Showing posts with label Waskerley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Waskerley. Show all posts

Sunday 21 March 2021

Mini Adventure in Wee Myrtle my 65 Bug

 Decided to have a bit of a spontaneous adventure in Myrtle this morning, well I think it was morning as to be fair it could have been partly afternoon, my body clock is all over the shop.

I gathered some gear, my new GoPro Hero 9, my DSLR camera and I asked Ern, did he fancy a little jaunt out to which he replied " No you are alright, take your phone, just in case", no faith in the wee car Huh Ern?

Anyhoo Ern changed his mind, and we grabbed wor coats and the gear taking them to put in Myrtle. I then discovered I had completely forgot how to use my GoPro, so had to quickly pop back in the house, checkout a short YouTube vid for instructions, and then we were ready.

I started Myrtle up and let her warm up a little, she started first click. I checked her air ride pressures, just in case she had lost any air. I also checked to make sure the semi auto clutch was in auto mode, you can tell if it is as a little light lights up just under the throttle pedal.

 

I gently popped her into first gear, with a little revs and proceeded to stall her immediately. It kind of takes a bit getting used to this new fangled mod. I didn't want to rev the pods off Myrtle, as I was worried I would shoot out of our backyard and across the road, so I was trying to be gentle on the accelerator. After another couple of attempts, stalling her each time, it could be to do with her not being warmed up I managed to pull her out of our yard and headed for the first challenge, the bloody great big speed humps in our back lane. I hate these things, they are massive. Even with 90 psi in the front and 80 psi in the rear I can hear Myrtle scrape over the humps.

Myrtle 65 VW Bug
Clutch system is pretty unobtrusive

We managed to negotiate the humps and I turned onto Durham Road and headed up the bank. I managed to change gear quite smoothly, again it's just about figuring out how to drive the system. There are a few small things to iron out, and I have been in touch with Bewick Mobility, where I had the adaption fitted about improving the setup.

Oh whilst I remember for anyone wanting this kind of adaption it is quite expensive. I didn't know about a thing called Access to Work, it's a government scheme for people with disabilities. It's setup to help people with their jobs, so that can be as in my case getting too and from work, or it can be for other work related things, like training or equipment. It is just a handy thing to know, and it is easy to apply. You get an adviser who deals with your application, and it's pretty straight forward. In my case as I work part-time, 4 days per week I had to pay a certain amount towards the cost of my adaption, but it still saved me a lot, and to be fair I didn't mind, after all it has enabled me to drive my little car.

Glenn & Myrtle VW Beetle 65
Myrtle looks tiny

Ern with Myrtle

Back to Bewick Mobility and the small problems I am encountering. It's things like loosing all drive at certain moments, this requires me to pop my hand over the gearstick sensor to re-engage the clutch, or like if I let off the accelerator as I am coming down a hill, again the car loses drive, so I have no engine braking. I have noticed when I approach lets say a roundabout, and I am braking either to negotiate it or slow down for other users that the system disengages/engages depends on how you look at it, and the car will just rev, instead of driving, so if you imagine as a normal driver, it's as if you are dipping your clutch and just coasting whilst in gear. The car uses a computer which is tuned to the car's rpm. The motor which operates the clutch is neatly hidden under Myrtles back seat. I think once she is setup, this will be a great bit of kit.

Ern looking over the moor, they were burning back the heather
Ern looking over the moor, they were burning back the heather

We had a drive up to Wakerley and up on the moors, Myrtle whilst she certainly isn't fast, she is only a 1200 cc, she did pull up all the rather steep banks well and got us to our destination.

I shot a little video of me driving her, showing the gear change and when we got up on the moors took a few photos.

Myrtle VW Beetle 65
Myrtle VW Beetle 65



I am so paranoid about Myrtle not sitting level after all my problems last year, so ended up driving to a flat area in a housing estate on the way home and airing her up and down to see if she sat level on a fairly level'ish bit of ground. She appears to be sitting higher than both my dad and I recalled, however when you look under her, she is sitting on her pan so can't exactly go any lower...

Myrtle VW Beetle 65
Paranoid about her leaning

Myrtle VW Beetle 65
Love this wee car, so much still left to do

Myrtle VW Beetle 65
She is soooo cute

Myrtle VW Beetle 65

I drove Myrtle home on what I considered "My air ride settings" and sure enough when we got home she couldn't get over the bloody speed bumps, so I had to reverse and air her right up again.

Upon getting her home and back in our yard my dad said he was just going to dip her petrol tank to see how much petrol was in her, as the gauge hasn't moved in a while. Well it appears Myrtle runs on fresh air as the tank was bone dry, so much, so I don't know how we managed to get all the way back LoL


Monday 20 July 2020

A Socially Distanced Ride Out

        I have now been off work almost 6 months, initially feeling unwell at the start of February with yet another cold, leading to a chest infection and then Covid hit around March and I found myself being socially isolated in line with the government's guidelines for people assessed as being at a clinically higher risk.
 

