Sunday 22nd May 2011 to Saturday 28th May 2011

Thursday 26th May 2011
Was up til late last night doing Phil's homework with him. Didn't get up til 6:20 so not on road til 6:30 not good. Slow 2.5 miles up town and back 9m 44s miles could have been better but it is what it is - I was tired so I was.

Wednesday 25th May 2011
missus wanted some bread making for a friend so I couldn't do the bike into work. So ran up town and back - steady 9m 12s miles was okay. Details. Got two multiplier reels off ebay came yesterday. Am going to overhaul them both later but they generally speaking work okay. Had a bit of a thrash on the playing field with the Okuma Magnetix MG20cs. Set it up on a telescopic 12 ft rod with a 4oz lead and was lobbing it out about 70 yards or something - the rod's not ideal so might take out my first Daiwa which is a bit more solid tomorrow night after badmo.

Tuesday 24th May 2011
Up in good time - didn't seem as windy as forecast so made decision I'd bike into work from Belper. Bit more windy than I'd thought. Am hoping wind will be with me on the way back but I bet it isn't! Details. Was really late from work, forgot to pick me coat up from gym changing room - set off and realised this about a mile out so didn't want to turn back. Weather looked a bit iffy so rode harder than normal - hence 15.7mph average. Am going to stick with this biking mullarkey - it'd be cool to see if I could get to a 16mph average over 10 miles. Well cool. Details

Monday 23rd May 2011
Up earlyish considering was watching Tin Cup til nearly midnight . Quick run up town and back. Details. Had a thrash with the sand wedge in the field. Sweet. Goes a good 70 yards when struck well. Went to do a mini-update for the Mona Villas Website last night www.mona-villas.fsnet.co.uk I'm no longer able to upload web changes for the original websites I did as I've not got an orange / wanadoo / freeserve account and made a bigger mistake when I found out I'd changed John's account to BT last year!!! So we had to set up a dial-up account for John just for the purpose of uploading the changes which only added up to about 30K in any case! Anyway it got done and it's off my list now.

Sunday 22nd May 2011
Not much to report. Went to Donington Markat early doors for some bits and bobs for hols. Got missus the new Whitesnake album in a special presentation pack for the princely sum of £3!!! Awesome. Also got latest Total Sea Fishing magazine for £1.50 and some others to keep me busy should it rain!

Bought a Taylormade LCG sand wedge clubhead from Ebay for about a fiver and fitted that to a shaft I had that was on a duff five iron so now have a full set of LCGs going from 2iron through to sand wedge. Excellent. Might give it a go in a day or two.


Went to Stone Cottage to upload their website changes later on. One of the first websites I ever did and it shows a bit. Never mind. www.stone-cottage.fsnet.co.uk Mini bike ride there and back.

Sunday 15th May 2011 to Saturday 21st May 2011

Saturday 21st May 2011

Got up at 8am! That's not happened in a while. Cleaned cars inside and out. Hoovered up. Wheel is now falling off the Dyson which is a worry. Played not bad golf - 87 for a nett 69. Should have been much better but screwed up three holes with poor drives, all three ended up with triple bogies unfortunately. Lot of pars though - five on front nine and four in a row on the back nine just not quite consistant enough yet. Details

Friday 20th May 2011
Tired like nowt on earth this morning so nowt to report. Will have to do something this evening though.

Thursday 19th May 2011
Ride into work again - steady - got stuck in traffic a couple of times which took some of the fun away but am finding am arriving at work nicely refreshed because of the experience. Details

Rode back, steady 15mph average all the way - definitely seem a bit easier going to Belper. Then Badminton with Lucy in the evening. Knackered at the end of it all. Details

Wednesday 18th May 2011
Good stuff, up early. Got stuff ready, spuds watered, papers fetched, bike in a state of readiness on car roof. All good. Then drove to Belper, parked up, rode into work. Averaged 13.6mph with stops at traffic lights etc. Went through Swanwick which seems to be a bit easier from the route I did last time. There's one bit of steepness (excluding the hill up to Pentrich, which I push for a short distance) then the rest is a steady incline which works nicely for me. Details Didn't get out the office until 6pm but rode back to Belper nice and steady until got over took by some whipper snapper on a Cannondale so upped my pace a bit to try and stay with him - which will be around the 7/8 mile mark I think. Details

Tuesday 17th May 2011
Quick run up town and back. Steady if not spectacular as legs were aching bad. Details Then went to see about a website update for Stone Cottage. So went on bike for a mini-spin. Then at 8:30pm no less went to do a bit of golf almost in the dark! Which was okay - am getting to grips with irons again although the driver's gone south for thwe summer it seems.

