On Me Bike

On Me Bike is busy...

2010-11-14T21:51:00.000Z

Lots of good things happening this Autumn - lots of interesting work in Loughborough and Nottingham, a new allotment and other things (...) keeping me busy. So blogging has been very neglected. On Me Bike is going to take a break, but I'm hoping to use my gardening blog to support my freelance work as well as keep in contact with people. You can also keep up with me on Flickr or even on Facebook if you're a chum.
Cheerio!

Somerset Cycle Tour 2

2010-09-11T21:44:00.000+01:00

One of the pleasures in cycle touring is coming across village churches, and stopping to have a look. For an atheist I've visited a huge number of churches - I love the history, the architecture, and even the feeling that people have worshipped and met here for possibly hundreds of years. I'm not completely soulless!

So here are just a few of the churches I visited back in July.

St. Hugh's Charterhouse, high up on the Mendips. Very distinctive, I haven't seen a church like this before.

St. Mary the Virgin, Cannington, north-west of Bridgewater. This 15th Century church has some powerful carvings on the outside. Is the face below depicting leprosy?

A similar church, Halberton St Andrew, but way over the Quantocks, near Tiverton.

Lovely carvings!

St Mary's Ilminster, a fine church in a delightful town, not only because there were four cafes to choose from!

Finally, Wedmore church, back on the Levels, and another dedication to St. Mary. This was propbably the most interesting on the whole trip, with many carved bosses and corbels. Most of these were inside and the photos aren't good enough for publication (!) but the external carving of a little devil below rather took my fancy, he's a bit like the Lincoln Imp.

I also looked at and photographed churches at Stogursey, Stringston, Bicknoller, Bishop's Hull, Hillfarrance, Brushfield, Kingsbury Episcopi and Compton Bishop.

My new best friend!

2010-09-02T21:15:00.000+01:00

After hankering after one for years, I've finally got a Brompton! With my new job it's going to be really useful as I'll be able to pop it onto the X9 after cycling into the city, then I'll be able to bike round Loughborough to meetings, etc. And if the weather is as lovely as it was last Friday night, I can just think "I'll cycle home!" and off we go.

It's a second-hand bike, and it was a sheer fluke I got it as they are like hens teeth - or nicked. I just happened to pop into the Framework Bike Club on the right day and got chatting about Bromptons within earshot of the right person...

Somerset Cycle Tour 1

2010-08-29T22:32:00.000+01:00

At last some photos from my cycle trip in July! I had a super time visiting friends and relations (you know who you are - thanks for everything!) and I also had time to look at flowers, butterflies and the wonderful views.

The bike (Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative Revolution Trailfinder) on the train to Birmingham. One of the huge varieties of cycle accomodation I encountered this summer... though I've a suspicion that this may actually be designed for wheelchairs.

The view from the road above Wookey Hole, where there is a lovely campsite.

This road takes you up onto the Mendips, where I had a great time identifying flowers and galls, and met this character, a Marbled White:

Later on, in Ebbor Gorge, I was excited to see two Silver-washed Fritillaries dancing about above the brambles. This is one of them.

I also came across this!

More animals which aren't what they seem at RSPB Westhay on the Somerset Levels - it's an otter carved out of a log.

Over on the Blackdown Hills (and actually in Devon) is Culmstock Beacon, with great views over to Exmoor across the Vale of Taunton Dean.

I came across this odd creature - it's a female Scorpion Fly.

And this is just one of many Gatekeeper butterflies which were fluttering about the gorse and hedgerows.

Similar but definitely different, a Speckled Wood.

Back on the Mendips, this is the viw from Crook Peak.

This was a great place for wildlife, with limestone flora including some real rarities (which I was unlikely to find on a short walk onto one of the most well-used areas). However it was nice to get this shot of a Common Blue.

And this of a Common Hawker dragonfly. Coming down the hill later, I saw a group of 10 or so dragonflies, all hawking together. What a wonderful sight.

That was just a few of the sights which made this such an interesting trip. Next post will have some photos of churches and the wildlife they harbour!

On Me Bike has been on her bike...

2010-08-17T22:07:00.000+01:00

...which is why I've not been posting. First 10 days in Somerset and Devon visiting friends and relations (super to see you all!) and then 10 days doing my version of the Cumbria Cycleway. I'll post some photos and comments at the weekend.
First though I'll be starting my new job!

Getting on me bike again...

2010-07-13T22:19:00.001+01:00

It's been too long! A busy few weeks is all it takes to completely get out of this blogging habit.

It seems like a good time to take stock. 'On Me Bike' has been going for over a year and a half now, and while I've done some super cycle tours, and put lots of stuff about gardening in, I've not gone into much depth about the jobs side of the theme. Since the election it seems less amusing to recollect Tebbit's phrase. However, work-wise I've been on my bike all over Nottingham - Bulwell, Hucknall, Snape Wood, Aspley, and the Meadows, teaching gardening. Now I'm going 'on my bike' to Loughborough - mainly involving the train too as it's 20 miles! I'm starting a job-share in mid-August as an Access to Nature Officer with Charnwood Borough Council. It'll be good to be doing more nature conservation, and I'll be able to do gardening education the rest of the week.

Before though, I'm back off to the South West with my bike and tent again...

Sunny Staffordshire

2010-06-06T22:01:00.000+01:00

The first cycle trip away this year! A little too early for camping, and also the long-running saga of my bikes' hub cones and bearings mean that neither are quite up to carrying a full load. Quite possibly my knees would agree. So, another go at Youth Hostelling, and hit lucky with Sheen Bunkhouse, just north of the Manifold Valley in Staffordshire. It turns out to not actually be a youth hostel, though it's on their website. It's a farm diversification venture, but I hope they normally do better than this week - I was the only visitor! A very comfy place, a cross between a country cottage and an old-style hostel, but without the warden.

Sheen is a small agricultural hamlet, with just a pub. There's a Victorian church with some much older gargoyles outside, howling at the moon. (Or sun, in this case).

Just down the road a small field has some strange weights and pulleys attached to the trees and a hefty post. Took me a while to deduce that it was a tug-of-war practicing field, and later I saw the girls from the Young Farmers practicing, very seriously.

Opposite the hostel is what appears to be a tin tabernacle.

So, a pleasant few days photographing specialist lead- and copper-mine-spoil-loving plants, enjoying the scenery and the cafes, and discovering some very nice tracks.

New Blog

2010-06-06T21:21:00.000+01:00

The original theme for 'On Me Bike' was, unsurprisingly but contrastingly, my cycle trips and efforts to find a job. One has proved to be more blog-worthy than the other... However I've also found myself reporting rather more often on my gardening. So, as part of my push for more freelance work, and to collect all my gardening posts in one place, I've started http://itsthegardeninglady.blogspot.com/.

Do pop over there and have a look. Now to write a post about cycling!

This year's experiments

2010-05-01T22:23:00.006+01:00

Last year I did a couple of 'experiments', testing out differences between different sorts of compost. Useful but rather frustrating as the peat-free compost I use, which is reckoned to be the best, still didn't perform as well as the old peat-based compost found down the allotments. Having said that, in the long run it didn't seem to make that much difference as all the plants were then potted on or planted out into peat-free or soil and did OK.

So I'm doing some more 'experiments' this year, with similar themes.

Experiment 1: Arthur C. Bowers New Horizon VS innominate peat-based.
From left: Pak Choi, Lettuce May Queen, Lettuce Lobjoits Green Cos, Lettuce Little Gem, all in peat-based.
From right: ditto, all in New Horizon.
Both with inclusion of Vermiculite.

4 April 2010.

17 April 2010.

25 April 2010.

1 May 2010.

Speed of germination, success of germination, size of seedlings: all seem much better on the left, i.e., peat-based. I did turn them round, but maybe the peat-based have been favoured by being on the sunny side of the mini-greenhouse.

Experiment 2: Depth of sowing.
In my teaching posts, I'm always stressing sowing seeds at the right depth. but how much does it really matter?
I sowed 7 seeds per pot of Lettuce May Queen at depths of 0.5cm (the recommended depth), 1.5cm and 2.5cm. I also sowed some at 0.5cm with a covering of vermiculite rather than compost.

4 April 2010.

25 April 2010.

1 May 2010.
It's not got enough samples to be scientifically valid, but i think it shows that seed depth doesn't necessarily have as big a role to play with this seed. Obviously still best to follow the seed packet or the rule of thumb: sow at twice the depth that the seed is wide.
Again, maybe I didn't turn often enough for all the pots to get the same distribution of sun.

Experiment 3: Coir Compost vs. New Horizon.
From left: Broccoli 'Raab'; Rocket; Spicy Greens; Pak Choi, all in coir compost.
From right: ditto, in New Horizon (no vermiculite).
The coir compost was one of those bricks from Oxfam.

1 May 2010.
Initial results looking more favourable for the coir compost. This was what Monty Don used to recommend, but I've never found it very easy to source, and some I used last year was hopeless. Mind you, it was from a pound shop.

Losing my bearings...

2010-05-01T21:47:00.004+01:00

In 2008 I did a cycle tour down the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire coasts to Norfolk. By the final stint of this trip, it was pretty clear that my nice old tourer wasn't very well in the rear bearings department. Horrid clunks and even bangs emerged, though the wheels kept on going round apparently happily.

When I got home I tried to sort out the bearings, but realised I couldn't get into the ones on the side where the block (gears) are. I used to be pretty good at cleaning my bearings out, I thought, but I don't remember having to take the freewheel off. There ensued a long saga which I really cannot be bothered to repeat, of posts on forums, trips to bike shops, efforts by well-meaning friends, all to find out what sort of freewheel remover I needed and how to actually use it to get the block off.

Finally I decided to swallow my pride and take it to one of the few bike shops that had been able to sell me the right freewheel remover for service. At lunchtime I got a phone call "It's going to cost £200 upwards to repair it, it's not worth it. Do you want us to go ahead or get rid of it?" Shock horror! Get rid of my old friend! Back at the bike shop they showed me the rear bearings. They were not round anymore. One was actually more pyramid-shaped. Pretty embarrassing. I was the one responsible for the state my pal was in. More to the point the hubs had been damaged by this, and the drivetrain was completely worn out. I pointed out that the bike had cost me £350 in 1989 so how much would I have to spend to get one that good nowadays? "You can spend a less and get one much better these days." The guy spent a good hour showing me bikes in the basement, but totally failed to convince me that any were the right size, and to show me any tourers.

Another saga, one of trying to find a decent replacement tourer, but apparently short women don't need nice bikes. Again, too boring to recount, but this one involves the CTC magazine letters page too, not just the forum! Meanwhile I'd bumped into a guy who looked at my bike and said the parts were worn, but didn't look that bad. And then I had some work cancelled, and went down to the Framework bike club. Again "Well, it's pretty worn but you've got maybe 1000 miles more wear if you're lucky". So I popped in some new bearings and the bike is back on the road. Total cost? £1.50. (Except I'm buying another bike off them too!)

