We ride our trusty bicycles most weekends. This blog charts our adventures and records our thoughts as we ride through the rural lanes of Surrey and Northern Kent – and there's some world travel thrown in too
Monday, 26 July 2010
Mobile phone movie footage from April 2007...
If you turn right into The Ridge just before the Botley Hill mini roundabout and travel down towards Al Fayed's gaff, there's an off-road track on the right that leads you back on to the Slines Oak Road. This video was taken at the top of a very fast downhill stretch that shakes the bikes and the riders – not for the faint-hearted.
Old mobile phone video - on the way back from Westerham....
An old video of the road leading out of Westerham on the way towards the hill and on to Botley. We were no more than 10 minutes out of Westerham when this was taken in February 2007.
This was NoVisibleLycra's 100th post.
More archive footage...
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| Me pulling a silly face outside the convenience store in Westerham, Kent, in December 2006. This pic was taken on a mobile phone and sent to Andy who was away for the weekend – proof that I'd gone cycling. |
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| My Kona Scrap, Boxing Day 2006. |
Boxing Day 2006 and here's my Kona Scrap with its original saddle in place. The bike was bought new in May 2006 but, as you can see from the shot, I had already gotten rid of the Tioga tyres that came with it new. Why? Because I thought they were responsible for the many punctures I was getting.
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| Just past the Botley Hill pub. |
This shot was taken just past the Botley Hill pub (you can just make out the pub sign on the left of the road. Why I stopped to take this shot, I don't know, but there you have it.
A trendy shot of my Kona Scrap taken after I'd replaced the original saddle with the Spongy Wonder. This shot taken at Warlingham Green in July 2008.
Images from the weekend's cycling...
Longford Lake at Chipstead Village in Kent. We were here on Saturday morning enjoying our tea and cereal bars. As avid readers will know, there's a nice pub in front of the lake called the Bricklayers Arms.
Andy arriving at Warlingham Green at 7am in the morning on, I think, Sunday. We've changed to meeting at 7am while the sun is shining and the days are long.
In tribute to a shot taken by Andy back in November 2006, we thought we'd take an almost identical shot in 2010. Back in 2006, Andy took a shot of my Kona (scroll down for the shot in a previous post). This picture shows the same Surrey Hills totem pole with mine and Andy's bike resting on it. We are roughly half a mile from the Tatsfield Bus Stop.
Andy and I on the bench in Westerham, a retro destination if ever there was one. This shot was taken on Sunday using the faithful self-timer on my Lumix camera. Shortly after this shot was taken, we headed off home up the hill towards the Tatsfield Bus Stop where, incidentally, we saw two other cyclists. We hadn't seen anybody else use 'our bus stop' before but now there were others using it – and they looked a bit rough and ready to be honest. One was asleep in a camouflage sleeping bag and the other one looked a little unshaven. We didn't stop to say hello.
To Longford Lake and Westerham in Kent...
It was certainly a bit of a retro weekend for Andy and I as we retraced, on Sunday, our old route to Westerham. On Saturday we went to the Longford Lake in Chipstead (Kent) and our total mileage was over 50 miles (Andy clocked 51.5 miles so my distance must have been similar).
We decided to revert back to our original start time at the Green (7am as opposed to 7.30am) as the days are long and the weather's warm – so apologies to anybody who, having read the blog, decided to join us for a cycle at 7.30am, we were long gone! Andy and I were worried that the Saturdays might have read the blog and decided to join us on a cycle. We had visions of crowds on the green and disgrunted Saturdays wondering where the hell we were, but, as we returned to the green after cycling the best part of 32 miles, there was no sign of any disturbance or any straggling reporters and photographers, so we both assumed taht the Saturdays hadn't bothered. Shame as the tea was particularly good this week and so was the conversation.
We kicked off with current affairs and the killing of an innocent bystander by a G20 copper. This one was actually captured on film assaulting newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson who eventually died as a result of the assault. It goes without saying, of course, that PC Simon Harwood – the man responsible for the unprovoked attack – was let off. Let's not forget the innocent Brazilian killed on Stockwell Tube Station and how the senior policewoman in charge, Cressida Dick, note that surname, was awarded a Queen's Medal – and who can forget the recent case of the Libyan terrorist, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, a man responsible (and jailed) for murdering a whole Jumbo jet load of innocent passengers, being let off on 'compassionate grounds'. What? Click here for more details on the Tomlinson killing.
In the case of al-Megrahi, Tony Blair – the man who claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction – said there was no link with BP, the oil company that has ruined the environment in the name of profiteering. The Americans, quite understandably, smell a rat – who wouldn't if Blair's involved? – but either a cover-up will work (likely scenario) or we'll find out soon that the disgraced oil company was involved (result!). For more details, click here.
