Second day - 5 in goal / Rain on the Third Day

The second day saw 5 in goal which was a 50km race to anywhere. A few landed 5k short one of which was Gordon. It was the later guys that made it but all said if they were 20 mins later they would have had a cloud street to follow!

3rd day and we have thunder storms this morning and rain showers forecast all day so it is canned so it’s a sightseeing day. Doris and I went to Clun to the Green Man Festival ~ had a pint, a fresh pastie from the local butcher, a watch of 2 guys trying to kill each other with swords and a walk round the castle ruins.

second day and we race 50k to any where ~ Well, some do

2-3hours of soaring then the sun tries to get out and I go with a 1-up and land 14.5k from takeoff. The task was a race to 50k. The others flew over my head 20mins later and then a street set up from the hill for a long way. Not flown for 6 months so it was good to be off the ground.

The task will be done, I’m sure! Rain forecast for tomorrow.

Doris has just arrived to collect me – my very efficient ‘driver’ along with the hellp of tom tom!

Sent from my Nokia N95

try again!

Union of south africa steaming into pickering station on the north yorkshire moors railway. Taken with n95 a few weeks ago on my bike ride through the moors national park and the stokesley tt which i will blog on later when i get my gps strapped on.

test from n95. Comp starts tomorrow

A quick test from my phone to see if all works well as i aint done it before. We have the first round of the british open comp tomorrow which is a 5day comp based near the long mynd and is cat 2 so maybe a few wr points for some. If we fly that is?

Happy 'Flu' Year

Happy New Year to all our friends and family.

Caroline and I spent the New Year with four of our friends (The Daley's & Stewie and Patti) in a lovely little cottage overlooking the sea in Whitby, North Yorkshire – not far from the 'famous' Fortune's Kipper shop! Waking up to the sound of the sea every morning was therapeutic.

As well as 'Kippers' Whitby is also famous for the 18th Century explorer and voyager Captain James Cook who sailed in the Bark Endeavour from Whitby. And let's not forget Dracula!!!!

Seems (nearly) everyone we know has suffered this Christmas/New Year with the flu bug that seems to be at epidemic heights. Caroline had it over Christmas and passed it on to me for New Year! This is only time I’ve been ill this year and needed to take sick leave from work which I’m pretty annoyed about. I was simply not well enough to travel home and so as Caroline had to be back at work she had to catch the bus home alone ~ and on her birthday!

Great start to the New Year!



YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY OF THE PHOTOS TO MAKE THEM BIGGER!

Love Is?




Alaska 16990 miles in this direction


Little Ringed Plover (I think)

This little fella had its legs bound with fishing line so it had to hop everywhere - so cruel - fishing is a cruel and boring sport


The Kipper Shed

Actually there are no Kippers left in the North Sea these Kippers came from elsewhere (Norway, I think). Its only a matter of time before we rape the seas so much that they will become watery deserts with just the minimal of life


Walking up the 199 steps to St Mary’s Church and the ruins of St Hilda’s Abbey. The churchyard gave Bram Stoker the inspiration to write his world famous book – Dracula.




Dracula's children come out to play


We stayed in Nan's Cottage on Henrietta Street - fourth in from the left


Henrietta Street – a little further down from Nan’s Cottage


The fog horn - now silenced forever due to modern navigational aids


Old Glory the only working steam bus in the world - it runs on coal, water and a lot of love


Captain James Cook gets festive


The wind and the waves get up and the fishermen are stuck in the port


Wrapped up for winter – cold and alone

Boxing Day - Ride

Steve and I rode from near Ripon today heading towards Hawes - a similar route to last time. Great Day!


It's getting warm - 4degrees - we stop to take a layer or two off before we head up the very rocky pass at the otherside of the reservoir

Steve riding across the top of the reservoir


Steve cracks the bog and comes out victorious


Looking down on the fall side of the reservoir wall - amazing Victorian architecture

Happy Christmas Everybody

Wishing all our friends and family a very Happy Christmas

May your celebrations be merry, your heart be light, your Christmas happy and your season bright.

Wishing you good friends, good times and good cheer, our warmest wishes throughout the new year.

Cows?

Doris and I were woken early this morning by a knock at the front door alerting us to the fact that there was a heard of cows in our front garden! (not good news as we have just finished ‘ground forcing’ it).

They had escaped from a field about ¼ of a mile away, walked down a main road and somehow nine of them ended up in our street.

Amongst them was a Bull – seems he’d brought his wives out to play!

These pictures show the cows outside our neighbours house – luckily there is a piece of land between our 2 houses which is ‘waste’ land and we managed to ‘hold’ them here until the farmer arrived.

The 'first' boy's trip

Steve Mann, Trevor Birkbeck and I headed out on our first trip as a group. Setting off from Ripon going to Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales and back - via a little bit of tarmac and a lot of rocks, mud and water – taking in the beautiful sites of the Dales including old Roman Roads and Victorian architecture in shape of dams.

............ Trevor does not fall off his bike he just ejects himself at regular intervals! He doesn’t do bad for an OAP though. He’s 64 and hope I will be up for it at his age – I salute you Sir Bonkers.


Steve and Trevor - planning the route


The bikes at Spring Hall ready for the off


The 'bog' tries to eat Trevor once more


Stopped by Mandy the local plod on top of t'moor - are all the bikes legal?


The river tries to eat Trevor - egged on by Steve


- the river wins - it takes 3 of us to pull the bike out! My new boots are now full of water


We finally make Hawes and have Giant Yorkshire Puddings filled with sausages and onion gravy, washed down by 2 big pots of Yorkshire Tea - grand as owt!

A 'mini' adventure

I head out on my own today on a 'mini' adventure on to the North York Moors. Starting off at a flying site The Hole of Horcum, a site where one of the first World Hang Gliding Championships was held.

A Green Lane (off road track) runs into a 'big' forest which is about a 40 minute ride - another 20 minutes through the forest along the fire roads and then a muddy climb to the top of the ridge, then out onto the open Moor. Breathtaking views looking down to Robin Hoods Bay are soon followed by a hard slog down deeply rutted tracks full of water and my God, it was cold.