan has just completed a project on the Basking Shark so we have all got into learning about them. I would love to see one cruising around Morecambe Bay some day.
Another Goolish shot - the church was built in such an imposing position so that ships would be impressed when they arrived in the dock.

Goole

Danielle is a fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and today we went on a trip to the Goole Maritime Museum . Goole, in South Yorkshire, is the most inland port in the UK, and still an active going concern which was a bit of a shock. It was a great trip, really interesting and a chance to meet some interesting people. Great day.
The photo is of a device used for lifting coal barges [tom puddings] up and emptying them into coal boats.

Lunch and Fairfield

On Sundays Rowan goes swimming at 9 o'clock. This week her friend Clara was there and Rowan was invited for lunch and a play. We were particularly pleased as we had all been invited for lunch at Margaret & Alistair's, this meant we could have a good lunch without worrying about Rowan being bored as the only child there. All were happy with the arrangement. Ginny and another Margaret were there as well and the food was great. Our hosts had bought a large version of my photo Fairfield and it was good to see it in its new location: it is one of those images that really benefits from being big-scale.

Orienteering

Rowan has really enjoyed doing Orienteering this year at school. She got a silver medal for coming second girl in the York district over a series of six events. I remember doing it at prep school for a while and quite liking it. I had to write home for a Silva compass, only to receive a cute little silver compass not fit for purpose: my spelling was never that bad.
The photo is from the swamplands of Yorkshire

Cycling

Sometimes thing just go right. Saturday the forecast was for rain, but I had some time for a ride [whilst Danielle and Rowan went swimming]. So I headed off anyway, through the Howardian Hills to Northallerton. It was a great ride, and the rain kept off all the way until I reached the station at Northallerton where I got the train back. The photo is of Coxwold, one of the villages on the route.

Cabinet

It is defintely a sign of the ageing process: one friend in the Cabinet has stood down, another has been pushed down, and the average age of the new one is 49 - my age. I worked with one of the new young guns in Islington and Danielle has worked with 3 or 4 of the new ones, but overall it feels like even political power is getting younger than me... so it goes.

The photo is of Liverpool

Elelphant

Rowan is reading another one of my father's old books. This one is called the Life Story of The Elephant. My father got it as a math's prize when he was 9 [Rowan's age now]. He was at boarding school then, the school motto was "Iron sharpeneth iron" which sounds ominous but probably appropriate for its culture.

The photo is of a sign we saw at the racecourse when we went to the cycle rally. It seems like a band-name in waiting to me.

Sir

The photo is of the royal seal marking the granting of a knighthood to my great uncle Sir Charles Palmour. Not quite sure what happened to us after that... He was granted his knighthood on 18th May 1946 and according to family legend "married a show-girl" this sounds somewhat euphemistic to me.

Rain Stopped Play

I got my accounts done today - somehow despite my best intentions it almost always ends up being whilst Wimbledon is on - then met a York-bound Danielle for lunch at the NRM. She had been due in London but the trains were spouted so after a coffee with some other refugees she came back home.
In the NRM I had a chance to have a look around the lesser-seen exhibits and found these three staff busy renovating one of them. They were very pleased to be photographed doing it - none of the paranoia of doubt that I encountered in the Baltic art gallery in Gateshead, where they would not let me photograph a cleaner's mop, let alone staff at work

Water

It has rained so hard over the last week or so that the football pitch next door is ready for water polo. The Knavesmire is flooding over too.

The photo is from the lakes at Easter.

Bits and pieces

Danielle and I sat down and watched on TV the Arctic Monkeys at Glastonbury on Friday night. They were fantastic: not the best way to attend the festival but better than nothing.
Sunday saw Rowan at the dreadful Flamingo Land [the theme park with the worst food in the UK according to a survey: their response? "It's what kids like"] which she loved, I was on the Friends of Hob Moor stand at the local event in our park, and Danielle was running 10K. We are all back together now , looking forward to eating spinach from the garden in a pizza.
The photo is of Liverpool

CTC Rally

We made our annual visit to the CTC York Rally today. The event has been going since 1945, and has a slightly sad feel about it nowadays: it belongs to the days of cycle club fellowship and self sufficiency that are long gone. It is one of the few places where I can go and still lower the average age [Quaker meeting being another]. Nevertheless we all like it, and we got some cycle shoes for Rowan and a coat for Danielle.

