News, information and the odd useful document http://www.thetaylor.co.uk/ Copyright thetaylor Day OneAfter flying to Alicante, we arrived at the apartment in Gran Alacant; a lovely spot, on a hill overlooking the sea and with views of Alicante city. The conditions were overcast but it was still bright and warm. It was getting on towards late afternoon but we thought we’d take a stroll down the hill to investigate the beach. It’s quite a steep hill and about 15 minute walk. Half way down the hill there was thunder and fork lightning lighting up the sky over Alicante and the mountains in the distance. The sky rapidly darkened and the winds got strong we lost sight of the hills due to rain in the distance.We decided to abandon the beach investigation and it started raining. It was still warm but we went towards an area we knew had some bars and cafes so we could seek shelter and maybe get some food. Before we could find full shelter the rain got heavier. Once inside the hail storm started. Hail, thunder and a crack of lightning that was almost directly overhead. We’d never heard anything so loud. We sheltered in a Spanish bar with half a dozen old men playing bridge. The hail came down in large pieces – the size of golf balls. A local girl ran in, she’d been caught out and suffered a direct hit on her forehead from the hail and was in a bit of a state. The locals were obviously not used to this kind of weather. Later we heard on the news that they had measured rainfall of 38 litres per square metre in 1 ½ hours!After about 45 minutes, the weather improved and we decided to venture out. The streets were flooded with at least six inches of water. The strong winds had ripped lots of vegetation from trees and shrubs. The streets were a mess and a lot of cars had dimpled roofs and bonnets from the impact of the hail.We went to a tapas place in the Carabassi area of Gran Alacant. There were lads picking up the hail and throwing it at each other like snowballs – solid ice?! That would have hurt!! After dinner, we went back to the apartment and then on to a bar at a place nearer the apartment. It was a bar run by ex-pat’s. A lot of Brits were there and everyone was still talking about the storm. By now it was about 10pm, a good four hours since the storm and there were still sizeable lumps of ice on the ground – the weather wasn’t cold, we were wearing shorts still.Day TwoAfter looking at some local information, we had seen that a town about three miles south of Gran Alacante would be an interesting place to visit. Santa Pola was a big fishing port and had a ferry to Tabarca island. We went to Santa Pola by bus and had a wander round the local market which was right next to the bus station. It was mainly clothes and fake watches but we saw some nice artwork – shame it wouldn’t have fitted in the suitcase!We then walked to the harbour and out along the pier. The beaches in Santa Pola were all sandy and there were lots of people enjoying a swim. On the rocks along the side of the pier there were people fishing for crabs and some people with harpoons for catching octopus. Andrew was really keen to do some snorkelling and the main mission of the day was to find some good quality snorkelling gear for him. We found a great little shop, selling lots of snorkelling, diving and fishing gear. The owner did not speak English but we muddled our way through it and both came away with snorkelling gear including fins.The coastline at Santa Pola was a long stretch of sand with occasional cafes. We decided to look for some lunch but kept walking past places that served tapas and paella but were put off by the fact they also served a full English breakfast! It was a long walk and we found ourselves heading out of Santa Pola so we turned around and headed back. We went away from the beach, hoping to find the town centre but alas we really struggled. We eventually found a cafe bar, full of Spanish people (always a good sign) that didn’t do any English food and had delightful seafood paella.We were slightly disappointed by the time we left Santa Pola; we hadn’t managed to find any form of town centre but we were planning to return later in the week to go to the island. On the bus journey back to Gran Alacant, we got off the bus at the bottom of the hill, at the GA Centre (Gran Alacant, out of town shopping centre). The GA centre has a supermarket, Aldi and Lidl and several other little shops and a selection of restaurants and bars. We went to the supermarket to get some food for breakfasts, chorizo and a few other bits and bobs – Andy found his favourite Maxibon ice cream and was happy! It was also the first time we had been able to find fresh milk. It was a long walk back up the hill, carrying the shopping and the snorkelling gear. Good exercise!There was more thunder, lightning and rain this evening but no hail! We saw lots of cars damaged from the previous day’s storm and people had put lots of plastic tables and chairs out for rubbish collection; they had holes in them from where the hail had hit them. The streets were still strewn with leaves from the high winds.Dinner this night was at the Patagonia steak house. Gran Alacant has quite a large population of South American people and this was an Argentian theme steakhouse. The steaks were wonderful. We them went across the court yard to a place called “Not Just Desserts” – a cafe run by Brits that served meals but specialised in good British desserts – the lemon meringue pie was heaven!Day ThreeThis day was warm and with patchy cloud but we thought we’d go to our local beach and go snorkelling. We got to the beach and got some loungers. We both went snorkelling and Alana had an encounter with a jellyfish. After a swim we went back to the loungers...... soon it started clouding