Moulton
Garden, Bike and Travel
Bit of an update this entry.
So, I finished the trench and moved a bunch of gravel into the back. I think it’s the fences next, or the pond. This below is the completed trench.
That was before it rained. It’s currently filled with about 10 cm of rainwater, or ground water, as I suspect it has come up and filtered through the clay rather than down (it is crystal clear). Ho hum.
The next weekend I went to the Cycle Show. I saw this Moulton with a child seat on the way back. I like the way the child gets her own pedals, linked to the chain wheel.
I had a look at the hubs on the Shimano stand.
Nothing there for me really, no drum brake option on the Alfine, and the dynamo hubs only work on 26-inch and bigger wheels. I saw the new IF folding bike, remarkably expensive, some wooden rims, the new Moulton 50 and had a terrible ride on a Mezzo on the rather flat commuter test track.
I got there far too late to try the mountain bike track. I mean it was open but the queues were ridiculous. I should have known that from last year.
I visited Southampton the next week for a conference. Nice train ride down via Megatrain, which puts you on the normal train, but on the slow service, but at half the price. Shot from the train window below. It didn’t actually rain.
My hotel was down by the docks and the walk there took me through a huge new shopping development and then the old walls of the town, and Jane Austen’s house (or something near it, according to the plaque).
These walls were actually on the sea. It’s been reclaimed as a road now though. And from my window (facing the docks), this rather impressive sight.
Walking back to the station, I went through the main centre park. The main attraction in there was a crime scene:
I popped into the nice art gallery (some nice impressionism and a Monet in there), and then back on the very slow train back home.
Now, the bike. I got a puncture on the rear wheel, and on inspection it was clearly end of life. The external rubber had worn through, 2 spots of the blue pucture barrier peeked through:
So, when I took my new hub to Bicycle Workshop, I asked them to replace it, but they didn’t have any. I wished they had told me during the 2 weeks they had the wheel (so I could order one), but hey ho. I got the bike back from them on Saturday. I had to leave at 5:30 to get
there for the 7am workshop collection. I got totally lost on the way and it was almost complete chance that I found it. Anyway, fundamentally, they think, because of the width of the hub, I shouldn't be using v-shape rims. They say the Velocity Aeroheat I bought is a deeper V than the Alex DA-16 I was replacing (personally I can't tell the difference). They said the angle of the spoke at the rim is too much, and causes the spoke to bend, and indeed I can see the spoke bending into the eyelet when I look. So, they predict that the spokes will start breaking, especially as the wheel is slightly dished. (OH FFS not again!!!) When this happens, they'll order me a Sun rim — which I really hope offers me a longer term solution.
Well, that fills me with confidence!! On the other hand, they might not break, they've used high quality Sapim spokes, which look thinner than my front spokes and I’ve still got all the spokes. The hub brake is OK and the new gears are working well, smoother than the last one, but as with the last one, the very occasional slip in 4 and 6.
While I was waiting for the bike (I took it in a 7:30 and got it at 17:30), I visited Westfield, the new shopping centre in Shepards Bush/White City. The biggest urban centre in Europe, I gather. It is indeed big, although not big enough to provide rain cover for those coming on public transport or on foot. It rained and everyone got wet (except those coming by car, presumably). Inside it was horribly packed and had all the same shops, it seemed to me, as Oxford and Bond Street, where I had just come from, except without the sales. Only 2 things in there delighted me, 1 - the sight of children playing Nintendo Wii, and 2 - the Alessi store, the one and only reason I may return there.
On my way to Westfield, I saw that Monument is coming along well with its refurb. Its going to look nice I think.
So, I finished the trench and moved a bunch of gravel into the back. I think it’s the fences next, or the pond. This below is the completed trench.
That was before it rained. It’s currently filled with about 10 cm of rainwater, or ground water, as I suspect it has come up and filtered through the clay rather than down (it is crystal clear). Ho hum.
The next weekend I went to the Cycle Show. I saw this Moulton with a child seat on the way back. I like the way the child gets her own pedals, linked to the chain wheel.
