Apathy Rules!

Well after last week's fiasco I have started feeling very despondent. Am I good enough to do this ride. Are they going to make me get in the van. Am I going to be too slow. These thoughts should galvanise me into action but it has had the opposite effect....what's the point.

I haven't been swimming this week. I took Wednesday off as a flexi day to get a training ride in but needed to go to the dentist and got an appointment for ....Wednesday! The dentist was running late so I was in there for about an hour and a half.

Thursday I was going to go for a ride but.....never got my backside into gear. Swimming went by the board as well. Circuit training I couldn't attend as there was a bike ride meeting. I handed over £460 in sponsor money so that was quite satisfying.

Today I was determined to get out for a ride. Got my gear on but could not find my helmet anywhere. Searched and searched and there it was under my nose! Went to get the bike out but it had become firm friends with the other bike, nothing I could do could persuade them to part company with each other. So I gave up!

Instead I decided to make a chocolate cake for Isobel to take to camp tonight. That turned out rather well so I made some chocolate biscuits from the WI book of biscuits. Yum, yum! Decorated the cake with pink icing and pink glitter and filled it with Nutella. Nothing fancy but it looked good enough to eat.

An unexpectedly short ride

Yesterday was a training group outing the penultimate one before the real ride.

We met up at Poole but there were only four of us turned up. Mike, our support rider, Ian, the support rider for the Sports Group, Phil and myself. Mike seemed in a funny mood. First thing he said to me was that if I didn't feel up to it I should consider dropping out at a place where I could get back from....I thought he was supposed to support me. He then announced the ride should be near on 80 miles today. (blooming heck or words to that effect!)

Ian was only out for a leg loosener as his group were going out today.

We set off on the Arthington Road to get our legs warmed up. Then we went to Kirkby Overblow where a nemesis of a hill comes into play. This is an area where we nearly always see red kites flying around and today was no exception. Mike suggested that I might want to go back with Ian when he turned back. A short rest at the top of the hill and we were off again. Ian stayed with me and we chatted along the way.

We climbed the hill into Sicklinghall and then Ian stopped to say this is where he was turning back. Mike again thought it was prudent that I also go back. I had aready got the message that they didn't want me there slowing them down.

So Ian and I went back. We took the Lanes back to Weeton this time so we had a long hill to get back up but it didn't feel so bad when my legs still felt fresh. Back through Castley and we were back at the car again.

















Half of me was relieved, the other half disappointed. Only did 20 miles today.

A mixture of movement

Part of the assault course.


On Tuesday we had a team building session at Nell Bank in Ilkley. It was all day but what great fun it was.

The day started with finding someone you didn't know, preferably. We had to work in pairs with one person blindfolded, the other had to guide them around and over a bench. Then we had to swap over and do the same again. After that we had to find a new partner and guide them around a childrens adventure playground and then end up coming down the slide together. A changeover meant I was lead under and over a few obstacles and then had to walk a narrow beam with a step in it.

Next we did a bit of orienteering. This time it was as a bigger team, seven of us in my team. We had to find 12 numbered discs around the grounds. Quite a bit of running back and forth was involved here. Our team won this one.

Then we had lunch (lasagne and cheesecake to follow in my case). Then we had to go and save the Nellbanian frog and duck. This consisted of using planks of wood as skis and working as a team to move the skis. Then we had to do various other mindbending and physical tricks. Lastly we had to get the whole team around an assault course along with a rubber chicken, a plastic baguette and a tray of water. We had to try not to spill the water. The person with the goodies could not move their legs so we had to work out how to transport ourselves and the goodies around the course. We were the first to finish and out of six groups we had the third most amount of water at the end of the course.

We had a great day and i wish we could do it all again.



Wednesday I went to aquarobics at Richard Dunn's Sports centre. Thirteen of us turned up for this session. I hadn't been for a few weeks for one reason or another so made the most of this one. I still get annoyed when the older ladies use the foam 'weights but swing them around in the air rather than under the water! I followed it up with 30 lengths in 20 minutes.

Yesterday I went out for a ride on my bike. Decided to go to Castleford Outlet centre. It was a gorgeous day so my poor little leggies had to endure the great outdoors in shorts again. I set off just after 10 am and the roads were fairly quiet. I soon got to Country Baskets where you are suddenly at the top of a steep winding road......weeeeeeeeeeee........only trouble is on the return journey it is all uphill!