over and the winds got up, blowing sand up. Even the hardiest of British tourists retreated and we went back to the apartment. It started raining and kept raining for quite a while so we had a BBQ at the apartment for lunch and some wine – a nice full bodied red that we’d got from the local winery (4 Euros for 2 litres)!In Gran Alacant, there is a “train” like an open air, old fashioned bus, it does a circuit of Grant Alacant and it is quite a good way of seeing the place. Once the rain stopped we thought we’d go and catch it. We went to the stop and waited.... and waited..... and waited. In the end we gave up and got a bus to Arenales del Sol, a small town/village near the beach. Since it was still wet, not many people were out and Arenales did seem quite run down – it seems to have grown purely due to tourism. There was almost nothing open (too early for dinner) so we walked back along the beach, all the way to beach at Gran Alacant then up the hill to the apartment. In Arenales there are a lot of buildings built right next to a lovely long sandy beach. There was a lot of debris on the beach, presumably washed up by the storm and a lot of erosion – we saw in several places, concrete paths, roads and structures that have collapsed due to erosion.After we got changed, we got the bus back to the GA centre. It was still raining! For dinner we went to Tokyo sushi, an “eat all you can” Chinese buffet which also did sushi. All the tables were located next to a big conveyor belt which had dishes going past and you could take a plate of whatever you wanted. Excellent! After dinner, once again we waited for the bus back up the hill. The GA train wasn’t running due to the wet weather but the bus never turned up – we waited for 45 minutes, chatting to some nice Danish people. We then gave in a trekked back up the hill. It’s not a bad walk, just 20 minutes, and it was still warm, even at 11pm.Day FourAbout eight miles inland from Gran Alacant, is a city called Elche. Looking at some information, it looked like a fascinating place to visit, with a lot of history and palm groves. Elche was designated a UNESCO World Heritage in 2001 site due to its palm plantations. It is also famous for its shoe making industryTo get to Elche, we had to get the bus to Santa Pola and then another bus from Santa Pola to Elche. The wait between buses was 50 minutes so we took a walk into Santa Pola while waiting..... and we found the town centre! Since Santa Pola had grown up around fishing and then the tourism we were surprised that the centre was quite a distance from the sea front area – but nonetheless we had found it.Once in Elche, we had a map that showed two different walks for tourists, exploring the history of Elche and the different aspects of the Palms which are very much part of Elche. We decided to merge both walks into one and Andrew was in charge of the map. There is a long history of the Virgin Mary being part of Elche’s history and there are some beautiful buildings. We went to the Basilica of Santa Maria in the heart of Elche. It was beautiful, inside and out and the views from the top of the tower were superb, extending over both the old parts of the city and the new parts which have grown up the other side of the river valley that runs through Elche. There are also some impressive bridges across this large creek.There is also an old palace, lots of museums and many other old buildings, including some ancient Arabic baths. We couldn’t go round the Palacio de los Altamira because it was cordoned off due to some television filming. This was a shame but there were certainly no shortage of things to see.We had lunch at a little Spanish cafe which served a set menu of tapas for two people. It was lovely food and in particular there was a dish of small white fish cooked in olive oil. If it wasn’t on a set menu we probably wouldn’t have tried it but it was delicious.The palm groves are present in the entire history of Elche, and the irrigation systems developed to allow their cultivation is quite impressive. The poor quality, brackish water is perfect for the palms and there were hundreds of date palms even in the heart of the old city and citrus trees, almonds, pomegranates and figs were grown amongst them. The palms are grown and harvested for dates; we were able to try fresh dates which are very different from the sweet, sticky dried dates that we normally find. There is also locally produced drink called Datil – alcoholic liquor made from dates, 23% alcohol. The walking was fueled by a selection of fresh and naturally dried dates and a cake of dried figs with almonds. DeliciousWe went to a botanical garden which had specimens of almost every type of palm tree in the world. They also had lots of different cacti from around the world – many of which grow all over the region due to the climate. Andrew fell in love with the koi in the ponds! It was a wonderful place.After the botanical garden, we went to the palm museum and then around the plantation. It was fascinating, how they grow. By the time we left Elche, it was 7.30 pm. We had walked miles but had really enjoyed the day. We got the bus back to Santa Pola then on to Gran Alacant. After cleaning up we were by now in the local routine of dinner being between 8 pm and 10 pm. We ate at ‘Claudia’s’, a grill house with an Eastern European theme run by a lady from Romania.Day FiveWhen we got up, the weather looked like it promised good day and we had so far had no successful beach time! After breakfast, we went back to Gran Alacant beach. Even arriving just before 11 am it was lovely and warm. We both went for a swim but Andrew stayed out considerably longer, snorkelling and playing with his new toy – a waterproof digital camera! He was keeping an eye out and avoided the