Tag: Monthly update

Garry McGivern February 2016 update. Most of the month has been spent working, well, midweek anyway. A bit like most people do, I guess! It just still seems a bit strange to me. Because of the work thing I’ve been trying to go out on my bike as much as possible at the weekend, for a couple of reasons. One, that it still relieves my back, and two, I enjoy it! Although the weather is still not that brilliant, we still keep getting strong winds and rain. But I’ve still managed to get away a few times this month, admittedly only day rides, but that’s better than nothing.

The first weekend of the month was just too wet and windy. So I never bothered going anywhere and spent most of it in the pub!

The second weekend of the month, I cycled to Brighton and back. It made a nice change heading East for once. I usually head West as it’s against the prevailing wind. That way, I’ve always got the wind behind me on the way home. But this weekend, it was coming from the East. Once I’d got to Brighton I just took a few photos and then came home!

On the second weekend of the month, I wasn’t working on Friday. So, for a change, I decided to go out for a ride!! And ended up in Portsmouth (obviously a westerly wind blowing), and by the time I’d got home, I’d cycled 50 miles.

Keep Going

Bullied on by my ride to Portsmouth, I decided that I wanted to go camping. The only problem was that there aren’t a lot of campsites open at this time of year, if any at all. But there was one that I knew was open on the Isle of Wight.

So, to make a ride of it, I thought I’d cycle down to the New Forest. Catch the ferry from Lymington to the Isle of Wight. Then, cycle across the island to Wotton Bridge, where the campsite was located, which was a nice ride of about 80 miles. But that never went according to plan! The wind got up and was gusting directly at me. So by the time I’d reached Southampton, I’d had enough as it had now started to rain as well!

That Was Different

Still wanting to go to the Isle of Wight (because I’d got it into my head that I was going there), I jumped on the ferry that left Southampton instead. It wouldn’t get me to the same place on the island as I’d originally planned. But it would get me a bit nearer to the campsite, which I thought would be fine. Also, once on the island, I knew that the wind would be behind me.

It was a really good crossing, one which I’ve never done before despite all the times I’ve been across to the island. And I even found somebody to sit with and bore for the hour that it took to cross! I was sitting talking to a man from Southampton who was on his way to his holiday home in Sandown to do a spot of DIY on it. After hearing that I was going camping, he invited me to stay at his place, which was really kind of him, but I’d already decided that I was camping, so I declined his very kind offer and said goodbye to him once the ferry had docked in East Cowes.

It was a short ride from the ferry to the campsite. In fact, a lot shorter than I thought; I’d only done 45 miles by the time I arrived! Thinking that 45 miles was such a miserable effort on my part and it was still relatively early. I decided to continue on. But with no other campsites open, I decided to head home. After all, the wind would be behind me all the way. Also, I knew that if I would have stopped too early, I would have got bored sitting in my tent. Particularly as it gets dark so early (There’s nothing on the campsite and the nearest pub is down a hill).

That’s one of the downfalls of camping at this time of year: getting dark so early! It’s fine stopping early when it’s light as you can sit watching others trying to put their tents up. Not succeeding, and the whole thing ended in an argument. Or the grey-haired nomads in their camper vans and caravans putting up their awnings and then setting everything out in it all, bar the kitchen sink! But when it’s dark, they’ve already arrived and closed up for the night! It was about 9.30 pm when I eventually walked through my door. But at least I’d got some half-decent miles under my belt, finishing on 74.

Let’s Go Somewhere Else

Thinking that this was going to be a weekend of cycling. I decided to go out somewhere on Sunday. But the wind was still rather strong and blowing from the southwest. So rather than try and cycle against it again as I’d done yesterday, I took advantage of it and cycled to London!

It was a good ride up, and I didn’t get lost this time. As I did when I cycled up last November. I followed the cycle super highway once I was in London,

Once in London, the only thing I did was to go to Chinatown to see it all decorated for the Chinese New Year. Then, once I’d done that, I jumped on a train to go home.

The train was really crowded with standing room only. Luckily, I was on the train as soon as it arrived at the station and managed to get the bike on and also get a seat for myself.

