Category Archives: UK

bikes, city, friends, MTB, roadtrip, travel, UK

A decent ride, finally

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Have finally found some proper internet time to update this not very exhaustive account. As it was nearly two weeks since the last happenings were posted I’ll try my best to remember some of the many things we have been up to. Our full day in Edinburgh was much better weather wise & there was even some hope that we wouldn’t get wet on our ride.

Dad & I started off our day (Mum was off doing family history stuff) walking up to the top of Calton Hill & checking out the view – could just make out the bridges over the Firth. Then a bit of an explore around New Town – found a very shut Oxford bar (Rebus ties), it was Sunday morning after all. After our walking tiki tour found us at the bottom of the castle (even if we were on the wrong side to enter), we figured there was just enough time to squeeze in a rush tour before lunch. I remember quite enjoying Edinburgh Castle for the view & some of the history (unfortunately after two weeks it’s joined the historic-building-haze in my mind). Big rush back to the hostel to change for MTBing & meet Jamie (a uni friend).

Managed to meet up ok, but the first problem was the bike Jamie had borrowed off his wife, Rachel, had not met quick-release & neither of us had the cumbersome tools required to remove the wheels. Nevermind, eventually by turning the handlebars on the stem the trusty Passat saloon (which deserves a posting of its own) swallowed the bike whole & mine fitted on top it & the boot even closed. The drive south to Peebles was uneventful, except for my introduction to Tescos for a lunch on the run – actually, that doesn’t really qualify as an event. By now the sun was even out & shining. (I should have savoured that moment for much longer.)

Arriving at Glentress, it was a record time for assembling my bike from its travel bag & we were off in to the forest. A better description would be off up in to the forest – as we pretty much rode up hill for an hour (I hadn’t done any exercise of the sort since the first N-Duro in Rotorua some four weeks ago – at least it felt like it). It must be said that the climb was punctuated by a neat little downhill skills section where I perfected my backflip (have watched too much of the Collective’s Seasons this week) and also a nice little bit of singletrack. Having made it to the top (Jamie having told me on the way up he used to race nationals) it was time to rip in to some strangely varied singletrack. The first big difference to my normal riding was due to the Scottish rainfall – all the tracks were hard packed gravel so that they are still rideable after big rain. This made for a lot more tyre noise than I was used to. There were some sweet berms & lots of decent sized rocks placed in nice places in the track to keep me on my toes. I was just glad that I didn’t have the pogo-forks that Jamie had… A great ride, thanks to the guide.

Back in to the city to meet up with Rachel & Nicola (yet another uni mate over here working) for dinner. They had been up north half way to Aberdeen meeting Dan (you guessed it – uni) & got stuck half way back when the train developed some fault. Never mind, it was great to catch up eventually, get some tips for what to see & have a good meal – haggis wasn’t even too bad.

The next morning before leaving, I dragged Mum & Dad up Arthur’s Seat for the view (mind you, we could see most of the cloud from sea level) – well worth it. Then off to Oban for two nights; we managed to drive past T in the Park without too many traffic worries – although I was disappointed to learn I had missed R.E.M. playing there during the weekend. Once over the Firth, the weather closed in nicely & we would get used to the sight of low cloud.

family, roadtrip, travel, UK

Yorkshire Dales

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Up early again on Wednesday for the drive up to Gainsborough to meet Mum & Dad staying at Mum’s cousin’s place.  Managed the 200-odd miles by nine o’clock & was pleasantly surprised to see Mum’s elderly Uncle & Aunt had made the trip up to see us (I haven’t seen them since I was four).  Great to catch up with every one & get out of the city.  After lunch it was off to York (270 doesn’t sound far to drive when you are used to kilometres, but miles is a different story) for a look around the Jorvik Viking museum – it was under ground on the site where they had a big archaeological dig in the ’80s & found all sorts of Viking artefacts from over 1200 years ago.  Quite interesting (Mum of course found it very interesting).  York was really nice – especially with its large pedestrian precinct & cobbled streets & lovely old buildings (I’m not quite over old buildings yet – which is just as well as we are in Edinburgh now).

