A goal post reached with a little help from my friends :-)

Well, I am a bit dissapointed that ever since I got back into the riding again and bought some new cycling gear the weather has turned and it is more like monsoon season!!  I can only hope that we will get a bit of a warmer spell to follow :-s  Oh well!!  On the positive I have finally rached £2000 of fundraising, after holding my event my friend held an open house jewellery sale for me and kindly donated a portion of sales to my efforts, her total was a fabulous £50 towards my efforts and I would like to say a huge Thank you to Eve Gates at Vintage Jewels and JessieRose jewels which can be found on facebook https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/jewelsbyJessieRose .

I was so close to the £2000 hurdle, only £45 to go....I posted a link on fb and thanks to a very kind friend (Sarah!!)  I have finally reached the hurdle!!!  I am astounded at my efforts, totally gobsmacked and on a high!!  My mum would be so proud!!  So now, all I need is some nice weather?!?!  .............................

A teeny weeny ride with my baby ;-)

Well Ok, so its no marathon and not a huge chunk towards my training but I have to post that I went out for a ride with my baby, ok he is 6, but in comparison to his twin sister he is a bit immature for his age and loves to be ran after left right and centre and anything that is an effort, is not for little Dan!  I didnt have great expectations for a distance, I live in a realatively hilly area and didnt fancy going to far down a hill because I knew he would not be a happy bunny when it came to going back up it again.......also he hasnt mastered the art of brakes yet and stopping using his toes not only costs me a fortune in shoes but I hadn't got my first aid kit with me! 



Not the best, but I didnt notice the phone case till after!

So I decided staying on my estate would be a good idea, just going round on the footpaths and keeping him safe, he is still a bit wobbly and I thought going down the muddy hill to the tracks would be a bit tough for him and I didnt want to put him off!  We managed to do a teeny weeny 1.5km but a marathon for Danny, so I am pleased and so is he........I would have loved to have gone further but that fact I am getting out to play again is a positive!

I have rode to work and back everyday this week too, which is still time being logged up on my bike hours......................

 Tommorow is Adams turn he wants to do 10km too, so its slowly clocking up my km this week   :-)

Time is not my enemy!

Ok, so why have I suddenly made this realisation?  Well......the day after my event was a hungover and very packed day, yet Jean and I managed to fit in a small bike ride and I felt on such a high I knew I had to do it again soon!  Another promise I made Jean was that I would take small steps to change little things in my day and the first change was that I would have breakfast!!  A very small step yet I didnt realise how much this small step would change my day!  I have all of a sudden got energy, OK so it sounds like a simple equation ..eating equals energy but to be honest as a working mum of four young children with the trials of every day life to content with, looking after myself isnt always top of my priority list and I am also not a morning person so I get up with the least time to spare (cos I love my bed!)  Anyway after day 2 of eating breakfast my energy levels are higher and I have managed to get in from work and not feel like I need to sleep!  I have got in from work done all my jobs and yesterday I managed to clean the car (an epic job!) and mow the lawn (and the neighbours!) and still sort the kids out.  So today knowing my jobs were up to date I thought it would be a good idea to try and fit in a ride albeit a small ride as hubby is on nights and Katie had her gymnastics class at 5pm, so I got out the bike and my eldest boy who's 9 asked if he could come with me...........I thought OK why not.

So after eqipping him up with his helmet off we went.........he rode on the pavements while I was on the road, it was a bit tricky at first watching him and looking after me but once we were off road and on the paths it was more relaxed and together we chatted and had a lovely pleasant ride, to be honest its not very often I get time with one of our children on their own and it was lovely to spend a bit of quality time with Jack, he was a bit slow at first but on the way back he was really putting me to shame and he was loving every minute of it!  We managed to clock up a very respectable 10km, not bad for a first ride out together, he want to do 15km next time.....looks like I have got a cycling buddy :-)  The only bit I didnt think about was that I have 4 children and since I can nly take one at a time for now, I am fully booked up for a weeks worth of riding lmao, this weight will come off and why didn't I think of this before?!? 

So back to the question, why is time not my enemy, all my excuses and reasons for not going riding over time, the kids, the weather, work and time...........not one of them is my enemy.........I only have one enemy and thats ME!  I am so good at making excuses, but in actual fact I can pop out for an hour most days, the kids can be involved with me and I will get more of my housework done because the exercise actually boosts my energy!  So............fingers crossed.....breakfast and getting out on my bike with my kids are two new things that I will continue :-)

Catch up ...