Next stage: sourcing the parts that I really will need at some point to get the bike touring again.

Rather abused cones.

Hub not looking that bad.

PS. It takes about 5 minutes to get a freewheel off - if you've got the right remover, a workbench and a vice!

The Garden in March and April

2010-04-23T21:29:00.006+01:00

After the winter we've had this year, it's taken a while to get back into the garden. I've been doing some work for the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, and getting stuck into Neighbourhood Nature, the OPAL Lichen survey and iSpot, which has all been fascinating. In March I remembered there was a garden out there!

Mid-March: new Garlic planted out. Red Mustard and Leeks weathered the snow, but don't look very big...

Late March: currant cuttings from winter 2008/9 lined out at the back of the plot. The Sorrel (centre) noticeably larger.

Early April: signs of life from the herbs, Marjoram at the front, mints near the back. Over-wintered Lamb's Lettuce and Mizuna planted out under fleece.

Mid-April: Leeks going well, it was worth leaving them. Now to eat them! Red Mustard and Sorrel growing too fast to keep up!

And finally, late April. What a month it has been, what a spring!

Friday night

2010-04-16T19:08:00.003+01:00

Get home about 6:30 after volunteering at Hyson Green Homework club.
Green ginger wine and tortilla chips (fusion food?), listening to the News quiz, if I'm lucky.
Juice (Podcast receiver) to download this week's Costing the Earth, One Planet, Science in Action, etc.
Friday's job searching: Derby and Derbyshire councils, then the Boroughs in Derbyshire. The DirectGov website, JobsGoPublic, Guardian jobs, Charity Jobs though they are all pretty pointless these days but you never know...
Nice evening, might go for a stroll. Count the cats, look at the front gardens. Count my blessings - I don't live and work on a rubbish dump in Lagos (though it did have a surprisingly good side) - what were you watching last night?

January Garden

2010-01-10T21:32:00.002Z

Rather different from earlier posts!
Under the fleece are plants like American Land Cress, Pak Choi, and Cornsalad. They look OK and I expect them to grow away well once things warm up a bit.

Things may not be so successful in the veg plot. The leeks - just visible on the left - are still pretty skinny but should survive the snow and ice. Others may be less fortunate - the Sorrel and Red Mustard already looked a bit sorry for themselves after the earlier frost before Christmas. I'll be interested to see how the Green in Snow gets on! I probably should have fleeced the lot in mid-December, but then no-one expected the winter to turn out how it did.

The main part of the garden, not looking like winter gardens do in magazines. They always take photos when there's been a hard frost - not something which happens that often, but beautiful whaen it does. All we're doing in the garden at the moment is feeding the birds.

Once bittern twice shy...

2010-01-03T21:32:00.004Z

Like an ice-rink underfoot, but bright blue above, so on the bus to Beeston, for a short walk to the Marina. Chips and a warm welcome from Tony at the Boat House Cafe, then on to Attenborough Nature Reserve for some birding! Having got into lichens this winter, I'm a bit late getting started this year.

Plenty to see - the 'usual suspects' such as mallard, tufted ducks (which are super), great crested grebes, etc., and watched a flock of greylag and canada geese. Spotted a teal, which I don't remember seeing last year, followed by a goosander, a shovellerand a pair of wigeon, which I do remember.

Then went to visit the new hide, the Tower Hide, which has a great view over Clifton Pond. The photo below is taken from the hide. A few minutes after taking this photo, one of the other birdwatchers said 'Bittern! On the ice!' And there it was, standing rather knock-kneed with its beak in the air, looking as if it didn't really know why it was there. Then another bittern appeared, standing on a post at the edge of the reedbed. We had a couple of minutes to watch both before they disappeared back into the reeds. This is a really unusual occurrence: bitterns are rarely seen during the day, even less on a sunny Sunday afternoon when everybody is about. I may never see another one!

Attenborough is a pretty special place and is part of a unique landscape: below is the distinctive steam plume from the rather notorious Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, site of at least one climate change protest recently.

'I never loved England more than when covered in snow'

2009-12-31T09:57:00.008Z

Christmas in Grassington: deep snow dealt with effectively but with a certain amount of grumbling.

Looking down Main Street the day we got there. There were several more inches of snow to come.

Icicles galore - these are on Chapel Street where we were staying. These older houses are quite difficult to insulate so the heating was warming the snow on the roofs, and the water was trickling down and making the icicles.

Isolated farm above Grassington: we did short walks from the town rather than travel, but there are so many lanes and paths around that it's possible to do a week's worth of walks without too much overlap. And it all seemed a lot more exciting in the snow!

The River Wharf below Grassington.

Linton.

View from above Grassington. The trails of footprints are rabbits.

It's good to get a different view of the world: as well as seeing where the rabbits run, the snow highlighted the ancient field patterns of Wharfdale, hinting at a very different landscape.

Title courtesy of Laura Marling, from 'Goodbye England covered in Snow'.

Brussels Spouts

2009-12-01T16:44:00.006Z

A bit of a cheaty title as one is from Leuven! But irrestistable, as is Jeanneke Pis, who was created by Denis-Adrien Debrouvrie allegedly under the instigation of Belgian feminists in the 1980s. It's a shame she has to be behind a cage up a blind alley (called the Impass de la Fidelite or Fidelity Alley)...
My search for websites featuring Jeanneke turned up this one, with another little-known peeing statue (as well as the well-known one... )

Over in Leuven The 'Fountain of Wisdom' seems wonderfully ironic for a city which has the largest and oldest university on the low countries. Or maybe I'm just cynial about education!

Brussels

2009-11-07T21:49:00.005Z

Half-term holiday and a trip on Eurostar to Brussels. Stayed at an 'apart-hotel' for a change as it meant we didn't have to eat out so much, the exchange rate not being what it was. But we treated ourselves to a couple of meals out, both at places which cater excellently for veggies, and which we remembered with fondness from our last trip - Dolma and Cafe Novo.

Saw lots of great art and architecture, but what captured my imagination the most were the Art Nouveau houses which we spent a lot of time searching out, and the art which we came across by accident in the streets.

Part of Oxfam's campaign for an agreement on climate change at Copenhagen. Signed the petition, had an interesting chat with one of the campaigners. One artist created all these miniature refugee shelters, which are travelling Europe this autumn.

Not sure what this is making a statement about - street trees maybe? A surprise anyway.

Pretend cracks in the walls, and drifts of Cosmos instead of builder's rubble. Not the usual building site! (In Ghent).

Also in Ghent, this is apparently another effort to raise the plight of the world's poorer people in the face of climate change and rising sea levels.

It's a real tree, and somebody has cleverly painted an extra branch on the wall behind.

Art Nouveau houses next post!

A Derbyshire Walk

2009-10-18T17:21:00.006+01:00

Bradbourne All Saints. A largely Norman church, some Saxon remnants round the back, and the cross shaft in the foreground is Saxon too. More info here.

The eroded but still beautiful tower doorway. The shapes around the outer arch were once beakheads.

The church also has a fine corbel table.

It's a fascinating churchyard, with many old and unusual gravestones, such as the circular one at the left. A fine view also.

Wigber Low, a barrow used from Neolithic to Anglo-Saxon times.

Near Parwich.

Garden Diary: September

2009-09-25T21:23:00.005+01:00

Isn't it funny - all that fuss about 'what happened to the promised barbeque summer' but hardly anything about what a lovely September it's been. John Humphrys has even been complaining that it's been too dry. It's true, the sunny weather has caught me out a few times, but overall for someone who works outside a lot, it's been great.

The garden doesn't look bad either.

Tagetes blooming at last, having survived slug depredations. Sorrel in too great an amount for even our salad-eating habits. I will have to give some away. Oregano also allowed to flower, for the sake of the bees and hoverflies. Plastic yoghurt pots turned in slug-proofing for winter salad mustards.

Part of the potato crop - Pink Fir Apple. Very tasty, but not a prolific potato at the best of times. I've been slightly disappointed about my potatoes, and will try old compost sacks turned inside out next year, with better compost.

From the front: sunflower, Achocha, and runner beans. The Achocha (the 'Lost Fruit of the Incas') has only recently flowered so I'm not sure whether it will get enough sun to fruit. Lovely leaves though.

The main garden looking lovely and lush, with white Japanese anemones and tomatillos.

Our apple tree doing what it does best: producing more huge apples than we can ever eat, on branches which droop down and make hanging out the washing a limbo job.

Finally, indoors are three 'Ring of Fire' chillies. It's the first time in 25 years that I've grown chillies; the last time was at university and resulted in a mini-riot.

Bottesford and Stamford

2009-09-06T17:22:00.008+01:00

A pleasant day in a town which epitomises much of what is lovely about England. History, architecture, local shops, tea and scones.

First an accidental visit to Bottesford and its glorious church chock full of old tombs with carvings of people with very solid ruffs and rows of children like tiny adults. There are also some interesting late medieval carvings including this one, possibly one of the deadly sins.

Below, two of the four Stamford churches we explored: St. John's Church: a grinning hand rest and an angel roof, and St. Mary's: a glimpse of the lovely arts and crafts chapel ceiling. More information about both churches here.

3 nature reserves, 3 art galleries

2009-08-23T21:14:00.007+01:00

Wednesday last, my class for the day having been cancelled and it being a nice day, I headed off on my bike in search of late summer flowers and a few art galleries too.

First stop was the Stables at Wollaton Hall. I used to come and talk to the police horses here back in the 70s, now it's a cafe, gift shop and art gallery. The gallery has a wildlife and animal theme, and this time it was Pollyanna Pickering: hyper(un)realistic paintings of animals and landscapes. Not my thing at all.

Over Derby Road to Nottingham University and a large area of grassland surrounded by halls which is called the Downs. If you want to feel dizzy watch this. Anyway, it's a nice acid grass land and has some slightly startling Great Burnet, below, as well as the yellow composite Smooth Hawksbeard, Yarrow, Common Sorrel, Common Knapweed, Catsear and Lady's Bedstraw. (Aren't common names lovely? Latin names are good too, but I've slipped more and more towards the English ones over the years. You can tell a plant I learnt at University if the Latin name comes into my head first!)

Then on to the Djanogly Art Gallery in the University grounds which had some interesting works in its open exhibition. I particularly liked some paintings of demolition but failed to find out who they were by of where they were of as you had to pay 50p for a sheets of artists and titles.