I had a look at the hubs on the Shimano stand.
Nothing there for me really, no drum brake option on the Alfine, and the dynamo hubs only work on 26-inch and bigger wheels. I saw the new IF folding bike, remarkably expensive, some wooden rims, the new Moulton 50 and had a terrible ride on a Mezzo on the rather flat commuter test track.
I got there far too late to try the mountain bike track. I mean it was open but the queues were ridiculous. I should have known that from last year.
I visited Southampton the next week for a conference. Nice train ride down via Megatrain, which puts you on the normal train, but on the slow service, but at half the price. Shot from the train window below. It didn’t actually rain.
My hotel was down by the docks and the walk there took me through a huge new shopping development and then the old walls of the town, and Jane Austen’s house (or something near it, according to the plaque).
These walls were actually on the sea. It’s been reclaimed as a road now though. And from my window (facing the docks), this rather impressive sight.
Walking back to the station, I went through the main centre park. The main attraction in there was a crime scene:
I popped into the nice art gallery (some nice impressionism and a Monet in there), and then back on the very slow train back home.
Now, the bike. I got a puncture on the rear wheel, and on inspection it was clearly end of life. The external rubber had worn through, 2 spots of the blue pucture barrier peeked through:
So, when I took my new hub to Bicycle Workshop, I asked them to replace it, but they didn’t have any. I wished they had told me during the 2 weeks they had the wheel (so I could order one), but hey ho. I got the bike back from them on Saturday. I had to leave at 5:30 to get
there for the 7am workshop collection. I got totally lost on the way and it was almost complete chance that I found it. Anyway, fundamentally, they think, because of the width of the hub, I shouldn't be using v-shape rims. They say the Velocity Aeroheat I bought is a deeper V than the Alex DA-16 I was replacing (personally I can't tell the difference). They said the angle of the spoke at the rim is too much, and causes the spoke to bend, and indeed I can see the spoke bending into the eyelet when I look. So, they predict that the spokes will start breaking, especially as the wheel is slightly dished. (OH FFS not again!!!) When this happens, they'll order me a Sun rim — which I really hope offers me a longer term solution.
Well, that fills me with confidence!! On the other hand, they might not break, they've used high quality Sapim spokes, which look thinner than my front spokes and I’ve still got all the spokes. The hub brake is OK and the new gears are working well, smoother than the last one, but as with the last one, the very occasional slip in 4 and 6.
While I was waiting for the bike (I took it in a 7:30 and got it at 17:30), I visited Westfield, the new shopping centre in Shepards Bush/White City. The biggest urban centre in Europe, I gather. It is indeed big, although not big enough to provide rain cover for those coming on public transport or on foot. It rained and everyone got wet (except those coming by car, presumably). Inside it was horribly packed and had all the same shops, it seemed to me, as Oxford and Bond Street, where I had just come from, except without the sales. Only 2 things in there delighted me, 1 - the sight of children playing Nintendo Wii, and 2 - the Alessi store, the one and only reason I may return there.
On my way to Westfield, I saw that Monument is coming along well with its refurb. Its going to look nice I think.
|
And then there was 2
20/05/08 21:11 Filed in: Bike
Somewhere in Southwark this evening, in Surrey Canal
I think, 6th gear got jammed, as did 4th, and I
couldn't un-jam it. I limped home in 2nd gear, where
I can sustain 11.5 mph at about 180rpm for a minute
or so, before coasting. I'll do this till the end of
the week, then I'll borrow my mate's bike.
Hub-Dynamo
19/05/08 22:12 Filed in: Bike
Back with a bang!
12/02/08 23:35 Filed in: Bike
Well, I was going to restart this last weekend, but I
didn't get round to it.
