Oulton Park - Track Day

Ready to Go!

At the end of the season there are one or two track days on Saturday. It was an opportunity for Andrea and the kids to come along and have a day out at Oulton Park. It was also pretty cheap £80! there however is only. 6 sessions because it comes dark so early.

Getting everyone out of bet at 6am was a bit of a challenge, but the kids were soon settled in the van. The weather was pretty poor, I just hoped hat things would improve and hoped to see a dry track at some point in the day.

The riders meeting went off without a hitch, there's been a bit of a change, the Intermediate group is now out on track first, good news later in the day as I'd be finished early and cold pack up and head home without having to wait until he very end.

Everything was still pretty wet and it didn't look like it would change any time soon. In the first session I did the two sighting laps and pulled in. It didn't help that everyone in the group had wet tyres on their bikes, this made me a little nervous, as I don't have fancy tyres for the wet. To be honest wobbling round when it's raining isn't my idea of fun. When I used to race I always enjoyed the wet, I could push hard and wasn't bothered about accidents, however on a track day I just don't get it.

I sat out all the morning sessions with my fingers crossed that the track would dry out.

After lunch things did improve. There as a dry line so I started to enjoy myself. At first taking it easy but going faster as I figured out the conditions. Under the trees at Druids I was a little uncertain weather it was wet or not but there seemed to be grip!

Two Up.

About half way through this session a bloke came blasting past me on lakeside, normal routine big fast bike that I can't live with. However as he approached island bend he went straight on into the gravel trap, he probably went off the track at 80-90mph. I tried to ignore his random manoeuvre, I certainly didn't want to follow him onto the grass at that speed! I guess he missed his braking marker, went off the dry line and panicked.

The track dried out as the sessions rolled by. Andrea and the kids watched from the bridge on clay hill and I had to be careful not to get distracted.

On the last session I had the hammer down and was really enjoying myself. I knew it was the last chance this year on a track so I was pushing pretty hard. Half way through the session I had a real moment at Druids. I guess there were still damp patches, the back end stepped out near the second apex, it felt like a huge slide, but in reality it was probably something and nothing. It's made me slow down and be more careful, but it did get the adrenalin flowing!

I'd had an okay day, the weather had spoilt things but at least Things improved in the afternoon, roll on next year!

Finlay School Cross Country

Finlay - Ready to run!

Looks like Finlay is following in Andrea and Jack's footsteps when it comes to running. He was picked for the school cross country. Finlay was chuffed because he normally blends in and doesn't get involved. It was quite funny that he got really nervous before the run, just like Andrea.

Finlay looked tiny compared with everyone else, it was year 3 and 4 so he was running against kids who were older than him. After a slow start he just kept plodding along and was overtaking lots of kids, by the end there was only 3 other kids in front of him, and they were all year 4 so he did really well.

At assembly the day after he was called out to the from to collect a certificate, quite a fuss for Finlay!!

Remembrance Sunday Parade

Remembrance Sunday in Queensbury

Another Remembrance Sunday, similar to last year the kids were marching in Beavers / Cubs. Everyone met up at the Scout hut and the roads were soon closed for the march to the cenotaph. It was a pleasant morning and we were soon assembled for the service.

After the 2 minutes silence typically the burglar alarm in the Coop went off, turned into a bit of a shambles as various dignitaries gave there speeches with the ear splitting alarm drawing attention away from the service.

Everyone then marched to the Church and we all sat through the service. For a change I enjoyed the speeches, each of he various churches and chapels in the village were represented and to be fair the talks were all relevant and not too religious.

It was very busy again, nice to see so many people paying their respects. It wasn't too long ago when Remembrance Day was poorly attended, so it's good that people are compelled to attend.

Railway Bike Ride - Queensbury to Thornton

Jack and Finlay on Thornton Viaduct

The Great Northern Railway Trail has recently been extended enabling good walks and bike rides from Station Road in Queensbury all the way to Thornton. Riding from home to Thornton and back is exactly six miles. 