Over University Boulevard to the Science Park, past one of the most hideous buildings which has gone up in Nottingham over the last few years. At the other side survives Dunkirk Pond and Beeston Sidings, below. Here I found many plants found on limestone grassland; Greater and Lesser Knapweed, Wild Mignonette, Haresfoot Clover, Wild Carrot, Marjoram and Bladder Campion, as well as plants of wasteland such as Evening Primrose and Rosebay Willowherb. Not a restful place: there is a metal recycling works over the railway line which grinds and rumbles loudly.

Next, along cycle tracks to Kings Meadow, a tiny gem amid remnant industry and new offices. I spotted some Yellow-wort immediately - a favourite plant of mine I first saw on a site in the middle of Sunderland in the '80's. Lots of other familiar plants and another yellow composite which got me searching my flora: Narrow-leaved Hawkweed. I'm trying to work harder on yellow composites - and I do know they are now called Asteraceae!

It was a hot mid-afternoon, so I headed back north through Lenton and Hyson Green where I popped into the New Art Exchange, originally for a cuppa but I ended up going round the exhibition instead. It was about modern-day slavery, so a thought-provoking and rather sombre end to the trip. There were some rather beautiful pictures of elderly Japanese women who had been 'comfort women' in the Second World War: the artist had chosen to record their strength and resiliance rather than their tears.

Knowing ones onions

2009-08-23T21:08:00.003+01:00

Whitemoor Allotments Show, 22 August. We (Nottingham Organic Gardeners' community allotment crew) entered 6 categories, and were delighted to win three prizes. I was especially pleased as I'd volunteered to choose the produce we entered, and I'd 'dressed' the onions. I can't claim to have done much to grow them, though I did plant them back in the spring. Nature did most of the work!

Garden Diary: August

2009-08-15T19:09:00.003+01:00

So, July got missed out due to having fun cycling round the West Country in the rain, and the sun. Never mind, here's the container corner, probably too crammed with plants. Air circulation could help a little to prevent disease. And sadly, disease there is - blight, like everyone else. I've just had to get rid of some of the tomatoes in the picture below. As you know, potato blight affects tomatoes too, being in the same family, and in a way it's worse. With potatoes - if you catch the blight early - you can cut off the haulms (stems) and compost them, so the potatoes can just stay in the soil till you need them. If you let the blight progress, the potatoes get horrible and slimy and stinky and inedible. Unlike the poor Irish in the potato famine, we have many different varieties to choose which have varying resistance to blight. However, my pot potatoes are King Edward, not resistant, and Pink Fir Apple, not very resistant. So far they look OK, but I'll be keeping a good eye on them.

The tomatoes are another story - once they get it there isn't much you can do except collect the fruit and make green tomato chutney. The Tumbling Toms in the hanging baskets look OK for the moment but are strange dwarfed things, and with the baskets being rather shallow, they suffer water stress very easily - NOT good for tomatoes. Can I claim to be doing it all wrong so you don't?

The Gardener's Delight in the mini-greenhouse frame at the back look OK too - they are in the best place and the biggest pots and are in a shallow tray which catches rain so have had consistent water. The courgette just in front is progressing fine too - for a container plant. I'm not making excuses, but growing food crops in containers can be much more difficult than in the open soil.
Talking of which: here's the little plot. All change here - been have been abandoned and I have got the leeks in, better late than never. The untidy leaves in the middle are sorrel, a tasty and easy addition to salad. The onions are small but tasty.

And below is the main garden - abundant, I think you'll agree? It's going to be another good year for apples - once a biennial bearer, now our apple tree seems to be more consistent year on year. Maybe I am doing some thing right!

Summer Holiday

2009-08-03T17:01:00.006+01:00

'On Me Bike' came back from her summer holiday at the end of last week. Two weeks cycling through Cornwall, Devon and Somerset, camping mostly, and catching up with friends and relations. Two days torrential rain, three days some rain, the rest of the time a mixture of quick showers, sun and cloud. Actually not bad!

Mainly following the West Country Way section of Sustrans National Cycle Route 3, stopping after a 'moving-on' day to explore the local area.

Here's some pics. Charlestown, near St. Austell, where I camped for three nights while visiting the Eden Project and the Lost Gardens of Heligan.

Roadsign above Bodmin, in the rain.

Camel Estuary, from the Camel Trail.

Lane in North Cornwall.

Wind-sculpted tree near Coombe Valley, north of Bude.

Lane in North Devon (I had just crossed the infant River Tamar!)

Duckpool. (Yes, this is what this was signposted as...)

From the Tarka Trail over to Appledore.

Hill farm above Barnstaple, on the way to the campsite on an organic farm that I was staying at.

On the top of the world on Exmoor, looking over to Dartmoor in the rain, after a morning pushing the bike uphill!

Garden Diary: June

2009-07-10T21:16:00.005+01:00

It's getting worse, isn't it? My late posts I mean. Been a busy few weeks, what with work and not-work, so the garden and garden blogging have both been a bit neglected.

The patio area is starting to become vertical gardening, with hanging baskets and behind them a trough with strawberries in. The potatoes are getting huge. I've had some Swift new potatoes, but I think I'll have to dispense with the Roosters as they are starting to fall over. The King Edwards went through a bad patch but are now looking better, and the Pink Fir Apples are looking good.

Garlic ready to harvest and rather too many tomato plants, now pushing at the top of the mini-greenhouse again. Tumbling Tom in the hanging baskets with nasturtium. The latter were lovely for a bit, then got the worst blackfly I've ever seen. Maybe they were too stressed (the nasturtiums rather than the blackfly) as those are not very big baskets. Bigger ones next year.

Onions are filling out, but a little slowly. Carrots, not unexpectedly, didn't really like the clay soil and its accompanying slugs. You have to give these things a try. Sugarsnap peas in the middle, with an undercrop of sorrel. Slightly unconventional. In front of those are french beans with the plastic slug-protectors, which do seem to help. I've now planted kohl-rabi among these... any pretence at planning has gone by the wayside! Behind are beetroot, but like the carrots and radish, they don't seem to like the soil. Also they are probably not getting enough light. It's very easy when you've only got a little plot to get very carried away. As summer turns to autumn I'll start sowing winter salads, and this plot will become herbs and salad.

The main garden looking even more verdant.

This is the same alpine trough as here. Evidently my weeding did do more good than I expected.

Free plants

2009-06-16T21:41:00.003+01:00

Variegated privet for mending the hedge at the front; Euonymus from a shrub we dug out; sage from Hilary's nice sage bush; rosemary from the allotment; blackcurrent sage in case it didn't survive being moved (it did) - all cuttings taken in the last year. Plus a quartet of Nicotiana which (literally) fell off the back of a lorry.

Three different types of Hebe, a really nice shrub to take cuttings from.

Pics taken just after I'd potted the plants into individual pots from the pots I'd struck them into.

Thrifty Gardening

2009-06-07T17:28:00.007+01:00

Dwarf French Beans and Kohl Rabi in loo rolls; Achocha in mushroom tray; Gherkins in cut-off plastic milk-bottles (the tops used as greenhouses until they germinated); Courgettes in butter containers. The time taken to make holes in the bottoms is a bit of a faff - but done to a good radio programme it's not a problem. I could have also used cut-up milk bottles for labels.

Garden Diary: May

2009-06-04T21:51:00.005+01:00

This is getting to be a bad habit! The photos were taken a week and a half ago...

I've now got 4 different types of potatoes in tubs or bags.

At the back, in the green pot: Swift, a first early with low foliage deemed ideal for container growing.

In the old compost bag, Rooster, some spud which chitted in the pantry so I decided to give them a go... I know you're not really supposed to, but though they are too big for containers, they look jolly healthy.

In the brown pot, with lettuces, King Edwards. These are giving some concern: they are very tall and thin, don't look right at all. They were seed potatoes so maybe it's just that they don't like a container at all. I've now extended the pot with a compost bag and will earth up with a mixture of lawn clippings and shredded newspaper (The Guardian - it has non-toxic ink...)

Not visible in the black tub: Pink Fir Apple. These only went in a couple of weeks ago, and are just starting to appear. I tried these years ago and was disappointed so thought I'd try again with a really big pot - but I used that for the first ones in, the Swifts.

In front of the spuds, the garlic with rocket seedlings in a terracotta pot. Going a bit droopy. The bulbs are filling out, but not budding off new bulblets - so far as I could see. Didn't want to dig them up!

In the mini-greenhouse: tomatoes, achocha, kohl rabi, french beans, three different sorts of courgette, basil, more tomatoes...

Out on the plot, the lettuces have exceeded all expectations and turned from pale droopy leaves to bright green hearts. The French beans (Brittle Wax) in the pots are now established among the lettuces. The radishes have got too big and have now been harvested, there are new ones on their way. Sugar snap peas and spinach are starting to appear in the centre. The propagator is protecting French marigolds from slugs. Coffee grains and egg shells are now doing this.

The rest of the garden is looking very lush and verdant. The transparent pots in the foreground are temporary cover for asters, snapdragons and phlox which I grew from cheap Lidl seed. I'm nomally more a marigold, Californian poppy and nigella person so this was an interesting trial.

Finally, indoors in good company with the cacti is a little troop of 'Ring of Fire' chillis. I first came across this when I was working at Ryton, and thought it must be a joke... but no, it's their official name. Thanks to Charlotte from Transition Nottingham for giving me the seeds.

Plant-hunting on poisoned soil

2009-06-03T21:21:00.006+01:00

Once in Matlock (see below) I 'did' the charity shops and fortified myself with tea and sticky bun. Then off up and over the hills in search of fields full of industrial waste. It's ironic that the most popular National Park is covered with the remains of quarrying and mining - in this case lead. (And something other than ironic that quarrying continues to threaten areas just outside the park).

Looking back down into Matlock. An excuse to rest my knees.

An enticingly cool pathway and a typical Derbyshire stone squeeze-stile - mustn't eat too many sticky buns!

The view from a stone step stile, north towards the Derwent Valley and the Edges.

Bonsall market cross. There is a small carved face at the intersection of the arms of the cross. Bonsall is a small village strung out along the valley, and used to house mine-workers. It's got a well, but no water was running. Just as well that I'd found the Evian well in the Matlock Co-op...

The fields above Bonsall are pocked with craters like this, with lush grass in the centre, and one side with few plants, just a dusting of white.

These are the white flowers - the Spring Sandwort or Minuarta verna. This is one of my favourite plants, and it's only found where the soil is so polluted with lead that it's the only thing that will grow. It (I think I remember rightly) packages up the lead in its cells so that it doesn't harm it.

This was another charatcteristic plant - Wild pansy, Viola tricolour. This is it's rarer yellow form. Other plants were Wild Thyme, Kidney Vetch, Tormentil, and Common Milkwort (in mauve and blue) all making a gorgeous rock garden.