During my time off I have not been sitting idle, far from it. In fact, my health and fitness regime, including my changed diet back in December of 2019 has continued and I now find myself on day 255 of cycling every day. The majority of this has been indoors upon my Turbo Trainer and road bike. 


Social distancing
A good few weeks back when the lockdown had eased somewhat I decided to head out on my bike and unfortunately over the course of 2 days, managed to snap 3 tendons which fit onto my Bartlett Tendon Knee. Rather than not use my knee I removed the cams and just decided to keep active cycling indoors. As well as cycling I have been also doing some core work and as much as I can with the pair of 15kg dumbbells I have. I am kind of limited for space in my bedroom for any more gear. Anyhoo it has kept me ticking over and I quite look forward to building up a sweat.

I bought a Fitbit a good few weeks ago and I think this has also helped maintain my enthusiasm as I can view various things upon the app and it gives me something to work towards.

Ooh and with being off I have also found more time to read. I have finished a number of books including the Unabombers Manifesto, and interesting read, but for a super-intelligent guy I just did not get his point or methodology.

I also have just finished a fantastic collective book of works by Neville Goddard. After reading Neville's work I am now trying to use his teachings to manifest amazing stuff into my life.

At the moment I am a couple of chapters into Alexandre Dumas and the Count of Monte Cristo. Wow this book so far is enthralling. I was even recounting the story to John as we went out for a ride, so a bit like Jackanory but on bikes. Not entirely sure how much attention John was taking as at one point he asked was I talking about Romans LoL


Anyhoo to today's adventure. Out the blue last night, my mate John messaged me asking how I was doing. John went on to say he had this week off and was I ok and up for a ride out. "Yeah sure" I replied as it has been ages since I have seen John and now as far as I am aware it is safe to venture out as long as you social distance. I mean I think this is correct, but who knows as the government just doesn't seem to be able to make it's mind up and is already preparing for the next wave.


Sorry, this is all over the place...Going back to the BTK Crossover I feel very fortunate to have received brand new cams and tendons from Brian Bartlett to try and remedy my snapped tendons. I am currently using what is classed as a G2 knee and there is a newer G3 knee now out. As I am no longer sponsored or supported, and prosthetic provision is very, very expensive I just feel really lucky to be able to use my current knee and get out and about. So at the moment, I have a sort of "Hybrid" Knee a mixture of old and new components.



BTK G2 Chassis and G3 Cams and Tendons appear to work
Today was the first time fitting the new components and initially, I didn't think they were going to work. I soon discovered they would, it was just that I was still half asleep this morning when fitting them and had forgotten to place the retaining "grenade" like pins in place into each of the cams. It's been so long since I used the knee for mountain biking it just completely slipped my mind. Anyhoo early morning panic over the knee once set up was spot on. I don't usually use the flexion wedge, however, Brian recommended popping it in as the G3 tendons are slightly longer when used with the G2 chassis and the wedge prevents a sharp tug on the tendons when going through flexion to extension.


Gear all packed just about John arrived down at my house at around 10:30 AM and we set off. Our plan was to venture up to Waskerley and have a little spot of bait at Smiddy Shore reservoir, before riding back.


As we rode from my house heading over to South Moor and heading up the "Black Path" John was in front. Now I am pretty much blind as a bat these days. I had popped my Oakley shades on as I knew there would be lots of flys about, and they knack when you get them hitting you in the eyes.  Anyhoo I don't know how I spotted it, but there on the very side of the narrow overgrown pavement was what I thought was a very small hedgehog. I immediately stopped as I had almost ran the poor little thing over and got off my bike shouting for John to wait as I did so. John came back just as I was taking my backpack off and going in my pack I recovered my gloves which I had packed just in case. I popped my gloves on and picked up this wee little, what looked like a baby hedgehog.



Aww poor wee Hog
Wee Hog started to come to life

Now I don't know much about hedgehogs, what time of year they should be out, how big they should be etc etc, but this little guy looked very small. I knew my friends Michelle and Lee quite often got them in their secluded garden so I rang Michelle to ask her advice. After speaking to Michelle, all the while holding this little hog, who was all balled up I waited for Michelle to text me the number for the Hedgehog Hotel over at Dipton. Apparently, it's a place that looks after hedgehogs and gets them ready to go back into the wild.


And so I rang the Hedgehog place, unfortunately
, there was no reply, both John and I were unsure what to do at this point. I then rang my son Kyle to see if he could come over with a shoebox and pick up the little fella, thinking  I could maybe contact the hedgehog people later when I got back from my ride. Just then the little hedgehog started moving a lot more in my hand, opening his/her eyes and seeming a lot more energetic, compared to when I originally picked him/her off the pavement. Maybe it was the warmth of my hands as I held it. 

