A visit to The Earl of Durham’s Monument

 It is Day 500 of cycling everyday today, so what better way to celebrate, (apart from you all donating a few quid to Arctic ONE via my link)

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/GlennJohnstone1

Then to go out for a nice bike ride with John.

I was up and about much earlier than need be, just can't sleep lately. This gave me the opportunity to make a couple of scrumptious fruit loaf sandwiches, containing Strawberry Jam and Quorn Spinach and Red Pepper slices...Mmmmmmm!

  

Mmmmm! One of my special sandwiches

 

John was the designated leader of today's excursion, saying he fancied a ride to Penshaw Monument. It's canny deceiving how far the trip is, both there and back from ours is, just over 26 miles according to my Strava. I have to say it's not the most exciting route, travelling down the C2C and coming out at Birtley, then lots of riding mainly on footpaths where we could as the road going up towards where Lambton Lion Park used to be is both up hill and cars travel at mental speeds.

A little history about Penshaw Monument...

Penshaw Monument

Penshaw Monuments official name is The Earl of Durham’s Monument. It has
a secret spiral staircase in one of its pillars and once on top of the walk way this leads to an impressive view as you stand on the 70feet tall structure.

Penshaw Monument

 

In the 1920s a young boy fell to his death, so the staircase was closed to the public. In the 60s vandals broke the lock preventing people from access and there was a brief period where there was unrestricted access. The National Trust now maintains the Monument and around 2011 granted access to the staircase on special designated days.

My Specialized having a rest

 

The Monument which is a replica of a Greek temple of Hephaestus in Athens, stands 446 feet above sea level. It was built in memory of John George Lambton, the 1st Earl of Durham.

John at the bottom of Penshaw

 

There is no cycling within the Monument grounds, saying which it would be a pretty epic hill to climb. I struggled to push my bike up and had to stop for a breath and change my route a number of times, as it is hard going. Pleased I had my eBike as the walk assist came in very useful. Coming down was a bit more sketchy LoL
   

Man the push-up was hard, felt like my calf was going to explode

Another wee rest

Back to it

At the top I asked John would he like to try out one of my delicious sandwiches, not sure if he was just being polite as he said it was OK
I can't see him turning Vegan anytime soon. I think the photo maybe tells me he is not to keen LoL

Sharing me sandwiches with John

First bite "Nice Aren't they?"

Oh! And it was John's fault he cut our heads off in the pictures as he set up the camera on it little tripod.

View from the bottom of the hill

Sarnies ate, a quick drink, and we were off, negotiating the slippery slope back down the hill. The ride home was no less adventurous, but hey at least we were out, and it always gives us the chance to catch up and put the world to rights.

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.

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.

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

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

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...

Paranoid about her leaning

Love this wee car, so much still left to do

She is soooo cute

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

Well this has kept me busy this week.

     It's a bit of a mixed bag this blog entry...

I am pretty sure many people must be feeling like myself, well the ones who are shielding that is. You know when you have been off work for going on roughly 8 or 9 months I think that's how long it has been, on and off, more off than on. Well you kind of get to a point where you have binge-watched everything on Netflix, Amazon Prime and even Disney. You are fed up reading and there is only so much Facebook you can handle, as it's mostly doom & gloom. So what then?

I mean I have Myrtle my we 65 Bug back, however I have discovered whilst she was away and out of sight, as it were, she was also out of mind, and since her return I have felt really anxious... I know sounds stupid, but I think it's because she still requires loads of work, and it's like I am ploughing money into something that feels like will never be complete.

Myrtle I know the rear wheels don't look right just, yet they aren't finished

 

Myrtle is 56 years old this year

I have been out for a few practice drives in myrtle, all very enjoyable, however the clutch is not quite right, so I am waiting to take her back to Bewick Mobility to get her sorted. I can't go for a drive with the fitter until I think it's the 12th of April due to Covid restrictions.

Oh! And whilst I am on about Myrtle I may as well tell you about the new 15 x 8 steel smoothie wheels I bought for her a while ago. I wasn't sure what tyres to go with so rather than go out and guess and buy a new pair, my dad visited one of our local scrapyards and managed to pick up a pair of 195/65/15's for a fiver. The lads up at the General Garage fitted the tyres for my dad for nowt, so a huge thank-you goes to them.