Plus several billion Buttercups. Glorious!

Transpeak

2009-06-02T21:25:00.008+01:00

Nottingham to Matlock for £8.

Broadmarsh Bus Station

A52.

Derby.

Duffield.

Belper Bus Station cafe.

Mill at Belper (a World Heritage Site).

Amber Valley. We were queued at a roadworks.

Woods nearing Cromford. We'd speeded up again.

Masson Mills, Matlock Bath.

Matlock. The mighty Transpeak (actually a Derby University shuttle bus) reverses out to continue its route to Manchester.

One of the other passengers was reading 'On the Road'. Was she seeking, like me, the geniune 21st century travelling experience, or merely passing the time on a journey dulled by familiarity?

An old friend showed up at the door

The mile posts flying by

He said come on. I said what for

He said I'll show you why

I got a call from north of here

They say some girl's broke down

There's good money in it for you and me

If we can get her back to town

She's somewhere north of Baslow

Lost on A6

An old Transpeak by the side of the road

That needs a headlight fixed

Transpeak

Apologies to Neil Young!

Menage a trois

2009-05-31T17:27:00.003+01:00

I have three bicycles. The Raleigh Touriste is an old friend of nearly 20 years, the Hawk Trakatak a secondhand rather lumpen but useful introduction to mountain bikes, and the Revolution Trailfinder the newbie. I can't ride them all at once. When I got the new one I meant to find a new home for the Trakatak, but I keep finding it useful to have a scruffy bike to ride into town (Nottingham being a den of iniquity as everyone knows...)

I've been cycling more than ever over the last month or so: it's a great way of taking myself and a modicum of gardening equipment to the places where I teach gardening. I went out for a 'proper' ride today for the first time this year, and did about 20 miles up to Blidworth Bottoms (being Nottinghamshire this is pronounced 'Bliduth'). I went on the tourer, and it's really noticeable that it converts my inputs of energy into forward motion far more effectively than the mountain bikes. Try to cycle on the sandy bridlepaths around there, though, and it's all over the place. Horses for courses I guess.

Garden Diary... April

2009-05-07T20:52:00.005+01:00

Yeah, well it's a few days late, so what? The pictures were taken in April...

There was a path under here at some point... There are also now two hanging baskets, with nasturtiums and lettuces.

2m (approx) square veg plot. Row and block planting is so boring. And sensible... I don't really recommend random blobs, but one has to try these things sometimes! The upturned yoghurt pots (Yeo Valley) have lettuces and the radishes from the 'experiment' underneath. Yes, I know you can't really transplant radishes, but I didn't want to waste them. And one has to try these things sometimes. The oblong white thing is a fleece structure with lettuces and now spinach underneath. I must get or make a proper little cloche. I've just sowed some chioggia beetroot (stripey Italian ones, very yummy) and sugar-snap peas and sorrel.

It's particularly stiking to compare this view of the garden with these ones.

'The experiment' - I dismantled this after maybe 6 weeks as I wasn't getting the right results.* Generally speaking the plants in the peat seemed to germinate slightly better and the radishes were straighter, but by the time I potted them on/transplanted them the New Horizon and garden compost ones were catching up. The coir was pretty hopeless, but people swear by it so I'll try it again with some vermiculite. It's a bit frustrating as it shows up the catch-22 of peat-free compost: not enough people use it so it's not large-scale enough to be consistent... so not enough people use it.

I'd be interested in other people's thought on composts.

*Irony alert.

Community Gardens in Manchester

2009-05-06T20:31:00.011+01:00

I've been a pretty hopeless blogger the past few weeks, just too busy. One of the busy-nesses was a long weekend in Manchester going to art galleries, wandering the city and visiting Saddleworth, where my mother's family come from. We also spent a morning going round two community gardens in Hulme, an area which has been 'regenerated' over recent years. The first was Leaf Street Community Garden, a super permaculture garden running between two terraces of low-rise flats. There's more about it here, including films about it being created. It's a remarkable space, the more so for being completely open to the public as it's an old road and people can still walk through.

View showing the flats over-looking the garden.

General view with resident picking herbs.

Probably the largest herb spiral in the world!

A great use for old public footpath signs...

and for an old canoe!

The other community garden was Hulme Community Garden Centre, a very different but equally super place only 10 minutes down the road. It's a community garden with a garden centre in front, or a garden centre with a community garden behind it? I was particularly keen to visit as I'd got a job interview later that week covering some of the sorts of things they were doing.

Garden centre with new flats behind.

Part of the community garden area.

Super containers!

Three different ways of growing potatoes.

Their new green roof. They are going to grow vegetables on the area at the back!

My photos also show that Manchester isn't always rainy...

But I didn't get the job.

T\e A/e \f St/p/d

2009-04-24T21:38:00.002+01:00

Just been to see 'The Age of Stupid' which ironically, seeing as it's about the potential demise of technology along with culture, the human race, etc., started breaking up from about half-way through and ground to a halt completely about 10 minutes from the end. The website seems a bit problematical too, but perhaps that's just my browser, I keep defaulting to Internet Explorer instead of using Firefox... ANYWAY even with these problems and without seeing the end, which I guess isn't a happy one, it was still better than this. Please do go and see it and tell me what you think and what happens at the end.

Experiment

2009-04-04T21:29:00.007+01:00

A few weeks back I watched a short series with Jimmy Doherty doing some of Charles Darwin's experiments again. This gave me an idea - set up a little experiment to compare how seeds fare in peat and peat-free composts. So ten days ago I finally got round to setting this up. There are four 6-module trays, one New Horizon Peat-Free multi-purpose, one peat (this was from a bag left at the allotment which we thought we might as well use), one our garden compost, and one a brick of coir from a pound-shop. All except the coir were sieved. I planted the same number of seeds in each module: lettuce, chives, radish, tomato, parsley and basil, aiming for a range of plant types and a range of seed providers.

This is how they are doing today:

The experimental modules are the four in the forground. From left: coir, peat, garden compost, New Horizon. They are all kept in the same place and treated the same. The radishes are all up, some lettuces are appearing, and some basil just germinating.

New Horizon

Garden compost

Peat

Coir

So far, slightly to my chagrin, the ones in peat have germinated slightly sooner and look slightly larger and greener. New Horizon and garden compost look about the same, and coir is catching up after seeds were slow to germinate. But this is meant to be a long-term experiment, and not all the seeds have even germinated yet. I am making records every few days and will carry on until the seedlings need to be planted out (or dispensed with in the case of the radishes).

Also, my experimental method may have been at fault. Just a couple of days later there was a Gardener's World Special, 'For Peat's Sake' which described why and how to use peat-free compost and showed gardening WHICH's much larger and better experiment. I realised that by treating all the media the same, I could have been giving peat an advantage. Coir, home-made compost and compost from wood waste and municipal waste all need mixing with sand or vermiculite to work at their best, which is how I usually use New Horizon (incidentally their best buy). So I shall have to set up a further experiment... when there is space...

Garden Diary: March

2009-03-14T20:30:00.012Z

The garden this morning. It's just starting to come to life after the winter:

This was taken not much more than a month ago.

After doing lots of pruning through the early spring, it's now time to get sowing! Last week I went and bought a mini-greenhouse, which I'm very pleased with. Much warmer than the garage.

It currently contains Genovese Basil, Dill, Marjoram, Sage, Thyme, Aubretia, Helianthemum, Campanula carpatica, Arabis, mixed salad leaves, May Queen Lettuce, French Marigold, Dwarf Phlox, Nasturtiums, and Tomato 'Gardener's delight' and Leek 'De Carentan' sowed today. It occurs to me that this is a rather weird collection - it's just because they are the ones which can be sown in March of a large collection of seed packets. Many of these are old seed: I am giving them 'half a chance'. I also got a bit carried away in Lidl a couple of time as their seeds are 28p a packet. Will report back on the success of these.

In the Autumn I sowed some seeds which can over-winter. I sowed all of them a bit late, but as they were old seed thought I'd give them that 'half chance'. Lettuce 'Valdor' didn't do a thing, and the Perpetual Spinach popped up but is still not doing much. Soon I will hoof them out and plant spuds in that, my biggest pot. However the Tatsoi sat there an inch or so high throughout all the cold weather underneath a bit of old plastic sheet then a month ago started to make growth. I've tried to transplant some into the empty half of the pot where the 'Valdor' was, but they aren't keen. Will start eating them soon, and will definitely sow some next back end. The seemingly empty pot has garlic in it, sown earlier this week.

Herbs in a strawberry pot, and a collection of rescued and divided plants. The herb pot has a plastic milk bottle with holes in it sunk into the compost behind the top-most thyme. I'm hoping that this will mean that I can get water to all the plants.

I can't resist taking cuttings when I prune, even if it's the wrong time of year. Here's a tray of Hebes waiting to be potted on - when there's room for more pots! Also Rosemary, Red-, Black- and White-currants, Gooseberries and various others. I brought some of these into the garage in the coldest weather, but most seem OK. Cistus and Strawberry Sage cuttings are looking slightly peaky, but these are not very hardy shrubs.

This is where the herb and veg plants are going to go, if not into containers. It's a little plot about 2m square on our very fertile clay. I've just cleared it of perennials, which are waiting in basins to be re-sited. I realised the other day that this part of the garden is almost exactly where I had my first garden, an alpine garden, back when I was 10 or so. I loved the Latin names: Ajuga reptans 'Rainbow' (even if I thought it was Ajuga 'Reptan's Rainbow'!) and the garden did pretty well for an alpine garden on heavy clay.

There are still alpines, but in containers where we can (theoretically) maintain the correct soil conditions. I weeded this one after taking the photo, but it really needs everything taking out and new compost and grit added. When I've time.

Return of El Gordo

2009-03-09T22:24:00.003Z

Back in January I blogged about 'our' squirrel, El Gordo, and my efforts to stop him eating the peanuts put out for the lickle birdies. I made three squirrel baffles from plastic bowls, and they worked pretty well. El Gordo disappeared. We actually got a little concerned, particularly as the weather changed for the worse. But then the frost split one of the baffles - enough for him to take heart and renew his attack. Over the last week or so he has been seen pulling at it, jumping on it, getting another squirrel to help and even trying to get the local fat pigeon in on the act.

This is the result:

Baffle baffled!

So we've decided that we actually quite like our squirrel, and so long as he's not eating the actual birdfeeders any more (bit expensive) we'll let him eat the peanuts when he can. But I have mended the baffle...

"Oh yeah?"

The early bird...

2009-03-07T20:06:00.005Z

...caught by an Evening Post photographer catching a worm!

Seems I have found myself to be Nottingham Organic Gardeners' publicity officer!

SOOOO busy!

