JULY / AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2008

Thought it was about time for another update. It has been a mixture of busyness and laziness that you have not heard from me, but all is well on the darkening side! This weekend is my cousin Jess’s 18th so I’m off to Shrewsbury tonight.
In work news I am travelling to La Rochelle (France) in a week to do an install there, and then to Interlaken (Switzerland) to speak at a mass spec conference. I have had this week back in the office – it has been good to have my feet on the ground for a bit.

I have put a number of photos up here which are a combination of the stories below
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=163898&l=b5d54&id=882525575

Cornwall / London Bike Trip / Greenie’s 30th 5/7

Back in July I rode to Falmouth, in the far south west corner of England on my VFR. I caught up with Zita, visited Lands End and the Minack Theatre. This is an amazing amphitheatre built into the side of the southernmost cliff of England. The Tempest didn’t stop, even for the rain!
On the Saturday I rode across to London to celebrate Greenie’s 30th birthday. It was great to catch up with you mate, it was a good show.

Lintott Wedding 27/7

At the end of July I was privileged to be the best man at Andrew and Karen’s wedding. I met Andrew, a kiwi, through UCanDance in Christchurch. The weather in Suffolk was brilliant, the wedding beautiful and everybody happy.

Farmer Phil’s Festival 15/8

The annual festival was another wholesome experience only dampened somewhat by very soggy weather toward the end. Phil had another great line-up of bands and as always it was great to catch up with all the family and friends again. I reckon I had the best job, in behind the bar under cover. I parked on high ground so was able to drive out, but most of the punters had to be towed out by tractors and 4 wheel drives.

Scotland Bike Trip 19-23/8

One big tick-in-the-box trip for me was to ride up to Northern Scotland and find a bit of family history. Over 5 days I rode from Warrington – Edinburgh via York – Aberdeen – Inverness – Dunbeath – John-O-Groats – Inverness – Isle of Skye – Falkirk – Warrington.
My Great Grandmother Gunn, who lived till 98 and moved the family out to New Zealand originally came from the Braemore-Dunbeath area. It is a tiny fishing village up in the far North-East of Scotland, where little remains except for the Gunn museum. I found her picture in the archives and had a good chat to the historian.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=dunbeath&fb=1&sa=X&oi=local_group&resnum=1&ct=image

The roads up in Scotland are fantastic. I liken them to 4-wheel-drive tracks for motorbikes as many are single lane, undulating their way across the amazing countryside. They are not fast, but more of an adventure, the only passing opportunities are marked “Passing Place”.
I discovered an amazing piece of twisty road over the Bealach Na Bo, between Applecross and Tornapress. Top Gear rated it as one of UK’s best roads. You can understand why I was grinning! It was one of many highlights, this is a place that has to be seen to be believed:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=applecross+tornapress&fb=1&sa=X&oi=local_group&resnum=1&ct=image


Paris 30/8

I have had a few work trips to Belgium already, and on this occasion I took a weekend trip to Paris. I had never been to France previously, and the weather was glorious. I spent the two days just walking about the usual touristy areas – Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomph, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur. Many people were splashing about in the fountain pools and generally lazing about in the parks as it was so hot.

Chester and Lake District

Marcel (Austria) and Sarah (London, but from NZ) travelled up to Warrington by train to meet me for the start of a road trip up into the Lake District. We began with a leisurely visit to chester, walking around the city walls and town. Following day we headed for Keswick and climbed the walker’s compulsory introduction – the Catbells. It is an easy ridge which gives great views over Derwent Water:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=cat+bells+CA12&fb=1&sa=X&oi=local_group&resnum=1&ct=image
Next day Marcel and I left Sarah in Keswick and took on the Langdale Pikes walk. This was a pretty serious walk (for me) in the high peaks of England with some breathtaking views:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=pavey+ark+stickle+tarn+cumbria&fb=1&sa=X&oi=local_group&resnum=1&ct=image
We followed with a day of rest and hired an Indian canoe, paddling to most of the islands on Derwent Water. Later we drove up to Hadrian’s Wall and over a couple of days has a good explore of Vindolanda and several stretches of the wall.

Go Ape

For my birthday celebrations I organized an afternoon at “Go Ape” which is a high-wires adventure company with several sites around the UK. I took a group of 5 to the Delamere Forest site and had a blast hanging from the trees. It is a combination of obstacles and swings, ending in a 240m zipline into the distance.