Hard to know where to being...  seems a long time since I last wrote my blog - well it is ... it was just after my event at Wetheral - and now Alex has just held her event in Durham!!

It's been a bit of an odd time - I caught a particularly nasty bug the night after my event which left me feeling rough on and off up until this week really.. it was really draining and after a day at work I was completely wiped out .. and my knee hasn't recovered properly.. so not the most interesting of times for writing the blog really.

Still I have managed to get out for a few rides .. in between all the coughs and sneezes!!

The first outing was over to Alex's - she managed to get her local newspapers interested and they wanted a photo of us both together... we also took the opportunity to get out on one of the many cycle routes near Alex and do a decent bike ride (which Alex has written about - so I'll not go into it)..
All I say is - the sun shone .. we had a great ride.. and a lot of fun :-) ... even the photographer!!

So the next bike ride I did was at Ennerdale.. I love it down there - so peaceful and tranquil... a million miles from the hustle and bustle of Windermere!! The only trouble was we left Carlisle and it was glorious.. in fact it was glorious everywhere - except for Ennerdale.. but it was a nice ride and although not very long (12 miles) it was rough tracks and not too bad for a 'sicky' :-)



The following weekend the sun shone (hard to remember!!) and it was hot and glorious - I had 2 bike rides .. The first was just a short ride around Scotby and Wetheral (where I grew up)... it was almost exactly 2 years since I lost my Mum, so it was a bit of a ride reliving old memories of childhood.. happy days :-)
The second ride was a 22 mile circuit near Melmerby - fantastic weather .. and ride - Penninines on one side - Lake District mountains on the other... and surprisingly very little traffic!

It was a lovely route.. so 'Summery' - people swimming in the river .... amazing!! The route took me past Acorn Bank (you can just see it in the background of the photo below) - I went there with Trudy on a trip from our Garden Design Course..

It was a hot day.. I kept thinking about going for a swim at the end of my ride at the heated outdoor pool at Lazonby - I was sure I had my swimsuit in my gym bag in the car...

Sadly I didn't.. but it was too nice to go home - so as I still had a sandwich with me I drove to Ullswater - had a paddle and sat on a rock and watched the swan on the lake whilst eating my tea... quite idyllic an idyllic ending to a great weekend of cycling

Then on the Jubilee weekend I was cat-sitting for Lisa (my daughter) as they'd only just moved house and started to let the cats out, so didn't want to put them in a Cattery..

I managed to get out for two more bike rides - the first was along the Firth Forth Canal from Lisa's house to the Falkirk Wheel (34 miles in total).. obviously totally flat - but an interesting ride on a very good surface.. so nice to be able to do it from Lisa's house too!! Must get her on it - bought her a bike for her 30th Birthday present .. so next time I'm up she'd better be ready to try it out with me!! I'm sure she'll love it too... just a shame she can't come to Cuba - but young Jonas needs his Mum :-)

The weather stayed dry.. but there was a cold wind and I wished I'd brought my gloves with full fingers in!!



Saw lots of swans and cygnets.. they seem to be following me - hope they're lucky!!



The Falkirk Wheel was an astonishing example of engineering - it's basically a lift which connects the Firth Forth to the Union Canal (79 ft high) and was opened in 2002.  There's a great bike ride (which I really want to do) from Edinburgh to Glasgow running along the side of the canals - it's 66 miles long .. about a day's ride in Cuba!! Must do it sometime... could take the bike up on the train and stay at Lisa's..

Being on a bike was a great way to see the wheel operating, as you could watch it from the basin level with the people getting in the boat, then the huge arm of the wheel turned and as it lifted upwards slowly there was time to cycle round, watch it moving upwards...

and then be there at the top as the people disembarked

The weather improved in time for a spot of lunch on the Union Canal.. before heading back to Lisa's



The following day had a bit of an 'odd' start.. I'd read Sustrans description of a cycle route up the west side of Loch Lomond - described it being  away from the road at the Loch's edge.. sounded good .. the sun was shining and we set off from Balloch.  Took a while to find the actual start - nearly crashed into Nick Knowles (DIY SOS) .. quite a surprise - and much more handsome in real life :-)

The route started quite well .. through a park and some woods - past Duck Bay.. children paddling - very pretty...

.... and then we hit the road ... only the A82 - horrendous!!! After 3.5 miles I couldn't stand the noise and the fumes from the cars any longer - even if it did get back to the Loch shore later!!