2009-02-22T22:19:00.002Z

Too busy to blog!

I've got some work as a sessional tutor by our local college to teach gardening to community groups, and this week I'm starting three courses on growing veg from seed. So I've been getting my head around lesson plans, teaching schedules, enrolment forms... until my head hurts. But it's great to be able to plan learning around something I love and feel I know enough about. I realised the other day that the best thing about this sort of teaching is that I can be me. When I was doing secondary teaching I always felt I was pretending to be someone else.

I'm also doing lots of gardening as well as talking about it, and a couple of years after swearing I'd never do events again, I'm getting mixed up in organising events connected with Nottingham's Transition Town movement. The Great Spring Sowing has so far involved meetings which manage to be unstructured, well-organised and enjoyable all at the same time. Chair? Shmair!

I've also - unusually for me - been watching quite a few telly programmes. For some reason the period after Christmas always seems to be good for telly. I've been enjoying the 'Round the World in 80 Faiths' programme. I thought that the presenter, Peter Owen Jones, was going to be pretty irritating, but warmed to him as he gave most things a go, getting into some rather harrowing situations and some very moving ones too. I'm amazed how many different faiths there are, and I imagine the programme could have wound up some people either by leaving out their particular faith , or by showing a too-quick snapshot of it. I was a smidgin annoyed at the example of atheism - but then I realised that this was just the sort of response that all the other 79 were creating in someone, somewhere. I'm also enjoying the series 'Christianity - a history', each episode of which is presented by different people so each one is very different from the others. I feel that the programmes presented by atheists are more acute and bolder in their approach, while the others tend to be descriptive - but still interesting. Cherie Blair next week on the future of Christianity... So television is rubbish these days? Not in my opinion. Let's hope that the BBC and Channel 4 do manage to carry on producing such good stuff.

Similar but different: the current bevy of Darwin programmes are looking promising. The recent Attenborough one - 'Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life' - was terrific. No longer on i-player but the tree of life animation (a bit devoid of plant life! But still stunning) is here. The first of Attenborough's Natures Great Events series was heart-wrenching. Not looking good for polar bears... The Natural World programme 'A Farm for the Future' was cracking. Even though I know a bit about the subject matter there were plenty of shocks. There was a more upbeat message too: it included the best short descriptions of permaculture and forest gardening I've seen, and demonstable links between older farmers and the younger ones trying to cut their energy use.

Which kind of brings me back to where I started - growing food. Quite important really.

Green in Snow

2009-02-14T19:55:00.006Z

I’ve been helping out at a super project - FRESH is part of EcoWorks in the St. Ann’s Allotments. It’s a social enterprise, one arm of which supplies fresh vegetables to discriminating cafés in the city. So what can FRESH provide fresh in winter?

Claytonia (Claytonia perfoliata) (above) is a plant originally from the west coast of North America where the miners used it to prevent scurvy. It’s got lots of vitamin C and is also known as Miner’s Lettuce. It was introduced to Britain and grows wild where it is known as Spring Beauty. It takes to polytunnel life very well, popping up all over the place. I’ve noticed that some has started flowering, despite the cold.

Cornsalad (Valeriana locusta, also known as Lamb’s Lettuce) is also found wild, but with much smaller leaves than the salad variety. Also like Claytonia, it has high vitamin C levels and can even be grown outdoors. It's the dark green rosettes in the middle of the photo (taken before the snow meant more urgent tasks were impossible and we did a lot of weeding!)

American Land Cress (Barbarea verna) tastes like watercress but is easier to grow. Apparently it’ll even grow under Jerusalem artichokes, runner beans, corn, etc. Like the above, it has naturalised in Britain.

You know that mustard you grow to put with cress in an egg sandwich? This is what it looks like if you let it grow:

Each leaf is about 30cm long and wonderfully hot. It’s called ‘Giant Red’, and is a form of Mustard Greens (Brassica juncea). Its Wikipedia entry has interesting information about its role in Soul Food and remediation of contaminated soil. Also nice in salad, and I believe that mustard greens are the ‘methi’ in Indian food and appear in far eastern dishes too.

Green in Snow is Giant Red’s less powerful brother but still packs a punch. We've a whole greenhouse full of it!

FRESH also have Pak Choi, Tatsoi, Mizuna, Mibuna and various other tasty leaves.

Seeds and more info from the nice people at RealSeeds. Cultivation info on all these on the RHS website or BBC Gardening.

I'm sno' angel

2009-02-03T19:31:00.010Z

Pictures from my local park. Not quite as many as there might have been, as the camera batteries kept packing up and I had to keep warming them in my hand. It's to do with the slowing of the rate of reaction in the batteries in the cold (said in a science-teacher voice...)

Dog was very unsure about this strange creature!

The snowman had disappeared by the time I walked back: a bunch of teenagers had dismantled it and were trying to make even huger snowballs. It's been nice today to see kids like them have a great time sledging - they've mostly never had a chance to do it before, at least not in their local park. Whereas back in the day it snowed EVERY CHRISTMAS.

New bike!

2009-01-30T17:20:00.006Z

It's been getting more and more obvious that my current bikes are both too big. The tourer, a rather nice Raleigh Touriste, is much better now I've got flat bars, but the mountain bike (Hawk Trakatak) which I use around town is very heavy, and my knees have been creaking a bit... So, time for a new bike. I had fun looking at bike websites and getting a bit cross about the lack of decent budget bikes in a small size and not pink!!

I'd got my eye on an Edinburgh Cycle Co-op bike as I like the bikes and their outlook, and a few weeks ago saw that they had Revolution Trailfinders reduced by a nice amount. So I ordered one - my first new (really new) bike for nearly 20 years! It arrived all nicely packaged and nearly ready to ride, with some extra goodies with 'Revolution' and a big red star on them which was all good. But doh! I'd ordered a size too big... even I cannot get used to how short my legs are! Anyway, the really nice chaps at ECC sorted out collecting it and sending another one. Hardly cost anything extra. Lovely Scottish accents too.

Here it is:

I think you'll agree that it is a nice sensible commuting/canal towpath/days out bike. And it's not pink.

El Gordo

2009-01-11T20:23:00.006Z

One compensation for not having a cat anymore is that we get lots more birds in the garden. However, lots of the tasty titbits which we put out for them are snaffled by this character:

We wouldn't mind if he just ate a bit, but he hoggs the lot - then chews the food container too. Probably why he's got such a large backside (see below), which resulted in a nickname which was rather vulgar. Since the Spanish Lottery was in the news just before Christmas, though, we've been calling him 'El Gordo' - The Fat One.

However, 'Gordo' is going to have to find easy pickings somewhere else. I have created The Squirrel Baffle and it has actually baffled him!

Recipe for a Squirrel Baffle:

Take one large Wilco's mixing bowl (79p)
Cut off the rim so squirrelly hands can't pull themselves over.
Cut a hole in the centre of the base, just a tad smaller than the bird-feeder pole so it can be slid up but doesn't slip down.
Spend a lot of time unscrewing rusted-up bird-feeder pole (I recommend WD40, some wood and a sharp tap with a large hammer).
Push squirrel baffle onto pole, return pole to garden (away from any trees or washing lines which squirrel could use to launch himself onto the feeders.
Reinstate feeders and watch little birdies feed themselves. Laugh when squirrel tries to climb up pole and bumps his head on the baffle.

(Actually not as funny as watching him slide down when I sprayed the pole with WD40 the other week - but I was a bit concerned that licking WD40 of his tummy fur would poison him so I decided to try to make a baffle. I do have a heart really).

NB: the milk container hanging off the bird-feeder pole is another of my creations. It's got vegetable fat and seeds in it which as anybody knows is a really super Blue Peter type home made bird food. Except the birds won't touch it. I may have to put it out for El Gordo to eat...

Lost canal

2009-01-07T21:01:00.011Z

I really like canals. One of my ancestors was known as 'The Standedge Admiral' and was the traffic regulator on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal from 1811 to 1848. His father - and mother - helped to dig the canal. So perhaps it's in my blood.

Canal towpaths were my route to exploring Birmingham and Coventry, and now I'm rediscovering Nottingham.

The other day I decided to try to trace the route of the Nottingham Canal through the outskirts of the city. Most of the canal was either closed or incorporated into other waterways by WWII. Several miles are now a nature reserve which make a pleasant country walk. I headed the other way.

The end of the canal at SK503395.

Heading East, the route goes through an area known as Balloon Woods, once the site of some of Nottingham's possibly undeservedly notorious high-rise slum clearance housing, which were in their turn demolished some years ago. Balloon Woods were also a location in the film 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' It all seems very innocuous now, but there is little sign of the canal through a weedy sycamore woodland.

Just a puddle underneath the railway line.

Then it - sort of - appears again.

This path through an estate goes exactly where the canal was. (Haven't I got long legs!) Then it disappears again, possibly incorporated into the backgardens of Yalding Drive. No sign of it for nearly a mile, despite the roads apparently following the route it took. Over the Trowell Road and onto Torville Drive with its' accompanying Dean and Bolero Closes. That dates the estate neatly to the mid-eighties! Torville Drives' elegant curves could be following the old canal route, or equally a tribute to the road's name.

If this is the canal then it's a shame - just a rubbishy channel behind the gardens. What a wasted opportunity.

Then I go round a corner and find this:

An old 'winding hole'. Or two, even: there is what looks like another through the trees, connected by the remains of a lock.

This seemed like a good point to stop exploring and head off for the bus home. It was getting even more chilly and dusk isn't the time for even an innocuous-looking person like myself to start looking into people's back-gardens. The canal route seems to carry on between back gardens. It turns south and goes through what was factories and is now the University of Nottingham's Jubilee Campus where I spent a lot of time last year. The Campus is based on a long, wide water feature... I wonder where they got that idea... Finally the canal reappears, as part of the River Leen.

Winter walks

2009-01-06T18:13:00.005Z

With the continued good weather (yes, it's a bit chilly!) and volunteering not re-started yet, I've been doing some local walks. This is the view north-west from Big Wood, part of Bestwood Country Park. The building in the mid-distance is the Winding House, part of the old Bestwood Pit. Like many of Nottinghamshire's country parks, this one is partly based on an old colliery site and pit tip. And part of Sherwood Forest.
The chimneys in the background are at an old brickworks over near the M1. I fancy a walk over there to have a look at them close up.
Had a good sighting of a female Goldcrest picking over dead Willowherbs near Mill Lakes, and saw what I think were a crowd of Siskins in Alder trees, and a group of Linnets in a field near Bestwood Village. Then walked back to Sherwood via the Colliery Path into Arnold.

