Mr Blue Sky

One of my fave tunes of all time, Mr Blue Sky by ELO. I think I was 7 years old - watching this on Top Of The Pops - absolutely amazed at how they got the guitars to say "Mr Blue Sky" (go to 2:14 to see what I mean!) -

007 Review

First of all - Happy New Year to everyone I know, including all those that SMS'd me recently and didn't get a reply!

Here's my recollections of 007...

• I did my first ever 20km run, and Half-Marathon. I then went on to do lots more.
• The March PCC Time Trial at Sg. Tekali
• I met Phil Liggett & Paul Sherwen, and Lucas met the race winner, at the final stage of the Tour de Langkawi
• I started learning to swim front crawl, and became pretty good towards the year-end!
• Lucas' teeth started to fall out, and he learned to ride a bike without stabilisers.
• I did my first Olympic triathlon at A'Famosa
• I broke my 1-day cycling record (200km+) and experienced new routes - Broga, Frasers, Ipoh Century Ride
• Eurosport came to town! - renewing my interest in pro cycling, enabling me to watch all 3 Grand Tours on TV, and inspiring me to have some fun with fantasy cycling competitons.
• I splashed out on a shiny black carbon TT bike.
• I finished 2 Half-Ironman triathlons.
• I discovered YouTube!
• Little sis Vicky got married
• England beat Australia at Rugby, but didn't qualify for Euro '08.
  

Once Upon A Time...

I managed to dig out a few old snaps when I was at Mum's place recently...

c1985, age 14, ready to cycle about 2km to Samuel Whitbread School on a decent looking summer day, astride my sturdy Raleigh Grifter, in the days before I converted to 700c wheels. With two tennis raquets tucked in my Midland Bank bag...

Next, c1987, age 16, another nice day (early Winter), with little bruv Max before setting off for a few days cycling in the Cotswolds, on my much-missed* Carlton Carrera bike. With clips and straps, a well-loved silver Isostar water-bottle, soft-soled Reebok trainers and mudguards squeezed onto a racing frame. I loved that bike. Paid for with a year of saved paper round money, it had a beautiful 60cm Reynolds 531c frame with chromed forks, and a Shimano 105 groupset. Downtube shifters and exposed brake-cables were the order of the day back then...

Finally, c1988, with pal Ben on his slightly-too-big-for-him 61cm Raleigh Road-Ace, ready to leave Stranraer for a 4-day ride across the South of Scotland and down into the Lake District.

This was an absolutely fantastic ride that I'll never forget. I set off, with black woolly jumper under my Fagor jersey, knitted track mitts, 2 full rear panniers (I was the mule for the two of us), new brake levers, Avocet computer, a slightly improved hair style and a selection of scars on my left leg from a crash a few days before (I went off the road going too fast down a steep winding hill near Stranraer, did an endo over a stone wall and ended up upside-down in a bush with by bike on top of me and my feet still clipped in). The adrenalin rush was great!...

Before this ride I spent hours in my bedroom listening to ELO and closely analysing a huge Ordnance Survey map of the Lakes, to formulate a route that would cover all the main Passes in the area. I was looking to ride along roads with black arrows on them (indicating grades steeper than 1:10 or 10%).

Day 1 - Stranraer to Castle Douglas
Day 2 - Castle Douglas to Carlisle
Day 3 - Carlisle to N Lakes to Helvellyn YHA
Day 4 - Helvellyn YHA to S Lakes to Oxenholme

On Days 3 and 4 we conquered the ridiculously steep Hardknott, Honister and Kirkstone Passes. We might have done Wrynose or Whinlatter too. We did about 120-130km a day and I don't remember struggling up the hills...unlike these days...although I am more than double the age I was then!

And we played nomination Whist on the train all the way home!

*Stolen from outside Leeds Uni Civil Engineering Dept. in 1991-ish. I left it unlocked as I was rushing to the start of a lecture and decided to take the risk - I lost!

Where Are You From?

I am often asked 'Where are you from?" - the last time being this morning. The answer is (in pictures)...

Stranraer, Scotland. South West Scotland. The "Southern Uplands". Wigtonshire. Dumfries & Galloway.

Town Centre, showing the Castle of St. John and the Victoria Memorial.

Loch Ryan

An old photo of the railway station

The Ailsa Princess Stranraer-Larne ferry. I remember watching these ships leave the harbour and wait for the bough wave to reach the shore. Exciting eh?

The Darnia Stranraer-Larne Ferry. There was the Galloway Princess too.

This RAF Buccaneer based at nearby RAE West Freugh used to be seem flying low around the local bays - dropping bombs onto the beaches (target practice). The Air Traffic Controller was...my Dad!

Killantringan Beach - some nice rocks to climb on, a lighthouse,
and the wreck of the MV Craigantlet. A family walk venue. The wreck left unusual floating "cheese" in the sea and on the beach.

Castle Kennedy - more walking, and gardens!

Portpatrick. The building with the red signs is The Crown, where many a Sunday "Chicken-in-a-basket" lunch was enjoyed.

Dunskey Castle, Portpatrick. Walk here from the town to burn off The Crown lunch!

Ailsa Craig - a granite volcanic plug island off the West Coast just North of Stranraer.

Sandhead beach. I remember the wonderful sand dunes here with tufts of long grass scattered around, and once the sand was almost too hot to walk on (sounds unbelievable for Scotland). The beach had warning flags to warn the public when bombing practice was on.

And finally I was quite shocked to find this piccy on the Web - this is the house our family stayed in from 1970-something until 1983. It's a B&B now! It was a fantastic, huge house - great for hide-and-seek (and parachuting Action Man down the stairs), and had an attic, 13' high ceilings and an old bell system (for calling servants of course!) and a rayburn, upon which I sat in the cold Scottish mornings to warm up my backside through my dressing gown! Believe it or not, our phone number was 3606. That's it folks, not 012345678901234567.......just 3606. And Granny's number was 2696.

Why can I remember stuff like that???