Thursday 9th November 2023 I’m back in Trafford Hall, a hostel near Chester, and I’ve just realised that it’s my fourth visit in twelve months. I first came in December last year when it was very cold going out to catch the ferry at Liverpool: the crossing was barely long enough for my hands to […]
Tuesday 17th October 2023. I haven’t cycled much in the Lake District. I’ve done a little bit in the Northern Lakes and I once did a sportive which started in Grasmere and meandered through the Grizedale Forest to Cartmel. The sportive doesn’t appear on my stats since for some reason the Garmin failed to record […]
Sunday 10th September 2023 Several years ago (in 1991) I was looking to buy a car and an Austin Montego was on my shopping list. The marketing for the diesel version played heavily on its excellent fuel economy; which was stated as being over 56 mpg which was remarkable for quite a large family saloon […]
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 […]