Richmond Park - no dear!

Saturday was spent cycling to Richmond Park, which is where we were supposed to go last weekend before we got lost. Fantastic Park, 14 Km circuit around the internal perimeter, and about 20 Km each way there.

There are apparently a large group of deer that live within the park, prompting all of the overly large properties surrounding to have extremely high fences. We didn't see any wildlife (apart from a few token squirrels), but there was a sign at every entrance politely informing us that we should not venture into the park at night as they were currently undertaking their annual deer cull, fantastic! It seemed as though every man and his dog, and child, was in the park that day too, with London turning on some gloriously sunny weather, albeit a bit on the chilly side though.

Great day out, and we didn't get lost.
You can check out the route that we took at our bikely home.

Pete.

Snow in London

It was a bit chilly this morning getting out of bed, even in the shoe box. And to our surprise it had snowed overnight! Only about 3cm but it looked like someone had attacked out side with an icing sugar shaker.

Being the determine riders we are we gortexed up and rode in. Bit chilly to start with but soon to warm up. Bridgette got a little muddy since her mud guard would fit. Regent’s Park was especially pretty.

Hope there is more to come!

Bridgette + Pete

3 Pints, a crash and Peckham

What a weekend!

I caught up with Mignot on Friday night, and 1 pint turned into 3 (as expected), which is fine for some one that catches a tube home. Me on the other hand, road home, most of the way. Let's just say there was a little altercation with a VW Golf, in which I ended up on their bonnet in the middle of an intersection on Portland Road. They paused, long enough for me to get off their bonnet, however failed to even wind the window down to see if I was alright. Londoner's!

For the record, I had the right of way, but they were bigger, and probably had consumed more than my 3 pints. Anyway, nothing broken, sore elbow and I live to fight another day!

Spent Saturday morning changing our tires over on the good bikes, as we decided it was a good idea to stretch their legs, and get used to having to lock up expensive toys on the streets of London. We were supposed to be meeting some people that Bridgette studies with at Richmond Park in the west. Somehow we read the AtoZ index wrong and marked our map in completely the wrong area. Let's just say that we ended up in Peckham, a good 20 Kms from the park that we were supposed to be at.

For those of you who don't know about Peckham, if we had of stopped at the lights for more than 20 seconds, someone would have come along and politely tried to remove our wheels, with us still on the bike. They do have a nice Library there, which I'll go back and see when I'm not in so much of a hurry.

Today we rode to Greenwich via the canals, which was very pleasant and not in anyway remotely dangerous! We went to the observatory and did the whole "standing in two time zones thing". Bit touristy, but interesting none the less.

Hopefully a good week is in store for us, no doubt we will let you know.

Pete

Commuting by bike in London

We recently purchased some cheap bikes here in London to start commuting. Unfortunately bikes are hot commodity in London and highly prone to theft. Our touring bikes were too valuable to put at risk.

We have been now using the bikes everyday to get in and out of down. Much cheaper, cleaner, faster, you can park anywhere and great exercise. The day I was over taken by a Brompton was the day I decided I probably wasn't cycle fit! So now we are computing about 30km a day to and from work. It’s actually a nice ride, down by Regent Park.

But going from small town Hobart to rush hour London traffic was an experience. Cyclists over here are privileged, there are assigned bike lanes, they get to take off first at the lights etc. However, there are things you need to watch for; buses, cars, other cyclist and pedestrians, all of which can see you meet your demise.

Buses share your lane most of the time (Pete says correctly that we share the bus’s lane, but who cares), they stop randomly, some are bendy and are able to take you out with the end section, but they provide good slick streaming opportunities.

The pedestrian should not be under estimated, they are fine if they remain on the foot path and cross at the lights, but they don't. They duck and weave through the traffic, walk in the bike lanes and generally ignore cyclists.

The driving here in London is aggressive with the average seed of a car being 10km/h. At least they are not fast and aggressive.

Probably the biggest hazard of all are other cyclists! Like everyone in London they are trying to get around as fast as they can.... mmm wrong way up one way streets, no lights, bells or whistles, random spats at pedestrians and cars, erratic stopping and turning, you get the picture.

Bridgette

Canterbury

Spent the weekend in Canterbury visiting Bridgette’s Aunty Pam, who was very hospitable indeed, putting on no less than two feasts for us. Nothing like a bit of home cooking.

