Friday 23rd November - Golden hour

Finished work a bit earlier this week and seeing as the weather was nice I rode home. My gears have been playing up a bit lately, so I stopped of at Halfords to get them sorted. The Bike Guy there had a look and replaced a bit of outer cable which was knackered. He replaced it free-of-charge, because he said he should have replaced it when he did the whole cable a few months ago. I've always thought of Halfords as the Curry's of the biking world, but I'm really impressed by by their service at Stevenage.

It was a lovely evening even if it was cold - I watched the sun go down and the moon come up. I wish I had a proper camera on me.

Nothing exciting to report on the Strange Places front, so here's a misty, nostalgic picture of a bit of old farm equipment I found in a hedge.

Distance; 11.something miles
FOF; 2 (didn't see a rut in the dark)

Nothing to say

Well, seeing as I didn't 'ride-home-and-fall-off' this week, I haven't got much to say to all my fan out there. So here's a totally gratuitous picture of you-know-who on her Redy Shopper.

Get ya motor running, head out on the highway...

Friday 16th - No go

I didn't leave work until after 4 o'clock, so as it was getting a bit dark and cold, I didn't ride home. I know - wimp, fair weather cyclist, etc, etc, but that's the way it goes.

We did mange to go for a ride on Saturday though - the usual trip up to Van Hages . We did leave it a bit late in the day and had to ride home in the dark... and the rain!

Friday 9th November - Strange Places

Today's Strange Place is this;

No it isn't another weird sculpture, it's the entrance to a cold war nuclear bunker buried underground. During the cold war this would have been manned by members of the Royal Observation Corps, whose job it was to watch the mushroom clouds blooming as the nuclear warheads rained down upon us - nice. This particular observation post is just outside Hertford, not far from Bramfield, but at the height of the cold war there were hundreds of them up and down the country.

It was starting to get dark by the time I took these photo's, but it somehow reflects the grim purpose for which these bunkers were built.

I feel cold again...

Friday 9th November - Cold and dark

Well, it was a nice afternoon, but it didn't half get cold quick when the sun went down. Brrrrr! Because it was starting to get a bit dark I had to stop for some batteries and fuel (i.e. chocolate) at Ye Olde Worlde Village Shoppe at Bramfield.

Proof that the traditional village post office is alive and well.

Distance; 13.3 miles
FOF; 0

Friday 2nd November - Strange Places

Today's Strange Places is not so strange to local people, but if you didn't know about it, you'd probably have a "What the...!" moment when you first come across it.

It's a sculpture called 'Braking the Mould' by Andrew McKeown and was put on Waterford Heath for the Millennium. According to the inscription it is '1 of 21', but gawd knows where the other 20 are.

Friday 2nd November - The Original

Decided to take the route of my first cross-country ride home - you could call it a trip down memory lane (ho ho). It seemed quite scary when I first did it, but today it was a doddle and I was almost disappointed to get home so soon. I originally planned this route by drawing a straight line on the map and following it as best I could.

It was great coming down through Bramfield Wood with the trees turning red and brown and the leaves on the ground. I definitely had a 'this is the life!' moment, ploughing through the leaves, scattering squirrels and pheasants left, right and centre.

Distance: about 12 miles
FOF (Fall Off Factor): Zero, despite trying.

Friday 26th October - Strange Places

I'm fascinated by some of the strange places I pass that just seem to be forgotten or run down or just totally out of context.

Today's 'Strange Place' is an underpass. Yes, that's right, an underpass. Not just any old underpass, this is and underpass to nowhere. OK, it passes under a busy road, but when you get to the other side it just doesn't go anywhere.


I guess this was probably part of some grand scheme at one time, but now, it just leads to, well, nowhere.

Friday 26th October - Grey Day

Left at 12:30 (due to a big move at work) and headed due west for a change. It didn't bode well - the weather was cold and grey, it appeared to be Stevenage's favourite fly-tipping spot and was almost directly under the flight path into Luton airport. Things soon picked up however and it wasn't long before I spotted a woodpecker and was cycling around back lanes that seemed more like Herefordshire than Hertfordshire. This was all somewhere between Langley and St Paul's Walden. I eventually came out at the back of Knebworth park and took a more familiar route around Mardley Heath and down to Welwyn. I had planned to cycle across Welwyn Garden City and take the Cole Green way - national cycle route 61 - into Hertford, but decided to take the old A414 through Cole Green, Birch Green and Staines Green into Hertingfordbury instead. Stopped at St Mary's Church (what is it with churches on this blog? - must be my inner Goth!) before cycling into town and home.



Did 19.1 miles - a new record - and didn't fall off, although I did slide around a bit.

Friday 19th October

Good to be back in the saddle after a couple of weeks off. Lovely clear autumn weather and lots of turning leaves on the trees. I tried to capture it on the camera, but you don't really get the feel for it - the only semi-decent shot is this panorama of Hartham Common.


I forgot the GPS (and my helmet), so I don't know what distance I covered today. I took a fairly straight route home via Knebworth, Datchworth, Tewin Wood, Tewin Hill Farm, Bramfield Wood and came into Hertford at Archers Spring. I guess that must be about 12 miles.

Strange place of the day award goes to Tewin Wood - private roads and very large houses in a woodland setting. But, some of the houses are very run down and don't look like they've been touched for years. I don't know if it's the time of year, but it had a bit of a sad and lonely feel to it.

Oh , and I didn't fall of.