Chilly Happy New Year

2009-01-01T16:23:00.007Z

Went armed with soup to Attenborough Nature Reserve and saw:

Mallard

Pochard

Tufted Duck

Goosander

Mute Swan

Egyptian Goose

Canada Goose

Heron

Cormorant

Great Crested Grebe

Moorhen

Coot

Black-headed Gull

Lesser black-backed Gull

Woodpigeon

Blackbird

Great tit

Blue tit

Robin

Sparrow

Crow

Magpie

And a family of rats who live underneath a bird-feeder.

There had been recent sightings of Bittern, Little Egret and even the fabulously-named Bohemian Waxwing but they were not evident to bad birdwatchers today. Actually I don't care, I'm generally very happy to see the 'usual suspects' as listed above. I visited Attenborough a few weeks ago and identified Wigeon for the first time which was satisfying.

All the best for 2009. I'm making no resolutions and no predictions - well, just one - it's going to be an interesting year!

Four Rivers

2008-12-31T11:07:00.012Z

Spent the last week walking in the lovely surroundings of the mid Tees valley. Barnard Castle is a super base for a holiday: it has good walking straight from the town as well as further afield, good shops, friendly locals and as well as a proper castle an excellent museum, the Bowes Museum.

Here's a selection of photos from our walks:

The River Greta at Brignall Banks.

A tricky walk, this, and our first day out. The paths were a popular route in the 19th and early 20th century, and the valley a popular beauty spot. But two wet summers have encouraged many small land-slips, and the paths manage to be both steep and muddy. Worse though was the public footpath which crosses a side river with no bridge or stepping stones. We chose to retrace our steps and detoured via side roads to our starting point rather than get wet feet.

The River Tees near Mickleton.

This gives a hint of the landscape beyond: wild, open, speckled with white buildings of the Raby Estate. A rare place, one of my favourites. Memories of plant-hunting trips out from Newcastle University.

The River Tees at Abbey Bridge.

This is further downstream, but a very different character. The abbey is Eggleston Abbey, an atmospheric ruin.

The River Wear at Durham.

We went to Durham to see what turned out to be an excellent exhibition 'Unpopular Culture' curated by Grayson Perry. It was at the Durham Light Infantry museum, which seemed slightly incongrous, but it is in a 1960s modernist building in landscaped grounds, which was ideal for a selection of mainly paintings and photographs from the middle years of the 20th century. The military part of the museum was very good too, very thought-provoking. We also had to have a visit to the fabulous cathedral, which just amazes every time.

The River Swale at Richmond.

We visited Richmond on the way back south. It has a castle, rather more spectacular than Barnard's ; a river, ditto; and a picturesque town square. Still prefer Barney though!

So we had a great week with great weather for late December. Already planning next year's trip... might be Middleton-in-Teesdale... we did want to go back to Grassington and hope for better weather... and then there's the North York Moors again...

Addition to Books of the Year...

2008-12-30T22:07:00.003Z

...the rather fantastic and at times fantastical 'Bad Science'. Even though I read the Guardian Bad Science articles every week, and catch up with more bad science on the website, I still found this Christmas present almost up-put-downable and had read it by the end of Sunday. MARVEL at the cons which clever entrepreneurs concoct. GASP at the scientific ignorance of most journalists. GROAN at the way in which newspapers control what we hear about health discoveries. Featuring the famous poo doctor and many other purveyors of pills and chemical-free claptrap.

Season's Greetings

2008-12-21T22:21:00.003Z

I'm off for a well-deserved break in Barnard Castle over Christmas. All this volunteering and domestic goddessing is very tiring!

I hope you all have a good time this Christmas, and let's keep our fingers crossed for the New Year.

I am a domestic goddess...

2008-12-20T22:06:00.005Z

Over the last few weeks I have made:

four dozen mince pies (with homemade mincemeat)
7 jars of blackberry and apple jam
5 jars of rhubarb and ginger jam (I was given the rhubarb by a stranger at a bus stop)
5 jars of summer fruits jam
11 jars of apple chutney
three trays of whisky-soaked ginger chocolates
8 pots of assorted plant cuttings and
two jerusalem artichoke beds

So I think I must be a domestic goddess ... or at least I would be but I don't have the front!

Books of the Year

2008-12-18T22:15:00.008Z

Thought I'd follow the example of the quality broadsheets that I peruse every weekend and publish my books of the year. It's been a strange year, as most of the books I read were along the lines of Jerry Wellington's 'Teaching and Learning Secondary Science', and Letts' 'Revise GCSE Physics' (a bit ironic as I never did Physics GCSE in the first place), never mind a selection of academic treatises on 'constructivism' by people who never have to work out how to actually teach with it. I did read a terrific book about statistics, called 'The Tiger that Isn't' - honestly, it's really good...

ANYWAY there were many other books which contributed to my generally maintained sanity. You may notice an overall theme.

'Around the World on Two Wheels', by Peter Zheutlin is the story of Annie Londonderry, possibly the first woman to cycle round the world - or possibly not... Whatever the truth, she made some remarkable rides on a fixed-wheel bicycle at a time when a woman wearing trousers to cycle was something very newsworthy, never mind one who'd left three children behind.

'Pedals and Petticoats: on the road in post-war Europe' by Mary Elsy, about four young women who decided to cycle round Europe in 1950, with a single old canvas tent and no idea about cycle repair. An extraordinary tale which only got written when its author was retired.

'Full Tilt' by Dervla Murphy was a book I'd been meaning to read for some time, and was an appropriate book for my long-anticipated cycle tour in September. Earlier in the year I'd read 'Through the Embers of Chaos', a synthesis of several of her cycle rides through Yugoslavia and later, 'former Yugoslavia', and 'Silverland: a winter journey beyond the Urals' which ended up as hardly a cycle ride at all but is none the worse for this. Some people don't like the way Dervla has become more and more political over the years (actually you just have to read her autobiography to realise that she has always been political) but I found the books fascinating, if hard work. 'Full Tilt' is a much earlier book: in 1963 (a good year!) she set off in January across Europe, aiming for India. That the trip through Europe in one of the worst winters in years is dealt with in a prologue gives an impression of the adventures she had further east. She has just published a book about Cuba which promises to be interesting reading.

A change of gender and the addition of an engine! Ted Simon's 'Dreaming of Jupiter' is an equally individual book. A few years ago he decided to re-run a motorbike trip he'd done in the '70s. The trip was round the world, and he was now 69. I'd read his earlier book about the original trip when I still had a bike, and though this is a great read about a great adventure, it didn't make me want to get a motorbike again!

'Pilgrim Snail: busking to Compostela' by Ben Nimmo. I first read (some of) this book when Ben sent weekly updates to the Independent in 1999, which was probably one influence on me taking off across Europe myself a few years later. His walk, busking across Europe with a trombone, was an excellent accompaniment for a few days in Paris in October.

I also read, among others: 'Attention All Shipping' by Charlie Connelly and 'Great British Bus Journeys: Travels Through Unfamous Places' by David McKie, both cheerful reminders last spring that there was life outside four walls.
'A Long Ride For A Pie' by Tim Mulliner was largely interesting for the often stark changes in the countries that Dervla Murphy had travelling through four decades earlier.
'Eating up Italy' by Matthew Fort combines two obsessions: travel and food. Tasty.
'Utopian dreams' by Tobias Jones isn't a dispassionate description of communities with high ideals, and can be equally irritating and engaging. I've read his previous book on corruption in Italian politics and would recommend it to anyone who thinks our politicians are sleazy.
'The Wild Places' by Robert Macfarlane is an equally personal and idiosyncratic series of journeys, but here the aim is to get as much away from people. It's also a link to other, poignant books, 'Waterlog' and 'Wildwood; a journey through trees', both by the late Roger Deakin, and both books I hope to read soon.

I did read a few books which weren't about travel! 'Darwin and the Barnacle' by Rebecca Stott was the book I took to read in my little tent the week after I escaped the classroom. It's a fascinating book, but funnily enough I dozed off instead most evenings!

Vegetable stew with chestnuts

2008-12-13T17:41:00.004Z

This is a version of a dish I've been cooking for many years. It's infinitely variable according to what vegetables you have available. This was the first time I put chestnuts in: they were a year or so out of date and were part of my cull of 'best-befores' in the pantry. Chestnuts made the stew richer and a good option for veggies to offer non-veggies. As you can see it goes well with the health-giving additions of lots of salad and a glass of red wine.

This isn't really a recipe:

A medium onion
About 4 medium potatoes (waxy ones better)
2 or 3 carrots (depending on size)
1 or 2 parsnips (depending on size)
Other options: turnip, celery, mushroom, red pepper...
Tin/carton of tomatoes
Several sun-dried tomatoes (optional) soaked as per packet instructions
Packet of vacuum-packed or frozen chestnuts (not necessarily out of date - though it didn't seem to make any difference!)
Herbs and pepper

This isn't really a method either:

Slice onion and start saute-ing it gently in a heavy or non-stick pan.
Cut the potatoes into chunks or quarters if very little, and pop into the pan.
Slice or chunk the carrots and add to the pan - keep stirring. Add herbs and pepper - apparently the aromatics dissolve in the oil and make for a better flavour.
Most other veg can be added about now - if they cook quickly add later.
Add the tomatoes - both sorts - and simmer for 5 minutes. Add sliced/choped parsnips and the chestnuts, broken into chunks, and any other quick veg. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

Right, it's 6pm so I've got to go and have some gluglug and crunchcruch!

Critical Mass Legal!

2008-11-29T20:50:00.003Z

Just found out via the Cyclist's Touring Club's e-newsletter that the law lords have stated that Critical Mass can go ahead without notifying police - see this report. And I see that it's an old acquaintance of mine, Des Kay, who has been at the sharp end of what seems to have been a protracted legal battle to prove that it is legal for people to cycle on the roads. I shall have to take part in Nottingham's Critical Mass now! Looking at those photos of October's meet, I'm sorry I chickened out.

Erbazzone

2008-11-28T17:37:00.007Z

So, what do I cook for tea? I've lots of chard and cabbage from my volunteering job, there's the odd egg left in the fridge... not looking very exciting... but Antonio to the rescue! 'Erbazzone' is a 'swiss chard tortino', a sort of omelette with lots of chard, breadcrumbs and nutmeg in it. Very tasty.

You'll have to refer to the book in the background - 'Antonio Carluccio's Vegetables' - if you want the recipes. I wouldn't want to infringe the lovely cuddly Antonio's copyright.

And, yes, there is a LOT of cabbage on the plate - I LOVE cabbage!

Road closed

2008-11-19T18:37:00.013Z

Ulrome, East Yorkshire

More about my East Coast/North Sea cycle ride. A major motivation for starting this trip (assuming that it continues through Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and on the Belgium, the Netherlands and beyond...) is that it's a bit of a case of 'last chance to see'. The sea is rising - that's a fact. Large chunks of England are disappearing into it - also a fact. I wanted to find out what impact that was having on the local environment and the local people. Not a 'fact-finding' investigative journalism type thing, just I'm really concerned about climate change and what it's going to do to us.

