Another quick run this morning, slightly different reversed route and another fine fine day. Not quite so hot on the return today and another very cold shower, but we were soon checked out and on the road to Richmond Park. This was just a quick detour to show the team the deer, and boy did we see some. I couldn’t look because there were half a million cyclists racing around – there must have been an event on, but we wasted a few minutes here and set off to park on the street outside Kew for 10:00. We got there a little early, and being British we sat in the car until 10, then into Kew for a mooch around. Its a little like being in a park, Kew, they had three greenhouses of which the biggest, best and most famous was shut for a 35 million quid make over, so we walked 10 miles and saw lots of grass and trees. We went up onto a very wobbly rusty iron structure which I hated as it had see though floors, so I walked around it in double quick time and then coming down the stairs I had to jump from beam to been as I rounded each corner, I did look like a right twerp.
Sat in the sun with another hot dog for lunch, then we went on a barefoot walk – which was very painful – and then it was three and time to go home. Hour and a half later we were home – nice one.
Hotel – 6/10
Wimbledon – 6/10
Shard – 7/10
Cable car – 6/10
Underwater walking – 6/10
Kew – 5/10
Busy time and we saw some sights we wouldn’t usually – almost running out of things to do in London now!!
Up with the commuters this morning and out in the sun for a run around Richmond town. Didn’t realise it would be so busy, so set off for a three miler around the place, and bumped into an old hotel I used to stay in called the Quinns – way back when I was working in the hospital. Got back and was sweating cobs, and just couldn’t get cool, I even had a cold shower – really cold – really very cold – but I was still sweating like a 70’s children show presenter.
Breakfast was in the old favorite – MaccyD’s – bacon baps and sausage muffins and we were ready to head into town. I bought the tickets today, and realised that you can use your friends and family rail card to buy the travelcards – so I saved about fifteen quids over mother who bought then yesterday. Quick spin overland first into Waterloo found us with loads of time to spare, so we took a stroll past the London eye and across Westminster bridge and into the throngs of mental tourists taking photos of themselves looking at various inanimate objects whilst causing traffic problems on the pavements. Not a moment too soon we were back downstairs into Westminster station and looking for the Jubilee line to London Bridge. Unfortunately some berk had got on the line, so Jubilee was shut. Quick panicky look at the map and we set off for Bank, then Northern line back to London Bridge – this detour cost some time, but we got out of the train and straight into the Shard queue.
A very polite bloke told us to queue up – over there, and then proceeded to tell another million people exactly the same thing with the same polite face and tone – why they don’t just employ a sign instead I don’t know – perhaps he was cheap? After a short wait we were on our way inside. Quick jimmy riddle for some of the party and we were into the first lift for the initial zoom up to the 38th floor. Then straight into another lift for the need zoom up to the 68th floor. The lifts are fast, 6m/s which is faster than grass grows, and pretty smooth. They also seem to work together – so as one goes down the other comes up, and when that one comes up the other goes down, you get the gist – I imagine there are other lifts for the hotel and office people, but we were shuffled into the View from the Shard lifts. Up at the viewing platform the views are rather spectacular – I hated it. I couldn’t get close to the windows, its so stupid, but I just found it quite odd. You could buy some expensive champagne here, and also walk up some more steps to the outside bit – which is pretty good, but even more frightening as you are now even higher! After some time people get bored of the height and terrific views and so the lift lifts you down to the floor again and the obligatory shop. Pop’s made me chuckle when he picked up a book with the Shard on the front and all blank pages – what kind of useless book is that he said…
Now time for luncheon, we walked through the station to Hayes Gallery and into Balls Bros. for some munch. It was nice in here, and they served Stella Black which I had never tasted before and we had sausages and burgers. As it was an all in ticket from my sister it was a fair price to be paid for the meal. After lunch we headed off to the mystery section of the day – which involved a train then DLR journey over to Royal Docks and a quick walk over to the Emarites Airline – which again had been kept quite quiet until the massive pylons gave the game away. So a cable car over the Thames to the Millennium dome, or O2 as it is now called – the car was high, but I wasn’t quite so worried as I thought I might be. O2 is now quite impressive, loads of food places and beer places, so we had a quick sit down in another slug and then once sated headed back to the tube for the next exciting thing.