jellyfish this time.By 1.30 pm, it was getting hot we headed back to the apartment for a relaxing lunch with a glass of wine! Very civilised! After the siesta, we managed to get the tour of Gran Alacant on the little train. It was larger than we had realised and every urbanisation had its own good selection of little shops, bars and restaurants. We got off the train at the GA centre to top up on a few bits of food and water. It was gone 3pm by now but Alana was suffering a bit with the heat – until now we had managed very well.For dinner, Alana had bought lots of fresh fish from the supermarket. Three types for less than 2 Euros, sardines, squid and whitebait. Andrew had a real treat!Day SixThis day, we went to the city of Alicante, only 10 miles north it is a bustling city with a big port and a spectacular castle. Like the whole region and Elche, there are a lot of historical buildings as well as a very modern city, much busier than Elche.We went to a water museum, detailing how they obtain, store and transport water in the hot, dry climate. Quite an engineering feat! Before a modern system, they had hollowed two huge chambers in the hill/mountain rock near the castle which stored water. After these were no longer needed they were used as air raid shelters in the war.Lunch was some more Spanish food at a restaurant, where Andrew was introduced to gazpacho and we both tried a desert which was a Spanish version of a crème caramel – Crema Catalun. Delicious!On the way back to the bus station, we went into the amphitheatre where the bull fighting takes place. There was a museum section which had pictures, information and costumes of some of the most famous Matadors (bull fighters) in Spain. Some of the capes were torn and had blood on them. The heads of some big bulls had been stuffed and mounted on walls. The heaviest one we saw was 570 kg. It was quite grotesque but when we sneaked a peak at the actual amphitheatre which was impressive and you can imagine the atmosphere at a big event – whether a modern bullfight or a historical gladiator fight.The central, indoor market of Alicante is in an impressive building, the Mercado Central de Abastos. We found a little bakery, selling delicious chocolates and Spanish style pastries, we purchased a couple of items, including Manchegos – they didn’t last long. The Alicante and Elche region is also known for its nougat. We bought some Alicante nougat with almonds which is hard and some marzipan with candied fruit in it. Elche produces its own nougat with almonds which is soft.Dinner was tapas at Cafe Hispania, run by a retired builder and his wife, both from Belgium; they took early retirement to Spain and were very nice people. They had truly immersed themselves in Spanish life. They introduced us to honey schnapps; stronger than other schnapps but very nice; the sweet honey and after taste was reminiscent of Oban whisky which has honey tones.Day SevenOne our last full day in Spain, we got a prompt start, getting the bus to Santa Pola. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to browse the Saturday market which had lots of fresh fruit and veg and looked more interesting than the weekday market. Our destination was the harbour and the ferry to Tabarca Island. The ferry was a catamaran and had a glass bottom – when we approached the island, the boat slowed and we were able to view the seaweed, corals and lots of fish. The island is less than a mile long and 400 metres wide. The beaches were all shingle and rocks with lots of interesting rock pools but the currents meant we couldn’t investigate safely. Some of the small beaches where “spongy” underfoot – due to a significant depth of seaweed that had been washed up and was gradually building up and rotting down. At the northern most end of the island was a cemetery and in the centre, what looked like either a small fort or old prison! There weren’t really any trees but instead this central building was surrounded by an orchard of cacti!The island is permanently inhabited but is very small and obviously relies on fishing and tourism. After the walk round we returned to the main beach, where there were quite a few people and a couple of boats moored. We donned snorkelling gear and went for a long paddle! It was fantastic – so many different fish. Through the thick seaweed we couldn’t see much else but it was good nonetheless.After a good swim, we had a final lunch, the seafood restaurant was and you could buy dishes of lobster by the kilo – tempting but expensive. A wide selection of seafood was consumed however before heading back to the harbour and back to the mainland.Dinner was a matter of using up bits of food in the apartment, also giving us the time to pack. Andrew wasn’t disappointed with Alana serving up Spanish style chorizo in red wine and some other delights!Day EightSadly, a week had passed and we had to return home. All in all, we really enjoyed a much needed break in Gran Alacant. When talking about it, we decided that Elche was definitely our favourite place and we had a wonderful day. The only thing that Elche didn’t have was the beach, but if you live there it was only half an hour’s drive to the coast. The palms and gardens were wonderful and a great place to walk or sit to enjoy a picnic during the siesta time. The opportunity to eat as much seafood as we wanted was great – it was just a matter of finding the right places and steering clear of the English breakfast, burger and chips establishments! We would like to go back at some point and discover more of Alicante, Elche and venture down to Torrevieja. Despite being mid-September, it was still hot and sunny. We were careful with sun and heat and coped well but agreed that we weren’t sure if either of us could cope in high summer – particularly Alana! http://www.thetaylor.co.uk/index.php?p=14 Sun, 27 Sep 2009 17:18:05 BST Day 1 We had an early start on Saturday with a long drive to pick Rico up. Packing the van was straight forward enough and we only had to chuck one seat out of the van as its seatbelt didn't work. The seat mechanism on this van is AMAZING. The travel time went quickly and the next thing we knew we were at Whitehaven. When we had all got ourselves set we went to the start point. It's tradition to dip a wheel at the start and the end of the trip, having been caught out by the ramp before I warned everyone that it gets very slippery towards the bottom. Stunt man Ste showed his determination by skidding ankle deep into the sea! Now underway the first day starts gently and ramps up, easing you in. We had a puncture from DNM's mean machine in the first 40 minutes and we struggled to get the Halfords air gun tightened wheel nuts off. A passerby had a large 15mm spanner which did the trick. So puncture repaired we left the steady climb out of Whitehaven and went into the lumpy hills heading toward Keswick. It was apparent from this point that DNM was finding things tough. With the heavy bike with insufficient gearing and lower fitness he was suffering up the hills. However mental strength is one of his major advantages and he forced his way over every climb. The group trying to stay together on the flats and stopping at the hill tops. I have never seen someone suffer so much without a single moan. We stopped at Loweswater (one of my favourite places on the trip) and took a few photos. After this point there was a long hard ascent but we had our first stop with the support van at the top. The climb was harder than I remembered and everyone suffered. Ste started a bit too hard at the bottom with the climb becoming fully visible after the first bend. He suffered for it the rest of the way up. With a long rest at the support van for food and bike servicing it was time to push on. We were about to do the off road descent into Keswick. It was a fun section, not too technical but judgement was required with some nasty off camber sections. iT was first to bite the dust with a spectacular 30mph skid and flip. On surveying the crash site we found another helmet visor, I guess he wasn't the first. Fortunately no real damage done. Another comedy moment from iT in Keswick with a "SPD Moment" while waiting for DNM, he fell while stationary in front of a busy pub and several passers by. Much laughter :) The final climb of the day was up to and over old coach road. It was 6pm (later than I'd wished) and DNM had a slow puncture. To push on we just pumped it up and went for it. I'd seen pictures of this climb and it looked easily passable. What we were met with was 2 miles of seriously tough loose ascent that was un-ride able. When we did eventually get to the top the view was amazing. The sun glowing over the hills we'd just ridden. Ste had hit a mental wall it was so tough, he was finding it hard going. DNM marched over the tops. I was starting to worry about the amount of light we would have at the end of this road. We finished in darkness. It was a depressing finish to a good day with great weather. Bikes thrown in the support van we sped to the B&B for food and beer. The food was good and Black Sheep was on the pumps. Everyone looked very tired, bloodshot eyes and fatigue. We had an early night. Day 2 After a frankly poor breakfast (read cold) we headed to the finish point of the day before. Some fine tuning required on most of the bikes after the previous nights mad dash through boggy terrain. Today DNM's mean machine made it 300 yards (it had a brand new inner tube that morning) before puncturing on a thorn. Easily repaired we made our way to Penrith. This was the hardest day we would have to endure and the sole target was to get as many miles out of the way as possible so we could finish early on Monday. It was lumpy from the off with some very fun single track descents and one very tough twisty ascent. We went past our B&B (which I won't be using again) after 5 miles and took our time towards Penrith. The second tough climb came on the way out of Penrith with a constant ~12% climb for ½ mile. That woke the legs up and me and Rico had a little sprint for the support van at the top. Next stop, Hartside. The Hartside climb is so long we agreed to go up at our own pace. Lasting roughly 5 miles it's tough. I paced myself to the quickest man, which in this case was Ste. After the hard time he had at the end of the day before he was a man possessed. Bear in mind he wasn't using SPD's he was able to keep a good steady pace and leave iT and Rico behind. iT arrived shortly after us and Ste was still lying on the floor, thoroughly knackered. Rico was a further 2 minutes behind with DNM out of site (2 mile line of sight). We went to the van to wrap up warm as it was blowing a gale at the top. Looking over the terrain we'd just climbed a small red speck was just rounding the corner. DNM was winding his way up. I went down the descent to meet him with some Kendal mint cake and a few motivational words. He made it to the top. Ste was fixing a slow puncture and when finished we headed into the cafe for some well deserved cake. Normally the descent off Hartside is 40mph+. However today (and Monday) we had a headwind. This made our exciting descent in a somewhat boring 20mph roll. On the way down Rico had a puncture which he fixed at the bottom while me, iT and DNM headed on in front. The next climb came as a complete surprise to me. It was immense. I laughed as we rounded the corner with DNM as it was just huge. Me and iT had a steady ride up together with several stops to wait. Ste and Rico eventually caught us. This climb took us over an hour, the descent was worth it and the smell of burning disc brakes was incredible at the bottom. And now the ascent to the highest point on the trip. This climb wasn't as bad as the previous two and the whole group got up in reasonable time. I had become concerned with the time again (approaching 7pm) and wanted to have more of a relax in the B&B that evening, so had gone ahead to find Alana in the support vehicle (that was out of mobile reception) and get her to collect us. The others had done another climb when we got to them and we were on the 88 mile marker. 