 

Anyhoo we got the new wheels on, and instantly I could see the passenger side wheel was sticking out further than the drivers side. After much measuring, it seems a theme on this car, and writing a post on the Classic VW Forums we had a kind of plan of attack.

More measuring, told you it was a theme, and we discovered that the rear wings are slightly mismatched. Apparently this is common with 'repo' wings. The passenger side is about 10 mm narrower than the drivers side and making the car look slightly wonky.

Myrtle cannot be bent as since having her tracking set up, again at the General Garage, using a laser alignment gizmo, she drives very straight and does not pull or drift. I am now trying to convince myself that it is just a quirk of Myrtle and I can live with it, however my OCD is really niggling me and fighting me every step of the way.

Ern also cut off Myrtles rear bumps stops, which allows her to sit a lot lower at the rear.

Rear Bumps stops gone

Other things to sort in the short term I think I need a new brake master cylinder as Myrtle's brake pedal keeps dropping to the floor. My dad thought he had fixed the old one as it was sticking, however it now appears as if this maybe the culprit in my brake problem again.

And I am sure sometime ago I must have mentioned Myrtle's wipers, they simply will not 'Park'. You have to manually turn them off at just the right moment. Myrtle has a full brand-new custom wiring loom, so it can't be that, so when my dad and I do the brakes job I am going to remove the wiper motor and get it sent away to get looked at. I have checked on eBay for a recon motor, Wow! They are canny dear like.

Following these bits n bobs this is where I am getting a bit anxious as the next jobs are all big money ones. Things like do I go for a new engine and box, a total respray and then of course she needs a new interior.

Ok enough of Myrtle...

On to my bike, my Specialized Turbo Levo ebike to be exact. A good few weeks ago my bike stopped working correctly, it wouldn't switch on by the top tube button. If I fannied on with the handle bar buttons it would start working, think I have mentioned this in a blog too, dear me I sometime think I am going nuts, it's like ground hog day, anyhoo I digress.

After making a telephone call to Rutland Cycles Nottingham, the place where I had purchased my bike from and trying to get it booked in for what I thought was a warranty claim problem I soon became rather pissed off. Initially I managed to get booked in for an appointment no problem, however my dad informed me he had a hospital appointment on that day, so I had to call Rutland the following day to try and make another appointment. The bloke I spoke to was most unhelpful and was making up all sorts of what appeared excuses. I can understand we are in a lockdown, however my bike is really important to me as it has helped keep me sane.

So firstly he got on about lockdown, then he said a local dealer would fix it. I informed him I had been Intouch with a local dealer who advised me they may charge for any repairs. He then advised I call another local dealer which I did, to be told exactly the same information, that they would charge for repairs. Upon calling Rutland up, this guy still didn't believe me, so he advised me to call the Specialized Concept Store in Harrogate. So that was another call, just to be told the same thing, that they would possibly charge and that there was a 4-week wait before my bike may even be looked at. I then rang Rutland yet again and again was not believed, however did manage to get an appointment for the 17th of March.

Anyhoo long story short I decided the amount of fuel to get down to Nottingham and the chance of being fined for being caught out of area I would just take the bike to Infinity cycles over at Durham. They had my bike 2 days, and it was sorted, free of charge under warranty...result.

As I mentioned earlier and gets me on to my next bit of what has kept me busy this week. I have been watching various things on YouTube. Quite a bit to do with cryptocurrency, however I came across a few videos about Redbubble and t-shirt designs. "Ooh" I thought "I might give this a bit play with".

Redbubble

 A few of my designs LoL

And so this week I have been messing about with various web based design programs and also learning how to do certain things with an old version of Photoshop I have installed. I used to use Photoshop a lot back in the day when I was doing custom CD & DVD covers, but haven't use it in yonks, so I have had to learn by experimenting and watching a few online tutorial videos.