So we headed to Loch Katrine - it wasn't a long journey but we'd been before and knew there was a road up one side of it that was generally free from cars (only residents can use it).  Sir Walter Scott wrote the poem 'Lady of the Lake' about it.. although surely it should have been 'Lady of the Loch'??? Anyway we nearly gave up and left ... we couldn't get a car parking space - then just as we were about to leave we got one!!

The Loch is also a reservoir (for Glasgow) and runs a steamship to the opposite end.. another time I'd like to catch the boat (with the bike) to the far end and cycle back.. lovely way of seeing the Loch from on it and beside it!!



The Loch has several little islands in it at the start and made me think I'd also like to paddle on it with my kayak!!
It was relatively busy at first .. but after a couple of miles it thinned out and was a lovely ride.. with mountains, loch, bluebells and even Highland cows (with a calf - bit like a big fluffy teddy bear).. v cute

As the road went further along it got hillier and there were several long hauls up and down - which I discovered I actually preferred to the long flat ride of the canal.. more interesting and although you put the effort going up hills you reaped the reward coming down them!

Sadly there wasn't enough time to get to the end (you can actually cycle almost 3/4 of the way round the Loch.. bit of a shame you can't do it all).... but definately another one to come back to - when I've more time .. and maybe go on the steamer...

All in all (when added to the Loch Lomond bit) it was a total of 21 miles..

So when I started writing this Blog tonight I didn't think I'd done much lately... mm perhaps I was wrong!! I also managed to get back to the gym this week and have started the exercises my physio gave me again.. which PLEASE let them help - my knee has been worryingly bad lately..

So now I'm just about up to date - only ride left is the short one Alex and I did yesterday .. in the midst of torrential rain we managed a but a brief hour - so nice to get some fresh air though.  Alex seemed to really enjoy it - it was her first time back on the bike since our last long venture out .. hopefully this time will encourage her to get out again now her event is over :-)

Today Telfords (Skoda) kindly invited me along to the launch of their new car (Citigo) to see if I could raise some money... it was a horrendous day (raining madly - again!!) and not many showed up.. those that did were only interested in winning a competition for the car for a weekend. I didn't mind really the weather was so bad.. however and some people were interested.  Takings not so good though - grand total of £7 ... but they let me leave a collection bucket behind to see if they can get me any more..

So finally I'm up to date and can go to bed and hope for a better day (and knee) tomorrow - then maybe I can get out on my bike again :-)



A big chunk of fundraising success......

So OK, we havent been on the blog for a while......strangely enough the year seems to be flying by which is a bit worrying to be honest as every month that passes the challenge is getter ever closer!! 

The weather in Durham has been very wet, raining overcast muddy and generally glum on the whole bike training front!  So I put my efforts into the fundraising Medium evening on the 14th of June, its strange how much effort it actually takes to organise and event of a charity nature as most of the time you are beg, stealing and borrowing to keep the costs as low as possible!!  I wrote letters, e-mails and actually turned up at various places asking for donations of raffle prizes, some kind friends also helped by selling tickets and helping with raffle donations too. 

I advertised the event with posters, facebook events and the This is Durham tourist webpage but I never actually got 1 phonecall or e-mail, I seriously underestimated how hard it is to actually sell the tickets!  After weeks of networking and getting the word out things did start to pick up and although I was let down on the night there was approximately 55 people turned up out of an expected 96!  Actually on the night I was running around like a panicked headless chicken and when the moment came to stand on stage, I was a seriously shocked panicked headless chicken, I have never ever felt like that before in my life, I just wanted to curl up in a ball and hide!!!  I stood in front of hundreds of people at my mums funeral and that didnt bother me, but standing on stage with a microphone in hand in front of fifty people.........not my idea of fun!  I somehow managed to get a fumble of words out and make it up as I went along, Dave was fantastic, the raffle was a huge success with an array of prizes, the cake sale which I had put my heart and soul into was a success to with my cookie monsters being the favourite!  Helen came with Dave and did private readings and tarot, and in the middle of the night another medium successfully filled my interval for me (completely unplanned but a fab suprise) meaning I didnt have to be on stage longer than neccerssary and adding to the entertainment of the evening! 

