Road Trip "What are you grateful for?"

For those that know me, well you will know I am a bit of a dreamer. I have always been like this for as long as I can remember. Of late it has become something a little more. In fact, although I still enjoy a good dream I have been focusing more on using my visualisation and thoughts to try and help my wellbeing. Now I know many people will scoff, however, I am the type of person that if someone tells me they are doing something and it is not hurting themselves or anyone else, and it makes them feel good then where is the harm. I would say "Fair play" to them and that they should keep on doing it.

Me and my little buddy, Baxter

First real ride out on Bike Swanky's PYGA 29'er

Kind of lost here without my dog Mr Hink's. Our house feels real empty and quiet. My dad, Ern is lost too, so I asked him "how you fancy heading out and helping me shoot a video and maybe get a few pics". It seemed like a good opportunity to take the demo bike I have on loan from Bike Swanky for a proper blast. Paul and Andy of Bike Swanky very kindly sent the bike up on Friday morning along with 2 jerseys a mtb and a road one and some Bike Swanky flyers and stickers.

Smile your on some kind of camera

Out the saddle and away up the trail

Farewell my dear old friend...

Love you Hinks, you will be sorely missed

 A few days to reflect... It's not often I write negative posts here upon my blog. I mean sure bad stuff does happen in my life, just like everyone else's.But why write lots of maudlin crap and then get everyone feeling down, all teary eyed and feeling sorry for one another. So this blog (which I wasn't sure if I was going to write) is more a celebration of life, rather than the very sad fact I've lost a close friend.

Really enjoyable, yet slightly stressful weekend.

This weekend as I write has been a mixture of great up's and what is now a prolonged down. The up's being able to hang with one of my newer friends Al and go out on a great ride with him on Saturday, showing him my local area. Then today, Sunday having a very enjoyable roadie adventure (only  slightly marred by the bane of my life Strava and it not mapping my data or ride)  The down and what's stressing me out is that Mr Hink's is still not himself and has worsened and I'm really concerned. I've been holding off going to the vets as last time he picked up and the swelling around his neck went down. But come tomorrow I have asked Ern to get an appointment asap as our little lad, (well he's not so little due to the steroids he's on, Mr Hink's is getting increasingly fatter) just isn't very well. His neck is very swollen and it appears like fluid around his glands, he is also so lethargic. The only thing that hasn't changed is that he is still greedy and can hear the rustle of a crisp packet at 20 paces, it just takes him longer to get to you to scrounge a crisp.

Anyhoo I try to make my blog as positive as possible but thought I'd share my worries as although it's not the same as chatting to a friend, when I write stuff down it does seem to help as I feel everyone that reads my little tales does it because in some way they want to support me and in doing so also care about poor Mr Hink's.

Whilst out with Al I thought I'd lump my big camera around and practice with it some more. I really should be grabbing more shots I don't take half as many as I used to. Generally I see something I want to shoot, but it disappears in the blink of an eye and I don't have time to capture it. I'm not a great photographer, but I do have a keen eye, well at least for what I like.

The Farmer's Trail

Ooh and here's some more Bamburgh photo's

Caught up with my friend Ade, and he passed on the photo's he had taken whilst up at Bamburgh with myself Ern and Mr Hinks.

So without further ado I'll keep it short, shut me gob and just blog em lol...

Me trying to look cool, without a bike or a pair of shorts on lol

Walkies with Ern and Mr Hink's

Had a little walk out with md dad and Mr Hink's this morning. Thought I may as well take along Pentax  and GoPro camera's see if I could capture anything.

Hinky Doo

A trip to Bamburgh Beach

As I've been off on a week's hols this week and the weather was so nice, I decided to have a look-up to Bamburgh beach and just have a bit of a mess around on my Fat bike.

I think I'm back lol

If you are a follower of my blog, you can always tell what sort of a mood I have been in, judging by how much I post. As you can tell of late I have been in a rather lazy, can't be arsed, need to get motivated type of place. Yeah! I feel guilty, however I realise sometime I just need to give myself a break and do what feels right for me, rather than feeling I'm letting anyone down.

So anyway I have been out on a small biking adventure so thought I'd share some video and images.