I have to say, although my designs are not exactly professional they have kept me entertained and busy I will be chuffed to bits if I make even one sale. I have 43 designs so far. I would have had more, however a few have been taken down as I inadvertently breached some copyright or other, by using images containing Lego and Star Wars. Oh! And not sure if my classic VW designs are available.

  

Well that's about it, it's 3:36 am, so another late night. I am on day 498x of cycling today and I have done 2750 sit-ups this month so keeping up with my challenge to cycle another year in support of Arctic ONE. As usual any donations greatly accepted. 

All for Arctic ONE

Not exactly an exciting blog I know, but hey keeping it real, it's just what I am doing at the moment.

This Time Next Year We'll be Millionaires

"This Time Next Year We'll be Millionaires"

For anyone having seen Only Fools and Horses you will recognise this quote from Del Boy

Hey you never know, not exactly sure how I am going to achieve it, however like the old saying goes "you have to be in it to win it".

Last year following on from a discussion with friends at work someone mentioned this home savings scheme upon a website called Skint Dad basically it's a 52-week savings plan, and you start off by putting a few pence per week away and this gradually builds up, putting more and more away each week until you end up with around £650 at the end of the year.

I got Ern to print me out a weekly calendar, popped it on the wall next to my computer where I could easily keep an eye on it and remind me to save each week and made sure I followed the weekly tallies. I actually sold quite a bit of stuff on Facebook Market Place that I wasn't using, and I would also pop this into my savings, and it helped push me way over my savings target. I think I saved well over £800.

It was a tidy sum of cash and my way of thinking was normally I would not of  had it as a big chunk, so instead of blowing it I decided to invest the money in National Savings Premium Bonds. You see, although I know I will not get any interest on the money, if you take a look at what the banks are currently offering it's not much better than 1% or in some cases 3% to 3.5% however you have to become a customer and have a current account.

So plan A of becoming a millionaire National Savings.

Just like most other people I live in the hope of winning the lottery, so tend to pop a couple of quid on weekly. I have had the same numbers for years, recently I have been tempted to quit the lotto all together, as when I calculate the offset to return it's pretty poor and was thinking I could probably invest that money and at least see a return, thing is I am now asking myself "am I addicted to gambling?", this is my only flutter and that little internal voice, which I bet many of you have is saying "Glenn it will just be your luck to quit and your numbers come up next week" Lol.

Speaking of the lottery whilst I have not won anything huge, this year I have been remarkably lucky, and I would say I have won at least one prize every week so far, whether that be a lucky dip or a Fiver.

So whilst winning the lottery is not exactly a plan B, it's on the table for now.

Now this is the bit where most of you if you haven't already avoided this blog will switch off.

My plan C is something I have been doing since Ooh! Around 2017 and that is cryptocurrency. A word of warning before we go any further be careful which sites you visit and watch out for scammers. Do your research if you are planning on investing and don't invest any more than you can afford to lose. I am not a financial adviser, and I am writing this from a personal point of view, as a very much "green horn" when it comes to cryptocurrencies and investing.

So initially I was fortunate enough to be able to invest a couple of hundred quid in various crypto. I think I bought some Bitcoin, Stellar,  Litecoin and Etherum. When I say bought I don't mean full coins, but small percentages of coins.

Now lets be clear I really had no idea what I was doing I had just heard about this new thing called Bitcoin which was created in 2009 by an unknown person using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto, this digital currency had hit the level of $1 for the first time on 9 February 2011. 

I was late to the game however became interested. If only I had taken more notice in 2009. You see in July 2010, bitcoin began trading at a value of US$0.0008, climbing to US$0.08 by month’s end. 

So that is £0.00058 moving up to £0.058. So that is for one full coin. Now imagine buying 100 at 0.058 that would be £5.80, yes that is right £5.80, so go one step further and imagine buying 1000 at 0.058, that would set you back £58.00.

Ok now I have just this minute had a look at what a single bitcoin is trading for, and it is £39,255.13 so if we do our maths that would mean your £58.00 would be now worth 1000 x £39,221.43 or £39,221,430 or

 
Thirty-Nine Million Two Hundred Twenty-One Thousand Four Hundred Thirty Pounds.

So what is cryptocurrency?

