Day off work

 I enjoyed having a day off work and what better way to spend it than getting out on my bike.

The plan was to go up to Buxton via the High Peak trail and then back by the Monsal Trail.

However, the best laid plans and all that. After 20 miles my legs were just saying no and I used my head and didn't fight the signals. I'm not in the best place at the moment health wise and I expected too much from myself.

It started off well, I was trying out some new gear and the temps were perfect. Cromford canal was in full autumn mode and was a pleasure to ride next too.

The issue came after 7 miles when the Via Gelia started. The Via is an 8 mile climb, not steep but long. By the time I got to the High Peak Trail, I was Knackered and my legs and HR were telling me how unfit I am.

I cut the ride short after 20 miles and decided to blitz down the road to Winster and back home on the White Peak trail to Matlock and back.

I had a pitstop at the Wharf at Cromford for a coffee and a piece of cake.

The new gear was a great success, The Rapha Jacket is well worth the money, as is their long sleeved top. I also tried out a pair of DHB Bib-tights, again a great success.

In the end the ride ended up being 44.58 miles long, 19 miles short of my target. I need to gain my fitness back before I go for Buxton again.

Re-visit the blog

 I've lost count of the number of times I've tried to breathe new life into my blog. It was started in an era before social media and was mainly for friends and family.

Social media as definitely been the death of blogs and the main reason I stopped post on my blog. However, I'm growing very disillusioned with all of social media.

Twitter - Now off the platform after 15 years on it. The day to day racism, killings, bullying videos and the shite that comes out of Musk's mouth make it too much of a toxic platform.

Instagram - What's the point?

TikTok - Never been on it, never will.

WhatsApp - Use for most personal messaging and for work.

Messenger - Use for FB Marketplace and for my wife who like the platform rather than WhatsApp.

Facebook - Use on a weekly basis, good for keeping in touch with far flung friends and family, interests and marketplace.

I will try to post more on this blog, and now I have a new laptop I'll try...

Trearddur Bay Hotel

I've stayed at the Trearddur Bay Hotel before and relished the chance to return as I'm on business in the area.

The hotel is on the sea front with the main beach a few meters away.

Check in was easy and my room had a sea view.

The restaurant wasn't too busy but then again it was a dark cold night in December.

A Grey Day, Off Work Ride

Because of all the events I've worked at this year, I have managed to accumulate loads of lieu days.

This is all well and good but when you're busy at work it can be a struggle to take them. Anyway, today was a lieu day and it would have been rude not to get out on my bike.

The weather was grey, very grey! Temps were at around 6°C but I dressed quite well for the conditions. 

I managed to get 37 miles in using the NCN from Derby to Long Eaton and on to Shipley. I devoured a cream scone at Shipley Park Cafe, a blueberry and lemon flavored one, outstanding...



I felt pretty good all the way around and only began flagging at the 30 mile point, roll on the weekend so I can get out again.

New Year Blues

 I'm always a very positive type of person and encourage others to be the same.

For some reason this year just hasn't gotten into groove for me, I can't put my finger on it but something isn't right.

Work is stupid bust and there are issues with some accounts that are beyond my control, so that's not helping. Being approached over the break from another company to take a job with them also didn't help, it was on my mind all over the holidays.

The ongoing Covid 19 pandemic is definitely not easing my mind any, we've booked to go back to Thailand at the end of July this year and that uncertainty is also an issue in my head at the moment.

My weight is a little up which is extremely depressing. I though I'd got the weight maintenance sussed, I weighed myself this morning and I was 84kg, that's as heavy as I've been for a year and I'm not happy about it. I really don't want to go back into full Keto regime, it takes over your life and interferes with your exercise regime. I'll monitor it for another week and see what I need to do. I want to be 80kg to go back to Thailand in July.

Blood sugar is ok, not perfect but I've just come through Christmas and it is what it is.

So far as fitness goes, I'm actually flying at the moment. I can't remember feeling so fit on a bike, I went out yesterday with the Bike Club and even though it was a short ride I was up at the front all ride. I've set myself the goals of beating 2021 mileage (2450) and to ride 100 miles in a day.

Hopefully this is a temporary malaise and I lose a few kilo, the weather improves and I win the lottery...

Samsung S20

 

This is my 10th year with Samsung, Before this I've had a Galaxy S2, Note 4, S6, S7, S8, S10 and the one I'm using now is the S20.

To some up the review "Disappointed"!

I got the phone in March 2020 just before the Covid 19 Lockdown kicked in, previous to that I had the Samsung S10 which up to that point had been my favourite phone.