55 miles to do on the last day! That night the food was great, the beer was flowing and we had a great time. It even turns out DNM had pushed himself so hard that sheep had asked him why he was pushing his bike to which he replied "I know I'm supposed to £$%&ing ride it". The landlady was a great hostess and the band was excellent. The female singer had a nice voice too (Sinead Livingston). iT and DNM weren't listening to her voice though; they had other things on their minds... The dirty old men! We witnessed a numb fingered DNM play the live bands guitar in a solo which was incredible. Good times and late night. Day 3 Monday started well. I'd slept solid and woke up fresh, something to do with the beer. As soon as I went downstairs I was treated to a good cooked breakfast, but no black pudding! We loaded the bikes into the van and again went to the finish point of the night before. It was wet, very cold and the cloud cover was very low. To be honest it was miserable. We had to cover 55 miles and the group were at their weakest. However we had 2000ft to lose and only 2 big climbs. Fortunately the first climb came early after a fun twisty descent on wet roads, a nasty little climb out of Allenheads that was sheltered by pines. The cold really bit but the sun was trying to burn through. We got to the top and waited for DNM. Stuntman Ste was having "saddle" issues. DNM was soon over the top and we had a great 6 mile descent at 25mph. After passing the B&B and grabbing some extra layers from the support van we headed towards Stanhope where the biggest climb of the day was. On the way we hit a very nasty climb that kicked the teeth out of everyone. It was 2 miles long and wasn't listed on the map. I'd forgotten about it and at the top we had to break the news to DNM who thought he'd done the 2 climbs of the day. Fortunately he took it well and now had to look forward to a single track descent falling through the fields at 35-40mph. At the bottom there was a T-junction and again the smell of brakes was incredible. I sprayed some water on my front disc and it hissed and evaporated before it hit the ground. We were now in Stanhope with the last climb (I think) of the day. It averaged 15% and went on for 2 ½ miles. I would possibly say that this is the steepest hill I've every climbed. I made it to the top of the first section and waited. Everyone turned up apart from Ste who'd had a puncture. After waiting a further 5 minutes the others set off to the peak while I waited. After 10 minutes I went down to see what was happening. He was about to get on the spare bike, he'd no spare inner tubes and the last one was split at the valve. I setup my mountain bike for him and used the cyclo-cross bike from the support van. Unfortunately I had to get up the hill again and the cyclo-cross bike's gearing isn't as forgiving. Alana drove the van to the top and got the others sorted while we made our way to the top. At this point it was midday and with 30 miles remaining on a gentle downhill old railway embankment I was confident we could get to Sunderland for 3pm. Things went smoothly for the rest of the day with the exception of DNM's left crank falling off with 2 miles to go. Hand tightened it made it to the finish. Stuntman Ste was eager to dip his wheel into the sea and went racing down the ramp to hit a 1ft deep patch of soft sand. Needless to say he fell at the start and the end... consistent! Ste even dipped the wheel of his fallen friend. I enjoyed myself and learnt a lot about organising an event like this. Alana was fantastic and without her we'd have been in trouble on more than one occasion. Keith, well words can't describe how well he did. iT and Rico had solid rides and I look forward to seeing Ste with SPD's. I shall definitely be asking these boys if they want to make another trip in the future. http://www.thetaylor.co.uk/index.php?p=13 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:13:49 BST Well my April holiday started straight after work on a Thursday night. When I say after work, I naturally mean during work! I left at 3:50pm in an attempt to catch a race in Preston that started at 7pm. All road route planners said I would make it. I missed it by 30 mins. Cheers M6. Anyway with that disappointment out the way I fancied a birthday treat. Did I mention April 10th is my birthday!?! Alana and I stopped at Penrith for something to eat and parked up, both bikes on the roof. We had a quick look around and soon decided to move the car as there were some unsavoury types hanging around (read that as cider drinking chavs). I didn't want them have a tug at my beloved rebuilt race steed! After parking in a much better lit, secure area of Penarth (near enough the centre on the main shopping road) we went in search of food. We stumbled upon the great little family run Grants Bistro, and hoping not to offend the chef rolling in at 9:15 placed our order. And what a treat! The food in this little bistro was great. Alana had mussles for starter then pan fried chicken with stilton sauce and I had scallops with black pudding and ginger sauce for starter (it worked) and lamb cutlets fot main. Both meals were fab and to top it off they sold Magners (proper posh