The photo is a portrait I have done for the cover of this month's Quakevine.

Coaching & Mentoring

I met up with a client yesterday and we have agreed that I will develop a training programme for Coaching & Mentoring in the autumn. This is really good news.
On the way I spotted this billboard. "The internet is now minow" At first I thought it was some clever-clever slogan that I was immune to: then I realised it was pasted up wrong, they had the wrong bits of poster but just stuck it up anyway... Unless it is so clever that it is how it is meant to be - it got me to photograph it after all.

Mosaic

Danielle's mosaic skills - honed in the mean streets of Islington at Jocasta Innes - have been on hold for the past nine years or so [I wonder why?], but re-emerged this weekend in the crucial setting of the bottom of the loo: the only way is up. I think it looks great.

Garden news

The two happy runners show their numbers.
The incessant rain over the last week or so has meant that the veg have really kicked in. The peas have produced their first mange-tout, the beans and beetroot are looking healthy and the perennial rocket is still eat-able. The gooseberries have cropped well [2 fools and a crumble so far] too.

Reading Matters

The photo is of Rowan's race setting off at Castle Howard: as you can see the setting is a bit different to your average running track.
I have just finished reading

Being Dead

by Jim Crace: it is a good book, very different to anything else I have read but worth it. I might inflict it upon Book Group when it is my time to choose.

Castle Howard

This is a shot of the house at Castle Howard looming above the lake. It is an amazing estate, so massive in scale with vistas, and monuments stretching over miles and miles.

Run run run

Danielle ran a 10k race at Castle Howard today. It was her first real race since breaking her leg in January. It went well, and she felt no ill effects in her leg, so that is really good news. Rowan also ran, in the 1k kids dash - she did well too. After yesterday's exertions I sat and drank coffee and watched - I could get used to that.
Photo is of the church in Dufton in the Eden Valley

Bike Ride

Whilst Rowan was playing with Rosie, Danielle was having a tough governors meeting at The Mount School, I rode the

Great Yorkshire Bike Ride from Wetherby to Filey [72 miles] with Dave and David. Given that this time last week I could barley walk with my back problems, I was pretty pleased to be able to ride it. I had one session with Hans the Danish chiropractor and felt confident enough to do the ride. It is a great route, and really well organised, with about 2000 riders. It took us under 6 hours, so we were pretty pleased. David's wife Jenny drove out to meet us and drive us back. A great day.

Another photo from the Pennine Cycle Way.

Stavningskontrollen ar klar

In theory the internet is logical. So how come when I log onto my blog software today it all comes up in Sweedish? Makes a change - the Swedish for "view blog" is "visa blogg" - I would never have known that otherwise. Mind you it could be Norweigan. As for the spellcheck - I have got six words right.

I met up with friend Wendy today in London. She has just turned 60 and is in great shape. As I near 50 it is good to collect people at the next milestone who seem happy to be there, takes the pressure off.

Drumming and Poetry

I did some photos today for Katie at her school in Northouram near Halifax. It was art and science week so there was plenty going on including African drumming and Poetry being read by Valerie Bloom whom the kids loved. During the drumming it did seem a shame that photography cannot capture sound.
The photo is of a graveyard in Northumberland

Motor Racing?

When I was little I used to love motor-racing [strange but true] and my hero was a typically left field driver called Jo Siffert who was never famous. Anyway I was looking through my fathers stamp albums with Rowan when I found a Swiss stamp on a letter from Siffert garages in Frieberg. It was hand written and a very polite reply to my schoolboy request for a photo. Nowadays each driver has, I am sure, a whole PR operation to deal with such things - then it was just the guy's brother answering letters in free time at the garage.
The photo is of Ted and Dave heading for one of the many fords in Northumberland.