In the event I was surprised how much coastal erosion came up in conversations, only slightly steered by me. A chatty ranger at the WatersEdge visitor centre at Barton-on-Humber 'got serious' and told me about the sea level rise and that a nature reserve along the estuary had recently nearly been lost. A dog-walker at Donna Nook in Lincolnshire told me all about the local anger at possibly losing some of their fields to make salt-marsh to replace some lost because of the work to save Hull from going underwater. In Tunstall I talked to a woman who explained why Holderness seemed so unspoilt: nobody wanted to build if there was no guarantee that the houses would still be there in 100 years. She saw it as a blessing as well as a curse: it kept the village one of traditional farming families.

If you look at the East Coast, you can see that the Holderness coast (from Flamborough Head to Spurn Head) is scooped, whilst the Lincolnshire coast is bulging. That's very simply because the way the sea moves means that the Holderness coast is washed down and lands on Lincolnshire.

It's a complicated area, and there are not the easy answers that some people hope for. The old-fashioned groynes are not being replaced, not just because of money. They didn't work, or if they did locally, somewhere down the coast suffered. Below are some of the photos I took of the most striking impacts of the dynamic coast. They are shown south to north, following my route in some lovely weather in late September.

Below: Easington Beach. The ruined structures out in the sea are World War II defences. Given that they were built about 65 years ago, this demonstrates well how fast the erosion is.

South of Withernsea: you can see the town's lighthouse in the background. The cliff are low, soft clay and the eroded gouges are obvious. The rough grassland in the foreground was prime farmland until a few years ago. Behind me was a row of houses, their sea view closer each year. A team of surveyors were setting up equipment to assess the situation.

This was until a couple of years ago a coastal road, a useful short-cut for residents of Tunstall. A storm undermined the road and the surfacing was removed in case it fell onto people on the beach below. A villager assured me that it was still safe to use: I pushed my bike very carefully as far away from the edge as I could!

Another destroyed coastal lane, this time at Ulrome. In one day's cycle ride I found three such lanes which were on my (new) map but no longer on the Holderness coast. Here I talked to a family who came here regularly. Even they were shocked by how much of the road had gone since their last visit - three months ago.

Below is looking the other way. The owners of the gardens had to have notices asking people not to walk through them. They will have much more to worry about soon: these gardens cannot last much longer, and some people may have to pay to heve their houses deolished before they fall into the sea, to prevent the sort of sight as above.

Below is at what should have been the other end of the Ulrome road. I get the impression that these works are being done by the caravan site owner, for obvious reasons, but I would not fancy staying here.

Gargoyles, Grimacers and Green Men

2008-11-08T21:20:00.015Z

I've been interested in church architecture and sculpture for years. I also like the atmosphere and history embedded in what are often the oldest buildings in a settlement. I've visited churches all over Western Europe, and I've become particularly interested in the apparently pagan images which are found throughout. Probably the most famous is the 'Green Man', which is a modern term for a range of images which we (apparently) know very little about. I'm not a student of history and I've not had access to academic papers, and much popular writing about Green Men appears to be conjecture and imagination. We seem to know little about what the actual creators and observers of these images really thought about them. I'd like to look into this area in more depth, but I feel that this may become a 'retirement project' (if I ever get to retire)! So below you'll find just as much conjecture from me.

The following are some of the images which I saw in churches in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on my recent cycle rides. They are described from North to South.

Filey, St. Oswald. This pair of 'mouth-pullers' were probably moved to this corner of the church at some point, as they are actually corbels which would originally have been where the roof and wall of the nave met. I used to visit this church a lot when I spent holidays at Filey as a child: we never noticed these faces! We were more interested in the gravestones.

Patrington, St. Patrick. An amazing church, with such a high spire that it was used by sailors to navigate safely round the hazards of the Humber. Here the gargoyle is being helped to eject water... Gargoyles ( it cames from Old French gargouille, or 'throat') had the specific job of shooting rainwater away from the church wall.

Barton-on Humber, St. Peter. As well as lovely carved capitals (which are between the tops of pillars and the arches above) this church has a rare Saxon tower and is a fascinating museum of archaeology.

Marshchapel, St. Mary. Not all church carvings are grotesque: particularly in the late middle ages realistic figures appear too. This woman appears to be taking her task of supporting the roof with equanimity.

Middle Rasen St. Peter. A rather fierce ram. I've seen several rams on older, Norman corbels: I don't think they have any relation to the 'lamb of God'.

Freiston, St. James. There's something not quite right about this monster - it's not actually holding anything up. Pevsner describes how the church, which was part of an abbey, was renovated in Victorian times, and the corbel stones were made redundant.

Boston, St. Botolph. A classic Green Man, with a typically ambiguous expression. It's just to the right of the main door, and was a shelf on which a statue of a saint would have stood. This location is often occupied by demons, as if the saint is standing on and crushing them.

Gosberton, St. Peter and St. Paul. This is one of the most terrifying carvings I have seen in an English church.

Walpole St. Peter. A huge and fascinating church with much carving. This one appears intriguingly oriental. Many people who are interested in Green Men see a link with oriental images such as the Kirti-Mukha. I wonder if here there is a connection with Chinese Lions?

More to follow.

2008-11-07T20:48:00.004Z

Labels

When I was on teaching practice last year, I had a pot of plant labels for each of my Year 8 classes. Each label had a pupil's name on it, and the 'level' they were at. When I was doing the summing up at the end of the lesson - or the 'plenary' as it is known - I could pick pupils at random out of the pot and ask a question suitable to their level.

Now I am planting seeds hoping that I can have salads over the winter. I cleaned the permanent OHP ink off the plant labels with meths a few weeks ago. The names are still very faintly visible. Amy, who talked back at the slightest excuse, is now Perpetual Spinach. I remember well her slightly accusatory stare when I asked her for the umpteenth time to be quiet. Joe is now Chinese Cabbage. Far from it, with a level of 5.2 without even trying... I do, strangely, miss them.

2008-11-02T21:33:00.006Z

Recipe: Sausage, Bean and Apple Casserole

I really love cooking! During my all-too-short Ryton stint I enjoyed finding/inventing recipes for the weird vegetables on the 'staff table'. During teacher training I unwound after a day at school by cooking dinner. So I've decided to share the occasional recipe which I feel has gone particularly well. These will be 'all my own work' unless I say otherwise.

This is a quick 'storecupboard' recipe. It fed two moderate eaters for two meals.

1 onion
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 large cooking apple (e.g., Bramley)
1 pack veggie sausages - I like Cauldron ones more than Linda Mccartneys. (Piggy sausages would do just as well - about 1/2 pound)
1 tin Haricot beans
Dried or fresh thyme
Olive oil

Chop and gently fry the onion for a few minutes till transparent, and at the same time grill the sausages as per the packet instructions. Pop a few pinches of thyme in for a minute - apparently the hot oil helps to release the essential oils in the leaves. Add the tomatoes. Peel and chop the apple into chunks and put in with the onion and tomato. Cut the sausages into thick slices and add too. Cook for 5 or 10 minutes, and add the drained beans a few minutes before serving.

2008-11-01T20:13:00.000Z

Where sea and sky and Lincolnshire meet...

My original aim of spending September cycling from Filey to Felixtowe had already been dashed (see below) partly by disorganisation, partly by having to return to Nottingham for a few days, and partly and most nicely because I kept finding too many interesting places and people. And this in one of the least-exulted of counties. Perhaps I should be keeping it to myself.

I headed back to the land of big fields and bigger skies, surrounding the biggest estuary: The Wash. (The title of this post is a paraphrase of a line from 'The Whitsun Weddings' by Philip Larkin, actually about Hull and north Lincolnshire). The idea was to continue where I left off in Boston, and wend my way through the coastal Fens, visiting nature reserves, and into Norfolk as far as Snettisham. Then back further inland, where there are many fine medieval churches. This meant that so I could at least say I'd done The Wash, leaving the rest of Norfolk and Suffolk and Essex for another trip, at an unspecified date.

So I caught a train to Spalding. Reason - this was where I wanted to finish off, so it'd save time at the end of the trip. I cycled to Boston, to stay overnight in a semi-neglected campsite with cats, rabbits and birds roaming freely. An early start next morning, as I'd been urged to re-visit Freiston Shore at this week's spring tide. I was at the reserve by 7am, and I wasn't the first. Just as well - three very experienced local birdwatchers kindly let me tag along with them and told me what was what. I did spot a Black-tailed Godwit all on my own though - learning!

One reason I was interested in this place was that it has a good example of 'managed realignment' where the sea had been allowed to reclaim land which had had a brief spell as arable fields. The full story is here .

Freiston Shore managed realignment: low tide

Freiston Shore managed realignment: Spring tide. You can see in the background the old sea wall with nicks in it where the sea comes in.

Although I knew what it'd look like, it was still a bit of a shock to see how much land the sea coverd at high tide. Back at Donna Nook, I'd heard local consternation about managed retreat plans, and the feeling that they were losing land to save Hull. I was struck by the way that rising sea levels were talked about, and the role of global warming: being on the climate change front line in England.

The Fens are an area of great contrast: you can feel you are miles from anywhere, with wildlife wheeling about your head, but just down the road vast amounts of veg are being packed into trailers for lorries to dispatch round the country. As well as the odour of cabbage, it was also obvious that the cabbage-pickers had started work before I got up for my birdwatching jaunt, and as I was settling down in a very pleasant campsite at Gedney, warm and full and ready to doze off listening to Radio 4 podcasts, the sounds of farm machinery was still present to help to lull me to sleep.

Greater industry was expected of the Fens: the two lighthouses below were built as a gateway in the River Nene. However this time the wildlife has apparently won out: instead of heralding the development of a new industrial hub at Sutton Bridge, the left-hand lighthouse was the home of the wildfowler then naturalist Sir Peter Scott for many years. It's now the start of the Sir Peter Scott Trail (nice article from The Torygraph).

Sutton Bridge does have a small but busy port, and some rather sinister industrial buildings, but it is an unavoidable pinch-point on a route through the Fens. Away from the noise of the A17 it was more pleasant, and had a cafe serving a fine cuppa and cake. These things matter: one good reason for cycling is the amount of food it allows one to eat, and if one is foiled in that, one is not only disappointed, but decreasingly able to cycle too!

