June 2015

June: Cycling, rodeo, cycling and more cycling.

From now until I reach Paris, I'm concentrating on getting myself saddle fit. I've done lots of cycling, both road biking and mountain biking, and I'm certainly getting the hang of it.

Loe Bar, Penrose estate, Helston

On the 3rd, 6th and 7th, I hopped on my mountain bike and pedaled my way 27 miles in total around the Penrose National Trust estate and was treated to views like this. Just stunning.

On the evening of the 17th, I got my road bike out and joined Anthony, a fellow London to Paris cyclist, on a ride out around some local villages. We clocked up 14 miles.

On the evening of the 20th I held my biggest fundraising event yet, a Wild West Rodeo Night at our local farm. About 200 people came along to support the event and it was such brilliant fun.

We had a special Saloon Bar area as well as disco and bucking bronco.

Olly, Sophie, Georgie, me, Fi and Hugh: the fantastic bar staff who worked tirelessly all night.

A Line Dancing group from St Day came along to get people up and dancing.

There was a trophy for the person who stayed on the bucking bronco the longest and this was won by a lady called Emma who stayed on for a crazy 73 seconds! Everyone had a great night and we raised a mahoosive £1992 for Cornwall Air Ambulance, which I've used to kick start my 2016 fundraising.

Fantastic swing saloon doors made by Gary.

I must thank my friend Katrina for having the idea in the first place, friends Fi, Sally and Gary for helping me make the event happen, Hugh and Sally for letting us use their barn, Phil from Nightchasers Disco for keeping the music pumping, Olly, Sophie, Georgie, Fi and Hugh for spending the whole evening behind the bar keeping the ale flowing, St Day Line Dancing group for getting the dancers up and synchronised, Shaun at Fritz Entertainment for bucking the bronco, Sharp's Brewery for giving us such a fantastic deal on Doombar ale, Adrian from the Atlantic Inn for getting us a free barrel of Devon Dumpling from Bays Brewery and helping us store and set up all the beer, Porthleven Post Office for donating a bottle of wine as a prize for the best Wild West outfit, Porthleven Fishermen for donating a big box of ice, Bel at Lindy Lou and Claire at The Jewellery Workshop for selling tickets for the event, Georgie, Sally and Mary for convincing the cowboys to buy raffle tickets, Sally, Kallum, Georgie, Gary, Darren and Toni for helping set up and take down the barn and, of course, everyone for coming along and helping make the night such a huge success.

Mousehole harbour

On the 24th, I decided to do my first big solo ride. I pedaled out to Mousehole and back, which was 30 miles in total. I actually quite enjoyed being able to go at my own pace. I can't say I enjoyed riding along the main road on my own because some drivers just don't give us poor cyclists much consideration. However, I enjoyed the ride and was treated to some spectacular views.

Land's End airport

On Saturday 27th, Gary took me on my longest ride yet, 53 miles! We cycled through Penzance, Mousehole, Paul, Land's End (passing the airport), St Just (where we stopped for a cuppa), then back home via Penzance. It was scorchio when we left home, chilly and overcast on the north coast and then scorchio back at home again. It just shows how different the weather on the north and south coasts of Cornwall can be.

Loe Pool, Penrose estate, Helston

On the 29th, Daren joined me on an 8 mile mountain biking pedal around the Penrose estate. It was another beautiful day.

Miles cycled in June: 134 miles

Current fundraising total: £4030 (87% of my goal)

If you have enjoyed reading my blog and would like to help me towards my fundraising goal for this year, please visit my fundraising page by clicking here 

Do drop by again to see how I'm getting on with my training for the London to Paris cycle ride (in September) and the Great Wall of China trek (in October). Monthly blogs will appear here along with extra ones devoted to extra events, such as fundraisers or the challenges themselves.

May 2015

May: Hadrian's Wall & cycle training

So this month began with me up in the borders walking Hadrian's Wall. Please see my separate blog entries for each day (links to the right).

Since restoring my energy levels after returning from Newcastle, I have been focusing on my cycle training for September. On Tuesday 12 May I went for a pedal around Degibna Woods to see the bluebells with some friends. It was beautiful.

Jayne, Katrina, me & Gary

On Saturday 16 May I did a bag packing stint in Tesco Extra in Pool and Toni and Kallum had kindly agreed to lend a hand. I suggested a competition to see who could collect the most in their jar. 