I remembered the route from two years ago so was pleased with myself on that but also remembered that there are a lot of downhills on the way there so the return is going to be harder.

I got to Castleford in 1 hour 11 minutes.

I had a wander around the outlet centre and bought a purple wrapover fleece top for £6.49 and a bra and brief set for £8, bargain! Then I went to Thorntons cafe and had a cappucino and a scone. Then sorted myself out for the uphilly return.

I am pleased to say I managed it up all the hills without stopping although a couple did try their best to stop me. There is one that I never got up when I was training the last time but managed it on the return from Hull on the very last day of the ride. I managed it again yesterday.





A FITTING TRIBUTE TO AN EX-COLLIERY VILLAGE




I did the return journey in 1 hour 47 minutes. 12 mph average for the whole trip.



Last night I did my usual circuit training class but Amanda (one of our partners in the other houses) came with me. She is like a whirling dervish. She puts everything into her exercise. At the end of the session she said she had really enjoyed it and would be returning again.

Today I had to go into Keighley for a photo session with one of the vans we are going to be using for the trip. Richard, Woody and myself turned up as riders, John Coulton and Carla as support drivers.

Finally this evening we went canoeing. We took back the borrowed canoe. Mike was the only instructor there but it was fairly quiet anyway. Had a reasoanbly good session and I was tutored in scullying. Still haven't mastered it but nearly there.

NEIL AND NIGEL, TWO OF OUR SPECIAL ATHLETES



Last night we were out at a fundraising evening for the Bike Ride Charity. Above is a picture of Neil and Nigel proudly showing off their medals. Nigel has been chosen for Athens Special Olympics, he is a weighlifter. I said he needed to be with all those medals!

This morning I was up at the crack of a sparrows wotsit around 6am. It was bright and sunny so I wore my shorts and no jacket! By the time I got to the meeting point it was cloudy, doh! Richard lent me his waterproof just in case.

There were only four of us today, Richard, Mark, Peter and myself. We set off a different way, on the Arthington Road and I took the lead along here. Eventually we came to the main Harrogate to Leeds Road and joined that for a short while and then turned off. Suddenly I recognised where I was and knew we had a right turn part the way up the hill. The ride then followed our usual route which included a hill I particularly dislike.

The ride continued on familiar ground until we got to the spot where we usually go off road but we carried on to the main road at the end. Turning left we meandered our way into Wetherby where the boys were hoping for a toilet stop but all the toilets were closed. So we carried on through country lanes and came into a small village where the local shop sold coffees to take out.



Peter, taking photos during a short break




Mark and Richard, my fellow cyclists











A church in Wighill, North Yorkshire<














Coffee and flapjack eaten we took to the roads again but I realised I wouldn't last to the next town so jumped a gate and a hedge was utilised.

We were back on a country lane when I heard a 'ping' I said 'what's that, it sounded like a spoke', Richard thought it was just my gears settling in. Looking down to see if anything was amiss I nearly ran into the hedge. Jumping off the bike I glanced back to see a large group of cyclists descending upon us, laughing at my near accident. They were our 'Sports Group' the fast lads!

A bit of a chinwag with them and they were off again. Rich and I caught up with Peter and Mark and we decided that I ought to carry on as I was going to do any more damage to my buckled wheel.

On we went until we eventually reached Boroughbridge where we stopped for a bite to eat in a cafe and a chat with another cyclist. 41 miles on the clock at this point.

It was after we set off again I thought I might struggle a bit. The roads were undulating and I started struggling a bit with the uphills. At about 48 miles I realised that my quads were starting to cramp and stopped. Richard gave me a gel but it was decided to ring my Peter to ask him to pick me up in Knaresborough. Peter the cyclist went off to catch up with Mark and Rich and I carried on into Knaresborough.

In Knaresborough I parted company with Richard who carried on with the ride. I stood and stretched my quads but then thought it would be sometime before my Peter would catch up with me. S I started to push the bike up a big hill. At the top I jumped back on again and pedalled out of Knaresborough, at my own pace, and into Harrogate. A quick check with my Peter and I carried on towards Pool.

Then my Peter rang me and asked where I was so we arranged a meeting place that we both knew and I rode to it and waited for him. By then I had done 55 miles so wasn't too unhappy with my performance.

Peter took me back to Pool to pick up my car where we found Mark just packing his bike away. Peter had already gone and neither of then had seen Richard who had beaten them both back to the meeting place!

