Category Archives: around home

around home, bikes, engineering, history, MTB, UK, vehicles

Corfe Castle & Swanage Railway

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Somewhere reasonably local that I meant to go all summer was Corfe Castle, Swanage & the Purbecks.  Not being around for a single summer weekend kind of killed that plan, so with the sun shining brightly Saturday last I finally made the relatively short drive west past Poole.

A short leisurely walk from the Swanage Railway (more later) Park & Ride had me circling the base of the hill that the castle stands on.  Having been built by William the Conqueror, its a thousand or so years old, but was ruined during the Civil War when, as one of the last southern Royalist strongholds, it finally fell to the Parliamentarians.   As one would expect from a defensive position, the castle affords really good views of the picturesque Purbeck countryside.

With the castle such a ruin, although some of the walls still stand quite tall, there was plenty of space to wander around & explore – & avoid people, it’s quite a popular place to visit.  Apparently this is Famous Five country & the castle inspired the one on Kirrin Island – I was disappointed that I didn’t discover any dungeons, tunnels or bearded smugglers.

The other attraction around the village is the Swanage Railway that runs various steam locos down to the seaside at Swanage.  A much bigger operation than the Watercress Railway, I was surprised at just how popular it was – difficult to find a seat on one of the six carriages.  The Pullman Observation car looked pretty impressive too – alas, I didn’t have the pound coin needed to upgrade.

Down at Swanage it was time to finally visit the bikeshop I order quite a bit of stuff from – bit of a 29er, singlespeed, cargo bike haven.  I was quite surprised that they had Avanti bikes as their rentals – all the way from NZ.  Wandering down to the shore it was time for a late & large lunch – not much dinner needed that night.

Workmate Henry thought that eight o’clock on Sunday morning was a good time to meet on the other side of the Forest for a ride – he managed to choose the coldest morning of the season so far.  At least that meant it was clear again.  Driving out towards Burley in the mist from Brockenhurst I found all sorts of deer and longhorn cattle.  If it had have been a bit colder the ground may not have been so wet – however, we had a nice little pootle around before the others had to leave.

around home, history, UK

Brighton

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Last weekend I had set aside to be the first in over three months that I didn’t travel anywhere & instead stayed at home & did very little.  However, one can’t take brilliantly clear & sunny days for granted in this country. So shortly after waking up Saturday morning with no plans, I was joining that 170 year tradition of days out – a day-trip to the Brighton seaside by train.  It would seem many others had that idea as the train was crammed by the end of the two hour all-stops journey.

I headed straight for the seaside & the famous pier.  As expected, the beach is overly stoney – but it was all very pleasant with plenty of people out & about and many restaurants and cafes to choose from (many built in to the bottom, sea-side of the promenade).  West Pier has many similarities to the third Swamp Castle – disused for many years, it burnt down, fell over & (mostly) sank into the sea.

There’s a tiny museum devoted to the local fishing trade, & seaside attractions to some extent, tucked under the promenade as well – that gave me a bit of local history. With plenty more chances of food from enticing stalls, I strolled around the historic pier looking at the various funfair attractions and gazing back to the beach and further along to the white cliffs.

Hungry by now, I was easily tempted to shell out a few quid for a ride on the oldest electric railway still operating (Volks Railway) – it’s about a ten minute ride along the edge of the shore to Brighton Marina. That area started out looking rather shabby, but eventually I found plenty of restaurants beside the moorings – I just had to get past the encamped gypsies, a huge boarded up lot, an ASDA, a parking building and a McDonald’s.  Having had so much pasta & pizza recently, I was keen to give British Italian a miss & ended up in a small chain (there is one other in Newcastle) of American restaurants.  It was not over the top (so not really American in that respect), but I was well thrilled to be having a proper large burger with plenty of blue cheese, pickles, onion rings & sweet potato fries.  For a southwest touch, they even served pink lemonade; just as well I was wearing my Stetson in the bright sunshine.

The main thing I wanted to see in Brighton was the Royal Pavilion – the Prince Regent’s residence that he had built either side of the turn of the nineteenth century.  I was well prepared that it would look a little odd on the outside – it was built in the Indo-Saracenic style, a strange mix of Indian styles and those favoured in Britain at the time – Gothic & neo-Classical.

I was taken aback by the extent and the grandeur of the interior – I was not expecting such a Chinese influence.  The pavilion is the greatest example of the chinoiserie (French – Chinese-esque) style in Britain.  With large dragons, palm leaves & all manner of other Chinese decorations, it really was quite something.  Unfortunately, no photos inside – so an image search will have to satisfy any curiosity you may have.