I'm not going to write a really long story as to be honest all it was, was a very pleasant ride out, a bit of a weird day weather wise, gloomy then getting out.

I was knackered after today's outing, just shows I'm getting on, and all this not doing much after finishing work each day has a huge impact on my fitness. Oh and I can tell things have changed shape wise with my stump due to me sitting around too as today I was rather sore where my socket had rubbed.

When I got home I took a few pics of Mr Hinks my dog so decided to pop them on at the bottom, rather than make another post.

More pics and no me boring you to death with my ramblings lol

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

 

 

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Dam it where is it

A bit of a walk, a bit of beachcombing...

Unfortunately I'm still not fully recovered from my biopsy the other week, contracting an infection has slowed things down slightly. I mean the wound itself has closed up nicely you would/will hardly be able to see the scar, well that's if I chose to show you as it's in a well shall we say sensitive area. I'm now on extra antibiotics (Amoxi-clav) after making an appointment to see the nurse up at my GP's practice. Still in quite a bit of discomfort because of the swollen area and I'm taking extra pain meds, just in the form of codeine to try and keep the pain at bay. It's not as bad as it was so that's good news.

Anyhoo I decided to give the old cycling a miss for a little while yet until I'm feeling fully sorted. Feels like ages since I've been out on my bike and I hate that as I know when I do come to go out my fitness will have deserted me yet again and I'll have to start all over from scratch. I suppose I should be used to it as my riding and fitness has always been up and down,due to one thing or another, mainly health concerns,broken bikes or indeed broken prosthetics. Never mind I always seem to bounce back and though I may not be the quickest or fittest bloke in the world no one can say I don't try and give it my best shot.

So like the heading says of my latest blog I decided to go for a bit of a walk and also do a spot of beach combing. Last year I had been scouring the beach down at Sunderland and towards South Shields for what I call nice bits of drift wood. My plan was to make something, maybe a sculpture of some sort, or even a nice candle holder or picture frame in which I could pop one of my coastal photo's of me out on my Fat Bike. I didn't have much luck finding any nice bits of wood last year really. Now I can put this down to a couple of reasons 1. When ever I got down to the beach the tractor had already beat me to it and cleared up the sands ready for visitors and 2. My OCD tendencies kicked in and I just couldn't find pieces of wood which passed my incredibly high standards of precision and perfectionism...I know screwed up as this is drift wood we are talking about here lol...Hey welcome to my world, it can be hard to be me some days ha ha.

Back to today's walk, well we started at South Shields, when I say we I mean Ern (my dad) who had tagged along and Mr Hinks my English Bull Terrier. We had a little stroll along the beach and soon discovered it was a bit brisk, also not much to be found on that section of the beach, so we headed back to our car and drove further up towards Little Haven, where we got out and went for a little more of a walk and look around. I stopped to take a few shots with my new mobile phone a Samsung Galaxy S3 and was pretty happy with a few of the photo's which I upped straight away from the device to Facebook after I had tweaked them using an app called Snapseed. Then we set off along the coastline in the car and found ourselves at Roker. Unfortunately the tide was right in so we couldn't get down onto the majority of the beach. On the bit we could manage to get on there were various pebbles, of which I chose a few nice ones that caught my eye (I bring them home and pop them in a large clear vase I have on our kitchen window sill, it will make a nice feature when it's full, well I think it will, all different shapes and sizes and colours of pebbles, oh and also some washed glass which reflects quite nicely. There was also quite a bit of drift wood though as I have said I'm really very picky and only 2 pieces passed my examination. Never mind I was chuffed as I think once it's cleaned and dried out I will be able to complete my picture frame. So watch out for a blog post of me exhibiting my handy work lol.

After completing the small loop of the beach we were freezing, so it was a case of returning to our car and cracking open the nice hot drinks and sandwiches I had prepared. Mmmm a lovely variety of jam and chocolate spread on fruit loaf, my speciality, washed down with nice hot coffee. Once warmed up as we really didn't have many other plans for the day we headed off for a walk around the marina at Sunderland. 