Monday 16th May 2011
Steady start to the working week - four mile run, sub 10 minute miles. Details. Amber Valley have got back in touch. A three month car parking permit is £78 which means I'd need to use it three times a week to get my money back. Am thinking that I could do this and park close when I need to be home early, further away when I want to be getting in shape! It would certainly be an incentive so I think I'm going to give it a go. Did a bit of golf in the evening about 10 holes - 4 pars and the rest bogies was steady enough for me.

Sunday 15th May 2011
Not a bad start. Did a 20 mile tribute to the party in the park rides of recent weeks. Went up over Kniveton turning left at Knockerdown and across to Bradbourne, then down to Fenny Bentley, right at top of Ashbourne and over to Mappleton before coming back through Okeover Park and back to sunny Cliftonia. 20 miles in an hour and a half or so. Steady if not spectacular 12.5mph average. Baked a cake to take over me mum. Assisted the horror in getting the front lawn done. Yay. All good so far and it's only just lunchtime! Details of ride


Set up a website for Ashbourne Fly Fishing Club which has been interesting so far: http://www.ashbourneflyfishingclub.co.uk/index2.html

Sunday 8th May 2011 to Saturday 14th May 2011

Friday 13th May 2011

Perhaps a daft day to do it but thought I'd get some cycling in. Parked at Belper then cycled 10 miles into Work and back. Okay apart from getting drenched on way back.

Thursday 12th May 2011

Quiet - dead tired - got up late - no run - badminton at night

Wednesday 11th May 2011
Same run up town again with a little bit added. Around 9:55 pace I think, not had time to upload as am going London Town to an InternetWorld exhibition thang. Details.

Tuesday 10th May 2011
Another run up town and back. Steady enough and a bit quicker than yesterday. Details Me any Lucy went out for a walk early evening before nipping over to the Park for a short time.

Monday 9th May 2011
Was happy overall with yesterday, absolutely shattered when got back home last night but got back into the running again with a likkle 2.5 miler up town and back. Sub 10 min miles which is good enough for me. Details

Sunday 8th May 2011
Woke up at 4am to the sound of pouring rain which was a bit of a bugger as I'd wanted to re-ride the route to check it was all okay. Didn't get that chance so the ride started at 12 noon. Only 4 riders on the 25K one, rode round with Claire Brackenbury (Margaret Miles-Bramwell, founder of SW's daughter) few problems with hills, punctures, head-winds and what have you but we got it done just took a bit longer. Details

Three hour drive home and then it were all done!

Sunday 1st May 2011 to Saturday 7th May 2011

Saturday 7th May 2011
Sunderland 25K testing the route out went okay. Got lost on a regular basis so will need to sort out the courses thing on the FCR1 (maybe reading the manual might help!). There's a bit of the trip to the hotel bolted onto the end of this link but essentially that's what I done today.

Up at 4am to take Phil to work. Nice morning and when we set off at 4:30am it's already becoming light. Got back and thought I'd have a crack at programming the route for the http://www.bensmiles.com/ Sunderland Party in the Park 25K route which I've done using http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/ then outputing the course to a TCX file which has then gone into the Garmin 405cx watch. Am hoping it'll give me directions along the way but will be taking a map in the rucksack just in case. Did a quick spin on the FCR1 this morning just to check the chain is alright and apart from a bit of noise in second it'll be fine. It should be for £35!!! So will be dropping Lucy off at me mums in a couplde of hours and then all being well setting sail for Herrington Country Park to test the route out ahead of tomorrow!




Friday 6th May 2011


Not doing nothing today. Need juice in me legs for the weekend so will take it easy! Getting everything set up for the weekend.

Thursday 5th May 2011
Well set off with good intentions - rode most of the way ... to Hulland Ward before chain snapped. Great. Within minutes though a chap called Graham Soult stopped and asked if he could help - I was going to walk back home which would have been six miles but with a fair bit of downhill. Anyway, he said he was going to Kirby in Ashfield and could drop me off on the way. What a star. Offered him something for his trouble but he was having none of it - will find some way of repaying the favour I'm sure. He's a director of a company called SteveSoult.com who make coffins of distinction, no less and a top man in my view.

Wednesday 4th May 2011
Solid run up town and back. Sub 9 min miles. Details. Rode back home on the FCR1 - Details.