What let this phone down is the obvious little improvement over the S10, in fact I believe the camera isn't has good. The camera is the main reason i buy a phone, I hardly use the phone as a phone but I do use the camera on my bike rides a lot.

I've had issues with over heating, crashing and have had to send the phone away twice for it to be looked at. Also my work phone as been upgraded to an iPhone 7 which is a good couple of years behind my Samsung, but I'll be honest I'm enjoying using the iPhone more at the moment. Little things like Apple Car play seems to be better than Android Auto, this can be the car more than the phone, But!!!

After the last time going away to look at a sim tray issue I decided that I will look elsewhere for my next phone, I think Apple are still too expensive although the rest of the family use Apple so that would be an advantage to buying one would have that as an advantage. The other phone I'm looking at is potentially the Google Pixel 6 when it comes out. People have said that the android experience is a lot better with a Google phone, so I will be looking at it.

Or I'll not bother changing and get a sim only deal and save a load of money.

Try to Blog again 4.0

 I've tried so many times to get this blog up and running again.

Its just so easy now to post on social media and let everyone know what's happening. What you don't get in a post are details!

So from now on I'm going to try again to post about stuff I find interesting and had photo's to the blog.

I've looked back at my blog and the memories it brings back are so much more accute than anything that is put on Twitter and Facebook.

So here goes.....

Low carb diet, heaven and hell..

Since January 1st I’ve decided to do something about my diabetes this year, it’s been 10 years since being diagnosed. In that time I’ve had a couple of go’s at trying to help myself, but I’ve generally relied on the medication I take and watching semi closely what I eat to control my diabetes.
I read a report on the UK diabetes web site about going low carb and how this doesn’t have to be an horrendous diet.
So I tried it, they recommend having under 130g of carbs per day plus some exercise to begin to control your diabetes. Obviously, I took no notice no notice and have been eating between 60-80g of carbs per day, one day I only managed 30g. Looking back now, I went to far..

What I ate since then as generally been very good, I cut out all bread, rice, pasta, alcohol and some fruit and veg. I was amazed at some of the things I had included bacon, plenty of chicken and fish, more of certain veg than ever and some things like yogurt which full fat was better than low fat due to carbs in them.

Breakfast was usually porridge, which is high in carbs but is an excellent slow release energy food, mixed with raspberries and strawberries and an amazing zero maple syrup from Skinny Foods.

Lunch as been a real issue, working on the road I eventually stopped with sandwich meal deals and got on tins of tuna, chicken pieces, zero jelly and zero soft drinks.

Dinner was the highlight of the day, steak, tuna steak, chicken, prawns with veg and occasional potato. Better than I’ve ever eaten.

I’ve produced a plus and minus of the experience.

Plus +
Eating well
Not eating crap and sugar
Lost around 8kg
Lost 2” off waist and chest
Sticking to something

Minus -
Missed all the nice, but unhealthy foods especially chocolate and cake
Missed beer
No energy, a real issue
First two weeks, felt very unwell.
No exercise due to low energy
Limited in restaurant
Spending a fortune on new cloths

I was going until the end of January, but my body is sort of used to everything now and I’m sort of carrying on at least until I get my results of my diabetes check in a few weeks. Maybe not as crazy but I’ve still not had any chocolate and despite finishing dry January I’ve only drinking about 10% of usual weekly alcohol. I’ve not eaten bread, pasta or cake either. Trust me I really want to but I just look at the carb total and put them back.

I’ll let you know the results of my check up and also the effect of adding exercise to the regime this week.

Samsung S10

Back in Feb I treated myself to a new Samsung S10 mobile phone.

This is the first since coming back to the UK I've bought a phone out of contract. Basically the list price was £799, I got £289 to exchange my S8 and £32 from a cash back site. the total for the phone was £478 plus I also got a free pair of the new Samsung Ear Buds worth £149.

Put this against the £30 per month I'll save going down to a sim only contract and basically I'm quids in, it also gives me more freedom to go with any provider.

The plus's of the Samsung are many:

Three camera's on the back, superb wide screen option

No notch for the camera

fingerprint sensor in the screen

Great battery life

New Android operating system

Good tie with my Samsung watch
Definitely more interactive than any other phone I've used

Waterproof
Dual Sim
SD Card up to 128GB

Downside:

You wouldn't want to drop it, glass back very expensive

Took a while to get rid of some of the in built pre sets

That's it really.

The pictures it takes are amazing, the wide angle feature and the super slow mo are great photographic tools.

Ratings

Performance 8/10

Battery 8/10

Value 8/10

Am I glad I bought it? Yes...