Well Bitcoin, was the first cryptocurrency, it is a decentralized form of digital cash that eliminates the need for traditional intermediaries like banks and governments to make financial transactions.

Cryptocurrency is a form of payment that can be exchanged online for goods and services. Many companies have issued their own currencies, often called tokens, and these can be traded specifically for the good or service that the company provides. Think of them as you would arcade tokens or casino chips. You exchange real currency for the cryptocurrency and can then gain access to the goods or services.

Cryptocurrencies work using a technology called blockchain. Blockchain is a decentralized technology spread across many computers that manages and records transactions. Part of the appeal of this technology is its security.

How many cryptocurrencies are there?

Doing a spot of research as far as I can see, according to data from CoinMarketCap, there are currently more than 7,800 in existence. New tokens are popping up all the time – each with a different use case and backstory. Some of the backstories are very interesting as the tokens developers try to solve various problems and entice potential customers to their crypto.

At the moment the top 10 crypto's are

Bitcoin (BTC)
Ethereum (ETH)
Binance Coin (BNB)
Cardano (ADA)
Tether (USDT)
Polkadot (DOT)
XRP (XRP)
UniSwap (UNI)
Litecoin (LTC)
Chainlink (LINK)

There has been  quite a bit of news around the crypto scene as Elon Musk and Tesla have just bought $1.5 Billion dollars of Bitcoin and Mr Musk has been tweeting about what is apparently the tongue-in-cheek "joke" cryptocurrency, Dogecoin which has surged over the last month. It is a testament to how powerful corporate leaders such as Elon Musk and the Likes of Bill Gates are.

I am now using 3 exchanges and have even got my dad interested in cryptocurrency. I use Blockchain, Coinbase, Coinbase Pro which is part of Coinbase however a little more technical to get to grips with. The plus point it is cheaper when buying or selling as you always get charged a small transaction fee, and I have just set up an account with Binance as they offered a few more cryptocurrencies that I could buy using GBP pounds. You see some cryptocurrencies you have to exchange other crypto for, so for instance I would have liked to have bought some Enjin, which is a Japanese gaming token and I think it may take off, however I would need to get either Bitcoin or Etherum to exchange for the Enjin.

 

All the Exchanges have nifty little apps, so you can pop them on your phone and monitor your funds, do trades, buy and sell. In order to join the sites do ask for personal details, and to verify yourself you have to provide ID like a passport or driver's licence. In order to buy crypto obviously you have to deposit funds, this can either be by a bank transfer or on your credit/debit card. I have bought from each of these sites so know they are legit.

I even got wor Kyle some free crypto over at Coinbase, all he had to do was register with Coinbase, verify himself and pop £2 into his account. This goes into the Coinbase account where you can see it in your wallet. You then have the opportunity of answering some very simple crypto video quizzes which take minutes to do and you get rewarded with Crypto. I think wor Kyle has about £25.60 in, not bad for his £2, of course this can go up as well as down.

If you are interested in joining Coinbase if you use the below link we would both get free Bitcoin when you buy or sell about £70 of crypto.

Coinbase Link

In crypto terminology I would consider my self a "Hodl" This comes from the early bitcoin forums, someone posted a message that spelled the word “hold” wrong, and readers interpreted it as an acronym “hold on for dear life,  it’s become a meme of sorts, so that when the prices are highly volatile, bitcoin buyers say "HODL!’”  The reason I hold when the prices are low or high is because at the moment I really don't have enough invested to make much of a difference in my life, well unless my current 759 Dogecoins become worth lets say £1000 each then I may sell, however this still wouldn't make me a Millionaire.
 

This blog post can serve as a reminder of what the future holds and will be quite interesting if both myself and my blog are still around when I revisit it in lets say another 10 years LoL

Things that make you go Grrrrrrr!!!

For some reason, man was I tired last night. I had done my daily riding session in keeping with cycling every day for a year, doing 10.60 miles on my road bike set upon my turbo trainer, whilst watching Gotham on Netflix.

Which reminds me it's not too late to sponsor me and support Arctic ONE with supporting others via their Forward Motion Grant.