cider). We were expecting a £60 bill (I was drinking copiously, sorry coach!) and the final bill was £43. Fantastic! After that we made our way (bikes included) to the hotel. Another *shudder* Travel Lodge. Now if you had read my previous article discussing my detest of Travel Lodge you may wonder why I'm going to another one. Well this was booked before the world track champs on a special internet offer of £28. My hopes were low! We turned up to the M6 Travel Lodge Carlisle well after 10 ad checked in. We had not planned to bring the dog originally so I had planned him a nice suite on the back seat of the car with blankets and cushions and all sorts. Don't call this RSPCA this isn't something I was proud of but needs must! Anyway after signing in I was able to not only bring the bikes into the room but give the dog his first hotel experience for just £10 to the hotel bill. £38 for the night for the three of us! What a bargain. I best of all, the room was clean and the TV worked. My expectations had been surpassed. While not the Ritz it was certainly comfortable and rekindled my belief that cheap hotels can be clean. In the morning Gynx was keen to move: So after getting the car loaded we shot up to Glasgow and across to Wemyss Bay to catch the last ferry before dinner. If we missed it we'd have to wait 90 minutes for the next. And guess what, we were pushing it! After some rapid driving we made it with absolutely no time to spare. We were told we wouldn't be able to get onto the ferry as we were to late but Alana pouted and we got on! Last car on the ferry. Back of the net! Over the next few days after settling in we did a lot of exploring (see the pictures in the gallery). I love Bute, I really do. We had a great walk through Skeoch Wood, the dog seemed to enjoy himself and the Lichen growing on all the trees was great. It was very green and lush even for this time of year. Coach, I've done some training. I promise. As the island roads are so sparsely populated with metal boxes I talked Alana through the basics of speed training with the use of a car. For those who don't know, this involves a cyclist following a car closely (around 2ft) while doing 30mph. She did well for her first try and I'm still alive to talk about it. It hurt, a lot. After that Alana jumped on her bike and we had a leisurely ride around the island. Alana was brave enough to let me drive her car. She insured me on it, its her own fault really! I had a drive around the island without hitting any cars or killing any sheep. I even parked it in the garage... backwards. I've been gagging to have an explore of the mainland north of the island and I had promised to take Alana with me. I planned the route (see here) and I honestly didn't know it was 60 miles, I thought about 42. We set out on a reasonably windy day and got the ferry across. It started lumpy and both our spirits were high. After taking a left turn towards Tighnabruaich we came to a steady climb. Alana looked dismayed but I promised her it would stop over the next ridge. Of course unbeknown to me (this was a coastal road) the road ramped up even steeper and she started to struggle. When we eventually made it to the top I had a bit of negativity to sort out. Alana was adamant she wouldn't be able to continue if there were more hills like that (it was a 500ft steep climb). I convinced her to carry on and enjoy the descent. We stopped for tea and cake just under half way at Kames. We then set off towards Otter Ferry. At this point it was quiet apparent the constant rolling hills were having its effect on Alana. It sounded like a women's tennis match on every climb. I was worried and hoped that we wouldn't come across to many steep climbs. I almost laughed when we turned back towards Colintraive. We had what seemed like a mountain in front of us. We had no other way of getting home and Alana was shattered. We set off climbing what ended up being a 1115ft climb. It was tough on Alana and I got quite upset listening to how much pain she was in. The smallest gear she had was a 39x25 which for a novice on her first 60 mile ride wasn't ideal for going uphill. We eventually made it to the top and had a great descent to look forward to albeit a bit hairy with some s-bends, chicanes, cliff faces and a lack of crash barriers. I loved it! We got home in a total of 6 hours 40 minutes including ferry crossings, cafe stop and shopping at Somerfield. My polar read 60.2 miles, 4223 calories burnt (lord knows what Alana burnt she was on 90% the majority of the time), 4280ft climbed, average speed of 11.5mph and max of 44.6mph. I could have got 50mph but it would have been around a blind single track road so thought it best I ease up :) Alana did every mile on the bike, to her credit she refused to get off and walk at any point. There really is some exciting cycling to be had in Scotland. On our last day we went to visit Ascog Hall fernery. Built over 100 years ago then lovingly restored by two people over the last 20 years it is a little gem. There are lots of very rare ferns as well as some that most of us recognise. The whole garden was beautiful even though spring has come late this year. The glass house was lovely and warm and a unique environment. A small water feature and waterway - which could of course be deepened and then Koi would love it (another passion of mine). Even this water channel contained rare aquatic type ferns. After the fernery, we crossed the road and looked in some of the rock pools at the beach. Hermit crabs and everything. That concludes my relaxing holiday in Scotland and am about to set off on my journey home. All the best! http://www.thetaylor.co.uk/index.php?p=12 Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:07:37 BST God its like busses, no updates then