At last there was some reasonable weather on Tuesday of last week so I sneaked out for a twenty mile spin on the bike.
Archive for May, 2009
Hill Street Bruise…
Saturday, May 30th, 2009In the swim…
Friday, May 29th, 2009
Design for new Harborne Baths
With wind and rain making the prospect of training on the road somewhat unpleasant I decided to take up swimming again at Harborne Baths. So, other commitments permitting, I am to be found swimming lengths on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons. I first swam here in the 1950s and remember there being a small cafe off the main reception hall - now a staff room. Here for a few pennies we could buy a mug of hot Bovril and a ‘twist’ of mini ginger nut biscuits!
It was announced last week that the current building will be demolished next year and a new pool and ancillary facilities built ready to open late in 2011. About time too! And then what about the promise to replace the old Monument Road Baths, demolished ten years and more ago? If we want to be taken seriously as a sporting city, tackle the growing obesity problem and maintain a fit and healthy workforce why are we reducing people’s opportunities to take part in sport locally?
C’est la guerre, c’est la vie, vive le cyclisme!
Thursday, May 28th, 2009Saturday 9th May saw a trip to London to meet up with other cyclists undertaking the London-Paris Open Bike Ride Challenge 26 - 29 June and to hear details of the route and general arrangements from organisers Classic Tours.
The original route was to have started in London, taking us south to Newhaven and thence by ferry to Dieppe. Changes to the ferry company’s sailing times necessitated a switch to the Dover-Calais crossing. So we’ll be starting from Bexley Heath (breakfast at 6:00am!) and heading out to Rochester, on along the edge of the North Downs and over the old Pilgrims’ Way down to Lydden and Dover for the evening sailing. That’s a few miles further than the London to Newhaven route!
From Calais we transfer by coach down the coast to Dieppe. (more…)
More from Pembrokeshire…
Friday, May 8th, 2009The day we walked over the old Kete aerodrome to St. Anne’s Head the air was full of lark song. It took for ever to spot them up in the sky, as normal, and my camera wasn’t up to filming them hovering high above. However, I did manage to capture the sound. Click the link to hear for yourself. Oh yes, there is a cock crowing in the background, didn’t notice that until I downloaded the video. lark02
Below are a couple of photographs of the lane which heads down, from where we were staying, towards Portfield Gate and thence to Haverfordwest. Typical of the little, almost sunken, lanes in this county it is a joy to walk along here as few if any motor vehicles drive by.
A musical angle…
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009With just eight weeks to go before the London to Paris ride I thought I should ratchet up the ‘training’ a bit. So I hit the road last Sunday for what turned out to be a fifty mile spin round the lanes.
Out of town via King’s Heath, Yardley Wood, and Wythall, the first stop was at Tanworth-in-Arden.
The church at Tanworth-in-Arden
I believe that Nick Drake, the singer songwriter brother of actress Gabrielle Drake, is buried in the churchyard here. He was born in June 1948 and like many creative people suffered from depression. Sadly he died of an overdose aged 26. (more…)
Look around, look up, watch the weather…
Monday, May 4th, 2009On Anzac Day I wished everyone a hearty “G’day” as I went by - saves remembering whether it’s the fore or afternoon! I swung through the Jewellery Quarter and city centre before heading out of town to Earlswood.
St. Paul's
En route to St Paul’s Square I rode up Holland Street, one of the very few remaining cobbled roads in the city centre. The hundred yards or so gives just a miniscule hint of what the Paris-Roubaix cycle race, over the cobbles of northern France, must be like.
Holland Street
A pint of wallop please landlord and a bag of peanuts for the gerbil…
Monday, May 4th, 2009A spin out on Sunday 19th April took me by way of Hockley Heath and the Harvester pub.
Years ago this pub was the Wayfarer where we drank in the Kalahari Lounge. What possessed someone to plonk an African themed pub in leafy Warwickshire is now lost in time, but then it was the seventies and we were all wearing flares, kippers ties and safari jackets! The walls of the Kalahari were covered in leafless tree branches, layered vertically to give the impression that one was inside an African hut. And, to continue the sub-continent theme, let into the walls were illuminated glass fronted boxes in which lived several families of gerbils! Amazing! What would the RSPCA have to say about that these days?