Eggscellent

Friday 28th May
Cycle ride starts tomorrow.  Looking forward to it actually - should be great fun plus great scenery hopefully the hills aren't too bad and the weather holds.  Will post all details of course.  Did final training ride the other night - circling the island and climbing Portsdown Hill on the worst road.  Can't do anymore so just hope that will do.

Where i work in the countryside a lot of the children in my class keep chickens.  I get a good deal on proper organic free range eggs.  One child likes to suprise me everytime i open the box.  Makes me smile anyway - especially when i smash their little heads in....the eggs i mean!

Mole hills

Sunday 23rd May

Been a productive weekend coupled with great weather.  Jacob, Sophie and I went Staunton Country Park yesterday - an overpriced petting zoo in the middle of an awful housing estate - Leigh Park.  The boy enjoyed it and we have always been curious to see what it is like.  The old walled Victorian garden and greenhouse was pretty cool and Jacob was intrigued by the peacocks. 

Took the long route back via the back roads north of Chichester - a useful reckie for the training ride i did today.  When we returned we managed to get a great deal on Soph's MTB that wasn't being used.  Shame - nice bike but she has exchanged it for a hybrid which is great for around town and easy tracks like Hayling Billy or New Forest trails - and the boy's seat on the back is much better.  So she is happy and the bike has been used a couple of times already and will be going to France!

Got on the bike this morning and headed for the hills.  Great training ride for the Exeter weekend with fantastic weather and a Spiritualized soundtrack on the ipod pushing me on.  At times, when it was obvious i was miles from lots of cars and noise i turned off the music and just listened to the sound of the countryside.  Concentrating mailny on task but did see swallows, swift, common whitethroat and other more common native woodland birds.  Did however come across this poor unfortunate creature who i couldn't resist photographing risking life and limb in the process but it is my nod to 'Brunelli.

 

It is not often you come across moles and definitely not on the top of hills in the South Downs near Locksash Farm spreadeagled.  Notice the fly?


So the journey.  Southsea to Havant via eastern road and Farlington.  Through Leigh Park (nr Firkham Hall) up to Rowlands Castle.  Up Forestside and down at scarey difficult to break speeds to West Marsden. Up to Locksash then back round to Funtingdon then Stoke for lunch and some Bluebells.

Crossed over a congested A27, took some photos feeling smug looking down on the lines of backed up traffic - why would you want to be stuck in a car on a day like today?  Down to Fishbourne and then all the way along the old A27 route through Nutbourne, Westbourne, Emsworth etc... to Havant then down to Hayling Island and the Billy trail.  Down to past the Oysterbeds - stopped to look at the nesting common terns - no sign of little terns anymore.  Carried on down to seafront and along to the ferry.  Cross to Eastney - ride along the seafront, dodging the people walking in the new cycle lane and back home to find fledge starlings, blackbirds and blue tits in our garden.  They chose a nice weekend for it!


41.64 miles
Avg speed 10.5 mph
Max speed 28.8 mph (cacking it)
Time 3hrs 55mins 35 seconds

The day after...

Sunday 16th May

Won't harp on too much about my FA Cup final sourjourn yesterday but needless to say was very proud of the team and Avram Grant. They could possibly have been 5-0 at half time but for David James and the woodwork but they weren't. The longer the game went on the better the chance we had and if it weren't for a soft penalty miss/save we could have done it - we did Tottingham in the same manner. But it wasn't to be, with heads held high we returned home safe in the knowledge that the fans won the day, Avram won the day and the players didn't let us down (apart from Boateng!) God knows what the future will bring.

Haven't done much in the way of birding recently. Last week of April, which was fantastic weather-wise, got me up Old Winchester Hill to see my first red kite of the year as well as yellowhammer and finally swift (April 29th). Many had been seen in the county and along the south coast but mainly in small groups. Swallows back in Droxford mid April.

Came out of work on May 5th to see swifts swooping all around. Got back to Southsea to find our swifts around too....closely monitored by a peregrine falcon. Needless to say the weather has been cold since and now very wet. Poor birds. Haven't seen them much guess they are high up or back on the continent for some warmer weather for a bit.

Most of the New Forest Sloe Gin has been bottled up from last October and is tasting good. Will take a wee bit on bike ride to Exeter.

Bike ride to Exeter is just about sorted. Route has been experly organised and data entered into GPS, campsites booked (using the blag 'It's for charity' to get privileges reference campsites now means some of us are now doing it for charity, namely Naomi House)

http://www.naomihouse.org.uk/

Rack and panniers work really well and kit is sorted. Doing a bit of training but nothing will prepare us for the ups and downs of the Dorset coast. Hopefully headwinds will be minimal.