We made our way to Island Gardens and went to walk under water. Yes that’s right, we actually walked under water – under the Thames to be exact, and-we-didn’t-get-wet – wow!!!! Kate had not done it before, and I must admit when I was 10 I thought it was a little more impressive than it was this time, but its still pretty cool in a subway, walking and avoiding bikes sort of way. Emerging into the sunshine we took a quick walk past the Cutty Sark and over to the Yacht (what a silly spelling thing that is) were we sat right on the Thames with a massive window and had the worst (or best perhaps) barman ever. He was surely high on Cocaine and poured shorts like there was no tomorrow – Rum – he poured a quick whiskey for someone, diet coke, oh i put fat coke in that one – someone from the bar will drink that, a water and ice turned into a vodka and coke but in all he only charged for some, and it was quite entertaining,
Once finished we began the trek back across town to Richmond and just over an hour later we were in the Indian gulping down Cobra like the day before Ramadamadingdong. One not very hot Vinderloo and an hour later we were again finito. After a quick stop to get some water we were back in the hotel for a final Stella and back to sleep before 10:30.
So we went off on our yearly trip to the big smoke – this time we decided to stay slightly outside of London in Richmond-upon-Thames for a couple of nights, venturing into town on the Friday to visit the Shard. I also decided to drive up for a change – as it was Richmond and not in the city it seemed like a good idea. Its around 120 miles and we set off around 8:45 on he Thurs morning, and sailed through the M4 at a good clip and arrived n Richmond town just and hour and a half later. Its a straight run until Jnt 2, then turn right and follow the signs for Kew, then its a straight road for 5 mins and you are there.
We left the kit in the car, and we headed off into Richmond with a variety of clothing, the day may have rained or been sunny so preparation was the key – something pops excelled at! 15 minute walk into Richmond, and I took then through the green and onto the River proper, after 5 mins we were overcome with the charms of the slug and had our first drinky poos. At this point a google car came past so hopefully we will now be uploaded into the street view in Google for the Richmond river front. We then walked up te river a little way – specifically so that I could have a look at Steins – where they sell massive sausages and massive steins of Erdinger – I wasn’t allowed in. We walked back and went to the Pitcher and Piano for lunch – I had a second best hot dog, with a sausage which withered in comparison with those massive German bratwurst but it was washed down with a couple of pints of Peroni – which was nice.
Next up was the mystery tour, I manage to get them from Richmond to Southfields pretty much before they realised where we were going. IN order to help this I got them out at Putney and onto the underground at East Putney, unfortunately Wimbledon was mentioned there, so I think Ma had a good idea when we left the station. Anyway, Wimbledon is an odd place to visit, Wimbledon station is further away from the Tennis than Southfields, but even here is a 15 minute walk to the center – which we stormed through, in fifteen minutes.
We were slightly early, so after a baggage check with the efficient security waller we had a quick drink and a scone before the tour proper. Our tour mate Andy, was a bit of a cockney who took delight in lightly taking the piss of the foreigners of which there were loads. One German guy ran a translation to his children louder than Andy was talking, and Mr and Mrs India took picture after picture after picture. We saw No.1 court, Henmans Hill, the press center and Center Court – all quite impressive, but we couldnt see the changing rooms, or the tunnels, or much of the grounds which was disappointing – I would have liked to have seen the behind the scenes stuff. It lasted an hour and a half, but only really a few bits. The courts were very impressive, and perhaps one day I will go back there to watch something.
After the tour we had a brief look at the museum and then off back to Richmond – the day was on its way over by this time, so as soon as we got back we called into Pizzeria Rustica and had some nosh. Pop’s fish soup was the best thing ever, and my Pizza was adequate. Quite tired already we got some provisions from Tescos and wondered home for an early night, even though we had to check in and mother had to swap rooms as her’s stunk – I was snoring by 10:30.
What makes you happy? I wonder what does, for me I like nothing more than visiting new places, but also, and almost more importantly I love having a beer and some good nosh. Being in another diet in my head time, it seems quite sad that one would have to think about what food and drink you were allowed – that’s rubbish. So diet is only for the days when I don’t do anything “special” with the ability to raise an exception on certain days…
Been doing quite a lot of running over the last week or so, went for a 10K run which went well, but also 3-4 miles a day and finally got back onto my bike again this weekend. Not touched it since the CarTen, but went for a 35 miler and it was quite successful – however the GPS seems to be playing up a little now. It showed my max speed of 84 mph – which I think it a touch ambitious.