Arctic ONE

I also completed 200 crunch sit-ups, mainly just because I have got into a routine. However, I don't think this is what had made me feel so tired I just think I am in a dreadful routine, what with being off work and still shielding.

So this morning I was awake at around 7:00 am. I knew I would be meting up with John for about 9:15am after he had dropped the bairn off at school, and we were going to go for a ride somewhere. "I may as well get up I thought", and proceeded to manoeuvre myself to the edge of my bed, before hopping around the side of my bed and retrieving my Bartlett Tendon.

My Bartlett Tendon has been living in my bedroom as I use it every day for cycling. When I use it indoors on my road bike I always remove the cams and tendons, as I don't need these whilst riding on the turbo trainer. So the first job of the morning was re-attaching the two cams and two tendons. It's an easy enough task, just requiring 4 special shouldered Allen bolts to be fastened in place and making sure the cam locking pins are fitted.

Funny how you can be thankful & greatful for mud

 A great deal of us just take for granted being able to go out and carry out our day-to-day lives. Whether that be going out to work or to do a spot of shopping, meeting friends for a chat over a cuppa, or carrying out some form of outdoor exercise. With what has been happening with this pandemic, all of our lives have been turned upside down and many of the things we used to do or take part in have either changed drastically or we are not at the moment able to do them. It is generally only when you cannot do something that you realise "I really would like to do that".

The 3 Stones at the top of the Black Path

Sandman Hoggar Ti

 

It's quite strange as way before this pandemic going back to 1995 when I first took ill with my leg I experienced what felt to me looking back a certain social isolation. This went on for many years as I fought to keep my leg, however we all know how that turned out, and when I eventually elected to have my amputation, well instead of disabling me it actually enabled me to do more. So I guess now that I am shielding, for me, it has not been so bad, as I have experience of being "stuck in" somewhat and can always find something to do. On the odd occasions I cannot find something to do I am pretty good at hiding under my quilt and switching off from the world entering into my imaginary world, with thoughts of my dream home and the things I will be doing in Scotland.

Isn't it good when you feel you have hit on a bargain?

 Having sold my old small tripod along with my GoPro Hero 5 the other week I had been looking to invest in a new tripod to go with my newly ordered GoPro Hero 9 (well you have to move with the times)

I needed a tripod that was small, light, durable and also adjustable so that I could either pop it on the ground, or hook it around say a tree branch to capture those scenic and exciting shots.

Small Tripod & Accessories

The internet is always the best place to check out first, so I started looking for reviews and trying to find a tripod that matched my criteria. Oh another big factor in purchasing a tripod is that it had to be fairly cheap. I have this habit of leaving stuff on trails, so purchasing some £50 bit of kit was out of the question.

Anyhoo I came across this review on Youtube of a small tripod with a link to Amazon. Everything appeared to fit the bill. I gave Ern the £11.99 to purchase the tripod because he has Amazon Prime so gets free delivery.

A small box arrived today it was, my order how exciting I do enjoy the buzz of receiving presents to myself.

The tripod only measures 7.5 inches, this will increase to just over 8.5/9 inches as you add either the GoPro mount or the mobile phone mount and the adjustable swivel mount which are all provided.

The tripod looks to be pretty sturdy I particularly like that the legs  are covered in a sort of rubber, as in the past I have had small tripods which have had those knuckle joints and over time the knuckles wear due to dirt which accumulates and wears them out, making the tripods slack and wobble all over.

 

Adjustable with bendy legs

I didn't but the tripod for the Bluetooth remote, which came in the kit, however I was actually very surprised at the ease of connecting the remote to my mobile phone and that it worked first time flawlessly. All I did was turn on the remote by the small switch on the side, it flashed blue, then I searched for the device on my phone, using the Bluetooth scan, hey presto it connected, and I was able to take a photo using my camera and the remote.

 

Bluetooth Remote

Having just received this new tripod I have not had a chance to try it out in the real world, however for £11.99 I am very happy with my purchase.

It does everything I want, it's light, adjustable and small enough to fit in my backpack, plus if I lose it on the trail it won't cost me an arm and a leg to replace.

Here is a link if you are interested Amazon.co.uk