First a quick re-cap: the hub gear was fine once I reversed the lock nuts. No idea why. However in doing to the wheel had to move forwards, and being a hub with out a chain tensioner, this gave me a slack chain. I cocked up the chain shortening exercise, but was saved by Halfords selling chain connectors (but only after I'd bought a new chain...). All was fine till after Christmas when I sensed a tugging sensation on the rear wheel. Here's the cause:
Not only broken in 2 (almost), but most of the teeth had ripped off too. Geniunely worn out! Looking at the chainwheel, I could see that that was worn too and you always need to change the chain too, so, I replaced the lot:
Steel is our friend is what Dr. Moulton says, so it seems appropriate to have replaced the softer aluminium chainwheel with a Surly made from stainless steel with matching Stronglight cranks. £100 all-in and either its the 1 extra tooth on the chainring or the 5 less millimetres on the crank length, but it feels great, easier and more powerful.
Such was the feeling that I decided to ride all the way to Slough last Sunday.
Above is the signpost just before Slough on the edge of the Heathrow perimeter of the A4. I was and am amazed to have completed the 30 mile journey in 2.5 hours. Excellent additional news was that Viewranger have updated their GPS software, and for the first time, the N70 managed to maintain contact with the GPS for the whole journey - no lost signal, no lost bluetooth, no reboots needed.
All they need to do now is port it to the iPhone. Best. Phone. Ever! Well, it's not the phone that makes it great, it's still not a fully featured mobile (no MMS, no video recorder), but the iPod, Safari and little apps make up for it in a big way. It is still (I got it the day after it came out), a pleasure to use, and even when I had the GPS'ed N70 on this trip, it was the iPhone with it's 'locate me' feature that I used when I needed a map to confirm how to get to the A4 after Chiswick.
Finally, I'd like to introduce my new DAB radio. With some vouchers from work, I visited John Lewis this January and have acquired the best mobile DAB I've had yet. I didn't find a proper review on YouTube, so I made one myself:
But wait, there's one more thing. I'm back with a bang because I was travelling to Ikea by tram to get a foot rest to help with recovery after my foot operation next week (a story for tomorrow perhaps), and we're somewhere around Black Horse Road, at a traffic light controlled crossing, and I see this Mini Cooper approaching from the right, and I think, that's getting a bit close - shit!! BANG!
The car drove straight into the tram and bounced off. The tram was shook up, but thankfully stayed on the rails. In fact, when we got out and I had a look, I couldn't see any damage to the tram at all. The tram was mostly empty, I suppose I was nearest to the impact, and yet the interior of the tram remained undamaged as well. There was a funny smell though so I stepped back till I could see the car engine was turned off. Remarkable. The driver was calm, and gave the driver of the car a hug (yes everyone survived unscathed). The Mini driver admitted going through a red light. Twit. Oh well, poor car, looks like a writ-off maybe. Anyway the tram driver seemed to go into training mode and everything was calm and by the book and we were directed to the nearest bus stop and told which bus to catch. Very professional, slightly surreal.
First a quick re-cap: the hub gear was fine once I reversed the lock nuts. No idea why. However in doing to the wheel had to move forwards, and being a hub with out a chain tensioner, this gave me a slack chain. I cocked up the chain shortening exercise, but was saved by Halfords selling chain connectors (but only after I'd bought a new chain...). All was fine till after Christmas when I sensed a tugging sensation on the rear wheel. Here's the cause:
Not only broken in 2 (almost), but most of the teeth had ripped off too. Geniunely worn out! Looking at the chainwheel, I could see that that was worn too and you always need to change the chain too, so, I replaced the lot:
Steel is our friend is what Dr. Moulton says, so it seems appropriate to have replaced the softer aluminium chainwheel with a Surly made from stainless steel with matching Stronglight cranks. £100 all-in and either its the 1 extra tooth on the chainring or the 5 less millimetres on the crank length, but it feels great, easier and more powerful.
Such was the feeling that I decided to ride all the way to Slough last Sunday.
Above is the signpost just before Slough on the edge of the Heathrow perimeter of the A4. I was and am amazed to have completed the 30 mile journey in 2.5 hours. Excellent additional news was that Viewranger have updated their GPS software, and for the first time, the N70 managed to maintain contact with the GPS for the whole journey - no lost signal, no lost bluetooth, no reboots needed.