The overall event raised a mahooooooooosive £802.60 towards my fundraising goal, I banked it and sent off the cheque to Action for Charity and added the total to my justgiving page which now reports a huge 68% of my target achieved, I am over half way :-)

The morning after, Jean and I made our way down to Durham and found a fabulous little coffee shop near the cathedral (coffee was needed!) and Jean kindly treated me to a baguette and 2 Americanos, I am posh you know! (I had never had one before lol)  then we threw in a cheeky one hour bike ride before collecting the kids from school......amazingly although it had rained all morning and all afternoon, evning and night we managed to pick the cheeky hour which it didnt to fit our ride in, lucky.....or fate :-)  who knows, all made for a fab couple of days :-) and I am glad the bulk of the fundraising is all over for now!

A huge thank you to everyone who has supported and helped me :-)

Back in the Saddle! Only 52k :-)

So the weekend started as a hectic rush, nothing un-normal in my life but this was more hectic than normal!  Jean kindly came over to mine to pose for newspaper pictures for us to get an article in the Durham times, Northern Echo and the Advertiser ....Result, Lets hope it brings us some much needed publicity and the foot in the door to a snowball of help fundraising :-)  Poor Jean has been feeling under the weather since her event yet still she summoned up the energy to make it across for the photos....big thank you :-)  We had a nice relaxing Friday nice with a homemade spag bol .... and to be fair an early night ready for our adventure. 

Amazingly after weeks of torrential rain and planning the need for an ark we awoke to a gloriously sunny and pleasant morning. So after a bacon sandwich and cups of coffee we were ready to set off but only after I had mastered the art of fitting Jeans bike computer.


We set of down on my normal route towards Broompark picnic area to start off along the Lanchester route,  Jean was nervous of her knee and after 3 weeks of inactivity due to bad weather I wasn't feeling capable of attempting anything harder. 

The route was nice and the weather was good, but after reaching Lanchester we continued on to Consett and I found this bit particularly hard as it was a contiuous mild incline, I just kept thinking about the amazing downhill section which must have been about to come at any moment.......it went on and on until we decided to stop for a quick Lucozade sweet and cereal bar as I was shaking and struggling :-(  Jean took some amazing pictures along the route and after getting a boost of energy (those sweets are amazing, I MUST stock up!!)  

We pushed on, eventually the amazing downhill section came and at the bottom we were lucky enough to find a beautiful little farm cafe, it may have been little but it was packed Im not surprised as inside there was the most astounding array of local cheeses, fresh meat, fresh vegetables and local produce it was amazing!!  The food looked totally astounding and mouth wateringly good, so we stopped for lunch, it even had bike racks so it must have been fate ;-)  Jean kindly treated me and we both ate a plate of fresh ham, beef and chicken with local cheeses and freshly made bread it was light and filling, just what we needed........Jean also bought us a cheeky fruity scone to pack in our bags for later on in the journey,  It tasted divine :-)  so Thank you :-) xx

After some master map reading skills and super detective work we managed to get onto the C2C route and evetually back onto the route for home.........there was a motorbikers party on in Lanchester, the music sounded good and the weather was amazing it was so tempting to stop for a cheeky beer, but we resisted the urged and pushed on towards home. Every now and again Jean was feeding me Lucozade tablets to keep me going as I was really struggling by this point!! (OH and extremely muddy!!)


The closer to home we got, the more tired I was getting and all I wanted to do was get home, have a nice bath and chill.........I got home to the welcome of hubby wanting me to load heavy stuff into the car to go to the tip, a mass of dirty dises, toys everywhere and the whole neighborhood of kids playing in and out of my garden (hubbys idea of looking after them!) and I had a total tantrum, through tiredness.  Thankfully  Jean put everything back into perspective made me a cup of coffee and made me realise the kids were the most important thing (and they were fine!) and the house could wait until tommorow (today!) probably the best idea since I was having extra kids overnight and all of my work would have been undone anyway :-)  Did I mention I got a tad muddy :-)

I managed to settle all 7 kids by 10pm and was looking forward to settling in my cozy bed for the night but my knees were agony and after the 3rd lot of deep heat I resorted to painkillers....at 2.35am when hubby returned home from a jolly in Durham with is best friend and long time friend he was extremely worse for wear and very loud!  At 4am I retreated to bed with Co-codamol taking its effect, only to be woken at 5.30 am with excited kids waking from their sleepover and ready to play :-/  anyhow I got up and amazingly I am not stiff or sore today and very happy with my achievements!