Mark, my Peter and myself had a chat and then we all went on our ways. I rang Richard to tell him I was back at the car.

Thankfully it didn't rain but it had clouded over for most of the day and we had a headwind for some of the hills.

A Spring Walk

On Thursday I was going to go for a bike ride and/or a swim but decided to go for a decent walk with the dogs instead.

The day wasn't as nice as the previous one but it wasn't doing anything horrible so I set off wearing a thin fleece top and a waterproof. Bear was his usual exuberant self and dragged me for the first part of the walk.

We went down through the village and crossed the golf course. There were plenty of golfers out but no-one was aiming our way at the time so that was safe enough. After safely negotiating our way across there we come to a path alongside some woods. Evie is okay to let off her lead at this point but Bear still won't come to a call if he doesn't want to so he stayed on the lead. It was good to smell the fresh air.

Then we arrive at a road junction, cross and follow a narrow, but at times, busy road. Halfway down here there is a small road that goes round the back of the houses but becomes a footpath at the far end. It eventually comes back onto another road effectively cutting a corner off the narrow road in safety.

We ambled through the bottom end of Bierley estate and eventually came to Bierley Woods. We used to play in Bierley Woods as children mainly as there are four ponds down there. There is also a cave, a druids circle and someone was always making swings in the trees.

The woods were part of an estate belonging to Bierley Hall which was a fabulous big house built in the 16th century. Without too much of a history lesson this was eventually given to the council and became an isolation hospital. In 1968 it was closed as a new hospital was built a bit further up the road. In 1970 I believe it had a fire and was derelict from some years and eventually demolished. It has now been dedicated as a leisure area.

















Walking down through the woods Evie decided she wanted a drink and as she was off the lead she went straight down to the pond and fell in! (or jumped). We left the woods after walking down past the last pond which had several fishermen sat round it.

The next part of the walk isn't the most pleasant as it is an industrial estate. There is a lot of rubbish about here and lots of traffic. It serves as a contrast to the pleasantness of the woods.











However we are soon at the other side of this and we go back down a track into an area we used to know as the Rowdy Dowdy. It is now known as Toad Hole Beck, that might have been what it was called all along but it was known by all the locals as the Rowdy Dowdy.

Leaving this area via a small footpath brings us back to civilisation, Oakenshaw. Crossing a busy road again we walk round the park and up an unmade road until we get to the Spen Valley Greenway. This is an old railway now used for walking, cycling and horseriding. It is always a pleasure to walk down here as things change throughout the seasons. There are sculptures and seats made from industrial hardware, lots of wildlife and plants and as it it is higher than most things around it is a vantage point too.















On our walk we saw Daffs in full bloom, shrubs and trees in bud and lots of bumblebees and bluetits. We stayed with the Greenway for about 1.5 miles and then left it to walk down to the top end of Cleckheaton and up Hunsworth Lane.


Hunsworth Lane is split into two by another main road but after that it is a meandering long country lane of about 1.5 miles. It passes through a small estate and then past farmland. It also crosses the M62 motorway! There is a 'field' just after the crossing that is chock a block full of plant machinery. It looks like an army has invaded and I suppose it has sort of. This field a couple of years ago was a farmers field full of strawberries.








After this the road becomes steeper and narrower (I know I've cycled up here quite a few times) and eventually a few houses start appearing and then we come up into East Bierley village where I live.

In the village the road opens onto a large green space which has a children's playground on it and swathes of daffodils in full bloom at the moment. Quite a sight! Past the playyground you come up to the village green with it's stocks and more daffys. This is a pleasant triangle with seats on and where our Christmas tree is stationed during the festivities.










If you don't go straight into the village you can go to the right and you come up to the village pond. This is not quite as pretty as it used to be as there used to be planty of shrubs and trees round it but I don't know why they have taken most of these out now. There are a lot of ducks of varying kinds that live on here and therefore little houses on stilts have been built for them to help protect them from the foxes.











And so we are now nearly home again. The walk was about 3 hours in total and probably about six miles.



This evening I went circuit training for the first time in a few weeks. There were only five of us there but we had a good workout and an even better laugh. Boy could I feel my muscles the next day! Not looking forward to the training ride on Sunday!

OMG, I've been lazy!

