Edition!
It’s just ten days to go until I take part in the London to Brighton Bike Ride for the British Heart Foundation.
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Must dash…. training to do!
Well, it’s been sunshine all the way in Sussex this week. With temperatures around 24c for most of the week and 26-27c this weekend, it’s been nice to get out and enjoy the sunshine.
Last night though, my bike got two punctures while I was out, which was a pain. I have got “special” inner-tubes which are (supposedly) “self-healing”, however; this is not strictly true! They heal fine sometimes, and not at all at others, meaning you need a patch. But the “Slime” inside oozes out the hole, and the patch comes off. Very annoying.
I’ve upgraded to the latest version of Wordpress, and my Flickr gallery tool stopped working. This, it turned out, was co-incidence, as other people have been having the same problem with the Flickr API. The problem turned out to be my hosting provider, and hopefully everything is sorted now. Thanks to everyone who helped with this problem!
More sun on the way this week, and as I’m in training for the London-Brighton Bike Ride, I need all the pratice I can get!
I went up on to the South Downs near Rodmell last night. It was a lovely evening, the warmest this year. Found a couple of Geocaches too. I was surprised to find three old “tankers” in a chalk pit above Northease. I remember seeing them there about fifteen years ago, and they were still there now, all overgrown. Quite why they are there, I am not too sure, and they probably need removing! The last bit of the walk was through a field of Oilseed Rape, which was very yellow and had encroached onto the path somewhat!
I know a lot of people say that rape gives them hayfever, but I remember seeing somewhere it doesn’t, it’s actually another plant or crop which flowers at the same time, but isn’t as obvious as the rape, which is bright yellow so “must” be the reason!
I’ve set this tool up to give you an indicator of your net speed, and also so I can compared my ISP and Hosting service. I use other services and compare notes to check that everything is fine and dandy!
I have taken a couple of nice rides in the last week fromHartfield along the Forest Way to Crawley Down and in the other direction to Groombridge and on to Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent.
The Forest Way (which becomes the Worth Way beyond East Grinstead) is a former railway line along the north of the Ashdown Forest. At Groombridge the railway was not closed until 1985 and is now the preserved Spa Valley Railway, so I had to take the road to Tunbridge Wells. An enjoyable ride, but you might want to have your tyres a bit softer, as the compacted ballast is a bit of a bone shaker!
The picture of the railway is the Spa Valley in Groombridge. Sometime between the railway closing and the preserved railway opening, somebody built a house on it, hence the kink!
I have been out and about with my camera the last couple of evenings. Here are some of the pictures that I took:
 Sunset at Seaford Head |
 The Seven Sisters from Hope Gap |
 The Seven Sisters |
 Piddinghoe |
 Piddinghoe |
 St John’s Church |
 A Finger Post |
 Piddinghoe Church |
 Piddinghoe Pond |
 River Ouse |
 Grass! |
 South Heighton |
 River Ouse |
 Newhaven |
 Ouch! |
Ten days ago, on Monday 7th January, I left my home, in the snow, and started a cycling holiday. I had booked accomodation along the way, and cycled, over three days, from Newhaven to Brighton, Steyning, Storrington, Midhurst and Petersfield (day one), Petersfield to Winchester, Porton Down and Amesbury (Stonehenge) (day two) and then over Salisbury Plain to Devizes and then across to Bath on day three. I took the train from Bath to Bristol, stayed there overnight and took the train on day four to Swansea. I spent two days in Swansea and returned by train to Newhaven on the Saturday.
The ride was good fun, although 50+ miles a day for three days is hard going!
Some of the things I saw on the way included a monument to dead horse at Farley Mount, the Kennet and Avon Canal was amazing - what an achievement 200 years ago! I cycled along the cycle path on the tow path from Bradford-on-Avon to Bath, and also had lunch next to it at the top of the Caen Hill Locks at Devizes. The whole structure is pretty “wow” and pretty busy too. I saw the top secret research labs and Porton Down, and the countryside around Stonehenge is pretty amazing too….
I can’t believe how there was nobody around! Everyone goes to see the stones, which are pretty dull really, compared to all the earthworks on the Cursus and The Avenue, plus all the burial mounds too. I didn’t go into Stonehenge, you pay £6 to get about 30ft closer than the road, you can’t touch or get in the circle, plus there are loads of Japanese and American tourists to annoy you. I had a peek through the fence, but the amazing part is the processional avenue and everything else, which is FREE. GO AND SEE THESE PEOPLE! Don’t waste your money on the stones, you can see those from the road as well as you can from inside, but learn some HISTORY and don’t just go “wow, stones”!!! I ended up almost ANNOYED at the people who were there in their hundreds at half past nine in the morning and missing out on a misty, spooky, crisp and frosty exploration just 200 metres away!!!!!