Driving north we found Thirsk (James Herriot country in North Yorkshire) & Mardeby Hall down a nice winding lane to Felixkirk (there are some great English place names).  We were staying with some farming contacts/investors of Dad’s on their farm.  The farmhouse was probably young at 400 years old & had a heap of character & interesting curios – also so good NZ scenes on the wall thanks to their yearly trips to NZ. Best of all I could even understand the Yorkshire accents.  A tour around the (cropping) farm revealed all sorts wheat, potatoes, rapeseed & most disturbingly a lot of pheasants that had been released for the next hunting season.

By now weather was quite the contrast to Italy – close cloud if not raining & only in the mid teens; this made our time back in York a bit of a mad dash between the minster, the Castle Museum the very large National Railway Museum & the buses.  Dad even managed a round of golf (& didn’t lose) before we had a dinner party back at the house – altogether a bit unusual for me, but very enjoyable & I was quite impressed when one of the couples turned up in a new soft-top Bentley Continental.  I managed a drive up through Suttonunderwhitestonecliff (apparently longest village name in England) to have a look at the moors – unfortunately ran out of time to get right out amongst them & the weather wasn’t good enough to persuade me to put my bike together & check out some of the local MTB tracks (of which there appear to be plenty).

Have driven north to Edinburgh & after reading so many Rebus novels, I’m loving it – I can see why people would live here, except it’s the middle of summer & I think there will be better weather at home when I get back to winter.  Should manage a ride tomorrow at a big MTB park a bit south of the city.

Europe, family, friends, travel, UK

Out of Italy…

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Train strike worked out ok & I made it back to Empoli. Up early for another train to Florence & to airport for flight to airport. Strangely a couple of flights were delayed due to bad weather in Florence – I couldn’t work this out as the sun was shining (admittedly it was only low-twenties, but that is hardly bad weather) & no wind to speak of. Thankfully my flight was ok, but late leaving – giving me only a 25 minute transfer in Munich. Ze Germans managed to get me on the plane in time – unfortunately my bike got left behind. After a 2 hour wait at Heathrow for the next Munich flight with my bike on it, it was time battle rush hour traffic back to Andrew & Shelley’s – great to be somewhere familiar after a couple of roundabout misadventures. At this point I had better mention (as possibly the only person to read this so far – Andrew – was not so pleased to not be mentioned in such an illustrious publication) the fantastic hospitality from the Patricks that I had for my week in London – great place to stay, very helpful travel & sightseeing advice & just great to stay with friends – even young Vittoria (6 or 7 months) didn’t always cry in my presence (incidentally, the Italians seem to know of this charming youngun – her name is plastered all around the place). Considering it was 7 pm this time, I’ve saved the 4 hour drive north to meet Mum & Dad until tomorrow night.

From the Italy files – don’t ever buy a Lancia, they have the consistently ugliest cars right across their range & if you want to present the weather on breakfast television, it seems you have to be a very high ranking air force general in full dress uniform. Friends dubbed in to Italian actually leaves Ross sounding a lot cooler than normal & Pheobe like a large Italian grandmother. Also, The Full Monty in Italian is still quite strange.

history, London, travel, UK

Days of London sights

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The last & next three days have & will be spent seeing a few of the many sights that London has to offer (with the help of my trusty London Pass saving me many, many pounds). I’m not sure when the holiday part starts – after the busy weekend in Basel, it hasn’t really let up with many hours spent walking, reading placards, sitting/standing on the tube – still it beats shift work.

With walking around London being stangely familiar & a case of happening on landmarks, it’s been quite enjoyable. Highlights from the last three days have been Windsor, especially St George’s Chapel & the State apartments with all the portraits; Eton (seeing students’ names carved in the stone from five hundred years ago is a little strange when your own country isn’t anywhere near that old); Tower Bridge & the old steam mechanisms that raised the deck; and HMS Belfast – one of the only surviving big gun ships from WWII.

Hampton Court Palace, Kew Gardens, St Paul’s, Greenwich, Imperial War & many other museums to sneak a look at.