Rather too many straight roads later, I got to King's Lynn, and to a campsite which should have been nice, but which was right next to an A road. After being woken at 5am (earplugs already in!) I changed my plans. No Snettisham, as that would mean another night here, and this trip wasn't meant to be an endurance test, it was a holiday, well, sort of. But a more leisurely ride through the inland Fens, and more time to look at the fine old churches there. And SURELY by turning round I'd have the wind behind me!

The powerful role of the church in the Fens is shown by the village place-names. I'd already been to Terrington St Clement, and over the next couple of days I also visited Wiggenhall St. Peter, Wiggenhall St. Mary the Virgin, and Wiggenhall St. Mary Magdalen, then Walpole St. Peter and Walpole St. Andrew. There were also the churches of Long Sutton, Whaplode, Weston, and Moulton. (For photos visit my Flickr site). That's if I've loaded them up yet!

My last day before I was due to return to Nottingham was supposed to be a half-day cycling, a wander round Spalding, and an early afternoon train home. But the weather had been improving daily, and now the sun shone, and the wind had dropped, and the cycling was blissful. I looked at the map, saw the tempting-sounding Croyland Abbey, and headed south for 10 miles.

It's a stunning sight, honey-coloured stone drinking in the afternoon sun, the fragments of what must once have been a wealthy abbey, but which started as a lonely place for the hermit Guthlac to live.

Crowland, the village created around the abbey, (not a typo!) also has a unique three-cornered bridge, and one of the priciest tea-shops I've seen in a long time. Fortunately I noticed that there was a fundraising 'do' at the Methodist Church, and had a nice cuppa and a delicious slice of carrot cake for a jolly reasonable amount, and got to meet some locals too.

By then it was mid afternoon, and I was still 10 miles from Spalding. Better get a move on. But the cycle ride on a lane next to the River Wellney was lovely, and it was such a nice day, that it was 5.15 by the time I got to the Railway station and looked at the timetable for the next train. The last train had gone at 4.45. Bugger! What now? The only trains running were to Grantham, where I could get home, but it'd cost lots extra. There weren't any campsites around to stay in. I could cycle to Sleaford, where I was supposed to change trains, but it was a nasty route of about 25 miles with unavoidable A roads. The answer was to cycle - to Boston! About 20 miles, I'd already done the route, and I knew that trains ran all evening from there. Just a shame I hadn't just got a return ticket to there in the first place! I'd already done about 40 miles that day, but the sense of urgency lent energy to my legs, and I sped along, the sun setting to my left.

Two hours later I was at Boston railway station drinking tea and eating up all my leftover emergency rations, with a train due in 20 minutes. Best of all, the guard was so impressed by my story that he let me off the extra fare between Boston and Sleaford. A real professional!

2008-10-27T21:30:00.000Z

Filey to Felixtowe?

What better place to start a (possible) trip round the North Sea than the place where I first saw it. Filey is where I spent all my school holidays in the 70's - it has hardly changed since then and is none the worse for that. I had a look round the old haunts, and headed for a campsite in nearby Hunmanby. Alas! It appeared to be a members only site, so I went on to Grange Farm at Flamborough, at £3.50 the cheapest campsite I’ve encountered for quite a while. Only the first day, and already my carefully-hatched plans were unravelling (I love the mixed metaphors!)

Bike, paddling pool and Filey Brig in the background

The promised wet weather arrived, and this put me off exploring Flamborough Head, but instead headed south down the Holderness coast.

The coast near Skipsea

The weather certainly emphasised why the coast is washing into the sea so fast. I wanted to go to Spurn Head the following day, but no-one was in when I rang the only campsite near there. In increasing rain, and by now totally wet through, I headed towards a site I knew was open and affordable, at Barton-on-Humber. This involved a ride along parts of two very bumpy disused railway lines, and negotiating Hull. I lost the NCN route signs to the Humber Bridge, and ended up retreating from a very nasty fast A road having to push my bike the wrong way down a slip road. Then I found a cycle shop and the young chap there gave me a leaflet with the Hull cycle routes on - I could have kissed him!

It still seemed to be a long way to the bridge, and when I got there it looked very long, high, and narrow over a swirling coffee-coloured expanse of water, and through pelting rain. And I'd thought I was going for an easy option, the dry East coast! A memorable crossing, made more interesting by the waterfalls of water deposited on the cycle path, and me, from every passing lorry. So I ended up at Silver Birches Campsite very wet, put up a soggy tent, stuffed my shoes with newspaper and put my camping cooker on. Cup of tea and some pasta and all was well. (Lidl dried pasta in mushroom sauce - very good).

Humber Bridge from Far Ings Nature Reserve

Barton-on-Humber has several nature reserves, an arts centre, two historic churches and plenty of shops. I was kept busy and had plenty of opportunities to evade the stormy weather, and some interesting chats with people at the visitor centres. The rising tide is a popular topic of conversation. But I had 'done' the Holderness coast in one day, not the three I had intended! I kicked myself for not ringing round more of the campsites beforehand, but also started planning a little trip to catch up what I had missed - another time.

The following day I interacted more than necessary with Grimsby, but found an excellent cycle route out of Cleethorpes past sand dunes. It was Sunday, it was sunny, and lots of people were out enjoying themselves. I stayed at West End Farm a few miles from Louth for a couple of nights - I'd been to the site earlier in the summer, and been fascinated by the rather strange Lincolnshire marshes. This time I explored nature reserves at Donna Nook and around, which are very strange.

Donna Nook: the bombing range

Saw a Little Egret, a bird which we hardly used to see in this country, now they are quite frequent in this sort of area. Had a long chat with a woman walking her dog – turned out she used to be a public health officer in Nottingham and in her words "demolished St. Ann’s Well Road – not with a bulldozer but with a piece of paper".

The weather was going off again as I headed for Mablethorpe and another sea-edge cycle path. Bottom gears battling against the wind on the flat! The resort towns and caravan sites here are several metres below the sea - whose idea was it to build there? Ponds created when the sea wall was reinforced after the 1953 storm are now nature reserves. It was too windy along the coast, I headed inland to look at some interesting churches, and a long ride against the wind got me to Havenhouse Campsite near Skegness: another nice little site with a sheltered orchard for little tents.

Markby Church - note bicycle for scale

Next day I went to Gibraltar Point, which involved either cycling on, or on a narrow path next to, one of the A roads into Skeggy, but it was worth it. Even Skeggy had its uses - a cycle shop for tyre levers which don’t bend - and great views of the off-shore wind turbines. ‘Gib’ was great - I saw lots of interesting birds and some rather more accomplished birdwatchers told me what they were. But I recognised an avocet all on my own which I was very chuffed about. Was so into the birdwatching I didn't get to the cafe!!

I had to return to Nottingham for a few days, so the next day was the last day of this leg of the trip. It involved another assault of the headwind - even though I had 'turned the corner' into the Wash. Off into fen country and big fields and a general odour of cabbage. Best find of the day - Wainfleet has a caff! After some striking churches and a hunt for the sea, which was a long, long way out, I had to head for Boston 'stump' and find the station to return home - at least until part 2.

Boston Stump - note bicycle for scale!

All the campsites are on

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/ and I'd recommend them all.

2008-10-26T17:42:00.000Z

The story so far...

Last year, after one job too many finished too many months too soon, I decided that it would be a sensible career choice to become a science teacher. Having realised the folly of this, I emerged blinking into the sunlight at the end of June with a PGCE but no job and no intention of ever entering a classroom as a teacher again. Live and learn - and I certainly learnt a lot last year, particularly that teenagers are human too and if I can't stand being shut up in a room all day with no windows, why should I expect them to? Common sense reminds me that I may change my mind, especially as financial need bites... and I was reckoned to be pretty OK at the job… but I am putting it off as long as possible. I value my sanity.

Anyway, as my final post on Covblog describes, I rushed off to Derbyshire to do lots of walking, and then off to Lincolnshire for a bit of cycling. And I'd promised myself, all that long long spring and early summer, that I'd go for a really long cycle tour. When would I get the chance again? But in August the campsites are full of families, and anyway, I got busy reintroducing myself to all the people I knew when I was last in Nottingham. Five years ago - and it was as if I had never left! Suddenly I was really busy helping the Wildlife Trust and the City Farm, getting involved with the Nottingham Organic Gardening Group allotment and Transition Sherwood. I spent a week in Yorkshire finding out what hard work it is running an organic veg box scheme, and spent a fair few days exploring the Nottinghamshire countryside.

September was pencilled in for the tour, but where? I'd hankered after a tour in France - the canal towpaths of Brittany, the banks of the Loire... but conscience dictated that I stayed in England in case any job opportunities came up. I actually planned two tours – one in the North of England and one down the East coast. As August progressed, it was the weather that was going to be the final arbiter. However, the idea for the East coast trip originated some years ago, when I came across the North Sea Cycle Route. This is the worlds longest continuous cycle route, taking in England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Shetland Islands and Scotland. Some people do it in one hit, others take several years. Apart from wanting to return to countries I visited on my European trip in 2002, my interest in the North Sea coast is to do with climate change: many of these coastal areas are at Europe’s climate change front line. It’s even a case of ‘last chance to see’ for some places.

So, as the long-term forecast ‘gave out’ wet weather in the North, and slightly less wet weather in the East, I decided that no time was better than now to start a series of bike tours which could potentially occupy my holidays for the next several years – if I wanted. I planned routes, I tracked down the small, cheap campsites, I plotted the locations of wildlife reserves and old churches. My plan was 'Filey to Felixtowe', my version of 'Hull to Harwich', i.e., the Sustrans Route 1. I intended to stick closer to the East Coast than Route 1, and to visit lots of the excellent wildlife sites along the coast. I invested in my first bright yellow cycle jacket to make me feel like a real cyclist, and a cheapo green cag to make me feel like a proper birdwatcher. (Actually I thought the yellow one would scare the birds away!)

I’ll return to this trip over the next few posts, with more photos and less writing. It didn’t work out as planned – but was possibly more interesting for that!

2008-10-24T19:57:00.001+01:00

On Me Bike

If you need any explanation re the multiple meanings of this phrase then you weren't around in England in the 1980s. Even if Norman Tebbit was misquoted, he'll always be associated with telling unemployed people to get on their bikes and look for work. I'm looking for work at the moment (the theme of this decade it seems) and I like spending time with my bike. So it seemed a suitable blog title. However, I'm not going to spend much time boring readers (if there are any) and depressing myself with tales of job applications and interviews, nor is it going to be just about cycling.

I decided to start a new blog after looking back at my old one: CovBlog http://coventryblog.blogspot.com/ I enjoyed looking at what I'd written and photographed so much I thought I'd start again. I'm not in Coventry any more (part of the reason I'm looking for work) and I thought 'NottBlog' sounded a bit confusing. Anyway, people don't call Nottingham 'Nott' the way that people call Coventry 'Cov'. 'Nottnm' is more like it.