It was freezing, yet they were out at the sailing club

 I really enjoy being outdoors as you always meet nice folk to have a chat with on your travels, this can be whether your out cycling or just out for a walk and today was no exception. As we came around the footpath heading around towards the marina we came across a gentleman who was fishing. He was rubbing his hands together and like us was probably thinking "Boy is it cold today". As we got to him we struck up a conversation, basically asking " have ye been lucky 'nd caught oot like". To which he replied "ah just a few littlun's" which he had thrown back. Any-ways it turned out Dave I think his name was had just moved back home after living in South Africa since 1974. Both him and his wife had returned because it was just to dangerous living over there for security reasons and they had come back home to Sunderland. We enjoyed a good 15 to 20 mins chat I love hearing about other people lives and experiences. I suppose that's why I like working with the older patients in my new job, well those fortunate enough to be able to hold a conversation. They have such interesting, historical and at times magical tales to tell. 

 Eventually we got round the marina and completed our loop back to our car, by which time it was brassic and I couldn't feel my hands. Another quick slurp on some semi-warm coffee and we headed off home to pick up wor Kayleigh so as we could drop her off for work. I really don't know what she would do with out the assistance of "granddads taxi's". Saying which I'd be lost without my 2 best mates with whom though it wasn't quite as exciting as being out on my Fat bike with I still had an enjoyable time.

Ended up in Struther's Wood

We had a drive down to the Hamsterley Hall Gate House which is on the B6310 and drove along the road until we came upon the road which leads into Hamsterley Hall. As it's private access into the Hall we parked up just along the trail from the Entrance.

Our plans where to just have a leisurely stroll through the woods and take in the scenery, maybe get a few photo's along the way.

We walked until we came to a sign for the Pont Stones and continued up a trail, unfortunately we didn't discover any stones as the trail just seemed to fade out into the surrounding woodland. I used my mobile and Google maps to pin point our location and it appeared we were in Struther's Wood.

Struther's Wood

Mr Hinks had a bit play around, jumping over a fallen tree and rolling around in the undergrowth. He then proceeded to play with a stick and thoroughly enjoyed being let of his leash for a while.

Mr Hinks, doesn't usually jump, he's too lazy lol

Hinks having loads of fun, Ern watching on

We then proceeded back down the trail and continued in a wide loop back towards our car. I was taking various photo's on the way round of stuff I found interesting, however when I've got home and checked the images I was disappointed to find the shots were pretty naff. It's weird sometimes i can go out using the exact same camera and come away with great shots, then on another day I'm lucky if I get one or two. Ahh well that's the beauty of digital photography you can just wipe your memory card and go out and shoot on another day.

So anyhoo we continued walking around the trail towards our car, Hinks was still off and he suddenly stopped in the middle of the trail. This usually means he has spotted something and yes he had another dog. Now wor Hinks is usually fine around other dogs, yes he's a bit boisterous and can play rough, but he is friendly. Well I don't know what upset him, Ern reckons the other dog a Springer Spaniel growled at Mr Hinks, so he proceeded to try and have a go at it. So I'm shouting me heed off I mean I couldn't run (I blame the NHS they won't provide me with a blade lol). Wor Hinks is now in the process of chasing this Springer all over the shop. I then shout at my dad to run and get Hinks, to which he replies "I can't bloody run". Yeah sometimes I forget he's almost 72 years old lol. Anyways eventually get down to Hinks and grab him and there's no real harm done. The lady and gentleman who had the other dog apologized saying there dog could be a "bit funny" and I also said sorry for wor Hinks behaviour, the ickle git. I then grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and pinned him down and repeated "No, No,No" in a stern voice. Probably doesn't do any good but made me feel better. Then he was informed "No more getting let off you bad dog".

This is one of the last shots i took as we came out of thee woods. This tree and the bit growing on it caught my eye. I know what it looks like to me but you might see something else.....

I know what it looks like to me.....

To ride or not to ride that is the question?

As the title says "To ride or not to ride, that is the question". Ok so whilst out for a walk with Ern (my dad) and Mr Hinks our slightly fruit cake of an English Bull terrier, we ventured out to an area which I won't disclose for a walk.