All they need to do now is port it to the iPhone. Best. Phone. Ever! Well, it's not the phone that makes it great, it's still not a fully featured mobile (no MMS, no video recorder), but the iPod, Safari and little apps make up for it in a big way. It is still (I got it the day after it came out), a pleasure to use, and even when I had the GPS'ed N70 on this trip, it was the iPhone with it's 'locate me' feature that I used when I needed a map to confirm how to get to the A4 after Chiswick.
Finally, I'd like to introduce my new DAB radio. With some vouchers from work, I visited John Lewis this January and have acquired the best mobile DAB I've had yet. I didn't find a proper review on YouTube, so I made one myself:
But wait, there's one more thing. I'm back with a bang because I was travelling to Ikea by tram to get a foot rest to help with recovery after my foot operation next week (a story for tomorrow perhaps), and we're somewhere around Black Horse Road, at a traffic light controlled crossing, and I see this Mini Cooper approaching from the right, and I think, that's getting a bit close - shit!! BANG!
The car drove straight into the tram and bounced off. The tram was shook up, but thankfully stayed on the rails. In fact, when we got out and I had a look, I couldn't see any damage to the tram at all. The tram was mostly empty, I suppose I was nearest to the impact, and yet the interior of the tram remained undamaged as well. There was a funny smell though so I stepped back till I could see the car engine was turned off. Remarkable. The driver was calm, and gave the driver of the car a hug (yes everyone survived unscathed). The Mini driver admitted going through a red light. Twit. Oh well, poor car, looks like a writ-off maybe. Anyway the tram driver seemed to go into training mode and everything was calm and by the book and we were directed to the nearest bus stop and told which bus to catch. Very professional, slightly surreal.
Trip to Bradford on Avon
08/09/07 23:08 Filed in: Travel
I rode to Wallingford on Thursday afternoon, passing
the Thames outside Oxford
and Abingdon.
The N70/GPS/Viewranger combo was problematic. It kept losing the signal from the GPS, and both the phone and the GPS had to be re-booted. Not good. I made it to Didcot (Power Station) along National Cycle Route 5 before needing to take a detour to join Route 40 to Wallingford, where Waitrose and my dinner awaited. All laid out in Viewranger. Of course it decided to stop working just at the critical detour moment - so I used used (Viewranger) map and compass from that point.
To my dismay, the track on the OS map leading me under the railway line to route 40 was a dead end of bushes. I had to improvise a route, and happily found that I was not the only cyclist taking the detour. The other cyclist was much faster than me though and I lost him around a corner. I suddenly found I was going back toward the power station. I had to be on the wrong road. Sweating profusely, I tried the GPS again in vain and a slight panic (it was 5pm already and starting to get dusky). While waiting for everything to reboot, again, I noticed out of the corner of my eye something flashing. It looked like lots of cars passing behind a bush. Looking closer I could see a railway crossing sign...aha!!! Back to the map on the phone and yes, there was a railway next to the road I needed (B1046). I rode up and there it was, Route 40. It took me a long way, but fast up a few hills and down again all the way to Wallingford,
where I camped. Sadly, the site was about 50 meters from the riverside:
But it had a fantastic, new and high-tech shower block; instructions for the no-touch controls below.
Next morning I rode down to Goring and Streatley.
I got there around 10:30, up and down several fast hills, but this was a bit late in hindsight, given that I had planned to stay the previous night in Streatley (but there was no room at the YHA) and leave there at 8am. I should have asked to camp in their grounds I guess.
Anyway, from Streatley, there was a ride along Rectory Lane and then the biggest ascent imaginable and on the worst quality road imaginable! Big rocks, split open with sharp edges. My poor tyres, they were catapulting these things left and right. I could barely keep upright. In the end I had to push the bike up, it was so rough. Note, I wasn't pushing because I was tired, so that's something. At the top I was greeted by the splendour of the Ridgeway! Er, misty and cloudy.
I passed a dog walker. She said it gets better (referring to road quality). She was right and wrong. You'd get 100m of impassable stones, then 100m of packed earth, then grass tracks, then rocks again. Argh! I had to get off!
