phew (eases gently into chair). i can now (just) sit smugly and revel in fact that i have cycled across england. i’m not going to waffle on about the trip we did because
a) other people have done so on the C2C website
b) i’m not a mad up for it super fit cyclist so our efforts were not that impressive and
c) i have no short term memory.
however, a few comments (oh, and statistics, courtesy of our clever speedometer thing):
there is an inverse relationship between the number of england flags being flown from cars in an area and the size of its ethnic minority population.
the lake district is very hilly.
but the northern penines are mountainous
the nation's favourite 'vegetarian option' is vegetable lasagne
lapwings get very aggressive when they feel their nest is threatened and enjoy a spot of dive bombing. not only did they have a go at us (while we were cycling along, i hasten to add), but one afternoon when we were having a walk we saw two of them scaring off a buzzard using such tactics.
the youth are so bored round chester-le-street that they spend their leisure time sprinkling cycle tracks with glass and defacing/removing sign posts. in fact, it was here that (after travelling across deserted moorland and empty b roads for days) we got lost for the first time.
as we came up to the stadium of light, a little kid covered in mud looks at us as we go through a gate and says 'i'm mucky aren't i?'
sunderland can’t be arsed to celebrate the fact it is at the end of the route.
(148 miles travelled in 15 1/2 hours cycling time. average speed 9.2 mph. top speed 41.5 mph)
before we set off a friend from the big city came up, bringing with him magic discs filled with music the likes of which aren’t found up here (well, stuff taken from soulseek anyway), so i aim to spend this week trawling through them and all the other things I haven’t listened to properly yet.
on first listen a couple of germaican 7”s stood out, both on the ‘valentine’ ryhthm in a modern roots style: sizzla drops the fire and brimstone rhetoric for a moment and sings his best love song since ‘black woman and child’ on ‘i’ll always love you’ and a bloke called the gentleman more than equals him on ‘after the storm’. having looked on the germaican website, I’ve discovered that the cool ruler has done a version too, which I will attempt to seek out.
and somewhere on the blogosphere (i can’t find it now, and was only looking at it a couple of hours ago)someone has been writing about slint and in particular ‘good morning, captain’. just thinking about this song makes we want to cry.
a) other people have done so on the C2C website
b) i’m not a mad up for it super fit cyclist so our efforts were not that impressive and
c) i have no short term memory.
however, a few comments (oh, and statistics, courtesy of our clever speedometer thing):
there is an inverse relationship between the number of england flags being flown from cars in an area and the size of its ethnic minority population.
the lake district is very hilly.
but the northern penines are mountainous
the nation's favourite 'vegetarian option' is vegetable lasagne
lapwings get very aggressive when they feel their nest is threatened and enjoy a spot of dive bombing. not only did they have a go at us (while we were cycling along, i hasten to add), but one afternoon when we were having a walk we saw two of them scaring off a buzzard using such tactics.
the youth are so bored round chester-le-street that they spend their leisure time sprinkling cycle tracks with glass and defacing/removing sign posts. in fact, it was here that (after travelling across deserted moorland and empty b roads for days) we got lost for the first time.
as we came up to the stadium of light, a little kid covered in mud looks at us as we go through a gate and says 'i'm mucky aren't i?'
sunderland can’t be arsed to celebrate the fact it is at the end of the route.
(148 miles travelled in 15 1/2 hours cycling time. average speed 9.2 mph. top speed 41.5 mph)
before we set off a friend from the big city came up, bringing with him magic discs filled with music the likes of which aren’t found up here (well, stuff taken from soulseek anyway), so i aim to spend this week trawling through them and all the other things I haven’t listened to properly yet.
on first listen a couple of germaican 7”s stood out, both on the ‘valentine’ ryhthm in a modern roots style: sizzla drops the fire and brimstone rhetoric for a moment and sings his best love song since ‘black woman and child’ on ‘i’ll always love you’ and a bloke called the gentleman more than equals him on ‘after the storm’. having looked on the germaican website, I’ve discovered that the cool ruler has done a version too, which I will attempt to seek out.
and somewhere on the blogosphere (i can’t find it now, and was only looking at it a couple of hours ago)someone has been writing about slint and in particular ‘good morning, captain’. just thinking about this song makes we want to cry.