We set off from home and carefully made our way through the village. Once we got on Station Road it should have been easy but Finlay got upset because he knew that we had to peddle back up the hill!

Finlay got his head around everything and we started to enjoy the ride, soon crossed Cockin Lane and headed along the new stretch of the track. The railway builders must have been kept busy building all the bridges and cuttings. There's a huge bank as the railway crossed a valley, heaven knows how much work this took to build. We then crossed Headley Lane and headed over the viaduct.

Map of the route

I took a couple of photos and we headed back. True to form Finlay wasn't happy about peddling up the hill, but he stayed on his bike and did get to the top. His reward was pop and crisps!

It'a a good track, I can't wait until it gets joined up to Harecroft. If this ever does get completed it will be possible to ride from Queensbury all the way to Cullingworth without having to ride on roads. All good!

London Trip

The Kids in St Pancras

We spend so much time in the van that we don't get into large cities very often, the kids have never been to London so this half term we decided to 'do London'.We travelled down via train, something that the kids loved. It was a bit like being in the motor home for the kids, we were sat around a table and they could use to loo or do things at the table but for a change I was with them!

Once we arrived in London we decided to head to have a quick look in St Pancras which is next door to Kings Cross. Jack wanted to see the Eurostar trains and the end of 'High Speed 1' and I always enjoy walking through this splendid station. We had a good look around and the kids had their photo taken with the statue of Sir John Betjeman. We also looked at 'The Meeting Place' statue which is pretty big!

We walked to the Premier Inn hotel on Old Street, typically the kids moaned and Andrea joined in but it wasn't that far. After checking in we headed down to the Tower on London. Jack and Finlays 'Castle Phobia' kicked in and they didn't want to go into the castle complaining that it was a creepy dungeon! We took no notice of them and set off around the castle. Both kids settled down and we had a great afternoon. The crown jewels were way too busy it was a real push and shove affair. There were people from all over the world Jack picked up on this pretty quickly and announced that  no one spoke English! The kids really enjoyed looking at the exhibitions in the White Tower, weapons always go down well!!

 Once we'd finished looking around we headed along the Thames and across Tower Bridge. We walked down down into Butler Wharf and had tea at Pizza Express. From here we walked along the band of the Thames back to London Bridge Tube Station. Purchase Oyster cards for me and Andrea and headed back to Old Street on the tube. It was pretty entertaining getting through the barriers with the kids but we soon got used to the routine!

On The London Eye

Sunday morning we enjoyed the all you can eat buffet breakfast at the hotel before heading on the tube over to the London Eye. Another really busy tourist trap! The queues were huge but things moved along quickly and we soon got our turn to look at the great views. Finlay didn't seem to keen on everything but he soon got his head around the experience. The kids were more interested on the Samsung Galaxy tablets than looking at the views!

Once we'd finished on the London Eye we head across Westminster Bridge looked at Big Ben and headed up Whitehall to Downing Street, past Horse Guards and into Trafalgar Square. It was pretty busy so we headed down the Mall to Buckingham Palace. 

Buckingham Palace

We then crossed the Park onto Oxford street and headed to The Rain Forest Cafe by Piccadilly Circus. We'd booked a table and soon were sat down. This was another place that Finlay didn't like, it's a cool place with animated jungle animals. We were sat near a huge gorilla  and every couple of minutes it started making lots of excited noises and then juggled about. To make it worse every half an hour there was a 'thunder storm' with flashing lights and loud thunder. Finlays face was brilliant  like the other things we'd done he soon settled down and started to enjoy the experience.

After finishing eating we spent time in Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus before heading back to the hotel on the tube.

Stood with Darwin

Monday was museum day and we headed across to the Natural History Museum, it was packed. We spent the morning looking at everything and the kids enjoyed all the dinosaur stuff. We then went next door into the Science Museum, by now the kids were getting bored, a real shame. We looked at the rockets, jets and steam engines in the main downstairs hall and I enjoyed looking at the code breaking exhibition. 