But I had forgotten to buy the 1:250000 GB roadmap (in case of detours), so I had no map for a change of route. The map I had bought was for the Ridgeway and that was it (or so I thought). Looking on Tuesday though, I noticed that my map went nearly as far south and east as Hungerford - what a twit I was not to notice this since that would have made a big difference. I decided to ride as far as the A34, then detour somehow down to Newbury. Before I got there a concrete road appeared! North to continue the Ridgeway or South to Compton. My heart said North, but my brain over-ruled. A huge down hill race to Compton where Google Maps took over emergency map duties, and worked well, getting me to Newbury down Long Lane by 12:30.
Where the sun came out, and I made the fatal mistake of taking Cycle Route 4 along the Kennet and Avon Canal. It was not a very fast route (which I needed), and chucked me off onto hilly roads to get to Hungerford. Some lovely views on the way through.
Several times I could hear the roar of the Great Western Railway, and in to Bedwyn I rode along the canal again, but Route 4, took me away again. If I had consulted the map, I would have had realised that I was right next to the A4, take the main road, fool!
Instead, out of Bedwyn I saw Route 4 tell me to turn right, but there was no right turn. Odd. 200m later, there is a turning into the Savernake forest, but no Route 4 sign confirming this. The forest looked scary, so I carried on, and presently saw another route 4 sign. It turns out that Route 4 forked at that point and I should have gone through the forest. Later on I saw this confusing sign:
I came from Hungerford, so do I turn right or go straight on? It actually points in all directions! WTF? 5 miles later (after Burbage) I notice I am heading South East back to Bedwyn rather than west. So I turn back and take the right at the sign, but this new route is full of (albeit lovely) hills, and is taking me north rather than West. North to Marlborough.
Halfway to Marlborough, I cross the canal again. Aha! I think, I'll just ride the canal in a straight-line to Bradford-on-Avon, and sod the cycle route. Except the towpath is appalling quality with tree roots and more stones. Basically my speed is little above 10mph for another hour and it is now 17:00 and I only am vaguely aware that I should be in Wiltshire. I pass a cyclist and ask how far it is to Devizies. 1 hour he says (I am shocked). No, make that 2 hours, good luck! I am distraught. Devizies is 20 miles from Bradford! Argh! I've got get off this stupid tow path.
So I get off at the next bridge to find it's nothing but a farmer's field. Unknown to me, I am now firmly back on the Viewranger map, but I have to ask at a pub the way to Devizies. The tourist gets out his road map and suggests I go down the road to Pewsey. Never heard of it, but off I go, and not 2 minutes later I find a train station. Should I? Should I give up? I then get a text message from a friend I'm meeting for drink that evening - he's nearly there, and I'm due there in about an hour.
It turns out this in an inter-city station, and there is a train coming, so I made it in time and at least I rode from Bradford-on-Avon train station.
Pics from the weekend here, and here's a video I made:
and Abingdon.
The N70/GPS/Viewranger combo was problematic. It kept losing the signal from the GPS, and both the phone and the GPS had to be re-booted. Not good. I made it to Didcot (Power Station) along National Cycle Route 5 before needing to take a detour to join Route 40 to Wallingford, where Waitrose and my dinner awaited. All laid out in Viewranger. Of course it decided to stop working just at the critical detour moment - so I used used (Viewranger) map and compass from that point.
To my dismay, the track on the OS map leading me under the railway line to route 40 was a dead end of bushes. I had to improvise a route, and happily found that I was not the only cyclist taking the detour. The other cyclist was much faster than me though and I lost him around a corner. I suddenly found I was going back toward the power station. I had to be on the wrong road. Sweating profusely, I tried the GPS again in vain and a slight panic (it was 5pm already and starting to get dusky). While waiting for everything to reboot, again, I noticed out of the corner of my eye something flashing. It looked like lots of cars passing behind a bush. Looking closer I could see a railway crossing sign...aha!!! Back to the map on the phone and yes, there was a railway next to the road I needed (B1046). I rode up and there it was, Route 40. It took me a long way, but fast up a few hills and down again all the way to Wallingford,
where I camped. Sadly, the site was about 50 meters from the riverside:
But it had a fantastic, new and high-tech shower block; instructions for the no-touch controls below.
