Firstly I apologize for the long gap, but as I logged my bike ride on Forum, Twitter and Facebook each day, plus the fact I was away for a total of 27 days, it was only the Bike Ride to talk about!

A quick Summary of the Bike Ride

For those who may not know I cycled from John O’Groats to Land’s End – I did, honest ! The actual ride took me 23 days. Not having an enforced finishing time, it allowed me to do things at my pace, take in the scenery, meet interesting people and generally be with myself for a while, something I’m sure many of us need at some point, if not, I recommend it!
I have now completed a 30 page Website Category for the ride including maps, stats, the ups, the downs, and many photo’s. Go to the JOGLE Index Page

Pigeons with Vertigo who keep falling down into the Sitting Room – A fine Compost Heap just outside Shap

Getting back to normaility

In many ways it was hard after getting home, I’d got into a routine of waking up, having a good Breakfast, getting on my bike and just taking everything in, but in other ways, mainly because I’d been mentally listing the things I’d like to do when I get back as I was venturing onwards, it was good to be home.

Firstly though came the Garden, which to be fair wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be. I took the grass cutting exercise to five days; first a high cut, two days later, a medium cut and two after that, a low cut. Leaving it for four weeks had at least made it quite green and after the final cut, I have to say that it looked the best it’s been for quite a long time.

The Vegetable which were kindly looked after whilst I was away, were also in good order. The ‘Three Sisters’ (Sweet Corn, French Beans and Squash planted together) are in full swing. Although the Sweet Corn hasn’t grown as tall as some years, there are more Cobs growing, the Squash are looking really good, but the French Beans haven’t really come to much. I think I may have planted everything a bit too close, but at least I’ve learnt for next year.

The Runner Beans are flowing well as are the Courgettes. In the Greenhouse, the Tomatoes are once again taking over but the Cucumbers haven’t come to much at all, could be the shortage of hot sunny days this Summer?

The Chickens are quite happy and like the cats, probably didn’t even notice I’d been away. Strange that of the six I got back in February, one still hasn’t all it’s feathers. Some and some, but they all seem healthy enough.

Back to Cricket

I timed the bike ride so as I’d only lose a few days Cricket, I think I missed five games, so about 8 days work. Due to a very strange fixture list, Kent have had a long and tiring away game stretch and the only work I’ve done since getting back has been one day to sort things out and five days centred around the two x One Day Internationals between England and South Africa Under 19’s. These were most enjoyable and it’s interesting to watch who may be the stars of the future.
Discipline is high on the agenda with young Cricketers and I have to say, they were the tidiest two Teams I’ve had in the Dressing Room for many a year.

Next years Weeds successfully seeding and giving the Down the Lane HQ a revitalizing coat of Wood Preserver (I need that more than the Shed!)

But, it was nice to be back and see all colleagues again and even nicer to know they had all been following my adventure all the way. The next game starts next week and as always, this starts off a 15 or so day run including Canterbury Festival Week and some one day games. It all comes at once in Cricket!

Other News

There’s not much to tell really, the last 14 days have been spent on catch up. On my way home from Land’s End I popped into Southampton to visit the family for three days, this was good as it acted as a good halfway house.

I was supposed to be going down there again this morning, but have put it off until tomorrow. Yesterday I popped down town to get Chicken Feed, Wood Shavings and some Petrol for the Lawnmower allowing me to sort things out before I went when I heard the brake pads grinding a little bit. I came to a roundabout and upon setting off noticed a clanking. Seeing this as not being right, I diverted myself down to Kwik-Fit.
It turns out the plates had actually dislodged themselves and were basically freewheeling inside the wheel. The chances are they would have jarred thus leading to something quite serious, so in that sense I was lucky it happened when it did and not on the M25!
Well, the front one’s were pretty awful as well, so complete Pads and Discs – £487. Oh dear, did I need this, not! I’m now hoping I can have sufficient funds saved up by the end of the Cricket Season to give me a kick start to the winter months when I want to work out less and concentrate on the Website.

It’s good to be back, but recent activities have filled me with a need to wander around a bit more than I do. All in all, life is good.