The final weekend of the month, I was all set to go to London once again. Only this time, I was going to use the return train ticket that I’d brought the previous week and then cycle back from London this time. But I had to do boring household chores on Saturday, so couldn’t go away. So I got my bike ready and decided to get the earliest train possible on Sunday Morning.

Oh No

On Saturday night, whilst I was eating my curry, a must on a Saturday night! My elbow started to swell up and became really painful! Thinking that it would be better by the morning, I didn’t worry too much and went to bed. However, in the night it became even more painful and swollen and kept me awake for most of it! The following morning, I decided to go to the local hospital to get checked out.

After waiting for an hour or so, I saw the doctor, who thought that it was a severe joint infection and gave me some antibiotics. And said that if it gets any worse, I’m to either go back there or see my doctor. Well, unfortunately, it has got worse, and the swelling has now spread all the way down my arm! My doctor now thinks it might be cellulitis and has sent me for blood tests! Just as I was getting into this work thing as well! I’m now wondering if I’ll ever be fit again. All I seem to do is spend all my time being unwell and at the doctor’s!

One good thing is that it’s now spring, and the days are starting to get longer! #WhereShouldICycleTo

Garry McGivern’s January 2016 monthly update. Warning! Before reading Garry’s January 2016 update, please make sure you’re sitting down somewhere comfortable. You may be in for a shock as there is possibly some disturbing news contained within! By reading on, you do so at your own risk! Garry cannot be held responsible for any accidents that may occur while reading this!

It’s been a busy month what with one thing and another. Unfortunately, not with cycling, though! The main reason for being busy is. Wait for it. Make sure you’re sitting down! I’ve returned to work! After more or less two years!

My back/leg still isn’t that brilliant, and I’m still in pain and don’t have much strength in my leg. But the pain has eased quite significantly to what it was. And I think I’m gaining some strength in my leg, Although it still feels as if it’s going to give way!

What’s It Like To Work

Work is definitely a bit of a struggle. Everything seems to be twice as hard as it used to be. And I can no longer work the way I used to. I’ve had to adapt, i.e., when putting something down. Don’t put it on the floor. Put it on a bench or somewhere off the ground. It saves bending down so far. Or instead of carrying two or three lengths of wood at a time, just carry one! By adapting little things like these, I am at least able to work in a fashion!

I may not be as fast as I used to be, and sometimes, I feel I’ve not done enough. But that’s just the way it is, and I’ve got to accept the fact that I’m not able to do some of the things I used to do. Or at least not as fast as I used to! By the end of the day, I’m really glad to finish and go home. It gets very tiring being in pain and discomfort all day long! Luckily who I’m working for at the moment understands all this and is fine with it, I think!?! But saying all that, I’m really happy and enjoying being back at work.

Garry’s work van

On the cycling front, there really isn’t much to say, and I’ve really not done much of it. This work thing seems to be getting in the way! Apart from work, it’s just not a very nice time of year for cycling. When I get home from work it’s dark and usually wet and windy out, not very pleasant cycling weather at all!

Strange sitings in the New Forest

Spinnaker Tower Portsmouth

A couple of random photos from last weekend’s ride to Dorset

Last weekend was good with my little ride down to Christchurch in Dorset. I was hoping to be able to go somewhere this weekend. But I just had too much to do at home! Hopefully, I’ll get away on a few of the weekends next month if I can think of somewhere to go that I haven’t cycled to already! (Any ideas would be gratefully appreciated)

Another piece of shocking news is that I also seemed to have gone teetotal! I’ve hardly been to the pub at all this month (so I’ve not been able to annoy anybody there) and only had a few drinks at home when I’ve been having my dinner, which for me is like being teetotal!

The month started off the same as November had finished in Gran Canaria, unfortunately I never managed to source a bike as there was nowhere near us to hire one, in fact there was absolutely nothing near us apart from a couple of other hotels and a few shops selling a load of tourist tack, so most of the time was spent at the hotel!

The hotel was situated high up on a cliff/mountain in a purpose built tourist resort and to get to the beach and the few shops that there was involved a 30 minute walk down the mountain, which wasn’t too bad, however, the walk back up was very hard going and we only ventured down to the beach on one occasion!

