Diary
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A Trip to Battersea Power Station
It’s my Birthday tomorrow and as a treat K arranged a day out in London with a trip to Battersea Power Station. I’ve been wanting to go and see the redeveloped site since it opened last year. A bit of info about the power station..The power station ceased to generate electricity in 1983 and as Continue reading
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Autumnal Day At The Beach
The girls had a very nice day at the beach. The weather was lovely and Caz even had a dip! Continue reading
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Reytons – Sheffield Arena
Emma and I went up to Sheffield this weekend to see the Reytons play their homecoming gig to a sold out crowd of 13,500 at the Sheffield Arena. It was their biggest gig so far and what an amazing night it was. This was the biggest gig the band had done to their own fans Continue reading
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Dumfries & Galloway
While Emma was away in America, K and I had a trip up to Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries & Galloway for a couple of weeks. It was a beautiful area, so quiet in comparison to Essex! We stayed in a little cottage in Gatehoues called the But & Ben a fantastic little place which was perfect Continue reading
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Gravel Riding In The Cairngorms
Alan and I have just returned from a gravel riding trip up into the Cairngorms. We haven’t done a trip together for ages so it was great to have nearly a week to explore the area and tick off some of Ed Shootes rides We met up in London and got the sleeper train up Continue reading
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K Is 50!
For K’s birthday this year we went to the Wetlands Centre in Barnes. the weather was lovely and we had a nice time exploring this little oasis in London. After the centre we went to the Jolly Gardeners Pub in Putney, a great pub in a really nice neighbourhood. Continue reading
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Artic Monkeys
Emma and I went to see the Artic Monkeys at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday. This is a band I have wanted to see for years and they definitely didn’t disappoint. When I bought the tickets all the pitch tickets had sold out so I went a bit crazy and bought VIP tickets which cost Continue reading
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Happy New Year
Had a great New Years Eve at Lucy and Daves last night. Lucy cooked an amazing chinese and K supplied the afters, an ice cream bomb! At the midnight hour we went out to the top of the High Street in Halstead to hear a local bagpiper play in the new year. There was about Continue reading
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Avatar: The Way Of Water
Treated ourselves and went to see this film in 3D at the BFI Imax in London. Its a great experience to go to the BFI. The film looked absolutely amazing on the massive screen. The film was very good, the sheer creativity of the film is amazing. Yes, it is a bit long and the Continue reading
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Sunday in Camden
Its Emma’s Birthday next Wednesday, so as a treat we had a day out with Maddie at Camden Market. We got the train in via Stratford and got off at Canden Road and after a short walk along the canal we were there. We had a right good day exploring the area and having a Continue reading
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Week in The Borders
We have just returned from a fantastic week in The Borders. We stayed in the Old larder which is part of the Glen House an Estate just outside Innerleithen. We spent the week walking, exploring the estate, Peebles, Melrose and Edinburgh which included a walk up Arthurs Seat. I had a day on my bike Continue reading
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K and Emma Walk The Essex Way.
Emma is raising money for her America Trip next year so the girls decided to walk The 81 mile Essex Way long distance walk which goes from Epping to Harwich. They were due to start the walk on Tuesday 19th July but due to the near 40° heat they had to start at Chipping Ongar Continue reading
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Gravel Rides in The Borders
Had an absolutely amazing week last week cycling some Gravel Rides from Ed Shoote’s fabulous book “Gravel Rides In Scotland” I had never visited this area before. When we’ve gone to Scotland in the past we’ve always driven through the Borders to head up to the west coast. But, having read Ed’s Book I decided Continue reading
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Emma’s USA Trip
Emma has been selected to go on a trip with the scouts to the USA for 3 weeks at the end of July ’23. This will be an amazing adventure for her. They will fly to New York spending a week at a scout camp just outside the city allowing them to visit the city. Continue reading
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Camping at Rockingham Farm
This weekend it was K’s Birthday and she booked us a camping weekend away at Rockinghams Farm near Layer Marney. To make it more of an adventure we decided to cycle to the site. This was Emma’s first time she had done any cycling touring. We got loaded up Saturday afternoon and headed off. Its Continue reading
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Week in Kirkby Lonsdale
One of my colleagues asked if I could swap his rest week for the week before Christmas. As you can imagine, it didn’t take me long to make a decision! So we booked a cottage in High Casterton which is just outside Kirkby Lonsdale. We drove up yesterday afternoon after work and arrived here at Continue reading
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Frosty Morning Walk
Beautiful morning today, it’s rare I get the chance for a frosty morning walk so this was a real treat! Continue reading
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Railway Path Clearance
We have volunteered to help with the path clearance for the new cycle track which will eventually run from Halstead to Kelvedon. The first stage will run from Halstead to Earls Colne along the old railway line. The stretch from Bluebridge to Langley Mill is completely overgrown. On Sunday two groups of volunteers and scouts Continue reading
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Keith Wood
Had the devastating news yesterday that my cousin Keith was killed by a train in London on Friday night. He was only 51. I have always admired how he had followed his passions both in his career and in his love of snowboarding. I have fond memories of when we were kids, listening to AC/DC Continue reading
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Sunday Morning
I made these this morning, Sunday Morning wouldn’t be Sunday Morning without biscuits! Continue reading
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Final Day of Hols
Today it only rained part of the day rather than all day! Al scouted a route across Parkamoor early in the day on his bike and we all walked it later in the morning. It was a really good route. It was so good to get a little bit of height after all the cloud Continue reading
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Soggy Walks
Absolutely Poured here yesterday, There was an Amber weather warning with forecasts saying we could have 100 – 150 mm. Quite a lot of floods but we still got out. Continue reading
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Dune
Wednesday was a really wet day here in the Lakes. We had planned to Dune one evening this week but we went on a really really wet afternoon driving through floods to get there. It really is an epic film and it looks amazing. Denis Villeneuve is a master of modern sci-fi and the whole Continue reading
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Cycling Grizedale Forest
Hired this superb E-bike today. I have never been on one before but this was amazing. I think if I lived up here I would definitely have one! Continue reading
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Walk in Grizedale Forest
Had a great walk in Grizedale Forest today. We did about 10 miles and got up to the summit of Carron Crag. It was a lovely day with no rain! ? Continue reading