Each year (since 2002) I have sent out a Christmas letter to certain friends (especially those whom we don’t see too often) to update them with what’s happened in our lives. I’m aware that this is a controversial move: such letters are often the subject of jokes on TV panel shows where a parody of […]
Monday 21st August 2023 Today’s trip was a Veloviewer tile-gathering expedition once more. I’d originally planned to go to Ingleton, but for some reason, the hostel there was quite expensive for the days I wanted. Of course, the term ‘expensive’ is relative: the bill for two nights’ accommodation was £58, whereas the YHA at Hathersage […]
I’ve been disillusioned with Facebook for some years now, but I feel unable to delete the app since it still holds many happy memories and details and contacts of several friends with whom I’d have no other easy contact. I now get very frustrated with all the adverts and posts from people I don’t know […]
Sunday 23rd July 2023 Yesterday I was having a conversation with friends about people with peculiar hobbies. They really couldn’t understand the motivation of bird watchers or train spotters but I kept quiet since I can boast my own very strange hobby: that of collecting Veloviewer explorer tiles. Regular readers will know what I’m talking […]
I was very lucky with the weather for the annual NSPCC Liverpool-Chester-Liverpool Charity ride today. It was a bit breezy, but stayed dry (for me at least). I signed up because I wanted to cycle through the Mersey Tunnel, but now I’ve done it, I won’t be doing it again. I don’t really like organised […]
Friday 16th June I got into serious cycling through the support and encouragement of a lovely gent who lived near me when I was a child and saw my embryonic interest in the sport. Ted Kelly was born in Swansea in 1908 and when in his late twenties, he cycled up to Lancashire to find […]
8th – 9th June 2023 Thursday 8th June A proper cycling tour had to be cancelled last month for various reasons, so this micro-tour was planned as a slight compensation. Although short, it was very hilly, and I was glad that I had taken the opportunity to do a fair bit of climbing as preparation […]
Thursday 1st June What’s the phrase, ‘The more things change, the more they stay the same’? Well, my regular cat (for cat-sitting duties) has moved house (with his Mum & Dad) and now lives near Sheffield, but the change of venue doesn’t alter much for me. It simply means that I have a new base […]
Tuesday 23rd May The last time I completed this journey it was about 10 -15 degrees cooler and my fingers never really thawed out until I was in Liverpool. Today it’s much more pleasant, with a light breeze with sunny intervals. I’m repeating the trip to the Trafford Hall youth hostel near Chester simply because […]
Tuesday 16th May I parked the car this morning at a small nature reserve a few miles outside Chesterfield, a town I’ve only ever driven past perhaps once before. Today’s cycle route went into the town to have a look at the crooked spire on the church, which is much more spectacular than the photos […]