I had a bit more time to wander the extremely narrow-streeted Lanes area, there are many curious looking shops – with a big student population and being the foremost LGBT centre in the UK, it does have quite a different feel to the place than most old towns & small cities in the country.

Back home at a reasonable hour, the next day I headed out for my first mountain-bike club ride in six or seven months.  Pretty flat out on the other side of the Forest, it was pleasing to have more than half of the fast group riding singlespeed.  I may need to get a smaller cog at the back as I was frequently spinning out on the flat sections & struggling to keep up – 32:16 is very achievable around here, in fact 32:18 borders on the silly.  Still, I’ve only just started singlespeeding again, so at least I didn’t have to push up the hills.

around home, shoulder, UK

Another shoulder update

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It’s now five months since the anthroscopic (keyhole) anterior stabilisation of my right shoulder – brought on by four dislocations over the previous couple of years.  Since my last update, I’ve continued with a variety of progressing exercises & stretches set by the physio.  Progress along the way has been mostly gradual with not too many obvious signs, but every so often I’d push my shoulder in some direction just a little bit further than I was used to & suddenly realise that there is more movement there than I thought.

I had one such moment a couple of days ago when it struck me that I could now lift my arm out away from my body (but in the same plane), with my palm facing down (much more difficult than palm up) & it would go all the way up & touch my ear.  Bloody brilliant, as that was the most restrictive movement.  When the physio saw that today, she was well pleased – she sent me out the door with a theraband with a bit more resistance & told me she didn’t want to see me again.  Fantastic – so after five months I have a much more stable shoulder & I can now start taking small steps (pedal strokes) in getting back to mountain-biking.  Hoorah!

The first six weeks post-surgery was of course the worse, being in a sling & not being able to drive.  The biggest hassle I found was not being able to cook as it meant I had to have ready-meals & they aren’t the best for the palate or the body.  Also, not being able to exercise harder than a brisk walk meant I wasn’t burning enough energy & therefore, not sleeping so well.  But once that sling was off, things got much better & I haven’t really missed the mountain-biking as much as I thought I would (mostly due to the poor weather this summer) and have managed four trips overseas, plenty of other weekends away in Britain and got to a better level of fitness at the gym & running in the New Forest (even if that has been pretty boring).

So definitely no regrets so far in taking the surgery route to fixing my shoulder.

around home, UK, vehicles

Grand Event

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Last week was P&O’s 175th birthday & to celebrate they’d spent a couple of years planning to bring all of their fleet of cruise ships to their home port, Southampton, Tuesday last week for a bit of a party. As it was another cool, miserable wet day of the summer-I’d-be-more-annoyed-with-if-I-could-go-biking – I thought it was worthwhile to pop down the road to Calshot (the headland where Southampton Water meets the Solent) to see all seven ships head out on their various cruises in formation. I didn’t really count on Southampton’s affinity for cruise liners & just how big a part of this city’s history shipping has been.

So I was surprised to see so many turn out on this rather bleak evening to watch the spectacle – the traffic stopped before Fawley powerstation. From listening to the local radio, I could tell I had a bit of a wait in the wind before the first ship emerged from behind the Calshot Activities Centre. Judging from traffic reports (Southampton jammed up & all roads around Hythe waterside closed), this event was even bigger than I imagined – it sounded like quite the party down at Hythe pier & even better if you happened to be out on the water. All the traffic build-up isn’t too surprising considering Southampton saw thirty thousand people either embarking on or disembarking from the seven ships that day.

Unfortunately the inclement weather had forced the Red Arrows to continue sitting at Bournemouth Airport & then cancel their display – aerial acrobatics aren’t much good if no one can see them. Eventually the vanguard edged out in to the Solent, it made sense Adonia led the fleet out as she is less than half, & in some cases almost a quarter, the size of some of the ships that followed. Once all seven filed passed and navigated Bramble Bank, they assembled in a nice flying-V – one could finally see all seven ships at once, even if my camera couldn’t capture it. By now the mist rolled in again & it was time to head home.

In the end I saw a lot of really big ships with plenty of people waving from the beach & decks. A different sight & one I’m not likely to see again. Something different for a Tuesday night, not sure the forty-five minute, few mile, drive home was a good way to finish it off – pity it wasn’t sunnier & I’m not bike fit or else it would have been faster to bike.

Naval ship that kept providing resounding salutes

Spot the Isle of Wight ferry