Caught the bus down on Saturday morning and returned on Sunday evening. Most of our time there was spent relaxing and seeing the sights. Canterbury is very lucky, having 3 UNESCO World Heritage sites; Canterbury Cathedral, St. Martin’s Church (oldest in England, 580 AD) and the ruins of St Augustine's Abbey. It is a very pretty little town, well the part that didn’t get bombed during the war is anyway.

We also got our TV fix (we don’t have one in London) for the next while watching 3 movies.

Pete.

First weekend in London

After arriving back from Scotland on, Wednesday we decided to rest up and see London this weekend. Also Jen, who we met in Scotland, was flying through on her way to Dubai.

We were off to Borough markets with Jen early Saturday morning. What a fantastic place, beautiful food, busy atmosphere and the best coffee we have found yet in London. We indulged in several cups of coffee and an awesome almond croissant. Took a few snaps. The market is situated under a railway with a large church in the background, brick arches and tunnels lead to different parts. The whole experience is visually gritty and urban, overlaid with fresh fruit colors, then the smells of fresh coffee, bread, fish and the hustle and bustle of a busy market.

We then headed off to meet a Tassie friend, Kate, who was also in London and headed off to the Tate Modern to see some 'art'. The slides were on display and Kate and I couldn't resist. What was slightly off putting was the camera which showed the decent and the people at the other end before you got on. You jump in to a big Hessian sack and elbow/knee pads and helmets are required for the larger slides. I have to admit the speed you reach is surprising, but I will back to do the floor 5 slide! We then went out to dinner at a great Thai restaurant behind the British Museum called Busaba.

Sunday was a slow day to get started. We wandered back in to the Tate for more free tours and interpretation, this time the minimalists and ripped canvases were covered. I felt I could understand slightly more than I did when I first walked in, but still millions for a ripped canvas, mmmm?

We then set off on a bike mission. This first consisted of perusing the internet for the cheapest options. We made a fundamental decision early on not to obtain a bike which might be stolen. There is a fantastic contact on the gumtree site you can ring and he will 'obtain' a bike to your specifications in a few days for £50, tempting. But we settled for the illustrious Halfords.
This was a tube ride out to Wembley which was a 'change of scenery' from west Hampstead. Our hopes of finding 60 pound bikes were dashed, as the site of the shop had been bulldozed to make room for the new stadium. But just as the light was fading, and Bridgette was getting very pissed off, the sign of Hadfords was seen in the distance. Once in the store, the choice of cheap bikes..... £70 collapsible bike.... didn't say if it would go back together though.

I was left with a lingering irony here we are buying bikes imported from Taiwan (Carbon debt?) which we going to ride round town to be good to the environment. I wondered how many Km's we would have to do to make up for the carbon debt. And it is the poor sod who made the bike, that we are trying to assist with our ride.... ok maybe I should have just walked.

Bridgette

MTB-AE-7Stanes

The weather had cleared, Tom and Sarah had days off, so it was off to the hills for another day of MTB. This time to AE, which about 1 1/2 hours from Edinburgh.

It was a beautiful ride down with lots of ooo's and argh's.... lots of green paddocks, white shaggy sheep, snow capped mountains and dry stone walls. Good toffee at ...... Sarah help me.

Ae was another excellent track, Pete and I were found to unfit. But who can complain about 20km of mountain biking track through beautiful forest, great track maintenance and gentle up hills. Sarah had a spectacular stack, getting a little too much air on a jump and literally becoming one with her bike. No nosh stop at the bottom so home hungry...... to Tom's fantastic pasta.

Check out the website for the 7stanes
We need this in Tassie!

Bridgette

New Years Scotland

New Years Eve in Scotland. Would you hold a indoor celebration, or outdoor one?

Well outside of course, have a huge street party, concerts and street theatre. Unfortunately the weather did not settle during the day, it gradually got worse. The wailing wind progressed to a gale, and rain turned to sleet.

Pete and I had tickets to the street party and Pet Shop Boys concert, so we gortex up and trundled off up the street, thinking the Scottish might be crazy enough to hold such an event.
Along the way trees were blown over, roof tiles were on the pavement.
mmmm….The skepticism stepped in.

We were turned away and like many others ventured up to the castle since the lights were on. However there was a man armed with a machine gun collecting invitations, and since we obviously didn’t have one, headed home. The fireworks went off at 12, not in the vertical direction more horizontal.

Bridgette