Though I had been to this place before I hadn't really explored it, however on having a look around yesterday I thought "wow this would make an awesome place to shoot a short Fat Bike movie". Now here's my dilemma, the actual place I'm talking about has signs up saying "No Horses or cycling". So on the one hand as a law abiding citizen the little angel on my shoulder is saying "No stick to the rules", yet on the other shoulder my little devil is saying " Be a rebel just go for it". I mean if I did go ride the trail I have seen it would be very early in the morning I'd like to catch a nice sunrise. Also I wouldn't be riding this area on a regular basis it would be a one off, just to get the shot I'm after.

So I don't know what to do, guess I'm looking for input from people, what do you think? Am I seriously impacting on the eco system by riding maybe an hour or two in this area. What will happen if I get caught will I be slapped with an Asbo or have to face criminal proceedings.

Whilst I was in Middlesbrough

I was invited along to BBC Radio Tees today to do an interview regarding my limb loss and to chat about my mountain biking and the unique sports knee, the Bartlett Tendon I am using.
After I had finished up at the Radio station I decided to go checkout the Tees Transporter Bridge and also have a look at the Newport Bridge which we had seen on the journey in.

Tees Transporter Bridge

A lookout to the Scotish Borders

On my return from Edinburgh the other week I got my eye on a fantastic looking  viaduct and made a mental note to have a look back up to check it out. So along with my dad,Kyle and Mr Hinks, as well as a few friends including Essi and the Hair family we all ventured up to the Scottish borders to take in this amazing piece of construction.

The viaduct in question is called the Leaderfoot Viaduct, it was constructed in 1865 to carry the Berwickshire Railway, connecting Reston on the East Coast Main Line with St Boswells on the Waverley.

  A little more history of the Viaduct can be found here
http://www.forgottenrelics.co.uk/bridges/gallery/leaderfoot.html

Leaderfoot Viaduct

Hooked up with Brian and Laurie in Edinburgh

I thought I may have missed my opportunity to hook up with Brian and Laurie on their latest trip over here from the States. Brian is just so busy working flat out on his  knee design the Bartlett Tendon. For those of you who aren't aware of what a Bartlett Tendon is, it's a universal sporting prosthetic and it can enable an above knee amputee to get back into doing a whole range of sporting activities.

Checkout the below link for more info......
www.leftsideinc.com

I had been out to the coast for a spot of beach riding this morning and when I got home my bike was covered in sand, so I gave it a quick wash down before deciding to go for another blast out locally. When I returned home my dad informed me Brian had been on the phone saying he had some free time if I was able to make it up to Edinburgh, where he had been attending the Human Race Exhibition. The exhibition was a look at the history of sports medicine and Brian's sporting prosthetic design the Bartlett Tendon was featured. This is a huge achievement considering how long the knee has been in production...

City Art Centre and the venue for the Human Race Exhibition

 No probs I thought, Edinburgh is roughly about 112 miles away from us. Obviously my dad has heard so much about Brian from myself and  he was real excited about getting the chance to meet him, so he decided he would come along for the ride. Both Brian and his partner Laurie are huge animal lovers so when I write an email to them I will always keep them up to date on how my dog Mr Hinks is doing and ask about their dog Bear so I thought I may as well take Mr Hinks along so as he could say "Hello" too.

It was really great seeing Brian and Laurie again as it's been quite sometime. We all decided we would go for some pub grub and even took Mr Hinks, he was allowed inside the pub. The pub was named Lebowski's after the famous cult movie  "The Big Lebowski" starring Geoff Bridges.

 Mr Hinks was very well behaved and got lots of attention, not only from Brian and Laurie but also the staff and customers. One lady and gentleman even gave him some crisps they had left over and one of the bar staff brought him a nice cool bowl of water. He then proceeded to help Laurie clear her mixed platter which she had ordered.

Mr Hinks @ the pub

Ern @ the Pub

 It was fantastic listening to Brian talk about   his work as he is so passionate , he even drew a little sketch of his future plans for  some new prosthetic designs, this was very interesting, but we won't talk about that as I have been sworn to secrecy  lol.

After our meal we decided to take Mr Hinks for a quick walk and then head to another pub for a drink. We sat outside as it wasn't too bad an evening. Again the bar staff were brilliant offering a dish of water for Hinks and again he got more attention from passer by, one old fellow coming over to pet him and saying "hey isn't that like the dog from Oliver" in a lovely Scottish accent of course.