A PRETTY SHEEP








The week before Easter I was feeling very down and quite penniless to be honest. I couldn't afford to go swimming on either of my usual days nor had I the money or the inclination to go circuit-training. Didn't feel like cycling either. Very unlike me on the whole.

On 3rd April we went to Somerset for a weeks holiday. I had won this at a comping day last year so we were going on a wing and a prayer and hoping we could keep costs down as much as possible. We were staying on a caravan site but weren't sure what sort of accommodation we were going to be in but were pleasantly surprised we had a bungalow that slept six (there were only three of us though). The downside was that it was very old-fashioned, as in outdated rather than cosy cottage type old-fashioned. Everything looked like it had been there since the 70's. Still I wasn't complaining when it hadn't cost us anything. It did have a decent washer/dryer, dishwasher, microwave and fridge so that was good.

The swimming pool on site was about 200 yards from the bungalow. The first time we tried going it was full and they wouldn't let us in. 'Full' was about 20 people I think! We did manage to go every day after that though and at a £1 a time it wasn't bad at all. I didn't do my usual drills or full on length swimming but usually did about 10 lengths to warm up a bit and then we would challenge each other to underwater swimming or running the full length of the pool or side-stepping etc. So we were very active in the water.

I took my bike with me and was intending to do several rides but I got a chest infection and did a lot of coughing. On the Wednesday I did manage to don my cycling gear and found that the bike chain was a bit rusty from getting really rained on during the trip down to Somerset. It was about half a mile of winding tracK from the bungalow to the road and all uphill and mostly very steep so I walked up there. I was looking forward to the first bit as it was along winding road downhill. The bike was so bad that I had to pedal DOWN the hill. Several times I thought of giving up and going back but carried on a 'bit further' and then decided that I would go to the bike shop in Minehead and get some oil for the chain. (A lady in the pool had told me of this bike shop).

I found it a bit hard going as I was coughing all the way. A lot of the roads were quite narrow and quite busy so I was aware that at times I was holding traffic up but I tried not to do too much of that. Eventually at Carhampton there is a proper cycle track. It is shared with pedestrians but they are few and far between so that's okay. I passed about four other cyclists in all, going the other way. The track went past Dunster Castle and widened into what I assume was the original road just before Minehead.

Having acquired oil, and liberally doused the chain in it, I flew out of Minehead heading for Porlock. Somewhere I took a wrong turning as I found myself going up a smaller road than I remembered from a couple of days before. I tried various variations of road and eventually came to a very steep road. Oh well it felt like it was in the right direction so off I went. I had to stop twice up this hill. Little old grannies with zimmers could have passed me going up here!!! When I reached the top I recognised the road so carried on again. Blimey even slight inclines took it out of me but I plodded on. How far was Porlock? Had they moved it further on?



A WATERWAY IN ALLERFORD NOT FAR FROM PORLOCK







Seemingly a lifetime later I reached Porlock and had a think about where to stop, this end of the village or the other. Nowhere jumped out at me as a good place so I carried on a bit and then made the decision to carry on to Porlock Weir about 1.5 miles further on. I had decided that I couldn't face the hills on the return journey so rang Peter and asked him to pick me up. Thankfully he agreed, so I asked him to bring a change of clothes and we could go out for the rest of the day to Lynton and Lynmouth. The weather was glorious and I had a nice sit on the Weir and waited for them to come and find me.


THIS IS PETER IN LYNMOUTH














One of the days we tried to fly a kite but the wind wasn't strong enough so I wandered along the bay for a mile or so and then back again.

PETER AND ISOBEL ON THE BEACH TRYING TO FLY A KITE














I had got talking to another local person in the pool who told me about various walks and where to park etc. Isobel and I walked along the Mineral Line which is an old railway. It isn't much publicised and the main part you can walk along is only about 2-2.5 miles long. Peter dropped us off at Washford and we walked to Watchet.

ISOBEL WITH YANKEE JACK














Then in the evening this lady, Liz, came and picked us up from the bungalow and took Isobel and I for a walk and told us some history. She then drove us to another place to show us the deer and they are usually quite close to where we were walking. Oh deer, this particular evening they were only just visible on a far hillside. Never mind it was very pleasant still.

So although I haven't done anything hard and fast I have been reasonably active all week. Despite quite a few treats (Easter eggs and Somerset cream tea amongst them) I have come back a pound lighter than when I went so that is good.

BEAUTIFUL IRONWORK ON A CHURCH DOOR