So we headed off to Trowbridge, because we have not been there before – it was rubbish – the highlight was watching some Chinese people walk down the street opposite us.
I am not sure it has any redeeming features – Bradford-upon-Avon on the other hand was very lovely. The problem with places like this is that its a swine to park, we circled the car park like a bmw shaped eagle until we lucked upon someone leaving and squeezed into a slot. Its quite picturesque Bradford – very unlike the hole in the world that is the northern one, and we mooched and had a drink (at which point I was very keen to stay over, but there were no hotels free) and had a great munch in the pub. After that we went for creme teas in a hotel so old it might as well have been a cave, where the serving wenches went up and down tiny stairs continuously. I had a diet coke – so much for English tea dude.
After having our fill of Bradford (will take the train next time) we then set out for Castle Coombe – sounds rubbish, and is mostly famous for the racing circuit, but the village is a revelation. Many places seem to have the title of prettiest village in England and the most picturesque – well this is the real deal. Unfortunately the only crap part is all the stupid tourists walking up and down the streets. Its small, quaint, has a river and a bridge and loads of honey houses and to make it perfect it also has two pubs. We sat outside one, but as I was driving I had no interested what so ever so forced Sian to neck her wine and got back to the car asap. Would be a great place to have a walk from – or shoot a film.
So here we are again, the Cardiff to Tenby cycle event, May 10th, Spring, must have been a lovely day?
Well not really – it rained again this year, and it was a little breezy, and it was just as hilly. Down the Cardiff stadium at 7:00 ready for checkin, Cardiff are building a new tier of seats for their stadium, a bit of a shame they have just been relegated – at least they finished in the highest position in the Premiership they ever have. So arrived and got the most important thing out of the way – the wee-wee – had to follow a trail of people making their way over to McDonalds to use the facilities. Once sort it was back to unpack, and get me shoes and gloves on. Then I hunted around for John and his team of nephews. Found him, and some of his crew had not turned up, so we waited for them, once arrived it appeared that they may not have been 100% prepared, one poor guy was on a *fixed* single sped bike. So not only did he only have one gear, he also could not ever freewheel – mental. Anyway, after all this faffing we eventually set off about 08:00.
Speed was slow on the first bit, there were quite a few in our pack, and the pace was around 10 mph, although its a long way, at that sort of speeed you are looking at over 10 hours just cycling – and that’s not fun man. So we got to Culver and the first hill and I watched as fixie went off, so I thought I would follow for a bit, caught him around St Nicholas but I just kept going assuming I would just meet them in Margam. At this point there were loads on the road, so it was easy to find a pack to stick with. This first part of the course is reasonably flat, there was no rain, and the wind was not too noticeable. Two hours and 30 miles later I was in Margam and ready for breakfast.
Margam looked very different to the last time – last time we set off first, and although quite a few had overtaken us, the breakfast queue was short and there were not too many people – not this time. I queued in the cold, and finally got by bap and tea and hung around like Billy No-Mates waiting for JB and the gang. I waited as long as I could, around 30 mins, but then was too cold so had to push on. Just as I was leaving I bumped into John, they had had a bit of a nightmare, they had “lost” one of the lads, another had a puncture and they had made stop start progress. So, not wanted to wait another half hour I had to decide to do the CarTen alone…
As cycling is pretty much a lonely sport anyway, other than those tossers who ride 2 and 3 abreast, so it didn’t make much of a difference. The main difference was standing on your jack jones having lunch, in the rain. The route to lunch was pretty good, from Margam across Swansea front wasn’t as bad as last year, and the ride up towards Gowerton was fine I even managed to overtake a few people. The run down to Llanelli was okay too, but the bridge across to near Bynea was a death trap. The winds were so strong over this bit that I was nearly pushed off, I had to lean to my left a significant amount just to keep going straight. I was a little scared. Then I was a little hacked off with the wind and rain down to the Llanelli front – it was crap last year and this year not so much, but it was still soooo windy, I spend my time overtaking people and swerving from one side of the pavement to another trying to tack slightly, it did seem to work a little as I overtook another load of muppets. Before I know it I was in Burry POrt, and after longer than I expected I found the pub. Filled my bottles with some french shit “Le Mon” which had a very stale citrus tatse, and some water, and got me a hot dog and chips for four quid. I stood alone outside in the drizzle and stuffed bmy dog and a few chips. Quick wee and I was away again, trying to find someone to tag along with.
