Monday 25 February 2013

Wine Delivery to Aunt n Uncle then a playful ride home

At Christmas, I received a bottle of mulled wine from work, which was very nice, however I don't really like wine so had promised to take it up for my Uncle Dave. Anyway, as usual it had totally slipped my mind, until today. I thought it would be a good excuse for a ride out this afters, not that I need an excuse mind you as I'm really enjoying slowly but surely getting my fitness back.


Sunday 24 February 2013

Had wor Hinks out for a walk with Ern down our local wood

Went for a walk with Ern (my dad) and Mr Hinks this morning down one of our local woods. We are quite lucky in that the wood is only just at the bottom of our street, it's not a huge wood, however it's canny if yo just want to go for a quick stroll. We also have another wood just on the other side of the road, again this is a canny wood, well it would be if people looked after it and didn't dump rubbish in it. I think I have mentioned this before my dad and myself call this wood "Glass Wood" as there is glass strewn all over the trails. This is done by the youngsters who have no where else to go but here and take their bottles of wine and cans of beer. They then smash the bottles and leave their empty cans and basically just wreck the place. It's a real shame as both wood are supposed to be nature reserves.

Anyhoo I'm sounding like an old fart so here's some snaps of wor Hinks in the snow.

Here Mr Hinks has his eyes on a tasty treat  

Add caption

Add caption

Dam it where is it


Saturday 23 February 2013

A snowy ride along a trail next to Tanfield Railway

Opened my blinds this morning to be greeted by quite a bit of snow. Got ready, grabbed my gear and I was off out on my Fat Bike.

I wasn't really sure where I was thinking of going, needed to clear my head and riding my bike generally helps. I've had a bit of a crap week this week, firstly being informed I've been turned down at my appeal tribunal to be kept in the Support group of Employment Support Allowance and then on Thursday finding out I can't claim Job Seekers Allowance because of me doing voluntary work, so basically I have very little money coming in and it's canny worrying. Anyhoo no good stressing and I certainly don't want to get anyone down by listening to me bleat on, this blog is supposed to be about fun,following my adventures and well just letting you see what I'm up to.

It's so difficult trying to get a shot of yourself


Saturday 9 February 2013

09.02.13 Short early morning ride

      I had my alarm set for 7.00am this morning...it's usually the time I get up each morning during the week for work. I have been doing my voluntary job for roughly 4 months now, so I'm quite used to the routine. 

My plan was to head out for a short ride...I'm pretty much back to square one fitness wise so knew it was no good going out intending on doing miles and miles and sickening my self off or over doing it and not feeling well come Monday.

On my way out of the house I checked our cooker and it read 7.22am. It was a strange morning over in the East where the sun was poking his or her head, depending on how you view it, it was  beautiful shades of yellow, whilst to the North,South and West it was a muted hazy kind of morning.

I set off towards Craghead, intending to go up the top road and past the wind turbines. Wow I an tell I'm unfit as what with having the new Surly Nate's on board and climbing up the bank at Craghead I was puffing and blowing...I didn't get off though and pushed on.  The turbines looked pretty cool as the sun started to come over the horizon and bathed then in sunlight. "Smashing" I thought,even though it was quite chilly I thought we would have some nice rays beating down.

I rode along to the top of "Wilka's bank" and headed off down towards the farm on the trail. As the sun was out I thought it may look good in a video so setup my GoPro and got some footage. As I continued down the trail this is when I became a bit disappointed, the sun had decided to leave me and it set in a bit colder.

I continued on the trail and when I reached the bit where two paths crossed decided I would head back home, taking footage as I rode. I cut down into what we call the "Drift", think it gets it's name from the old mining days...way before my time. As a kid I played here and my pals and me have always just know the place as the drift. A short ride along and I got to the start or finish, depending on how you look at it of South Moor Park...Really when I've thought about it it's probably the finish as the gates to the park are at the other end lol. A nice ride through South Moor Park, which has seen quite a bit of storm and flooding damage by the look of it, what with trees down and thick mud across the pavements, as well as a small bridge which has suffered really badly, it now has no rails in place along it's sides, they look as if they have been washed away.

Once at the gates of the park I turned left a quick check of the road and I crossed over to where the new school that will replace my old school Greenlands is being built. I had to chuckle to myself at the sign on the fence which read something like a tidy site is a safe site, man that site was anything but tidy, in fact if I didn't know better I would say a small explosive device had gone off.

A small ride past the new school and I came to a wooded area of conifer trees. I can remember as a kid spending lots of time in this wood playing alongside my mates. We called this place the "Pines" and I dare say if I was to see any of my old friends and was to mention the "pines" they would know immediately where I was talking about. It's funny the memories that places bring back to you. I can remember playing a game of "Tally Ho" in these woods, they were much denser as I recall and myself and a school friend hid for hours afraid we would get caught as we were playing with bigger lads and knew we would get beaten up if we were caught. I can laugh about it now, however at the time I was petrified lol.

Ok out the other side of the woods...wow it was nice reminiscing lol an easy ride down the bank, a sharp turn left at Rescue Station House, then over the other side of the road and cut through South Stanley Wood, which is supposed to be a nature reserve...I'm ashamed to say this but it's more like  dumping ground. My dad and myself affectionately call this wood "Glass Wood" and that's because all the Lambrini girls and their Chavy boyfriends hide out there on a night, smashing bottles and chucking larger cans all over the shop, oh and lets not forget starting the odd fire or three. Of course it's not just the kids... lazy grown ups are just as bad, there are remnants of all sorts down that wood, old car tyres,shopping trolleys,old mattresses...oh you get the picture. Last year the wood was decorated by some incompetent with video tape which was strung from branch to branch. I must be getting old lol...It's just that this particular wood is only just across the way from where I live and I would like to see it looked after and preserved as when it's tidy it's quite pleasant to walk through. And so ends my whine oh and the end of my adventure I'm at the end, a quick cross over the road and up the back street and I'm home.