Category Archives: Travel

Peregrine poop

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26°C, sun(in London), but a cold start.

I got Dumped on by a Peregrine Falcon who lives on the Tate Modern building today. They live on Pidgeons I was told by the RSPB bloke. Peregrine poop isn’t like pidgeon poop, it’s more like toothpaste, but doesn’t smell (not even of Spearmint). there was a series of telescopes set up by some RSPB people who shwed me these birds of prey nesting on the Tate tower, they are actually breeding there. Several breeding pairs have set up with no human encouragement at all. It turns out they are preying on the London pidgeon population. Very impressed am I.
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Anyway, that’s jumping ahead on the story of my day.
It goes like this:
02.45: get up to drive Hannah to Stansted Airport
06.15: Arrive at airport, drop them off and drive to service station for soem breakfast ansd some sleep.
08.30:  drive to Hendon & get tube to Waterloo; that takes an hour.
09.40: Arrive at Tate Modern. Sceptical at first but on seeing the paintings I soon changed my mood.
Started looking at the Surrealism section and moved on from there.
It’s such fun that I end up staying much later than my plan (to go to RAF Museum Hendon by 14.30)
the walk across London was fun, so many thing to photograph and apreciate.
15:30, arrive at Hendon for Part two of my plan. It turns out though I took dozens of photos there,
it isn’t as much fun as a really good art gallery.
17:40, set off up the M1 for home= now.
 
this is the bridge that has millions spent on it because it was wobbly, but "sshhhh- don’t tell anyone", it’s still quite wobbly- more so when joggers trot over it.
 
It’s been a privilage to receive that peregrine poo award on my legs
Perhaps I sould write about the artworks that impressed me today tomorrow when I am less tired.
 They did impress me though, some made me laugh (as they did other people too).

Gibbons

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27°C, cloud & sun

Twycross: cycled past from the west, the sound of the primates could be heard from near to Orton-on-the-hill, which must be nearly two miles away. There were chimps, howler monkeys as well as other sounds that I didn’t recognise. The sound was less obvious near the zoo so I turned around to go back for another listen. That kept me fascinated for quite a while, enough to vow to make a proper visit there next week. From over the hedge it was clear that there were few people there;  dissappointingly I could see no Elephants either.

get rolling

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20°C, clearing

Hit the road: why such a slow start today? Get-up-&-go stayed in bed today – though I didn’t. Quite why eludes me right now.
One of the Ladies has peed on the kitchen floor.
Oh well, the bike is ready out there.
…later..54 miles done with ease. Funny how the outbreak of some sunshine can change everything.

Blazing Sunday

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32°C, hot sun, low humidity

Sunday run: Leave for cycling early before it gets too hot. It was only in the last 20 miles or so of seventy that the heat became noticable.
 
Beethoven: I’ve discovered Beethoven as of yesterday. At the Cathederal was a performance by the BBC philharmonic of Mozart ( non-plussed as usual), Beethoven with some stunning violin solos, and lastly Prokoviev (who made a great entry only to get quickly boring).
 
Linseed: just quickly added another more opaque layer to the shoulder, titanium white covers much better than the zinc does. Notice all the colour banding has gone, the blends are much more integrated now. Colour balance is all wrong on this photo, but it doesn’t really matter until the final shot is uploaded.

Bus shelter

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Thursday:24°C, thunderous storms

Electrical storm: It doesn’t take long for a big punchy storm to build up. Today’s ones are quite slow moving, slow enough to allow the rain to turn roads into rivers. I hid in a bus-shelter to avoid the lightning strikes- which never came in the end. The bus-stop was across the road from the one I hid in last year to avoid a morning storm.
 
the photos below was part of a series where it was clear how they billow up. When scrolling through the folder of photos the movement is clear- perhaps a project for the weekend.
 

July, the thrips

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30°C, humid

70.3 miles in the heat. Some places must have been at 40°C, especially near fields of straw. I have that cough referred to in a post a few weeks ago. It’s said to be caused by an ozone haze, but I bet there is straw dust involved too.
Thrips must lead an interesting life, as adults they look like little bits of rubber left after using a pencil rubber. There must be vast numbers of them, they form clouds under trees, and stick to jerseys and car radiators in large numbers. I’m nearly puzzled by them as much as I am by Crane Flys.

Brake Break!

