The Pain and Joy of Cycling

I've just been replacing a punctured inner tube.

Sounds easy enough, when you write it down like that. But for me, a man who is dyspraxic to the point of being barely able to use a pair of scissors, it is an agony of struggling and cursing and giving-up-in-a-huffs.

Sometimes I can do it in ten minutes, but on this bike, a bike with a really deep rim, it took a half hour of jamming tire levers in to even the tiniest section of tire free, and then once you've out the new inner tube in, you then have to get the blasted thing back in place, AND then put the wheel back on the frame which will always mean a nice pair of oily hands from having to fiddle with the derailleur.

Don't mention trying to fit a new bell with a multi-tool screwdriver. That was a bloody faff as well.

The noble steed

But of course, suffering this hassle enables you to get outside, into the country, and the opportunity to see, to discover. Like last night, when I climbed the hill into Coddinton village to catch this sunset.

Giant bike!

From Coddington village

Down Beacon Hill

I love cycling, on a nice day, when it isn't to work in the dark. But I feel I can't really go for super long rides, because a mechanical would be a disaster. I'd never be able to fix it. But, at least there's plenty to see in a reasonable radius, on quiet roads and Sustrans routes.

I have been running today, but it was a slow one. This little cricket bruise didn't help.

Ouch!

Back now to work for a few days, but I have plenty to show you yet!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 08.03.16

The Museum of Agricultural Curiosities

Well, after a late start I've had a wonderfully productive day I think, with a two hour walk followed by a ten mile bike ride on an evening of calm air and glorious sunset. I've taken many photographs; you will see these over the course of the next few days as they rightly deserve post of their own.

But this first post shall deal with a very strange place that sits about halfway along our historic Millgate. It is run by an old man who sits in an office seemingly filled with very old style invoice type forms; pink sheets, green sheets, box files, a dented filing cabinet and other similar cliches that make you think of Bill Maynard in "The Gaffer".

The business seems to be one of agricultural machine hire, but I have no idea who would do the hiring, because most of the stuff on view is rusting junk, arranged along both sides of a driveway. If you want to hire a decomposing rotovator or a three wheeled tractor, this is the place for you. I don't, but I find the collection of farm machinery, seemingly laid out for us to inspect like an open air museum, endlessly fascinating.

The chap who runs this "business" is apparently a rather eccentric local character, who seems to have a liking for hoarding stuff. No idea what the point is of all this stuff, you'd have thought it would have sold to scrappers years ago although the value of metal has fallen so much now most of the local collectors have switched to "disposal" of garden waste.

Whatever his reasons, this museum has been a feature of the town for a while.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 07.03.16

Squill in the Snow

Well, I've had a decent day today, with a trip to the park this morning, a visit to halfords to buy things for my bike, then Quatermass 2, a 6km run, then finally 90 minutes in indoor cricket nets.

Breaking my knee back in gently then.

Still, I feel good for an active day, although my achilles is a bit sore, and my improving batting didn't prevent me getting a couple of bruisesome whacks on the inner thigh.

My run was basically a cemetery and Friary Park survey, and as ever, it is sad to report that the crocuses are now ever so slightly over now, with fewer of their purple and white forms lining the graveyard paths. But, squill has now appeared in both locations, and in addition in Friary Park the first UKIP bating spanish bluebells have made an appearance.

The big surprise for me was getting snowed on all of a sudden as I ran through the forgotten nature reserve. It was very icy snow, but definitely that rather than hail, I'd say. It's the first proper wintry snow shower I've experienced all this season, and it is now March!

I hope for bright weather tomorrow, so that I might spot a few birds for the camera. I had a female blackbird on my fat ball feeder this morning, which I wasn't expecting.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 05.03.16

Wallflowers in the sconce, awaiting bees

Lovely crimson colour, this

Sun rays over the cricket ground

Feathery company

The watchers

Graffiti on the cycle path, probably courtesy of the nearby primary school

Butterfly

I love this owl!

Haily snow

Dark skies

Friary Park. Grape hyacinth

The squill is out!

A lovely clump this

In closer.

Just beautiful, these flowers

Preening in the Holly

Today has been a miserable cold, wet, windy day. I've stayed in, apart from a brief burst of dryness in which I was able to get out to have a quick hair scalping but no more. The big exercise dreams will have to wait until tomorrow.

Until then, I refer you back to a sunny day last week in which I figured I'd just wander around the garden and see who was about. Next door's Polish labrador puppy, a boisterous golden character called "Falco" was absent, which explains why I was able to get some nice shots of a collared dove doing its hair in the holly tree.

It did notice I was observing it, so the dove observed me quizzically for a few minutes before resuming its coiffuring efforts.

