Sunday 1 May 2016

A Couple of Days Cycling!

A Couple of Days Cycling!

Tuesday 26th April 2016

The morning dawned bright and sunny, but quite bitingly cold, but we'd made our plans and we were sticking to them, even though the weather forecast indicated that there may be snow later in the day.   With this in mind we layered up our cycling gear (4 layers at least), and I packed a filling  picnic while John unloaded the bikes form the back of the T4rdis - however, at that stage we were fairly sure we would have our usual predictable wait for Sharon, Paul - the're nearly always a bit late! so I stuck the kettle on again!


When we met up on the Silverhill Trail Madaline (their daughter) was also with them, and although it proved to be a tearful event for me and Sharon, it was also a very happy moment - it had been many months since we'd all been together, so despite whatever the whether chucked at us, we were determined to make the most of our short visit!



You can hardly see the snow - 
but we could definitely feel it's bite!
We set off on Paul's planned route which took us out towards Meden Vale, and then looped back to make a circular ride of about 26 miles that was off road for much of the time, and which proved to be quite far enough for us 'novices'.   And yes, we did get the promised snow and hail, but it didn't last for to long and by the time we got back to the T4rdis we were mostly dried out.


Then later, it was off to the pub for a carvery, and back to Sharon and Paul's house to sample fine wine, lovely company and the warmth of a roaring log burner fire in their sitting room.  Oh, and did I mention the G&T that we partook of as a final night cap at about midnight!


Wednesday 27th April 2016



This morning we got up to see a bit of settled snow, however, today's forecast seemed to be for  a better day, so in the sunshine we set off full of optimism that the weather would be kind - how wrong we were! 



We'd decided to head for Rother Valley Park - a round trip that we knew would be about 40ish miles from Sharon and Paul's house, however to get there John and I needed to ride an extra 4 miles each way! The 4 of us set off basking in the lovely morning sunshine as we passed through pretty bluebell woods -


- but, we'd only gone about half way when the skies started to turn grey, the clouds started to billow and all around us it looked very ominous -  first came hail, but this soon turned to sleety snow that quickly penetrated our gloves and shoes, turning our extremities to icicles!  At this stage we debated if we should turn back, but we were hopeful that it would maybe pass over - and it did - an hour later and just before we reached our lunch destination.  By now, it was about 2ish and we were all starving, therefore we warmed up with hot coffee and our hearty picnics before considering our return journey, which was thankfully, shorter than our out bound one.

However, would you believe it, while we were eating and able to take shelter, the sun had been shining, but as soon as we remounted, down came the wet stuff again!  I think it was fair to say that by now we were all a bit cold and miserable - but we did keep cheering ourselves with thoughts of hot showers and a lovely home cooked meal at Sharon's house later! -  And we were better off than some, we met a young couple on mountain bikes dressed only in shorts and T-shirts - they looked very miserable!

We got back to where Sharon and Paul peeled off for home at about 6.30, but we still had another 4 miles to go to get back to the T4rdis, but happily,  for the last hour of our ride, the weather improved, and to some extent, dried us out.  However, we did have a bit of a mud problem - ourselves, our bikes and our panniers were coated in a thick gloopy layer which we managed to remove from the latter 2 with the campsite bike shower, but this all took time, so we had to really scurry to be ready in time for 'Paul's Taxi' to collect us at 8.15.

Thanks to both Sharon and Paul for for a lovely evening xx

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Thursday 28th April 2016

This morning we left Teversal and headed off to Bury where we had an appointment with the Motorhome dealership from which we have brought out new van - T4rdis2.  We're hopeful we'll be able to take possession of it on 16th May, but before then, they wanted to check our van over and perform a water ingress check.  Additionally, we'd arranged to have our large Gaslow tank removed so that it could be installed into our new home ahead of collection day.   When we arrived the place was in uproar due to their refurbishment and we had to wait quite a while to be attended to - but maybe that worked to our advantage! Nobody seemed very interested in doing the checks, especially when we produced a certificate stating that there were no problems with damp - we had acquired that the week before from our annual habitation check.  If they had inspected the T4rdis closely they may have noted one or two elements of wear and tear within our living areas - really, vans like ours are only designed for use for a few weeks of each year - the continual use that we have subjected the T4rdis to over the last 7 months probably equates to a vehicle that is about 7 years old!

The removal of the gas cylinder did pose a bit of a problem however, because they hadn't got a valve that would allow them to leave the little cylinder in place so that we could continue to use it.  In the end they had to remove the whole system and loan us a normal calor gas tank so that we would have fuel for cooking etc.

Eventually, everything was sorted, but it seemed to have been a very long drive for something that could have actually been done on exchange day!

Finally, it was back through the evening rush hour traffic to our  base at Riddings - but only for an overnight stay

Friday 29th April 2016

Happy Birthday to John's Mum - both of us want to send you lots of love xx

This morning saw us toddling off to the dentist for our bi-annual check before we nip off aboard again. Sadly, both of us need a little bit of treatment, but it will all be completed by mid June so it won't really delay our planned departure towards the end of that month.

Following this it was back to Ripley for tea and cake at John's Mum's so that we could wish her happy birthday, and later, we drove over to Treeton to park up on our son Ben's drive overnight.


Saturday 30th April 2016

Today we had the honour of looking after our little granddaughter Evelyn - Mummy was going to a 'Hen Do' and Daddy to work, so we had her to ourselves for a good few hours.

 







She entertained us by showing us all her moves in her DJ station, and she gobbled up twice as much mashed parsnip as Mummy expected.  Every time we see her now she has a new trick and this time it was her antics as she rolled and romped about on the floor, cooing babbling and smiling as she went.










All to soon our time was gone and we needed to return to Riddings Caravan Park where we will stay for the next few days - but maybe after this weeks busy days it will be nice to have a couple of 'days off' to put our feet up and relax.


Sunday 1st May 2016

And that's exactly what we've done!  We've done a bit more planning for the month ahead, John's busily watching the snooker final, and I've been reading and blogging - oh well, everybody has to have a day off now and again.





Two Super Hero's off on a mission to save the world at Derby Uni !













Till next time xx

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