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22°C, like yesterday with more wind

Screech: The front brake cable broke on pulling up at traffic lights this afternoon. I over-ran the line by about 10 feet & pulled over cursing. Quick decision- go to Brownhills, a slight detour and find somewhere to get a new cable. What an odd place- it’s all shut and run-down looking. It was probably like that when I was little, but it didn’t seem that way then. Anyway, there was nowhere to buy any cycling stuff, not even something as basic as a brake cable. No choice then but to return to my route and carefully make it home.
 
Reports: I have found all sorts of distractions while trying to write school reports. Internet sites, games, and other rubbish that I wouldn’t normally give a second to. Teachers writing reports have very clean houses, the lawn is cut and the cupboards are tidy- all jobs that normally get put off, but now seem worthwhile. I have discovered webcams
 
TOTP: is getting dropped by the BBC. You may be expecting someone of my age to be whistful with nostalgia about the news, but no. It’s been a waste of electricity/airtime & in all the forty years it has been onair. It claimed to be a showcase for British popular music when all it does is reflect the buying habits of the singles age-group. that is, apparaently mostly 13 year old girls- hardly a comprehensive cross-section of Britain in the 20th Century. Good-bye Top of the Pops and don’t come back

The skies of Salop.

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28+°C, light SW.

Cosford: cycled to RAF Cosford via quite a long route and took lunch at "The Spider’s web". 45 miles to get there, buy hey- it was the nice route. Just as I finished the food the jets took off. The row they made…
Anyway, I teamed up with some old guys from another cycle club who knew a good place to spectate. I sat myself in the heat, the grass and nettles as long as my water supply lasted out. It was so hot that 2 litres was good for only 2½ hours. In that time I watched the spitfires, some noisy jets and the police move and book the cars parked illegally. As soon as the police went, more cars arrived. Then helicopters arrived to do a funny dance in the air; it wasn’t a courtship dance, helicopters are machines and they don’t do that.
 
Once the water ran out, I rode home, calling at the cafe again to top up the bottles then set off north-east, downwind. It’s amazing how far away from the airbase were there people who filled the lanes, laybys and gardens to watch the planes. Four or more miles passed before the last ones were seen, standing there with binoculars. The whole of the east of Shopshire had a jubilee atmosphere.
 
As it rode away, the obligatory Lancaster/Spitfire/Hurricane flight was standing off over Boscobel house waiting their turn.
The wind saved today- it prevented too much heat-building up, the diust was keep away and I haven’t noticed any of that ozone-cough. On days like this I can sink into bed, even if it’s a hard bed like a futon and not be seen from above- I’m that tired (74 miles). Such a nice feeling.

Κεφαλλονιά

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Back !: We’ve been welcomed by nice weather here too.
I’m about to load up the pictures from my camera but it’s going to take ages, there’s a Gigabyte in all- they’ll have to be linked from my photobucket site.
 
Saturday
Arrival, take photos on the drive up the west coast road past Assos. The curious incidence of face-dragging sheep was seen. Not being used to the car I didn’t want to stop to shoot pictures of them.
Sunday
Exploring the local area, swim in the nearby bay- B. Emblisi
Monday
Rent a motorboat & explore the coastal inlets, bays and Ithaka. B, Xilokaravo was our favourite.
Tuesday
Andisamos beach after pausing in Sami, including a fascinating drive in the mountains where we were wonderfully lost in the Defaranata area. With little trouble we got to Melissani lake- an underground lake that origonates on the opposite west coast of the island and travels by sub-terrainian rivers in the limestone.
Wednesday
Take the three islands guided boat tour – (check the islands names) Lefkada, Sporos, and an island with an amazing cave that once hid a greek submarine in 1942
Papanikolis Cave at Meganissi island, Greece. The cave got its name from the greek submarine that hid in this cave from Nazi occupation during World War II.
Thursday
A low key day where there was a little rain in the afternoon, so had some rest with less swimming and lots of reading. I will write about the book in a slow-news day later.
Friday
Last day- Assos, and later- B. Kimillia for a very quiet secluded swim off an almost deserted beach.
 
there was more than this but so what…

Finches

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15°C, rain then

Cycling: 61 miles. rain on & off but light. Finches, a buzzard and maybe a kestrel today. Spring is very very late this year.
Otherwise a web-designing day for school.