Black Beauty

I bought home some books from Mother's, in anticipation of her move to Ro & Pete's. One of them was a copy of Black Beauty that had been given to my father when he was 6, in 1928. Rowan is reading it with much delight - I think she likes the book itself [plenty of lovely illustrations], the story and the fact that it was my daddy's.
Cycling through Northumberland there were plenty of impressive rivers. This is the River Rede

America

We have been watching America by Alistair Cooke on rented DVD. It is a great watch. Although over 30 years old it is very relevant and full of interest. It is really a series of lectures with the great man standing in various locations across the States to deliver them.
The Hawthorne was in full bloom on our Pennine trip.

Back for more

I drove mother back down to Oxford then returned today. We were due to go to a swanky party at Canary Wharf at the weekend, but my back went out today so we have had to blow it out - this is a big disappointment.

The photo is of grass upon the moors.

The Damned United

At book group last night we discussed

The Damned United

by David Peace. Great discussion, even those of the group who know nothing of football, found it written in a compelling style.

The photo is of High Cup Nick looming above the Eden valley pasture.

Wark Forest

The cycleway through the Wark Forest [part of Kielder] was the most isolated part of the ride. Road bikes just about did on the surface, but it was a little hairy a couple of times and Dave managed a puncture.

Pennine Cycle Way day 3

The next day it is once more lovely weather with the added bonus of a tailwind. The back road takes us over Cheviot foothills via a number of fords and tracks until we drop down to the small market town of Wooler.
The tail wind increases as we take a B road all the way to Berwick upon Tweed. There is nothing quite like pushing a big gear on a good road effortlessly: it does not happen often so we make the most of it and hit Berwick by 11 o'clock. The usual angst with the trains follows but we get home by 2.
The Pennine Cycleway is a great route that deserves to be more popular, but which is fine how it is. We now just need to ride the section from Clapham to Appleby, which is a good days ride, to complete it.
The photo is of the Pennines as we set off from Appleby in perfect weather.

Pennine Cycle Way day 2

Saturday morning made for perfect cycling through the Kielder and Wark forest. They are deserted and strangely beautiful as the morning mist lifts to reveal the seemingly endless acres of conifers rolling to the distance. At Bellingham we have a snack before a hilly ride to the Impromptu cycling cafe in Elsdon. This is an unlikely location for a cyclists cafe, a small pretty village high in the Pennines, but it has a rich cycling heritage, and the scrambled egg is spot on.
We head on through the border country of Northumberland. There are rolling hills with the higher Cheviot peeks behind. People are thin on the ground around here, but there is plenty of livestock grazing the pasture. We get to our B&B, booked on line, and Ted and I walk into Ingram to look around. On the moors today we have seen Oyster catchers and Curlew, now we see a Blackcap by the river.
The rooms and our meal are again excellent: B&B has really moved on over the last 20 years, and internet booking has made it possible to book ahead at a specific place if you want.

Pennine Cycleway Pt 2

Dave. Ted and I setoff on part two of our Pennine cycle trip. Time had obviously dimmed their memories: they were quite keen despite vowing last year never to accept another of my "Do you fancy coming on a bike eide? ... it won't be hard..." innvitations.

Emma dropped us off at Appleby, which was preparing for the gypsy horse fair. The weather was perfect as we tail-winded up the Eden valley with its beautiful red sandstone villages, Cross Fell and High Cup Nick looming to our right, reminding us of the Pennines to come.

At Memerby the ascent of Hartside began. A long drag to 600metres, it is made perfect by the cafe at the top. We all sat outside and had vegetable lasagne [and chips] and enjoy the moment of feeling satisfied to have cycled up and guitily smug when looking at the motorists around us.

After Hartside the descent to Alston is fast, and a relief. The rain follows us to Haltwhistle where it stops. The route is great - we pass Robinwood, where Rowan did her activity trip last week. Then it is up across Hadrians Wall at Twice Brewed, to our fantastic B&B, where I have this internet access for free.