How cute is this little Hedgehog?
After a quick discussion with John, we decided maybe the little fella would be ok in the thicker undergrowth at the side of the pavement, which led into a safer wooded area. So I stepped over what used to be a fence and placed the little guy way back from the path. As I stepped back onto the pavement and as we listened carefully we could juts say here the little hog making its way through the brush.
 

Now I don't know about you, but for me no matter how old I get coming across a wild animal is so exciting, especially having the opportunity to actually hold it and look at the details of how beautiful and in this case how so very cute it was.
 

After that small encounter, we carried on our ride with me every now and again saying to John "Eeee I hope that little Hedgehog is ok". By the time we got to Smiddy Shore John said "are you still thinking of that hedgehog, you are aren't you"

 
Smiddy Shore

Maintaining Social Distancing
Maintaining Social Distancing
It was canny windy up at Smiddy Shore so we took shelter around the side of an old building while we ate the bits and bobs of stuff we had brought. A few pic later and it was time to head back, the return journey being a much easier ride.


John with his new Marin mtb

Man even though I have been riding some 255 days I can tell there is a huge difference between being "cammed" up and using tendons, compared to just riding without them on the turbo. Proper enjoyed the ride out even if I was knackered and it was great to catch up with John.


Me
I took my Specialized Turbo Levo today. I have been messing around with the Mission Control App and tuning the engine. I was quite surprised when I got back and checked my stats. Covering just under 30 miles I only used 12% battery, which I think is rather good. I rode the whole way there and back with only 10% assist on Eco mode. I reckon this just about covers the energy loss from being an above knee amputee, as whilst the bike does offer some assistance, it is by no means doing all of the work.

Wednesday 6 February 2019

Say a Little Prayer

A short Blog, with a few pictures. Just a there and back, completing roughly 30 miles.
 

Basically got ready and out the door and headed up past Consett on the C2C and going to Waskerley Way.

Saying a little prayer

Saturday 5 March 2016

A bit like Four Seasons in one day, but mostly Winter



Rod, Glenn and John
Just a short blog, even though today was my longest of the year so far, riding from my house with my mates Rod and John to well past Waskerley Way, passing Smidey Shore Reservoir and turning at the small car park up on top of the fell. Ideally I would have liked to have ridden all the way to Parkhead, however I was feeling knackered and the weather, well there was a bit of everything. We had rain, sunshine, had to fight the wind on the rain up and funnily enough also on the way back as it decided to change direction. We had snow, then a bit more sunshine, then the worst of the weather was the hail on the way home as it stung. So pleased I decided to wear my glasses, even though John did say 'who do you think you are Biggles'.

Who's this Biggles Bloke John?
Rod n John
Glenn
Today's adventure has been one of the coldest and wettest I can recall in sometime. I struggled to put my bike away and lock it up as my fingers felt like small logs. My good foot, complete with my new Merino Royal sock was still freezing, yet weirdly enough my phantom foot felt toastie warm. It was great hooking up with Rod, both John and I really enjoyed the bit banter we had with Rod and it was nice to show him some local places he had not seen and give him a brief history lesson about Waskerley Village when we called into St Matthews Church. I signed the journal saying we had paid a visit and popped a couple of quid into the collection box. The couple who live across from the church maintain it and I think they do a wonderful job of preserving that little bit of history about the surrounding area and what happened to Waskerley village after the railway became obsolete. It strikes me as a real shame that a line was not maintained as I am sure people would pay good money to take tours across the fell and take in the sights. Ah well they will just have to buy bikes and see it the way we do. 

John contemplating the meaning of life
Rod checking out the local history
Now feeling proper exhausted, however pleased I am able to start getting back in the swing of things after this dreadful cold. Really enjoyed yesterdays swim with John and even though it was brass monkeys and wet today we all enjoyed the great outdoors and just hanging in the company of friends.

Not to many pics today it was just too dam cold lol.. 
 
The Bartlett Tendon, a dirty design, just as well
 

Friday 10 August 2012

A Sunset at Waskerley

Decided to head straight off up towards Waskerley on our return from Middlesbrough yesterday. I really wanted to try and catch a nice sunset on the reservoir up there but unfortunately we were a little late.

Never mind I did get  some shots, mind you I had to wade through the heather and almost fell a few times to get in position. It's real difficult walking at the best of time with this stoopid leg, but add confounded weeds,undergrowth and heather and well it's just not funny at all.....well maybe to others when I'm either goose stepping to get through the stuff or falling over as I've snagged my foot and my leg gives way unexpectedly lol.

Anyhoo hope you think the shots were worth it, all of the shots have the same basic composition I was messing around with different light settings,apertures etc.  I'm a total noob to this lol.

Near Waskerley on the moors