A Dragon Boat Festival

 On one of those fine September days he had, he says digging through his archives, the town had a fantastic festival of Dragon Boat Racing lasting most of the day on the Trent in front of the castle.

36 teams entered, including a team from our workplace who represented us so brilliantly on the day, and it is probably the most populated event I have attended in nearly two years. 

Luckily it was warm and outside, so risk was low, and I felt pretty comfortable photographing and filming the event, while talking to the various charities who were present - who benefitted to the tune of £46,000 - and our crew.

It was an event the town can rightly be proud of.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 05.10.21

A Sleepy Butterfly

 Well, even as a British person the events of the last 24 hours have been at times unbearable to watch, and I turned off all my social media to avoid it. I am feeling a very little better tonight.

Yesterday was the first anniversary of my mother's death, a difficult day for my family especially as our Tier 3 status meant we couldn't meet as a family and had to make do with a conference call. I spent the main part of the day having a nice long walk, and finally biting the bullet and buying a new bicycle.

I tested it out today with a quick ride to North Muskham Lake and back, I saw quick but I got stuck at a level crossing barrier for about 15 minutes.

My new bike is a hybrid with racing bike sized wheels so it goes rather faster than my old hack bike I will still use for work. However to make up for the swiftness, it has no suspension and a higher pressure tires so it's a much bumpier ride! 

I haven't owned a new bike in so long! 

I made a great little discovery in the passage way that leads to my flat today. On a dangling strand of thick cobweb, a small tortoiseshell butterfly is hibernating! 

Heaven knows if it will make it to spring!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 04.11.20

The Dockless Bike (Non) Revolution

Hire bike schemes are one of the most significant stories of modern day sustainable transport around the world, and in the UK you only have to see how successful the Santander bikes have been to realise this.

Nottingham has Citycard Cycles, and I often notive one of their bikes parked up at the library, presumably on a month long hire. So they must be popular too.

More recently, a new type of scheme has found its way into the UK, where the hire bikes don't actually need to be parked in a formal dock, and can be unlocked where you find them by using an app. One such is Ofo, which started off in China, and has made its way into Europe.

It is safe to say that this sort of set-up has not worked as well in the UK as it has in other countries in Europe such as Denmark or the Netherlands, countries with a massively ingrained cycling culture that enables these bikes to be respected and used in the manner for which they are intended.

In this country, the bikes have been stolen, vandalised, and chucked into rivers in their hundreds, and most dockless schemes in the UK seem to be being abandoned. Which is really sad.

Ofo runs no schemes nearer to Newark than oxford, yet I've seen one of their bikes parked up at work. Today, I found two for sale on the market place. It seems that the abandoned schemes have been auctioning their old bikes off.

£100 for the ones I saw today, and although they would be too heavy and slow for me, they might be ideal for some folk for gentle commuting, especially as they come with inbuilt dynamo lighting.

In other news, a week's worth of rain has left us in a rather sodden town, with lock gates closed against the floods and the River Devon flooding its pastures. I've had a walk and a run, despite feeling very tired, and I've enjoyed watching the athletics.

Yay to Dasher!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 05.10.19

Dragon Boat Racing Spectacular

I had planned to visit this event for a while, but this morning it was only the distant sound of pounding drums coming from the river that reminded me it was happening.

We've had dragon boat racing come to Newark before, but not on the scale we had today. I think there were around 24 teams, racing in three heats of three each, all based in their own little gazebo on the riverside park, while musicians played, ice creams were sold, the inevitable facepainters did their thing and photos were taken of the various crews dressed in their assortment of Mexican, superhero, and er, builders in hi vizzes, as they prepared to race.

The park was packed with spectators, and it wasn't even standing room only along the riverbank.

I watched for about 3 hours in total, and at no point had no real idea who was winning, only that there was a lot of noise; those drums on the boats really do resonate along the castle walls. One poor crew got a drenching when their boat deposited them into the water; luckily there were plenty of rescue boats to save folk from the dread of Davy Jones' Locker.

It looked a lot of fun and I felt rather envious of those taking part. They were certainly getting a good day out for their sponsorship money.

Maybe next year.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 15.09.19

River Life

And again, up and down and around the river. Possibly more than once. I do enjoy it.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 19.08.19

A New Cycling Cafe

I was told yesterday that a new cycling cafe had opened very recently, called "Bike Chain" and today I went down for a look.

And a cup of tea of course, although £1.95 actually provided me a very generous pot of tea.

At the moment it doesn't feel very "bikey" - there's a couple of shiny frames hanging from the wall and various 50s pictures of Coppi types in their woollen jerseys and hidden vials full of amphetamine mixed with strychnine. It also doesn't have an ideal location from a cycling point of view; organised rides are more likely to start from Rumbles because of its location slightly out of town nearer quieter roads.

However it is doing a roaring trade from the retail park, I'm told, and soon there will be a bike shop, sports massage clinic and repair facility on the site. So I hope it goes well for them.

Not far away, behind the retail park, a little oasis of wildflowers was providing food for a high number of bees, bumbles, butterflies and a little mint moth - I think.

Further along the river, an angler on a cruiser hauled out a big bream from the castle reach while I watched.

I love living near the river.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 13.08.19