 I just need to master the art of not having a perfectly tidy house when leaving hubby in charge of the kids with many more long rides to come :-)  Wonder whether hubbys head will hurt when he finally makes it out of bed.......bacon and eggs at the ready :-)

Northern Crisis Event - Wetheral... great success!!

For the last few weeks I've been working towards an event of 'live music' with a Pie & Pea Supper, raffle and Auction... just as well really as it distracted me from not being able to get out on my bike (or do much at the gym) - well a bit!!

It all started at the gym actually, when an old colleague of mine told me he was in a band called 'Northern Crisis'and offered to play for me to help raise funds.. It took wings from there.... I wrote to all the local Village Halls and Wetheral came back with the best offer (£30 for the weekend).. fitting really as Trudy and I used to go to disco's there in our teens.

So I walked the streets of Carlisle and Wetheral and got lots of great donations - originally it was just going to be a raffle, but as the prizes got more extensive I decided it might be a good idea to have an Auction too. I wasn't too sure who to get as an Auctioneer but my choice proved to be a good one.. Sean Reed (who I've worked with and known for many years) was brilliant.. alternative carear awaits him if he ever gets fed-up with the 'day job'... I raised £535 from the Auction alone - I thought I'd be lucky to get half of that!!

As well as the band and the raffle/auction I had a 'Pie & Pea Supper' I wanted to keep it as local as possible so contacted my local pub The Bridge Inn, Penton unfortunately they had too much on to do it all, but kindly donated 3 large pies (enough for 24)... yummy!

The remainder of the pies came 'highly recommended' from a local butchers 'Wilsons' .. the pies lived up to the recommendation and everyone wanted to know where they came from!! The peas became a bit of an epic... with someone saying they'd get them - not coming good until too late, by which time I'd bought them and had them soaking!  Cooked them the day before .. 3 huge pans full - only forgot to switch off the last pan ... result - had to make more the day of the event!!! I also decided to make Cava Jellies and sell them - v successful .. but much fiddlier making 100 as opposed to the dozen or so I'd made previously!! Had to finish them off on the morning of the event too..

Just as well I had a larder fridge and hadn't been shopping!!!

Fortunately Lisa came down to help on the morning of the event.. with Jacqui and Guy's assistance we got the Hall ready.. by lunchtime... all that was left to do was the balloons to be blown up and the raffle tickets to be folded ..

Dashed back home via BikeSeven to buy Lisa a bike for her 30th birthday.. a surprise - she loved it!! 

 Then it was back to the hall to open up for Bars2u to allow them to set up.. not the easiest jobs as there were quite alot of stairs up to the Hall.. but they were brilliant - great bar, fully stocked and really pleasant, helpful people.. recommend them to anyone!! 

We then had to collect a homemade cake from the Village Cafe and take the pies to a friends to heat up in her oven.. got back to the Hall and Alex was waiting..  I had some balloons printed with the Cycle Cuba logo's on that I want to sell to others doing the trip - so this was an ideal opportunity to show them off!!

My friend Jill (who makes amazing bunting) and was making one for me .. only she forgot the date and two days from the event she managed to make and post it to me... maybe I can sell them too!!

So scene was set .. band were doing sound checks.. Ricky Beatty (or should I say 'DJ Downstairs') was ready to do his stuff and the girls (Lisa & Alex) had taken control of the kitchen... now all we needed were people!! Didn't start too well - first person to arrive brought back their tickets as they couldn't make it!! Then an elderly couple walked in, heard the band play - turned around and walked out... they did come back later and seemed to really enjoy themselves!!

Then they started to come and before I knew it the Hall was full and people were eating and having fun.. I bought a whisky bottle (a good one from a small shop in Keswick that closed) and people had to throw a £1 coin towards it... the nearest after 15 minutes won it - very successful.. and good fun.

So it was an evening of fun.. after days of stressing about not selling enough tickets.. not really for the fund raising side of it, but more because I wanted the band to have a good audience, Bars2u to make money and to have a good atmosphere for all the people who had bought tickets to enjoy themselves..  Fortunately it was..

The band were brilliant..

DJ Downstairs was great...

The food was yummy...

.. and one little girl loved the balloons..

.. and I raised a staggering £1,794!!!

Incredible - thank you so much everyone.. in particular Lisa, Alex and Jacqui who helped so much at the event.. and to Northern Crisis, Ricky, Sean, all those who donated prizes, bought tickets, bid at the Auction, bought the jellies and came along and supported me on the night... :-)

Now I just need to get fit again and out on my bike!!