The third part of the journey is the worse. Although one high point was seeing my uncle on route. Apparently he had been driving passed and just noticed me, then parked up and I just cycled passed him, so he overtook again, and this time I realised, so when he stopped for the second time I had just enough time to shout hello before I was away!! The run to Carmarthen isn’t too bad, but surprisingly up and down, as in you get surprised just how big some of the hills are, but once at Carmarthen you turn directly into the wind and cry. The run from Carmarthen is horrible, its windy and wet, and hilly and meanders all over the place and goes up hills, and has annoying motorists on small lanes, and its hilly and you know you are going out of your way to go back again and its hilly and its stupid. Once you are back on the main A48 you get off at St Clares and then head out somewhere up a hill, then you finally get onto the red roses climb. We didnt do this last year, but this year we had the pleasure. This is about 85 miles in, and its a three mile climb. Not steep but relentless, my under-carriage was hurting at this point. Finally made it to the top, where loads of people had paused, I didn’t straight to Tavernspite for me and the last stop. I was almost out of water, but when I got to tavernspite there did not seem to be a water station, so I kept on rolling. Although I did get a mouthful of Randoms which I nearly choked on as I puffed my way onwards.
Only 12 miles from here, but still hills to come, I followed a pack most of the way here, and stopped to prep the troops just before the decent into Tenby.
Into Tenby to a different end point, which was worse and finally to a stop. Got my polo shirt (Medium again – idiot) and a beer – then home for lots of nosh and a couple of 1664’s.
Sp 106 miles, according to Strava about 7:50 hrs on the bike ( http://www.strava.com/activities/140526370 ) – got in about 4:45 – Tidy.
So it was me ‘old dears’ birthday over the weekend – so she took us down to Cardiff to stay for a couple of nights in the capital. Mum and Dad came down by train and arrived into the city around twoish, so I came into Cardiff to work from the Bay in the morning, and took the train into Cardiff from Cogan – just a ten minute journey into town.
So by two thirty I was in the Marriott bar and having a sneaky little Stella. My gang (well half of them) arrived around 4:30 and the rest a little later. After a quick check in and a couple more Stella’s then a move onto Lowenbrau – a lager I have not seen for some time. Guaranteed a head ache later..
Early food today, so a quick trot over to Park Place and Giovani’s by the New Theater. Unfortunately, and as usual, I picked the wrong thing – I had the veal, in breadcrumbs which was pretty tasteless – the others had a variety of tasty things and I think in general the food went down very well. I had a beer or two and somehow a bottle of red wine also appeared which I shared with not many people I seems. Quite a good venue, the staff were nice and the owner came and took some photo’s and brought my mum a desert with a candle in it and we sang Happy Birthday.
Little walk home, then a quick beer before beddy byes.
Next day, and with a thick head we met in the bar before breakfast to give out our gifts. My sister and I shared a present, but as I gave it to her, she thought it was from me – so I told her to read the card with it, and then she thought it was just from Claire – it was slightly more amusing in real life. Kate gave her a list of 70 things she loves about grandma – all hand written, which I think went down quite well.
After a massive breakfast of meat and bread and one hash brown, we got ourselves sorted for the trip to the Bay. This time we thought we would try the water taxi, which goes from the castle and dumps you in the Bay. Some of them stop off in Penarth, but ours didn’t so we walked out to the barrage. It was getting to be quite a pleasant day int he end, and they had ice-creams at the stall, and the children played in the park for a bit. I showed them the amazing yellow rings on the barrage, but no one thought anything of it, so its just me that likes it, and I will not bother showing anyone else.
Over to the pub just by the barrage for lunch – which due to having a massive breakfast was just a couple of pints – quite a nice place though – probably does do good food. We had booked into Cote for 5:30 so moseyed back into the bay, and sat around having a beer or two in the wind, then the rest of my gang came, and one beer later it was time for food. Slightly better choice this time, I had beef bourgeoisie which was okay, but small, and so was the beer – 1664 in a dolls bottle.
We walked back from the Bay and the children went by train – we got back before them – its only a short stroll back into town, but I have never done it before (other than running it in the Cardiff Half). So we had a final couple of beers in the bar and I tried very unsuccessfully to do some magic tricks with the rubbish cards – then matchmakers and peanuts and bed.
Another morning and loads of bacon and bread, then train home at 10:15.