 Kallum wasn't impressed to see lots of people popping coins into Toni's jar so decided he had to do something to attract more attention. So he wrote a sign on a banana box!

A few days later Becky at Air Ambulance gave me the jar totals. And the winner was ... Kallum! Kallum's jar contained £51.60 and Toni's had £50.16. The sign (or the hat) must have worked! I can't believe how close the amounts were. I'm very grateful to them both for giving up their free time to help me with the collection. 

On Sunday 17 May, I went on a rather longer cycle ride (42 miles) with Gary to Mylor Bridge and back via Helston, Gweek, Constantine, Port Navas and Mylor. We even managed a detour to Griffin Towers for a drink and biscuit. Thanks to Jonathan and Kate for the refreshments.

On Wednesday 20 May I decided to get my mountain bike out again and did a great route into Helston and round the Loe Pool (8.7 miles). The weather was lovely.

On Monday 25 May I did a fabulous 41 mile cycle ride with the boys. We cycled to Mousehole via Penzance, St Buryan and Paul.

 Darren, Gary and me

 Mousehole was very busy.

St Michael's Mount

And we had a pretty cool view on the way home too! I have to say, cycling is a great way of experiencing the sights, sounds and smells of Cornwall.

Miles run in May: 3

Miles cycled in May: 105

Current fundraising total: £3950 (85% of my total)

If you have enjoyed reading my blog and would like to help me towards my fundraising goal for this year, please visit my fundraising page by clicking here 

Do drop by again to see how I'm getting on with my training for the London to Paris cycle ride (in September) and the Great Wall of China trek (in October). Monthly blogs will appear here along with ones devoted to extra events, such as fundraisers or my challenges.

Hadrian's Wall, Day 6, Newcastle

On Saturday 2 May we met for breakfast about 08:30, I continued my run of full cooked breakfasts, and we set off walking about 10:00, our latest start of the week.

We continued walking through Tyne Riverside Country Park and we were passed by rowers out on the river. It was a lovely start to the day. We walked right by a rowing club just as one crew were putting their boat in the water.

We continued along the trail with the River not far away to our right for the entire day.

We left the trail briefly to visit a shop and I spotted this. Those of you who know me will understand why I liked the sound of this fast food wagon!

There was a lot of industry in the areas we walked today, with some interesting structures.

Wildlife was never far away and we saw lots of birds including this, which we think was a Thrush...

... a Speckled Wood butterfly...

... and a female Blackbird. Anne-Marie is interested in birds so it got us looking out for them.

As we continued along the riverside walk I spotted the Angel of the North statue on the horizon. We could only see it for a short time as it is on the outskirts of Newcastle.

We stopped for our lunchtime flapjacks on some perfectly placed benches out of the chilly wind ...

... and enjoyed this view.

As we neared the centre of the city there were lots of bridges ...

... and also The Stage which is a very modern building standing right next to an old church. On the river bank right in front of The Stage is HMS Calliope, Royal Navy Reserves.

A bit further along we passed St Peters Marina...

... and this car with a rather funky paint job!

We were surprised at how many young guys were fishing along here. The water is very brown so you wouldn't think there'd be much living in it.

Further along the path we came across a poorly fox. It must have been ill because it seemed very confused and out of sorts. It eventually disappeared into the shrubbery.

As we climbed a path up from the river a foreign passer-by explained that there was some wood on fire. We found it and tried to put it out with water from our bottles but it needed more water than we had with us. Anne-Marie called the Fire Brigade and we tried to describe where we were as best we could, but it wasn't easy as we only had a rough idea ourselves!

We saw quite a few ponies today, which seem to be kept in stables and small dusty yards. A few were tethered on grass so perhaps they take it in turns to be staked out to graze.

This end of Newcastle is very industrial and pretty tired looking.

About 16:10 we reached Wallsend, Segedunum. We were disappointed to find there was no fanfare, brass band or greeting by village elders, in fact there is not even an arch or sign to mark the end of the trail (as there is at Bowness-on-Solway).

As we could find no obvious end to the trail, we asked in the Segedunum Museum and they took us into the site so we could take a photo in front of the end of the Wall.

