Rochester Castle

I spend quite a bit of time in the grounds of Rochester Castle, whether passing through on foot or relaxing on the way back from a bike ride.  A fair few of my photographs of the Dahon have been taken in or around the Castle so I thought I’d post the photo below of the Castle from the air.

It’s from MultiMap’s Bird’s Eye view option and this capture shows the Castle and its grounds.  Just above the Castle you’ll see Rochester Cathedral.

To view the images on MultiMap, which allows you to zoom in, pan and rotate, click here and then select Bird’s Eye imagery.

Rain?

For the first time in many weeks, or so it seems, today it rained.  Today it was a Saturday when the bikes stayed inside and out came my coat and golf umbrella.  It was a walk into town today and I missed the bikes.  I’ve grown accustom to the comfort and speed of the Dahon for getting me into town but today I chose to leave it in the dry.

Oh well, perhaps Sunday will be a nicer day…

Erik Mongrain – Air Tap

Thought I’d share my latest musical discovery: Erik Mongrain.  The video below is of Air Tap and can be found on his ‘Fates’ album.

Cyclists’ Touring Club

I rejoined the Cyclists’ Touring Club (CTC) last week.  I haven’t been a member for a good number of years but I thought that I’d rejoin as I’m spending more time on the saddle.

If you’re a keen cyclist then you should definately consider joining the CTC.  You get a range of benefits including:

* FREE £10m third party insurance
* a bi-monthly cycling magazine and weekly email newsletter
* an invitation to over 1000 cycling events each year
* route and touring information
* technical and product advice
* cycle-related legal advice
* discounts on many cycling products
* access to CTC holidays and tours

As the UK’s National Cyclists’ Organisation, CTC has been protecting and promoting the rights of cyclists since 1878. CTC is a not-for-profit organisation that is funded through its membership and donations in return for support. By joining CTC you are supporting UK cycling and giving us a louder voice when campaigning locally and nationally on the issues that are important to you.

One of their campaigns caught my eye today: http://www.fillthathole.org.uk which enables you to report poorly maintained roads with the aim of getting them fixed.

Take a look at CTC, their campaigns and the benefits available to members – then join today!

Ride to Upnor

I don’t know what’s happening, whether it’s Global Warming or not, but it was another nice day here in Rochester.  So out came the Trek and off I cycled.

Today’s destination was the small town of Upnor along the River Medway towards the sea.  Never been there before despite it being only a couple of miles away.  There’s a castle there (Upnor Castle) but I didn’t see much of it, only a section of it down on the beach.

On the way home, I stopped at Rochester Castle (a favourite spot of mine) for a bottle of Coke and an ice cream – a great end to the ride.

The total trip was 11.36 miles.

A couple of photos below but more on my Flickr pages.

Link: Photos of Upnor on the BBC

Google Street View UK

Google Maps‘ Street View has finally arrived in the UK.  Only a handful of cities are currently in the database but (obviously) London is one of them.

Here’s a snap from Street View showing Fudges Cycles where I bought my Dahon D7HG last year.  Click here to view it for yourself.

DoD Visitors

I use Who’s Among Us here on the blog to see who’s online reading at any particular time.  All it does is plot visitors on the map.  I can’t see any more detail than the image below shows but it is interesting to see where readers come from.

The map pins are occassionaly reset/cleared, which is frustrating, but it’s still an interesting thing to watch.

The image below was captured at 2040GMT on 15th March ’09.  Most readers are coming from Europe and the east of the States.

Take a look at the live stats yourself.

Dahon Riders At Last.fm

I’ve started a Dahon Riders group over at Last.fm to see if we can find out what sort of music we all listen to.  We ride ‘unusual’ bikes so I wonder if we have unusual musical tastes!

Join the group!!!  There’s only me there at the moment.

Last.fm is a great website/service which tracks (“scrobbles”)  all the music you listen to and creates a set of statistics based on your listening habits.  Using that information, it can recommend new music or artists which it considers to be a good match to your tastes.  It’s a great way of discovering new music.  It’s also interesting to watch how your listening habits change and who you listen to most.

I listen to my music with a Mac and an iPod.  Both of these ‘scrobble’ tracks via the small Last.fm application.

Early Saturday

Another early Saturday morning ride, this time to get some parcels from the Post Office.  The Dahon was the chosen vehicle for this and I slowly cycled into town.

I’ve had a bad neck this week, I must of pulled a muscle somehow, so the ride was slow and looking either side or behind proved to be painful.

Took a couple of snaps on my mobile phone camera of the Castle and the Cathedral on the way back.  These photos show the buildings from different angles compared to my previous photos.

(The camera on my Nokia E51 is not very good!).

Click on the images to view larger copies or pop over to my Out on the Bike set at Flickr.

Green and Healthy

I am trying to be both green and healthy.

I’ve now got two bikes and I’m using them more and more.  This will help me be green (the buzz word of the decade!) and it’ll get me out of the house and away from the car.  It’ll also save me money.

For over a month I’ve been living under my self-imposed rule that I won’t use the car at the weekend – and it’s great!  I’m enjoying it!  I use my Trek to get out and get my blood pumping to improve my health and I use the Dahon to ‘take things easy’, relax or go shopping.

And the result?  I’m feeling pretty good about things!  I’ve even started running again after a break of around six months.

My weekends now feel longer and ‘fuller’.  I’m not rushing from place to place in the car, journeys take longer on the bike and I get more time to think.  There isn’t any need for speed or traffic hassle, I just enjoy the area and get some fresh air.  Ahhhhhhh…

If you’re thinking about getting yourself a bike: just go out and buy one, you wont’ regret it!!!  🙂