Derby County Ladies Football Tournament 2019

Elizabeth and I had a great day yesterday. During the day we attended the U12 Football Tournament put on by Derby County Ladies.


In the five round robin games, Belper Sports won 3 and drew 2, this put us in 1st place going in to the semi final. In the semi's we played Coalville Ravens. Coalville are a very physical side and at the end of full time then extra time it was 0-0.

Penalty shootout it was, this Elizabeth's 2nd penalty shootout, the first she saved an all important penalty. Against Coalville, it was 1-1 after the first set, then 1-1 after the second round of pens, our Midfielder scored to make it 2-1 and then Elizabeth saved their 3rd penalty.

and breathe......

In the final we played Derby County, they really pressured Belper for the first 5 minutes, but in the 2nd part of the match Belper scored a superbly worked goal and just controlled the rest of the game. WINNERS....

It was great to see the girls enjoying themselves.

In the evening it was their Football prize presentation, its always a good night. the girls all receive a trophy for the work they've done through the season and there are three awards from the manager, Players and most improved player.

Brilliant day, brilliant evening....

  

No Social Media

Time to air out the old Blog again....


This time its because I'm taking a break from social media. The issue I have with social media are many as are the benefits I can see from using it.


So during July I'll be coming off Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and deleting Snapchat. The only two I'll be keeping is WhatsApp for news on Elizabeth's football and Messenger. I use messenger for my video chat, although I will be trying outs WhatsApp video calling during the month.


Its the continual snooping that is really getting me down, no sooner do I look at something on eBay and my Facebook stream is full of those same products, Twitter isn't so bad and is my main form of news, so I will miss Twitter the most, but the different factions on my feed are just shouting at each other, they are both right and both wrong but there is no common ground at the moment.


Snapchat is easy to delete, I never go on it, not sure why I joined. Instagram is something else I've never really got the hang of.


The only people who will miss my posts will be my family and a few close friends, if at the end of July I want to go back on the Social Media circus I will have to look at who the are that really interact with me and delete accordingly.


So should any one feel the need to contact me during July, the best way will be through this blog.


See you on the other side..........

Wild Pheasant Hotel & Spa Llangollen

I stayed at The Wild Pheasant on business, I've never really stopped in Llangollen before, been through it many times and I was looking forward to looking round the town. Obviously, its June in the UK and it was pissing it down so any thoughts of walking the half mile in to town were out.

The Hotel as a Spa and leisure facilities but I didn't use them. I was given the key to my room upstairs. The room for £80 was not bad, modern and not too shabby. Unfortunately the remote wouldn't work and there was a noise of water filling from the bathroom which would have kept me awake all night.

I spoke with the reception and they were very good, just straight to change my room. The new room was huge and very well set out, the remote was a bit dodgy again but by then I was past worrying.

I decided to eat at the hotel and as usual decided on the bar. The menu was a little light and the prices a little steep. I settled on bread and oil for starters, my usual burger for main. The burger arrived about 20 mins later without the bread, when I asked for the bread, it was "oh yes, I'll just bring it out" no apologies for not being bought out earlier. I wish I hadn't bothered! the bread was hard, cold and there was less than a table spoon of oil.

The burger was actually very nice, well put together and not a strong sauce.

I couldn't resist a dessert so I had a Hot sticky date pudding, not bad....

Ratings

Hotel 7/10

Food 6/10

Breakfast 6/10

Would I visit again? Probably.

 

 

 

Tafarn y Gader Tapas Bar Dolgellau

This restaurant was a bit of a surprise on my visit to Mid Wales. The B & B I was staying in recommended it so I tried.


The service was a bit lack lustre at first, but once it started everything flowed really well. The menu is very good, plenty of tapas to have a go at. The prices are around £6 each, for two people 5 portions would be fine.


I had deep fried cheese..

Croquettes...

Potato bravas in garlic...

Plus dessert, obviously.

A special mention to the 3 fine lagers that were on sale, Stella, Mahou and San Miquel, I love all three.

The total bill was around £30

Rating

Service 6/10

Food 7/10

Value 8/10

Would I visit again? Definitely

 

 

 

Mawddach Trail

One of the few perks of staying away with work is that I sometimes take my bike with me.

Today I was staying in Mid Wales at Dolgellau, I've know the area very well and there is a trail from there to Barmouth on the coast called the Mawddach Trail.

It follows an old railway line and you are taken all the way by the estuary and then you ride over the amazing wooden railway bridge into beautiful Barmouth itself.

The ride is very flat and easy. The distance on the trail is around 10 miles each way. I didn't stop in Barmouth, but you could easily have a stopover there. Plenty of places to eat and relax, if the mind takes you the beach is fantastic.