Next morning I rode down to Goring and Streatley.
I got there around 10:30, up and down several fast hills, but this was a bit late in hindsight, given that I had planned to stay the previous night in Streatley (but there was no room at the YHA) and leave there at 8am. I should have asked to camp in their grounds I guess.
Anyway, from Streatley, there was a ride along Rectory Lane and then the biggest ascent imaginable and on the worst quality road imaginable! Big rocks, split open with sharp edges. My poor tyres, they were catapulting these things left and right. I could barely keep upright. In the end I had to push the bike up, it was so rough. Note, I wasn't pushing because I was tired, so that's something. At the top I was greeted by the splendour of the Ridgeway! Er, misty and cloudy.
I passed a dog walker. She said it gets better (referring to road quality). She was right and wrong. You'd get 100m of impassable stones, then 100m of packed earth, then grass tracks, then rocks again. Argh! I had to get off!
But I had forgotten to buy the 1:250000 GB roadmap (in case of detours), so I had no map for a change of route. The map I had bought was for the Ridgeway and that was it (or so I thought). Looking on Tuesday though, I noticed that my map went nearly as far south and east as Hungerford - what a twit I was not to notice this since that would have made a big difference. I decided to ride as far as the A34, then detour somehow down to Newbury. Before I got there a concrete road appeared! North to continue the Ridgeway or South to Compton. My heart said North, but my brain over-ruled. A huge down hill race to Compton where Google Maps took over emergency map duties, and worked well, getting me to Newbury down Long Lane by 12:30.
Where the sun came out, and I made the fatal mistake of taking Cycle Route 4 along the Kennet and Avon Canal. It was not a very fast route (which I needed), and chucked me off onto hilly roads to get to Hungerford. Some lovely views on the way through.
Several times I could hear the roar of the Great Western Railway, and in to Bedwyn I rode along the canal again, but Route 4, took me away again. If I had consulted the map, I would have had realised that I was right next to the A4, take the main road, fool!
Instead, out of Bedwyn I saw Route 4 tell me to turn right, but there was no right turn. Odd. 200m later, there is a turning into the Savernake forest, but no Route 4 sign confirming this. The forest looked scary, so I carried on, and presently saw another route 4 sign. It turns out that Route 4 forked at that point and I should have gone through the forest. Later on I saw this confusing sign:
I came from Hungerford, so do I turn right or go straight on? It actually points in all directions! WTF? 5 miles later (after Burbage) I notice I am heading South East back to Bedwyn rather than west. So I turn back and take the right at the sign, but this new route is full of (albeit lovely) hills, and is taking me north rather than West. North to Marlborough.
Halfway to Marlborough, I cross the canal again. Aha! I think, I'll just ride the canal in a straight-line to Bradford-on-Avon, and sod the cycle route. Except the towpath is appalling quality with tree roots and more stones. Basically my speed is little above 10mph for another hour and it is now 17:00 and I only am vaguely aware that I should be in Wiltshire. I pass a cyclist and ask how far it is to Devizies. 1 hour he says (I am shocked). No, make that 2 hours, good luck! I am distraught. Devizies is 20 miles from Bradford! Argh! I've got get off this stupid tow path.
So I get off at the next bridge to find it's nothing but a farmer's field. Unknown to me, I am now firmly back on the Viewranger map, but I have to ask at a pub the way to Devizies. The tourist gets out his road map and suggests I go down the road to Pewsey. Never heard of it, but off I go, and not 2 minutes later I find a train station. Should I? Should I give up? I then get a text message from a friend I'm meeting for drink that evening - he's nearly there, and I'm due there in about an hour.
It turns out this in an inter-city station, and there is a train coming, so I made it in time and at least I rode from Bradford-on-Avon train station.