Tuesday 3rd May 2011
Up early, watered everything. Ran up town and back 2.5 miles in sub-9 min miles which was nice. Details


Monday 2nd May 2011
Big ride today (Well should have been!). Tweaked my brakes first thing so went on a spin up town to test them and found I'd got a very loose chain link. So off to Halfords and they put a new link in and it now feels good as new again. Went and did the 25K ride which went okay as the route was changed from Friday's!!! Problems with a puncture meant it wasn't the fastest of rides but it was for a good cause so not to worry! Details Check out the progress Ben Miles is making at his website http://www.bensmiles.com/




Sunday 1st May 2011
Not much to report. Went to Donnington Market first - got Phil some bits for his compressor got some sea angling magazines for diddly squat.

Sunday 24th April 2011 to Saturday 30th April 2011

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Saturday 30th April 2011

Played golf in strong wind - scored something around 30 points off a 3/4 handicap - not very good but lost a ball and couldn't putt at all so shouldn't expect much more! Details

Friday 29th April 2011

Went and tested the 25K route for BenSmiles which is this ride Ben Miles is doing from Gibraltar up to Nordkapp in Norway - basically all of Europe. Anyway, can officially report it's damned steep! Details

Royal Wedding on so danced on egg-shells round that for rest of day. Aaaaaah.

Thursday 28th April 2011
6:30 before got out of bed! Not good enough really but am dead tired. Anyway up town and back - sub ten min miles will have to do.

Wednesday 27th April 2011
Knackered but a bit of a run up town and back was okay. Details

Tuesday 26th April 2011
Took Missus and kids and Anne to Melton Mowbray Market - it was something. Phil bought a load of junk, I got a couple of Magazines. No-one was injured. Went and did about fifteen holes on the golf course including two birdies which was nice - awful putting though in general.

Monday 25th April 2011
Again not a lot on the exercise front but a chunk on the diy/maintenance front - fencecared all the lane-side fence and the fence between ours and Verinas - knackered at the end of it but not too knackered to do 9 holes or so of the evening.

Sunday 24th April 2011
Not got much done today at all except learnt how to do yorkshire puds. Will have another crack at em next week. Mum and Dad over to lunch mine was fine but they had beef which were a bit rubbish so missus says.

Sunday 17th April 2011 to Saturday 23rd April 2011

Saturday 23rd April 2011

Solid trip out on bike in preparation for BenSmiles.com ride next week. Steady 20 odd miles at 15.7mph - more than acceptable.

Good Friday 22nd April 2011

Run up town first thing. Details. Went into work - did a load of emails and a functionality brief for some changes to XpressWeigh.

Thursday 21st April 2011

Last day in paradise. Got up early as we'd got no bread - ran to Llanfaethlu and back - total of 4 miles not a great pace but okay. Later on we fished Amlwch Port again before making our way down the opposite side of the Island and back to dear old Ashbourne.

Wednesday 20th April 2011

Perhaps the highlight? we went to a place called Port Lynas which is not far from Amlwch. Beautiful spot - we climbed down the steep side when the clever money says we should have been on the other side - didn't stop my brother pulling in two cracking Wrasse - after I'd handed him my rod to look after while I climbed up first to bring bait down into the shade and then to fetch Phil a cookie out of Andrew's bag. Such is life - I'm not bitter. We fished the low later on at Church Bay which resulted in a solitary doggie for me.

Tuesday 19th April 2011

We went and had a crack at Amlwch Port which we quite like - dogfish, scorpion fish, a coalie, lots of pin whiting and lots of dogfish - nice thing about hear is you always seem to get bites. We went to fish the low tide at Penhros point - but as there's this inland sea there the low is probably an hour later than Holyhead so we were probably too early really. Never mind, got half a dozen razorfish which used for bait at the high when we got back to Church Bay later - resulting in guess what? More dogfish.

Monday 18th April 2011
Up earlyish. Dug some bait for later. We went to Mackeral Rock as it's called which is a short disatnce up from Porth Dafarch. Phil did his usual thing of catching first cast

Sunday 17th April 2011
Started off with a bit of a jog from Church Bay down to Porth Trwyn and back. Details here
We went and had a look at the beach on Porth Trwyn at low tide later, dug some lugworm for bait and generally did a bit of a reccy. We made the decision that we'd have a go at the right side of the beach which was where the lugworm seemed to be and therefore we felt that'd be the best spot. Speaking to Vic later on it would seem we'd have been better going for the right hand side and walloping out a long caste to the down slope. As it was we pulled in three dogfish before packing up a bit early as there was a nip in the air.