We each bought a souvenir in the museum shop and walked to where our kit bags were being held, a few hundred yards down the road. My friend Gina who lives close by came to collect us and soon after we got in the car it threw it down with rain. Lucky timing again!

Hadrian's Wall Path official length: 84 miles

According to my Endomomdo app, we walked 106 miles.

I couldn't visit Newcastle and not go to see The Angel of the North statue, so Gina took me the next morning.

Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you enjoyed it; we certainly had a great time walking the trail.

Credit for the idea of doing the walk goes to Anne-Marie so I must thank her very much for that. I also thank her and Jackie for their good company over the week. As with all my challenges this year, I'm doing them to raise money for Cornwall Air Ambulance. If you have enjoyed reading my blog and would like to help me towards my fundraising goal for this year, please visit my fundraising page by clicking here 

Do drop by again to see how I'm getting on with my training for the London to Paris cycle ride (in September) and the Great Wall of China trek (in October). Monthly blogs will appear here along with ones devoted to extra events, such as fundraisers or my challenges.

Hadrian's Wall, Day 5, Wall to Ryton

On Friday 1 May 2015, we got up and made our own breakfasts.

I decided I had to have a full cooked breakfast, because I could!

There was a lovely Tortoiseshell butterfly clinging to one of the cottage's windows so I gently put it outside. It was such a beautiful little thing.

We left the cottage about 09:00 and set off back on the trail.

The weather was glorious to start with today and I began in just a t-shirt.

This only lasted for an hour or so before the cool wind was back and I had to put another layer on.

We passed our last piece of wall in a field and plodded on.

We came across St Oswald In Lee Church in Heavenfield. It's a little church in the middle of a field, built on the site of a battle.

Anne-Marie and I decided to go inside while Jackie talked to some guys who were walking the trail in the opposite direction and camping along the way, planning to complete the whole 84 miles in 4 days!

The Church was lovely inside and kept beautifully well. From the displays, it seems the Church is very much at the heart of the community.

A bit further along the trail we found a Tea Room and shop on a farm. There were cows in one of the barns munching away on hay whilst listening to 'Material Girl' by Madonna being played very loud. It seemed a bit strange but we thought that maybe the farmer has the radio on because it relaxes the cows! I bought a drink and a snack in the Tea Room and we set off again...

... through more gates and stiles than we could shake a stick at!

We walked through a small pine wood and a field of lovely fluffy Belted Galloway cows who were very inquisitive.

Such a nosey cow!

We stopped for our flapjacks on three perfectly positioned rocks on the top of some hills with panoramic views. It was stunning. Just as we finished eating, the clouds returned and it started to rain. Thankfully it didn't last long and the sunshine returned.

The landscape then changed to more open fields and a very long straight road which we essentially followed for many miles. We could see Newcastle on the horizon!

There were fields of rapeseed and other crops and a nature reserve.

There were some beautiful footpaths to walk along and when the sun was out it was glorious.

As we neared the outskirts of Newcastle the views across the valley were stunning.

We stopped for a photo call and also for a cuppa and a welcome sit down in a large Tea Room. There were gluten free cheese scones so I had to have one; it's trekking law.

Whilst walking we spotted (cue excuse for cute lamb photos) ...

... lambs ...

... pheasants ...

... more lambs ...

... calves on their lunch break ...

... a lamb with the biggest ears in the world ...

... a Robin ...

... even more cute lambs ...

... Scooby Doo ...

... and a sheep who had the most expressive sheep's face in the world!

We reached the banks of the River Tyne and rang our accommodation provider. Even though I explained we were walking, the woman just gave me a postcode to put into sat-nav. I did this and we followed it to a post office. We had walked about 20 miles by this time so weren't best pleased to be struggling to find our B&B, which turned out to be a pub with lodge accommodation. We asked some locals for directions and we discovered that we had walked right past it about a mile back! They very kindly offered to give us a lift to it and we gratefully accepted. When we finally got there to check in, we were asked to fill in registration forms. Anne-Marie had a sense of humour failure because she was exhausted!

We dumped our bags and went back to the pub/restaurant for dinner. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the food was pretty good and, for the first time during the trip, we all had a pudding! I think we had worked up a big appetite from all the walking.

If you would like to help me towards my fundraising goal for this year, please visit my fundraising page by clicking here

My blog describing our final walking day will be published tomorrow...