We did manage to escape the hotel for a couple of days and caught a bus out to explore other parts of the island; once again though we had to walk down the mountain to the bus stop, although not quite as far as it was to go to the beach!

On our first venture out we went to the nearby port of Puerto de Mogan which had been completely over run by tourism with very little to see of the old fishing village at all, but it was a change of scenery and it was good to get out of the hotel!

The following day we decided to get the bus to Las Palmas the capital of the island which once again involved a walk down the mountain to the bus stop, whilst waiting at the bus stop with the other tourists a bus pulled up with Las Palmas written on the front of it so we hopped on and  asked for two tickets to Las Palmas to which the driver gave us a very strange look and started to explain in his broken English that this isn’t the direct bus and it takes longer to get to Las Palmas as it calls in at all the towns and villages on its way. We both looked at each other and decided that that would be ok as at least we wouldn’t be sitting at the bus stop we’d be moving and we’d also get to see a bit more of the island!

Well, there really wasn’t much else to see of the island, every town or village we came to just seemed to be overrun with either hotels or apartments, I don’t recall seeing anything even vaguely resembling a place that was maybe just with locals!

Well after two long hours of stopping and starting we were still sitting on the bus and by now Julie had decided that she needed the toilet and couldn’t wait any longer! After all, she had wanted to go for the past hour, I just kept saying that we’d be there soon just hang on, not really knowing myself how much further we had to go! But no that was it she had to go! So in the middle of the island near some huge retail park, we had to get off the bus and find the nearest toilet which luckily was located in a nearby McDonalds! After our forced pit stop we went back to the bus stop to wait for another bus, which eventually turned up after nearly an hour! We finally arrived in Las Palmas mid afternoon four hours after setting off from the hotel! Once again there wasn’t a lot to see in Las Palmas and it hardly seemed to be worth the effort it took us to get there but at least Julie found some shops to look around and it got us away from the hotel for another day. Needless to say, we didn’t get the same bus back we caught the express bus which got us back in less than half the time it took us to get there! It was late and dark by the time we arrived back at the hotel!

All in all, though it wasn’t a bad break and the food in the hotel was good and plentiful, the weather was nice and warm and Julie enjoyed being able to relax despite me trying to annoy her most of the time with the “I’m bored what can I do?” saying!

Not been out on the bike very much at all this past month, I’ve not been feeling that good for most of it, think I’d picked up some sort of flu bug (probably on the flight to Gran Canaria, there was a quite few people on the plane coughing and spluttering) which never fully came out but was annoying enough to stop me cycling too far, every time I went to go out on my bike I would just become breathless and start getting cold sweats! Although at the end of the month I’m now feeling much better.

The weathers not been particularly good either this month, with strong winds and rain nearly every day, however, I did manage to go on a short ride to Portsmouth about 25 miles away on my birthday but once again it was wet and windy and I ended up coming home on the train.

My babysitting duties were also called upon this month looking after my Vicky’s cat Toby whilst they were in Spain and also Julie’s daughter’s new puppy Wilson!

Christmas and New Year came and went with some lovely family meals cooked by Julie on Christmas day and Vicky and Paul on Boxing Day, I’ve had a rather easy Christmas and not had anybody around! Good to keep the spirit of Christmas alive in the McGivern household with no visitors, and no decorations or tree up, bah humbug!!

Well the month got off to a good start with my cousins Zoe and Errol coming over from Australia to visit and although they were only here for four days it was still good to catch up with them. It gave me the chance to play the tour guide and show them some of the south of England.

Their first full day here was just spent in Bognor catching up with the rest of my family.

The second day we drove to the New Forest national park so they could have a look at the ponies that just roam freely. The New Forest was as good as ever and we managed to see some ponies, the heath land and some forest, we also managed to get lost! After driving around for an hour or two we found our way to Lymington where we decided to stop for some lunch and that’s where we stayed for the rest of the day! The service in the pub was so slow, it took us three hours to have a pub lunch and by the time we’d eventually got served and finished our food it was time to go home! But we were quite content to just sit around and catch up; the only downside for me was that although I was sat in a pub for three hours which is something I always love doing I was unable to drink due to me being the chauffeur!

