A ride around the Bath Tub Loop 10 times

The weather didn't appear too bad this morning, as I just had a nice relaxing mooch about indoors. I then became a little bored, having watched the stuff I had recorded over the course of the week. I love watching The Curse of Oak Island and also enjoy Forged in Fire, so have these programs set on the set-top box.

Coming up the Bath Tub Loop Trail

I had checked the weather forecast the previous day so had an idea it was due to rain, never the less I decided to head out on my Specialized Turbo Levo. There is a trail over on Chapman Wells, a local nature reserve and I quite enjoy riding over that way as there are not a lot of people or cars. 

Heading down past Stream Valley

I had gone out on my Fat Bike sometime earlier in the week and measured the Bath Tub Loop, using Strava, it came in at 1.8 miles, starting at the Stream Valley Equestrian/Farm of course, I had to also ride there and back so that also added a few miles.

As I set off I was pleased I had prepared for the weather, having put on a base layer, my Race Face Jersey and my Endura Hoody. To be fair it was not really cold as I rode to start with, without my gloves. It was, however, a tad damp and overcast.

A spot of rain over by the pond

Puddles starting to accumulate upon each lap

The ride to Chapman Wells is only about 2 or so miles. I had brought my GoPro, however, had an inkling that it would not be of much use today. I have mentioned this before I have the GoPro Hero 5 and it is terrible in poorly lighted situations. It is hard trying to get a photo of yourself using photo mode as the timer is only 30 seconds long. And when you try to use the time-lapse photo, well you do not have as much control over the image settings. Needless to say not too many quality images today.  Never mind the purpose of today's ride was more just to get out of the house and challenge my self to do 10 laps of the Bath Tub Loop.
 

Over by the small pond. Gets some lovely wildlife here

 

I kept my bike in eco mode throughout my time out, and this gives me a canny workout on the off-road trail.
 

  
It has been some time since I have been out and got a good soaking, however, I really enjoyed my time out. It's nice to have a bit of solitude and just relax and reflect on all that is going on. I also use this time to reflect and generally just be grateful for the small things in life, the things that don't cost anything and all of us take for granted.

A ride out with Reptile Number 2

Awaking this morning I was kind of lost as to what to do, and as the morning slowly passed away and I couldn't think of anything I decided to hide under my throw and see if possibly falling asleep would help either motivate me or bring some positive ideas to spring to mind.

Just as I was dropping off, wor Kyle (Reptile #2) poked his head into my room and said: "hey what are you doing in bed, it's a lovely day do you fancy doing something, maybe go out in the bug?" Well obviously now I thought I was having some sort of a weird sleepy dream state event, as Kyle rarely asks me to do I fancy doing anything. Apparently, it had been really slow at KFC and the Colonel had given Kyle the day off.

I agreed to a lookout and suggested Bamburgh, well it was a nice day and it is pretty beautiful up that way, plus Kyle had never seen the Castle before.

On the beach at Bamburgh

Urban Cow Spotting

For years and years, going back as far as ooh 1995 - 96,  when I was unwell and a patient over at the Freeman, to the present, I always thought that the cows in the field over on the Town Moor, were a rather unusual sight.

Urban Cows

I mean usually, you see cows either on a farm or in a wide-open expanse, in the country. Not that the Town Moor is a small area, no it's the whole backdrop of where the cows are really. 

When you come across a film that gives you that "Feel good factor"

One morning a few weeks back, whilst getting sorted for work, grabbing a quick cuppa, and watching a spot of breakfast news, there was a story about a group of fisherman from Port Issac in Cornwall. These group of fishermen had for years been singing old maritime sea shanties, both upon their boats whilst out fishing as well as onshore where they practiced together once per week. The story goes that a record producer spotted them singing whilst on holiday and well from there the rest is history, and I do not want to spoil the story, for those of you who may wish to go and see the film. 

What really perked my interest was the fact that one of the actors present on the sofa, was David Johns. I loved his portrayal of Daniel, in the fantastic film I Daniel Blake, directed by Ken Loach.

Anyhoo upon watching and listening to the interview of both some of the actual characters who the film was based on and the actors playing the role of the fishermen when I arrived back in from work that day I did a little research and discovered the FishermensFriends were actually going to be playing at the Sage in Gateshead later this year, the 24th September to be exact.

The following day arriving at work I mentioned the story to my friend and colleague Sue. Like myself, she was very interested and we decided to ask around within our team if anyone else fancied going for an outing, come September to go and see the group of Fishermen sing their songs. Sue also suggested, "hey why don't we go and check out the film". 

I had a quick scooby online to see where the film was playing and we decided to go along to Cineworld at the Gate in Newcastle yesterday evening. After experiencing Cineworld at the Gate, although I don't go to the flicks often, I do have to say it is one of my favourite theatres. The seats were ever so comfortable, the screen just big enough and a delightful atmosphere.

The film didn't start until 18:15pm, so following work we had a walk down into the Toon and just had a relaxing cup of Coffee at Starbucks in Old Eldon Square, opposite the St George and the Dragon Statue.

Getting back to the film and what I said earlier about not wanting to spoil it for anyone fancying seeing it. What I can say is it is one of those memorable feel-good films, a little bit like the Full Monty or going back The Commitments. You know the ones, about the working class, hardships and adversity, but also with a few tunes where you find you are tapping your feet along to the rhythm, or in my case foot LoL. There are some sad moments, together with some really funny ones and you really feel yourself being drawn in by the characters. I am not a film critic, and I am sure that certain people in the know will say that the accents or something like that was not correct, however, for me the acting and their portrayal was superb.


It's great to watch a film with some originality and not just another remake of something that has gone before. I am now very excited to head off in September and listen to the Fishermans Friends live. I have never been to the Sage before so it will be a real treat.

Hey if you find yourself at a loose end, why not grab yourself some popcorn and head off to see this, sure you won't be disappointed.