Sitting Outside the pub, thanks to the nice lad who used Brian's iPhone to capture this shot

 So all in all it's been a brilliant day I've now been up almost 23 hours straight and drove there and back from Edinburgh so now going to hit the sack.

Just like to say a huge thank you to both Brian and Laurie, it's what you do that makes you special...

Images courtesy of Brian  and his iPhone

Had a look down the Dene

I had to go see about getting a new leg made today at the Disability Services Centre in Newcastle. The DSC is situated  just on the left hand side of the entry way into the Freeman Hospital.

Across from the Freeman Hospital is Jesmond Dene Park. This is a beautiful park and makes for a lovely stroll,  there are some quite steep ups and downs, but the scenery makes up for the effort of venturing into the dene.

 I had my camera with me so decided to take a few snaps......

The waterfall at the bottom of the Dene

A Day out Playing @ Ajax Woods

 I decided to get to grips with my GoPro,after having one or two problems, notably when I got my camera the spare battery being buggered and running out after 10 secs or so!!!
 I thought today might be a nice day to experiment. I had been out for a ride last week on the Derwent Walk and got my eye on a nice place just to practice with my camera.  Here's some various shots of the day.

My dog Mr Hinks & where i got his name from

 History

Early in the mid-19th century the "Bull and Terrier" breeds were developed to satisfy the needs for vermin control and animal-based blood sports. The "Bull and Terriers" were based on the Old English Bulldog (now extinct) and one or more of Old English Terrier and "Black and tan terrier", now known as Manchester Terrier. This new breed combined the speed and dexterity of lightly built terriers with the dour tenacity of the Bulldog, which was a poor performer in most combat situations, having been bred almost exclusively for killing bulls and bears tied to a post. Due to the lack of breed standards - breeding was for performance, not appearance - the "Bull and Terrier" eventually divided into the ancestors of "Bull Terriers" and "Staffordshire Bull Terriers", both smaller and easier to handle than the progenitor

About 1850, James Hinks started breeding "Bull and Terriers" with "English White Terriers" (now extinct), looking for a cleaner appearance with better legs and nicer head. In 1862, Hinks entered a bitch called "Puss" sired by his white Bulldog called "Madman" into the Bull Terrier Class at the dog show held at the Cremorne Gardens in Chelsea. Originally known as the "Hinks Breed" and "The White Cavalier", these dogs did not yet have the now-familiar "egg face", but kept the stop in the skull profile The dog was immediately popular and breeding continued, using Dalmatian, Greyhound, Spanish Pointer, Foxhound and Whippet to increase elegance and agility; and Borzoi and Collie to reduce the stop. Hinks wanted his dogs white, and bred specifically for this. Generally, however, breeding was aimed at increasing sturdiness: three "subtypes" were recognised by judges, Bulldog, Terrier and Dalmatian, each with its specific conformation, and a balance is now sought between the three. The first modern Bull Terrier is now recognised as "Lord Gladiator", from 1917, being the first dog with no stop at all.

Due to medical problems associated with all-white breeding, Ted Lyon among others began introducing colour, using Staffordshire Bull Terriers in the early 20th century. Coloured Bull Terriers were recognised as a separate variety (at least by the AKC) in 1936. Brindle is the preferred colour, but other colours are welcome Along with conformation, specific behaviour traits were sought. The epithet "White Cavalier", harking back to an age of chivalry, was bestowed on a breed which while never seeking to start a fight was well able to finish one, while socialising well with its "pack", including children and pups. Hinks himself had always aimed at a "gentleman's companion" dog rather than a pit-fighter though Bullies were often entered in the pits, with some success. Today the Bullie is valued as a comical, mischievous, imaginative and intelligent (problem-solving) but stubborn house pet suitable for experienced owners

Gonna need a bath

A Happy Pooch

Mr Hinks knows there's biscuits on the go

HuH!!!

Posing at the Coast

1,2,3 coming ready or not......

Mr Hinks

HuH!!!!

Just told Mr Hinks a joke, a man goes to the zoo, it only had one animal it was a dog, it was a Shitzu :D

Here's one of my best m8's,Mr Hinks my English Bull Terrier

Me and wor Hinks. I met up with him when Ern had him out for a walk down Beamish woods, so took a photo opportunity.