Friday 12th October

No ride again this Friday, but I've got an even better excuse this time - a pub crawl! Not just any old pub crawl, but the Annual Hertford Pub Crawl that I organise every year. It's supposed to be in the summer, but it took a little while to get going this year, hence the 'Oktoberfest' tag.

We followed the above route, but added the Sailsbury Arms as an extra pub after the White Horse and swapped the batting order for the Snug and Baroosh. Had a good turn out, fourteen of us in all, and the weather wasn't bad either. They got wind of this 'boring bike blog' however and took the mick all evening. I'm not sure if any of them have actually seen it, but if any of you are reading this now - I've got the photos!

Friday 5th October 2007

No ride today. I've got a cold. Ahhh.......choo!

Saturday 29th September

Seeing as I didn't get a ride in on Friday, we went to Van Hages along the river today. Very nice too and I didn't fall off.

Friday 28th September

Didn't ride home on Friday...Oh, come on, it was poring down! I'm keen but not that keen. Anyway, I did what any self respecting human being would have done in the circumstances, I went shopping instead.

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

One big wheel and lots of little ones...

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

Buck 'ouse.

If you look carefully, you can just see Liz in the third window from the left on the top floor...

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

Hmm, I think this might be cheating

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

I wonder what make of shoes he's wearing?

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

Look carefully at this bike. Not only does it pivot at the headstock like a normal bike, but it also has a pivot in front of the seat post. Very weird to watch.

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

A typical English eccentric, otherwise known as a nutter.

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

Cool, or what!

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

In The Mall, looking back down to Admiralty Arch, plus one or two people.

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

There's a free sandwich in there somewhere

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

Pimp-my-Bike

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

A whole family on one bike in St James Park

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

I think I was getting a bit ambitious, putting several pictures on a post, so back to the old one picture per post format!

I think this was supposed to be the Start/Finish line, but nobody took any notice of it really!

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

More pictures from the Hovis Freewheel event
38,000 bikers can't be wrong!

Mobile Boom Box


The mother of all Parliaments


Birdcage Walk



Bikes, bikes, bikes, bikes, bikes, bikes, bikes...

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

The Festival site was along The Mall and I picked up some freebies including a couple of sandwiches (Hovis bread of course) and an apple - so that was lunch sorted! There were lots of stands, BMX stunt riders, free water bottles (and Thames Water filling them up), bike doctors, a 'pimp-my-bicycle' paint shop and various cycling promotion organisations. But the biggest attraction was the cyclists themselves, colourful characters on all kind of machines, from kids on starter bikes with stabilisers to a whole family on a three seater contraption. Chopper bikes with tyres fatter than a motorcycle's and handlebars 5ft tall. Trikes, feet first, one wheel, young, old and insane - you name it, it was there. The only thing I didn't see was a penny-farthing, but I bet there was one out there somewhere!

The pictures I've included so far are from my mobile; when I can find what I've done with the USB lead for my camera, I'll upload some more - doh!

(If anyone want to make any comments you can click on the link on each post.)

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

I was going to blog as I went around, but I posted to the wrong blog!

Anyway, here's a picture of Buck House

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

The route went across London Bridge along The Embankment, up past Gog and Magog outside the MOD, along Whitehall, round Parliament Square (above), along Birdcage Walk, down The Mall, past Hourseguards Parade and back again.

Hovis Freewheel 23rd September

Not strictly speaking my Friday night ride home!
This was the Hovis Freewheel event in London - 30,000 cyclist on roads closed to all other traffic.

Stalag 13

'Cooler Kings'

Mystic castle

I've passed this structure several times in Swangleys Lane and thought it was about time I took a photo. It's next to an old farm, so it's probably more of an old grain silo than a magic castle.

Mon velo

Seeing as it was a bit of a dull day (did I mention that) I took another picture of my bike. That's my new helmet and in the background is Brickfield woods.

Friday 21st September -Dull, dull, dull

Bit of a dull ride home today. The ride itself was OK, but the weather was dull, also the crops have been harvested and the fields have been ploughed, making the landscape a bit, er, dull.

Seeing as everyone's been nagging me to get a helmet, I stopped at Halfords on the way home to buy one. Fortunately they had some bargains and I managed to get one at a third off. Wore it on the way home and it wasn't bad - very light and comfortable and I forgot I had it on.

Hope the weather improves for Sunday for the Hovis Freewheel in London - I hope to do a 'live' update to the blog as I cycle round.

Nearly forgot to mention - did about 12 miles and didn't fall off.

Shame on me

No ride home last Friday 14th. Driven home in the car...

...with the bike.

Will I ever get over the shame of it!

7th September ride home

17 miles - didn't fall off

England's green and pleasant - 7th September 2007

"And did those feet in ancient times..."

Quarry - 7th September 2007

Moody shot at the abandoned quarry

Another Church - 7th September 2007

St Catherine's church at Sacombe. Very peaceful, very tranquil. I love the fact there isn't a 'proper' path up to the front door, just a grass track.

Curious Cattle - 7th September 2007

Chopper - 31st August 2007

This is a Gazelle helicopter in someones back garden - nice!

Tomb stones - 26th August 2007

These wonky tombstones with the avenue of Yew trees could almost be a film-set

St Peter's Church Tewin - 26th August 2007

Tree roots - 26th August 2007

This tree has somehow managed to survive on the edge of, what looks like, an old quarry workings.

Suckers!

The first picture is my Bike, which is a GT Aggressor 2 (Yes, I know the name's a bit macho, but never mind). It's shown here on a bridge over the A1(M) with the poor suckers trapped in their tin boxes crawling along below. (Actually they're moving along quite nicely and are probably happily listening to the radio in comfort)