Pics from the weekend here, and here's a video I made:
Oxford
07/09/07 22:27 Filed in: Travel
I had a great weekend, although the ride to Bradford
was a bit of a disaster in part. Funny, it doesn't
look that way from the pictures.
Wednesday night then, I left work to get the train to Oxford. I left in plenty of time and half way across London, I realise I've left my phone behind. Disaster! So I hot tail it back and realise that I'm going to miss my train. The train I had booked an apex ticket for... So I got the phone, but I got a call 2 days later from work to say I'd left the solar charger at work too. Oh well. Luckily the battery lasted.
I got to the station and the customer service guy wouldn't say if my ticket was still valid. The train guard will decide he said. I was loathed to spend £18 for a ticket, but I took the chance. There was no ticket inspection and at Oxford they let me through, so great. The YHA was literally across (under) the railway tracks, and I walked into town for a sneak peak. Lots of young people about depsite this not being term time yet. Oxford also has a backpacker hostel, but no way! I wanted to sleep rather than listen to yakking aussies!
I had planned the morning, of course. Walkabout at 9am, Ashmoleum at 10am, Walking tour at 11am, Pitt Rivers at 13:30. First stop, the Carfax Tower.
I found this while failing to locate an Internet Cafe (all shut down). Great views from the top (drag the picture below for the view).
Next, the Ashmolean. Both this and the Pitt Rivers are under refurbishment, but the Ash had a Treasures exhibition on, which was great.
The cloak of Pocohontas' father
The Alfred Jewel
Guy Fawkes' lantern
The walking tour went around the university (where else, eh!). We started at Exeter College, where William Morris studied and fabric'ed up the chapel.
Went around some dreaming spires:
And visited Keble:
Where they had this famous painting:
I had to sneek at peek at Balliol as well, which was right opposite the tourist office:
The Pitt Rivers was a bit too rich for me to take in so I rushed through it. I'll come back another time.
Wednesday night then, I left work to get the train to Oxford. I left in plenty of time and half way across London, I realise I've left my phone behind. Disaster! So I hot tail it back and realise that I'm going to miss my train. The train I had booked an apex ticket for... So I got the phone, but I got a call 2 days later from work to say I'd left the solar charger at work too. Oh well. Luckily the battery lasted.
I got to the station and the customer service guy wouldn't say if my ticket was still valid. The train guard will decide he said. I was loathed to spend £18 for a ticket, but I took the chance. There was no ticket inspection and at Oxford they let me through, so great. The YHA was literally across (under) the railway tracks, and I walked into town for a sneak peak. Lots of young people about depsite this not being term time yet. Oxford also has a backpacker hostel, but no way! I wanted to sleep rather than listen to yakking aussies!
I had planned the morning, of course. Walkabout at 9am, Ashmoleum at 10am, Walking tour at 11am, Pitt Rivers at 13:30. First stop, the Carfax Tower.
I found this while failing to locate an Internet Cafe (all shut down). Great views from the top (drag the picture below for the view).
Next, the Ashmolean. Both this and the Pitt Rivers are under refurbishment, but the Ash had a Treasures exhibition on, which was great.
The cloak of Pocohontas' father
The Alfred Jewel
Guy Fawkes' lantern
The walking tour went around the university (where else, eh!). We started at Exeter College, where William Morris studied and fabric'ed up the chapel.
Went around some dreaming spires:
And visited Keble:
Where they had this famous painting:
I had to sneek at peek at Balliol as well, which was right opposite the tourist office:
The Pitt Rivers was a bit too rich for me to take in so I rushed through it. I'll come back another time.
Getting ready for BoA
I'm doing my last purchases for my trip to Bradford
on Avon this year. I am cycling there from Oxford to
Wallingford, where I'll be camping there by the river
(the campsite will hopefully be dried out by then!). In fact,
here's the plan:
- Wednesday night train to Oxford
- Thursday morning, walking tour of Oxford and visit to Ashmolean museum
- Thursday afternoon, ride down to Wallingford (20 miles?) - camp on the river
- Friday, ride 11km down to Goring and joining the Ridgeway to the western end, then take the canal to Bradford-on-Avon
- So, did some purchases early this week (pay day) 3 of them came today:
The program is
superficially easy to use, but I am yet to figure out
how to change the map. It supports several online
maps, and I have changed it from map to blurry
satellite, but by accident, and I can't change it
back, and waiting for Yahoo's map tiles to download
is SLOW. Trying it with Viewranger I got mixed
results. I think this was due to me not pairing the
unit with the phone and giving it free access to the
phone.