After this we headed into Hyde Park, had a cup of tea and walked over to Marble Arch and Oxford street. The kids wanted to spend their money so we walked all the way down to Hamleys on Regent Street. It was very busy but the kids soon found Halo Mega Bloks. We walked back down into the Chinese quarter near Leicester Square and had a meal in a friendly family run restaurant.

Tuesday morning and we took an opportunity to visit Stratford and the Olympic Park, it was a bit of a disappointment as there was lots or re-development going on and we ended up spending all morning in the Westfield Shopping centre.

Waiting for the Tube

It was time to head home and we crossed town back to Kings Cross and the train home.

We'd had a good time and the kids can now say they've been to many of the places that we see on TV all the time. I couldn't spend long periods in London, it's not for me. I miss the open spaces. I think it's busy in West Yorkshire, but the truth is that London way busier than home. There doesn't appear to be much of a recession in the areas we visited in London and the amount of people visiting and spending money was amazing.

Coley Walk

Parked by the church in Coley and headed down the path beside the cemetery and crossed the main road heading up the lane towards Northarum. Before reaching the main road to Halifax we turned left and headed off the road across a field and down into Only House Wood. The kids were looking for concker trees, but we only found beach, ash and oak!

Heading further down into the valley we crossed the beck and crossed several fields, emerging on Leeds Road. Turning right we headed Towards Hipperholm, crossing the valley via the road we turned left up an old track and walked up through Common Wood. 

As we reached the top of the wood we left the trees behind and found ourselves in a disused quarry. It was a place that reminded me of my childhood, there were many places like this in Queensbury 30 years ago and I spent much of my childhood playing in places like this. I explained to the kids how we used to play in places like this, but made sure they understood how dangerous it was. There was some very high cliffs, the edges were unprotected and it was very easy to get close to the edge. I'm not sure that the kids understood the consequences of an accident. The views were amazing, we could see 360 degree panoramas, The church and mill chimney made Queensbury easy to spot.

3 Miles, with lots of hills!

Heading out of the quarry we soon found ourselves back on Brighouse and Denholme road, from here it was a short walk back to the Car. We spent some time looking at the Church yard before heading for home.

It was interesting to spend time so near to home, but somewhere that I'd never walked on before. Familiar but unknown at the same time!

Paintballing - Brighouse

Ouch!!!

The first part of one of my friends Stag do involved heading to Skirmish Paintball in Brighouse for a morning of running around like teenagers with guns!! Only problem, we're all way too old for the running about bit!

20 years ago I went paint balling, it was expensive and quite a slow game. The paint and gas was too dear to  waste. If you got shot once you were out so you didn't take chances. How things have changed!!!

The safety brief was good humoured with one very important message, do NOT take your mask off once outside the safe area. It was made very clear how dangerous it could be if you did remove your mask and got hit by a paint ball in the face.

So onto the first game, I ran around like I was 18, we won the game but I realised that there was no way I could keep going at this pace. We'd been told that it was okay to keep playing if you got hit, come out of the game if you'd had enough. So to get someone out of the game you pretty much had to hit them a lot. This was okay if you were fit enough to run at the other team and get close, taking a few hits but inflicting far more damage to the opposition!

For the rest of the morning our team lost pretty much every game, we tried to work as a team but it just didn't work out for us. It was a lot of fun and sometime getting hit really hurt. My hands took a battering and occasionally I got a real stinger. Some of the guys ended up with real nasty blisters and bruisers. I managed to get away with it!

At the end of the session poor old Wayne and his best man Aidy had to do a stag run, they didn't have guns and it was a free for all. Remarkably they didn't get too hurt. Everyone then just used what ever paint they had left.

It was an interesting morning, makes me think how terrible it would be in a real battle. Guys who go to war are real heroes!