Sunday 10th April 2011 to Saturday 16th April 2011

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Saturday 16th 2011 Went to Welsh Wales - to Ty Newydd, Church Bay for a few days stay. Fished on the beach at low tide, Phil caught a nice plaice or flounder - never sure which is which. We could have kept it but returned it in haste. Saturday night we had a thrash at high tide but it was pretty much dogfish city and nowt else.

Friday 15th April 2011 Drove to Belper, parked up, cycled to work. 10 miles pretty much on the dot. Not a bad pace something round about 14mph average . Belper to work :details, Work to Belper: details.

Thursday 14th April 2011 Run up town and back slow slow slow. Tired, tired, tired. Details

Wednesday 13th April 2011 Tired as hell, didn't get on road til nearly 6:30, 2.5 miles at 9 min mile pace again. Not bad considering. Details Evening time after a crap day at work did ten miles on the bike in the dark hence the slower pace! Details Tuesday 12th April 2011 Up at 5.45 again, tired. Good run nearly 9 min miles for nearly 3 miles. Details Some madness again at work today and then I can get back into the swing of proper work again. Thank God. Monday 11th April 2011 Up 5:45, did some bits for work. A tired sort of a run. Details. Half an hour on the bike in the evening. Average 14.7mph which considering a very slow traffic light affected mile through town (6th mile averaged just 11mph) was quite okay. Backside certainly knew about it - I remember what it was I didn't like about cycling pretty quickly! Details. Done a bit of work on a website for Ashbourne Fly Fishing club, always fancied having a crack at fly fishing but cost of getting setup's a bit steep - £120 for kit. Anyway the mockup is here (although images and words will change). Sunday 10th April 2011 Up at 4am, took Phil to work, back to bed, slept til 9am, got up, got gardening. Got bikes out did three miles on the FCR1 to give it a go. Really fast pace considering not been on a bike in months. When got off though legs were like jelly so work to be done. Watched Masters til 10pm, soon as Rory was laying golf shots from people's houses I thought this will end up nasty and unfurtunately so it proved to be.

Sunday 3rd April 2011 to Saturday 9th April 2011

Saturday 9th April 2011 - got up at silly O'clock, took Phil to work. Posted some Ebay stuff off. Fixed the hoover. Golf at 12am, a very average 35 points with a lot of poor putting. Lovely weather though. Masters on telly.

Friday 8th April 2011 Got up nice and early. Did a bit of research - a friend of a friend has asked me to do a fishing website which should be interesting. Ran up town and back 9:30ish pace. Details

Thursday 7th April 2011 Shins still a bit painful but not a bad run - 9:20ish sort of pace over the usual 2.5 miles plus. Totally knackered though. Details

Wednesday 6th April 2011 Think I may have shin splints or something, bit painful today so more walking than running. Details

Tuesday 5th April 2011 Struggled to get out of bed again. Quick run up town and back. Weather's a bit grim but at least not raining and not too cold. It'll have to do. Got to pick something up from Alfreton tonight so stopping at work til late - might go to gym - will see. Details

Monday 4th April 2011 Dragged myself out of bed at 5:50am and got out on road for 2.5 miles as normal, bit slow as right foot giving me some jip in the toes dept. Details

Sunday 3rd April 2011 Funny sort of a weekend this. Have spent last two days tidying up kids' bedrooms - Lucy's was bad enough but Phil's was a faithful reproduction of a world war II bomb site complete with powdered egg and spam stuck to the underside of his bed (poetic license to an extent but not much of an extent). Anyway a few hours on each and we could get the hoover in which was nice. Lunchtime saw us up at the Nag's Head for mothering sunday lunch. All very nice, bit sad as it was one of Uncle Peter's favourites but life goes on. In the afternoon went up the golf course a bit - very cold - wanted to compare the Ping i3 blades against the Taylormade LCGs (my old faithfuls) and to be honest I preferred the Pings - just need to get them firing but made improvements there as well.

Sunday 27th March 2011 to Saturday April 2nd 2011

Was looking for a tackle dealer on way to Anglesey, Joker's in Colwyn Bay gets mentioned a lot - had a look for it on StreetView and am not sure at all now!!

Friday 1st April 2011 A whole quarter of the year gone already and what a crap one it was. Good riddance to Jan, Feb and Apr. Got up at 5:45 got as much ready as I could, went did run back for 6:50, got out by 7:30 took Phil to work, went to Tescos to buy some quality carb loaded sugarty junk as I've got a team member leaving in next couple of days. Then into work for 8:50. Hectic start for a Friday.