Eventually it was finished, and allowed me to have a look at its nice smooth plumage.

I had other observers as well. Not content with owning a labrador, I noticed that there are other curtain twitchers in the Polish household.

Hoping for good light and pretty birds tomorrow.

Pity the Poor Old Horses

At the end of Mill Gate, sloping down from the road to the River Trent, is a field occupied by a number of cob type horses ranging in size from Shetland size to "normal" horse size.

Whatever that is.

It is a wild, muddy field, in which these horses trot about, get fed polo mints by passing children, and do general horse things. There is no stable or permanent shelter, but there were a few trees under which the ponies could stand if it was raining.

When I trotted past - pun very much intended - a few days ago, I noticed that all these trees had been hacked down, and although they had plenty of food, the horses had absolutely no cover. There's been rumours of development on this site going round for a few years now. Maybe it's to do with that.

To be fair, whatever the reason, these horses seem healthy enough in themselves, but I can't imagine being exposed to wet weather all the time being very good for hooves, and would make an already rather thick coat extremely cold and heavy.

The horse debate is a big one in this town. There is a massive problem with fly grazing and horse abandonement, indeed a dog sized horse is often to be found chained up on the grass verge on Millgate, its water bucket often empty and tipped over. Horse registration doesn't seem to have changed much, and a horse in a field just out of town was found so ill by a rescue team it never recovered.

"Poor horsies!" says one side. "Shut up you do gooders," says the other. "They're our horses and we can do what we want with them, look at them, there's nothing wrong with them."

There's an element of class and social grouping involved in these clashes too, I'll leave it to you dear readers, to guess what that might be. I myself feel we don't treat our animals very well in this town, there are certainly a few statu, weapon and fighting dogs around.

But whether we are any different from anywhere else in this regard, I have no idea.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 03.03.16

The Avenue of Blossom

Most of my pictures taken in Sconce Park seem to be mainly taken down by the river and in the old wood; this is where the birds, butterflies and atmosphere are usually found. Soon, more flowers were emerge and butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies will gather in the warmth of a heightening spring sun.

However, at the other end of the Park, is The Orchard, part of the dreaded Sconce Parkrun course that I really must get around to running again when the weather warms up. Spring finds this little grove of fruit trees and blackthorn at its most beautiful, when all the trees are dressed in rich blossom, and early bees and butterflies feed off the blooms.

It is still early of course, but the trees are really showing beautifully at the moment; apple, cherry, damson, blackthorn. Like I can tell which from which. I'm glad they are out, because it means the first insects of spring will have a rich food source when they emerge. I remember two years ago, March 12th or so, the first warm day of Spring found those trees alive with the hum of honey bees, and the gentle flutterings of peacock butterflies.

Last year the blossom was a couple of weeks later, but for all the talk of an early season, by this time last year I'd already seen honeybees and a couple of butterflies in flight. Nothing yet. We are forecast a bitter weekend, perhaps the worst of the whole winter here. The buzzers and flutterers will be better off staying under their duvets. The first day after that the temperature reaches 16C, will be the day the Brimstones are up here, and my Spring officially sprungs.

I just seem to be thinking aloud a lot rather than properly writing. I have a lot of journeys to make both on foot and on wheels, and so many things I need to do. De-clutter. But if I muse too much on things like that I'll end up being a lifestyle blogger, and my flat is far too much of a bombsite for that!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 02.03.16

Turbine Decapitation

I'm glad to be a bit more mobile again after my knee woes, although I haven't risked running on it yet. I've had some good walks on my off shift, and also got in a 25km bike ride on my off shift as well.

It was a glorious afternoon for it, although the Easterly wind took a fair bit of getting used to; it meant it was harder coming back than going out. But on my old bike, it was even more of a trial.

This is my old old bike, the blue Jupiter Trailblazer, an old Halford's model that I foolishly forgot seems to be bestow rear punctures on me at will despite there being no spokes poking through the rim tape or any obvious problems in the tyre. It has no suspension, and on the bumpy Sustrans 64 it renders my hands numb within a few minutes.

However, there was no puncture - until I got back into town - and although I didn't find the egret on the dyke I was looking for, there were plenty of buzzards to be found looking for non-existent thermals to soar on. I was watching one in the distance, when another one swooped over my head, its wings unusually pointed and the white markings well on display.

The sun was beginning to set, huge in the sky but not yet suffused in orange as I rattled through Thorpe village and came across the big wind turbine that silently sweeps through the sky alongside the A46. And I noticed stretched out on the ground in front of me my elongated body, at the mercy of the huge, cruelly rotating blades.

Too good to miss!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 01.03.16