The next day we set off for the Isle of Wight which despite me going there quite frequently was also a bit different as we took the car. Our original plan was for me to cycle over there, they would go by bus and we would meet up somewhere for lunch. But after looking at the prices of the ferry let alone any bus fares it worked out a lot cheaper for us to all go in the car, which was a big surprise to me! And by taking the car Zoe and Errol didn’t have to hang around waiting for busses. Once on the island our first stop was the roman villa at Brading which we all found really interesting; I think it was made all the better by having a volunteer guide called Pauline who told us all about it.

Lunch was at Ventnor on the south of the island, a traditional seaside town which always reminds me of going back in time 30 years! After lunch we drove along the coast to Alum Bay on the westerly tip of the island to have a look there,

before going on to Yarmouth and then heading back to Fishbourne to catch the ferry back to the north island (mainland England) as the locals call it! A really nice day and we managed to get around the whole island or at least around the coast. The day was finished off with a curry back at mine to which I don’t think they were too keen on, well not on my vindaloo anyway!

The next day Zoe and Errol headed back to London as they were flying to Iceland for a few days.

Got fed up one day so I decided to cycle to London to get a new saddle seeing as I’ve worn out my old one! Yes I know I could have ordered one online and got it sent to me in the post but it gave me a good excuse to go for a ride to London! The journey up was fairly uneventful; I just got rained on a couple of times but nothing too major. One big improvement I noticed is that it all seems a lot easier to get into the centre of London these days, now that they’ve got these cycle super highways! Although I got a bit carried away following my one and ended a bit too far east of where I wanted to be!

Which wasn’t anything major at all, all I had to do was follow the Thames to Parliament Square then head up to the West end! (It might not be the best way to go but it’s the way I go!) It turned out to be a bit harder than I’d expected, Embankment which runs alongside the Thames was all clogged up with road works and Parliament Square was blocked off due to the Indian prime minister visiting so I had to cross back over the Thames follow the river on the other side for a while then cross back over and head up towards Covent Garden and the shop I was going to.

After buying my saddle I thought I’d go on a cycle around London but that didn’t last long, by now it was rush hour and the place was gridlocked, so I just made my way to railway station to catch a train home.

That didn’t go quite according to plan either! The train that I’d originally planned to catch had been cancelled so I had to wait around Victoria railway station for an hour waiting for the next one. I eventually walked in my door at about 10.30pm and despite all the traffic, detours and cancelled trains I still had a really good day!

I managed to meet up with Zoe and Errol again later in the month once they’d returned from Iceland and had also been to Wales to see some other relatives.

This time I met them in Windsor as Zoe is tracing our family tree and it turns out that our Great Grandfather was in the lifeguards whose barracks are in Windsor and Zoe was hoping to get some more information on him so she’d made an appointment for us to go along and see them.

Not too sure if Zoe got anymore information but we had a good two hours on the base. We got shown around the museum with a talk on the history of the Lifeguards then a guided tour around the barracks, I found it really interesting! I did have one point of concern however, in light of the terrible events in Paris this month and the supposedly heightened security we were able to enter an operational army base without being searched or asked for id! All we had to do was sign a visitor’s book!

Decided late in the month to go on a small tour of 500 miles or so and get Julie to fly out and meet me seeing as she’s on holiday this week. So I packed my bags and went to get my bike (which spends most of its time when I’m not cycling, hanging up in the garage) only to discover that my Rohloff Speedhub (gears) had an oil leak! Not that that’s a real problem as apparently you can ride them with no oil in at all and it won’t do it any damage! Why put the oil in in the first place then? But because I know there’s a problem it would be playing on my mind! So I cancelled that idea and sent the wheel off for repair! I’m now sitting by the pool in the Gran Canaries at some hideous all inclusive hotel with Julie and no bike, but I’m hoping to source one today! At least Julies enjoying the rest personally I’m chomping at the bit to do something!

If you’re ordering anything from Amazon UK over the next few weeks or any other time for that fact I’d really appreciate it if you’d use the link above or the link on the homepage of my website as any orders placed through these means I get a few pence in commission! You know what they say “every little helps!” Unfortunately this only applies to the UK!