Thursday 31st March 2011 Good run this morning although the watch hasn't delivered the data I think it was sub 9:30mi/mile this morning, certainly was for first mile - which all things considered I was happy with cause of the poxy drizzly weather. At least me spuds and me grass are getting nicely watered I suppose and the rainy low pressure is keeping the frost away too which is good. Diabetic clinic at 5:30 everything good - blood pressure lowest for ages, good cholesterol good, bad cholesterol low, blood sugar low. Amazed really as I've done nothing to earn good results really.

Wednesday 30th March 2011 Steady run up town and back - 9:35/min miles for three miles. Ok. Details Did some lawn repairing where the slide used to be and even went over to field and hit a few balls - desperately need to get me golf sorted. Have bought some Ping I3+ blade irons which aren't really blades but they do have smaller heads - I don't know whether this is a good move or not.

Tuesday 29th March 2011

Ran up town and back quate nacely this morning. Sub 9:30min miles and felt pretty good for a change. Had half a pint of water before I went out - this might be something I need to do before setting off every morning - get a bit more hydrated. Details

Monday 28th March 2011 Walked up town and ran back. Surprised at how knackered I was from gardening - back, legs, everything ached - so walk then a run back. Details Spent an hour doing homework with Lucy found this awesome way of division called blocking that is so clever it's untrue it probably only works when the divisor is an integer but it's ever so cool. These primary school kids will rule the world one day. Have ordered a handle for Uncle Peter's spade from Ebay - going to be glued and screwed when it comes so it is. Job will be a good 'un then.

Sunday 27th March 2011 Clocks go forward and it's Phil's weekend at work so instead of getting up at 4am GMT we're getting up at 3:30am GMT (they adjust the cows by half an hour gradually apparently). So a bit knackered all told. Got back from farm, went back to bed up at 8:20am BST. Dug out me potato rows only about 10 x 10ft patch so this year's going to be a bit of an experiment. Spent a load of time trying to restore my Uncle Peter's spade which failed epically as my lad would say the top broke off - it had the consistancy of month old digestive biscuits inside unfortunately. Anyway, never say die I'll find a way to fix it somehow.

Sunday 20th March 2011 to Saturday 26th March 2011

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Friday 25th March 2011
Absolutelty shattered after badminton last night - don't know why it wasn't as hectic as normal but hey ho. Anyway, up at 4am - bread machine on, back bed, up at 5:20am bread made into cobs. Made 2 running ledger rigs. Run up town and back - steady 9:53 pace which was okay all things considered. Details

Thursday 24th March 2011
Finished the book - bit of a page turner towards the end. Didn't get up til 5:30, made a Wessex rig up before went out for a run this morning usual up town and back run 2.5 miles paced at 9:40/mile - am getting really rubbish at running, need to get on track with weight loss again I know but am just not in right mindset currently. Made a couple more rigs last night - 2 hooked clipped without an impact shield but with two srt springs (well one cut in half - there's a recession on you know) and another Wessex rig.

Wednesday 23rd March 2011
Have a fasting blood test at 9am so nil by mouth since yesterday evening. Got up at 4am, set machine on dough setting, back to bed for 1hr 20m, up and sorted out bread cobs. Run up town; details. Finishing off the last millenium book The Girl who kicked the Hornet's nest. Made a clipped down big fish distance rig with a pennel ending in a 4/0 hook which is some pretty solid stuff I can tell you.


Tuesday 22nd March 2011
Had a lie-in, didn't get up til 5:40, everything tickety-boo, quick run up town and back, much better than yesterday at 9:47 pace. Details.

Monday 21st March 2011
Tired again, really tired went to bed about 8pm as well, woke up at 4am before alarm went so straight up, bread machine started, back to bed, up at 5:20, bread rolls in oven. On road about 6:15 very, very slow. Fortunately no details to share but was just jiggered so around 12 min miles for the most part I think. Details.


Sunday 20th March 2011
Not much to report - woke up dead early as you'd expect. Got Phil up at 6am as he was off to a car rally thing at Stafford with Steven Shenton. Made a load of bread. Made two cakes - a victoria sponge and a chocolate sponge thang. Took missus and Lucy to Donington Market which was okay, got about £20 of fishing and golf magazines for a fiver. Will go in a few weeks time before me go away in middle of April and get a few more. After Donington we had a visitation from Vic and Glenys. Then off to Darley Dale for dinner at me mums at tea time. Very good. Few too many drinks over the weekend so will need to get that worked off pretty damn sharpish.