two come along at once. I couldn't resist, I had to post this youtube video. What a great goal! http://www.thetaylor.co.uk/index.php?p=11 Wed, 02 Apr 2008 10:21:13 BST After a long period without updates let me brush some of the dust from this site with some pictures from the World Track Championships. Unfortunatly I forgot my Minolta so I used the Nokia N95 which wasn't the best. We arrived in Manchester Saturday afternoon to the Travel Lodge hotel. It was what I expected, cheap and cheerful. It cost us £47 for the room for 1 night. We just dropped our bags into the room and went into Manchester for a look around. The weather was shocking, really thunping rain. We had a good explore and went around the Arndale Centre then went to Wagamamas for dinner. Its been a long time since I last went to Wagamamas and it really is a fantastic place to eat! Anyway after getting back to the hotel with some booze I sat down to watch match of the day before going to bed. The bloody TV wasn't tuned in very well... I went down to reception who looked at me gone out and said its normal... Great! After noticing that and a few other 'issues' with the room I noticed sticky patches on the carpet, bits of hard black stuff on the sheets and a lamp that didnt want to stay upright. The divan looked 20 years old. The breakfast was no better in the morning. It might be the snob in me but if they can't even get the basic's right should the be in this industry? I don't think I'll use a travel lodge again. Anyway turning up to the track after walking through some not so nice areas of Manchester was magnificent. The track is as amazing as people have said. We had a walk around before the events started and found a picture hung on the velodrome walls of a fellow Ashfield rider: After a few events with the Brits not having the strongest athletes Victoria Pendleton's first Kieran round win was a fantastic boost. Holland had a very impressive team for the final day taking many wins. Unfortunatly when it came down to it Vicky just got pipped in the final by an American. The crowd cheering and suddenly groaning stuck in my mind. Matthew Crampton looked to be getting a well deserved medal but got pipped by the last rider in the 1km time trial. He was 2nd rider out and held the lead until the very last few riders. He's certainly got potential and it one to watch in the future. I shall definately go for more days next time. I must give track cycling a go! http://www.thetaylor.co.uk/index.php?p=10 Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:31:00 BST My job has recently required me to use my pen drive an increasing amount. While even the neatest folder layout makes things simple nothing is as good as this application I've been playing with. Free and downloadable from PortableApps.com is a fantastic start menu for your USB drive. If you use your drive for repairing other's PC's or just to transfer files it makes sense to stick a nice UI into the mix. This would be useful on any USB storage device including external hard drives. Applications that are not designed for the program but run standalone can easily be added to the menu including installers. Programs designed to work with this software will save all their data to the USB device so alterations such as adding bookmarks will appear on every PC. For web developers this would be a god send as you can install XAMPP (apache, php, perl, mysql + more) onto the drive and run Adobe Dreamweaver Portable from menu. This would make your USB device a full web server and editing suite. I give this software a firm 10/10. http://www.thetaylor.co.uk/index.php?p=9 Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:26:02 GMT For children in need this year Super Ann (Super Kevs feminine alter ego) organised, as every year, a bit of a dress up, raffle and cake sale. Yum! Now new to the department and not to be out done I chose to dress up as my TV hero Moss from the IT crowd (If BOFH was a TV series he would be an evil Moss). So the weekend before CIN I went shopping for the appropriate props. I went to the fancy dress shop and picked up some thick framed glasses and a huge afro wig. I also went to the charity shop and found a really bad short sleeved shirt. As the day loomed I finally found a tie worthy at Oxfam. So with a snip of the wig (to bring it down in size) I dressed up with turned up jeans, white socks and trainers, the tea cloth shirt and awesome tie. Yes, yes you're right. The wig was massive! Next time I wear this I'll have a go at it with hedge cutters. But in donning the outfit I not only got my photo taken with countless students, I probably scared half the academics in the building to death too. I went to the pub at lunch and was amazed by one student who was wearing a full batman outfit. I felt underdressed! It was fantastic and will definitely be a contender for next year. And at the end of the day when raffles and cake sales had finished the final tally was a whopping £574.57. A fantastic effort. http://www.thetaylor.co.uk/index.php?p=8 Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:42:33 GMT Many, many years ago I remember seeing lemmings for the first time and thinking "wow".It was as fun as it was addictive and it became an instant classic with sequels coming out every 6 months. For the first time since, another puzzle game has made me pause and again say "wow". Crayon Physics takes advantage of the new physics in games craze and pulls it off brilliantly. While the fully polished version is not yet out a playable prototype version that initiated the whole concept is available here. The website includes instructions to get you going and a link to the tiny 5mb download. A video of the deluxe game is available and worth a watch: Have fun and let me know what you