I rode back on the road and over the toll bridge at Fairbourne. The whole trail is super scenic and if your into bird watching its a must.

 

 

 

 

 

2018 The year that was..

For good or bad, 2018 was a quiet year. Whilst boring as you live it, looking back now I’m pleased that it was quiet and hopefully 2019 will be just as steady...

I’m publishing this review on my less often used blog, there was was a time when my blog was my social media outlet. Since the on set of Facebook, Twitter etc etc I’ve used it less and less. I would love to start it going again but never seem to.

The weather was the big thing for the UK this year, a very cold Jan-Mar with plenty of snow. I was caught out twice, once in north Derbyshire and then in Cumbria. Scary, but very beautiful...

Another phenomena this year has been some of the sunsets there have been, stunning is the word! Whether this is an Oman for the end of the world, pollution or just one of those things I’m not sure, but as someone who dabbles in photography, it’s given me some great opportunities.

I’ve spent a lot of time away from home with work, I’ve stayed at some great hotels and also some pretty award ones, mostly the bad ones are the chains were the hotel is in serious need of refurbishment. I want name and shame, but Jury’s Inn and Novotel you aren’t at the top of my list to stay. However, I must mention The Titanic hotel in Liverpool as being this years outstanding hotel in the UK, Faultless...

This year also saw our bi-annual trip back to Thailand, this year followed the same format, I drive....

We had the compulsory visit to Hua Hin which is one of my fave places, especially the surrounding places of interest. This time we stayed at the Dusit Thani, you know I mentioned about old hotels needing a refurb, well that is a case in point. Great Hotel, just needs all the rooms to be bought up to 21st century standards.

Whilst in Bangkok we always stay at the Chatrium Riverside, my fave hotel in BKK, well should I say my fave place that I can reasonably afford!!!

My wifes family seem well and are always happy to see their grand daughter, shame about the token Farang. we met up with friends old and new and generally had a great time. One thing I did learn is: Never fly with Thai Airways again, over priced, too many undisclosed T & Cs, poor cabins and the worst customer service ever (Never have got back to me)...

The biggest surprise is that we spent several days in Pattaya, I wasn't looking forward to it, having seen it 15 years ago as nothing more than a giant brothel. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised with how there was to do, excellent Cafes and Restaurants and Jontiem was fairly impressive compared to my last visit.



Full Sus Rules

I’ve had my full suspension Norco now about 18 months and I think I can finally give my opinion on the change from hard tail to full suspension.

In general they are brilliant! Lock them out at the rear and they ride something like my old old tail with only a slight weight penalty. It’s going downhill that the real big difference shows it’s face. I’m able to pick lines in descents that would have spelt disaster on an hard tail, also the ability to stay sat down and control the bike is amazing.

On long rides, again the rear suspension makes the journey a whole lot more comfortable, taking the buzz out of the trail.

Uphill is still an issue, mainly due to me being unfit!

Basically, I don’t think I’ll be reverting back to a hard tail any time soon. My next upgrade maybe electric.....

New/Old Bike

I recently purchased a retro MTB, a 1991 Kona Lava Dome. Back in the day I owned a 92 Lava Dome. I bought it off eBay for £72.
The forks and stem were corroded, The tyres were shot, but other than that it seemed ok.
Alas, the forks and stem were a bit further gone than I thought, Vernon Barker who tried to sand blast them and powder cost them told me I would never get a flawless finish. So I just had them powder coat them as best they could. Also the Headset on the original was worn and the replacement I bought was also worn so I had a standard headset fitted.
I changed the tyres, grips and pedals and added bar ends to fit in with the look of the time.
Overall I was quite please. However, despite being able to strip and rebuild a vintage bike. I forgot how tedious fiddling with Cantilever brakes can be and the weight of the bike is actually heavier than my modern full suspension bike.
Not the outcome to the project I wanted but I'll use the bike as a gym bike and go to a few Retro MTB meetings..

A box of bits for cleaning

Cote Brasserie Manchester

On our recent overnight visit to Manchester, Nuch fancied a French meal.
We checked out Cote Brasserie on Trip Advisor and it looked ok.
The menu as you would expect is very French, the prices are medium to high, but not as much as you might think.
For my starter I had a beetroot salad with goat cheese puree, it was nice, too much beetroot and not enough goat cheese. My main course of Fillet steak was cooked to just how I liked it (well done).
I thought the drinks were expensive, a bottle of beer was over £4, that's £8 a pint in real money.


Would probably visit again...

Beetroot & Goat Cheese Puree starter

Crab starter

Fillet Steak main

Beef Bourginion main