It all makes me wonder about law and order in the UK. I mean, if a man can be let off for murdering a plane load of people over Lockerbie in Scotland, why can't Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, be released? I mean, he only murdered 13 people; or Dennis Nielsen or Ian Brady – the maths don't add up. All I know is that if I went into Tesco's and swiped a can of beans, I'd be sent down.
The problem, of course, is quite simple: the British people just sit back and let these injustices happen and fail to respond aggressively enough to get things changed and bring the authorities 'to the negotiating table'. We need a more confrontational attitude in these matters, otherwise the police and unruly companies like BP, will continue to get away with it.
But enough of this rubbish, it's all miles to depressing. Let's get back to the cycling. We went down to Longford Lake (Chipstead, Kent) and sat there drinking tea and flicking teabags and then we headed home, having discussed the BBC's Top Gear programme. We both like it, but can't stand it when they try to make out that it's all so spontaneous, when, quite clearly, it isn't. I mean, Clarkson having an ice cream while Hammond and May tip his 'motor home' over the cliff – as if it wasn't planned! They must have cleared it with the authorities and the police otherwise, well, I mean, what if somebody was on the beach below? Who cleared up the mess? In other words, Top Gear, don't treat us like imbeciles.
Saturday was a good 32-miles and then, on Sunday, we went to Westerham, which is around 22 miles there and back. We sat on our usual bench, sipping tea, trying to remember when we last visited this quaint Northern Kent village. Subjects under discussion: setting up a microbrewery in a French chateau purchased with money won on the National Lottery – nice fantasy. In the Guardian's Saturday magazine there is a great column entitled Wreck of the Week. This week it was a French manor house in 17 acres of ground in the Dordogne. Lovely! And all for just £400,000! Nice! Except that we don't have four hundred grand. Still, we have our Kona mountain bikes, our flask of tea and our cereal bars so life ain't that bad.
We decided to revert back to our original start time at the Green (7am as opposed to 7.30am) as the days are long and the weather's warm – so apologies to anybody who, having read the blog, decided to join us for a cycle at 7.30am, we were long gone! Andy and I were worried that the Saturdays might have read the blog and decided to join us on a cycle. We had visions of crowds on the green and disgrunted Saturdays wondering where the hell we were, but, as we returned to the green after cycling the best part of 32 miles, there was no sign of any disturbance or any straggling reporters and photographers, so we both assumed taht the Saturdays hadn't bothered. Shame as the tea was particularly good this week and so was the conversation.
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| Megrahi: And for murdering a plane load of innocent people – no charge! |
We kicked off with current affairs and the killing of an innocent bystander by a G20 copper. This one was actually captured on film assaulting newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson who eventually died as a result of the assault. It goes without saying, of course, that PC Simon Harwood – the man responsible for the unprovoked attack – was let off. Let's not forget the innocent Brazilian killed on Stockwell Tube Station and how the senior policewoman in charge, Cressida Dick, note that surname, was awarded a Queen's Medal – and who can forget the recent case of the Libyan terrorist, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, a man responsible (and jailed) for murdering a whole Jumbo jet load of innocent passengers, being let off on 'compassionate grounds'. What? Click here for more details on the Tomlinson killing.
 |
| Blair: If he says that BP were not involved in the release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, then surely, the company wasn't involved. It's not as if Blair has ever mis-led the public. |
It all makes me wonder about law and order in the UK. I mean, if a man can be let off for murdering a plane load of people over Lockerbie in Scotland, why can't Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, be released? I mean, he only murdered 13 people; or Dennis Nielsen or Ian Brady – the maths don't add up. All I know is that if I went into Tesco's and swiped a can of beans, I'd be sent down.
 |
| Frodo: Set to resign from BP and walk away with an estimated £12 million. I wonder if he'll give any of it to the Americans to help clean up their beaches? |
But enough of this rubbish, it's all miles to depressing. Let's get back to the cycling. We went down to Longford Lake (Chipstead, Kent) and sat there drinking tea and flicking teabags and then we headed home, having discussed the BBC's Top Gear programme. We both like it, but can't stand it when they try to make out that it's all so spontaneous, when, quite clearly, it isn't. I mean, Clarkson having an ice cream while Hammond and May tip his 'motor home' over the cliff – as if it wasn't planned! They must have cleared it with the authorities and the police otherwise, well, I mean, what if somebody was on the beach below? Who cleared up the mess? In other words, Top Gear, don't treat us like imbeciles.
Saturday was a good 32-miles and then, on Sunday, we went to Westerham, which is around 22 miles there and back. We sat on our usual bench, sipping tea, trying to remember when we last visited this quaint Northern Kent village. Subjects under discussion: setting up a microbrewery in a French chateau purchased with money won on the National Lottery – nice fantasy. In the Guardian's Saturday magazine there is a great column entitled Wreck of the Week. This week it was a French manor house in 17 acres of ground in the Dordogne. Lovely! And all for just £400,000! Nice! Except that we don't have four hundred grand. Still, we have our Kona mountain bikes, our flask of tea and our cereal bars so life ain't that bad.
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