think. Kloonigames http://www.thetaylor.co.uk/index.php?p=7 Tue, 13 Nov 2007 10:23:04 GMT Many years ago I spent some time working alongside a gent named Edward Earl. It appears he's doing rather well for himself. His talents seem to have progressed ad nauseam. Even I find his music calming and it's not my favourite genre by far. Give his site a read: EdEarl.com Well done Ed. http://www.thetaylor.co.uk/index.php?p=6 Fri, 09 Nov 2007 14:28:50 GMT Well as some of you may know I've recently taken new employment. It's a big step moving area, leaving friends and family and all that you've come to love. But at some point in everybody's life (to some people it will happen many times), you have to take a leap of faith and risk treading proverbial excrement. I'm now living the dream! But, I have reason to stop and wonder what happened to those before me. My experience so far has been great. There are friendly people, with a distinct (boring) lack of secretarial back stabbing and I'm working alongside a great character that has a very good understanding of his job. But upon clearing the office out and finding documents from the late 90's I also came upon personal files from my predecessor's predecessor. He left just over a year a go, and seemed to be in such a rush he left mortgage and pension documents. Baby photos from when cameras were first invented. He even left his 5 year service award. Did he even clear his desk? Similarly I've found out my predecessor left after just a year due to the pressure and dissatisfaction of the general exam process. Is there something I should know? Does a big scary dragon screaming loudly riding a chariot of fire appear outside the office? Thankfully I have 6 months before my time is up (June / July exams). I guess the only thing to do is put my feet up and wait for the shit storm... http://www.thetaylor.co.uk/index.php?p=5 Thu, 08 Nov 2007 15:35:05 GMT Having just received a reasonably new Dell for some software installs I noticed Windows Update was not working. Having tried unsuccessfully for a period of time I went to the web. Large volumes of Dell owners appeared to be having the problem. Was it a problem with the Dell Vista image? No. If you're receiving the 0x8000ffff error and have the following in your C:\Windows\Windowsupdate.log file: 2007-10-18 16:03:28:785 1056 d08 Agent WARNING: Failed to evaluate Installable rule, updateId = {5602BEAB-6C34-4447-B2AF-7A3C923453A1}.101, error = 0x8000FFFF 2007-10-18 16:03:35:813 1056 d08 Handler FATAL: UH: 0x8000ffff: EvaluateApplicability failed in CCbs::EvaluateApplicability The solution: Right click "Computer", select "Properties" and then Rate the system. It works. I have no idea what relevance it has but for some reason Microsoft have released no publications about the bug on their knowledgebase. http://www.thetaylor.co.uk/index.php?p=4 Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:21:00 GMT Following on from my previous article about Apache's RewriteRule I'll explain how I created a very simple RSS 2.0 feed. First of all create a database table named articles. Add 4 fields with the following values: id int(11) title varchar(200) body text pubdate datetime Insert some fake data for us to test in a short while. Now create a folder named "rss" on your website. In this folder create a new file called index.php. Copy and paste the following: <?php header('Content-type: text/xml'); ?> <rss version="2.0"> <channel> <title>title</title> <description>description</description> <link>http://www.yoursite.co.uk/</link> <copyright>Copyright</copyright> <?php include("../config.php"); // Replace with your SQL connection details here $q="SELECT id,title,body,UNIX_TIMESTAMP(pubdate) AS pubDate FROM articles ORDER BY pubdate DESC LIMIT 0,15"; $doGet=mysql_query($q); while($result = mysql_fetch_array($doGet)){ echo '<item> <title> '.htmlentities(strip_tags($result['title'])).'</title> <description> '.htmlentities(strip_tags($result['body'],'ENT_QUOTES')).'</description> <link>http://www.yoursite.co.uk/index.php?p='.$result['id'].'</link> <pubDate> '.strftime( "%a, %d %b %Y %T %Z" , $result['pubDate']).'</pubDate> </item>'; } ?> </channel> </rss> Be aware you will have to enter some valid database connection details. Fire up your web browser and navigate to the RSS folder of your website and voila, a working RSS 2.0 page! Follow the tips of my previous article and you can make this page appear like an XML file and add an RSS link. http://www.thetaylor.co.uk/index.php?p=3 Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:20:00 GMT After trying unsuccessfully to write an RSS feed by coding a PHP page to act like a XML file and adding "AddType application/x-httpd-php .xml" to a .htaccess file, I went home for the weekend and fired off an email to my web host to see if allow_overrides was on. Upon returning I was greeted by a very useful email reminding me of possibly the most useful module for apache I have ever used. The mod_rewrite URL Rewriting Engine. This is a much better solution than adding another application type. This allows me to specify a non-existent page and forward it to the page I want. In my case thetaylor.xml to index.php. So I set to work and altered the .htaccess file entering the information and as easily as a pro cyclist from the mid 90s can say "I have never taken drugs", it worked! So for anyone interested in a brief guide here's what I did. In the .htaccess file insert the following to change a xml file request to look at your PHP file: RewriteEngine On RewriteRule ^rss2.xml feed.php [L] Now in the browser go to the xml file URL and if successful it will load the PHP page. This can be done for any file type and best of all wildcards can be used! http://www.thetaylor.co.uk/index.php?p=1 Sun, 04 Nov 2007 23:16:00 GMT