I used it to log me as I rode over to Greenwich to
help a mate move house. After a few hundred meters I
got a beep to tell me that the connection was lost. A
couple of stops, restarts and reboot later and long
waits for it to search for devices, it got working
again. Tried it tonight after having paired the
devices using the Bluetooth tool on the phone and
sha-bing, worked instantly in Viewranger. Back on the
ride though, I tested the Trip function on the phone
just after Deptford and it didn't seem to give me
moving information. Several miles later I realise
that the app has frozen ruining the log, a bit.
However, looking on what it did record it was very
accurate. I've got another longer ride over to
Chiwick tommorow. So, I'll see if the reliability
improves.
The second thing that came via Royal Mail van
delivery (the GPS was a missed delivery from Friday),
was the Tempur Travel Pillow.
The packaging was pretty
bad, a big cardboard box containing a little pillow.
It should have been shipped in its little compression
bag which is about 1/5th the size. But I
can't really sleep with a regular camping pillow, so
this luxury is an essential. And the last thing to
come was delivered by the postman:
Ooh, solar panels! This was intended for charging the Phone and GPS on the road, but the GPS has a long battery life and a non-standard power port (standard meaning Nokia), so this will do only for the phone. No idea how it will work, but I bought it because the panels actually charge a big battery, and you then plug the battery (behind the panels) into the phone. It also has 2 USB port for charging an iPod. The charging works in natural light and specifically not with fluorescent lighting. True too, I put it in sunlight and the LED shows it is charging. I put it under a downlighter and it sort of charges, I put it against my iMac screen and nothing. Anyway, I think the idea is that you charge the battery normally and then use the sun as a top-up. We shall see.
Another busted wheel
17/07/07 21:01 Filed in: Bike
Milton Keynes
02/06/07 21:57 Filed in: Travel
Went to a birthday party in Leighton Buzzard and I
decided to ride down from Milton Keynes. I was quite
surprised, having only ridden around it before, the
centre was very sterile I suppose, very clean like
Canary Wharf, and the people and the cars were
separated with nice underpasses.
After walking the bike across the shopping centre (still officially on the cycle route), I quickly reached a big dramatically hilly park. I was quite surprised and that was essentially the last urban-ess I saw till Bletchley.
I rode down the Grand Union Canal, along a parallel path. These high quality but bumpy paths are called Red Routes.
I got lost around the Open University, but eventually found it to get back on track.
And followed the route along a lovely lake to Bletchley, where I got lost again before re-joining the canal for the long long ride to Leighton Buzzard.
After walking the bike across the shopping centre (still officially on the cycle route), I quickly reached a big dramatically hilly park. I was quite surprised and that was essentially the last urban-ess I saw till Bletchley.
I rode down the Grand Union Canal, along a parallel path. These high quality but bumpy paths are called Red Routes.
I got lost around the Open University, but eventually found it to get back on track.
And followed the route along a lovely lake to Bletchley, where I got lost again before re-joining the canal for the long long ride to Leighton Buzzard.
The Moulton Story
11/07/06 21:18 Filed in: Bike
Read and learn the history of
I called the Bike shop
last week. Somehow they don't have the parts for my
service (i.e. they didn't order them). This is
worrying now because my brakes are almost completely
worn, near misses each day now... The service will be
a major one, aside from brakes etc:
New 7-speed Megarange cassette
1-inch extension to the handlebar
Specialized BG2 Grips
Crane Creek (rather expensive) bar ends
...and I'll have the front forks re-sprayed from
factory black to blue.
Postscript, regardez:
One is a Moulton and one a Raleigh Shopper type device. Note the difference, in size at least.