Bath is a really pretty city, and I’m quite gutted I didn’t choose to stay there, but I went to te Youth Hostel at Bristol instead. Go to Bath people! Explore the canal…. I really can not recommend it highly enough.
Bristol - well, what a shithole! Seriously, someone has had the bright idea to redevelop! Never redevelop! They have ended up wit acres of glass and stainless steel. How boring! Compared to Bath this city is RUBBISH. Sorry if you live there, I’m sure it has its good points, but it just seemed to be “trendy” bars and clubs around the quayside. The Clifton Suspension Bridge is amazing. Visit it. Visit Clifton. Visit the camera obscurer. Don’t visit Bristol.
So I got the train to Swansea (£5, bargain!), booked in advance, by accident, from Bristol Parkway. I say “accident”….. it should have been from Bristol Temple Meads. Parkway is 5 miles (8km for those too stupid to convert!) from the city centre - the commuter station. I wasn’t feeling very well (bad night) so I wasn’t happy at having to cycle to a station, the location of which was a, badly signed, mystery. Luckily the GPS found it and took me there. Parkway is how stations should be. Modern, clean, a viewing platform with tea bar, warm, not draughty. I know that our Victorian stations are amazing, but “new stations” like East Croydon and Clapham should be like this. It was the best part of Bristol (if you consider the bridge to be in Clifton 
).
So, I arrived in Swansea and stayed at the Crescent Guest House, which is on the hill above the seafront road, which goes to Mumbles. Swansea (or Abertawe in Welsh) is a city which had a bit of everything. It’s well connected and the city centre is post war and uninspiring. The countryside around though is amazing and it has miles of sandy shores. The city centre is irrelevant though, because the Marina is nice, with waterfront cafes, bars, cobbled walkways etc, and there is a cycle path through it. There is still development going on, but this didn’t spoil my enjoyment. The cycle path continues along the esplanade to Mumbles, which is busy but very nice. The road continues up around the Gower peninsula too, which is a very beautiful area. The seafront road is busy and congested, but it’s colourful and pretty. I really like it.
Dave and Jane at the guest house were most helpful in recommending places to go, and keen cyclists too. The rates were reasonable and the food good and plentiful. The room was comfy with en suite and Freeview, plus there is free internet access with cat5 sockets in the rooms and a shared machine downstairs.
On the Friday I took the Heart of Wales railway line to Llangadog, which is a small village on the edge of the Brecon Beacons. There are only four trains a day in each direction! At most stations you have to “hail” the train, like a bus, or it will not stop. Plus the train staff have to operate the level crossings by pressing a button on the platforms! Most amusing and quaint. I then cycled from Llangadog, over The Black Mountain, which is 600m high, back over the other side to Ammanford, where I caught the train back. The ride was hard but fun and the views were amazing from the top. Very enjoyable. I was concerned I’d miss the train back, as there is a window of 2.5 hours to complete the ride, or a four hour wait for the next train! I had twenty minutes or so to spare, so I was ok, but a flat tyre would have made it a bit tight!
So, did I enjoy my trip - yes. Would I do it again - maybe! Well, I’d change some things, and I think I’d probably start in a “strange” place, as days 1 and most of day 2 were not too far from here and with familiar countryside. Maybe one day I’ll cycle the route of the train line, or spend a week going south to north in Wales, or cycle around the Lake District. I don’t know. All i do know is I was amazed at my fitness - I felt fine and dandy the day after I got back, like I’d not ridden anywhere at all!
Well, Seahaven FM seems a long time ago now, and March was pretty hectic… up at 5am to write the news, get to the studio for 06:20 and start at half past….. then often going to work at Clayhill for 13:30!
The response was great and the station continues on the internet at http://seahavenfm.com. I’m not doing a show on the online service, as I’ve got plenty to occupy me at the moment, but I’m looking forward to another month on FM in the summer.
The weather threw us a nice story one month into the broadcast, with some of the worst storms in twenty years hitting the region, and there was always plenty going on to talk about. Where in Sussex (which has now reached almost legendary status) was very popular once again, with loads of people I’ve met commenting on it.
