February... I managed to raise the cycling mileage a little during the month with a total of 375 miles covered. I also logged my longest ride of the year so far, a rather feeble 26.23 miles on the mountain bike! Still, the year isn't supposed to be about clocking up a large number of miles by the year end, it's all about just enjoying being out on the bike. With that in mind, I'm happy with how it's all going so far.

One ride that I did put a bit of extra effort into was the commute to work on the morning of February 28. It had been very cold and frosty overnight and this had left the unmade cycle paths dry and firm - ideal conditions for a fast ride on the mountain bike. So, I left home at 7:00AM and headed off towards Elvaston Castle for an attempt at getting the "lap record" on the Strava web site for a 2 mile ride around the park! 

The best time logged on Strava had been 7mins 27secs, an average speed of 16mph. By the time I'd completed my loop it was down to 7mins 01sec! Not bad for an old 'un that, even after all these years riding bikes, still can't bunny hop the speed bumps I encountered on one part of the ride though!

A hot lap of the castle.

-------------------------------------------

My aim of getting out with the camera more during this year isn't going quite as well as I'd hoped so far. The weather hasn't been good enough, I've been short of time and, well, I've just been plain old lazy! But, some encouragement to keep at it has come my way in the form of our local paper, the Derby Telegraph. They have printed two of my photos in recent weeks.

The first was the photo of Alvaston Lake I took back in January...

...the second was also taken in Alvaston Park, on one of the few sunny days we've had so far this year!

Hopefully as the year progresses I'll be able to post more photos here - if the weather allows that is! Right now... it's snowing once again!

-------------------------------------------

And finally... we, or should I say Lynda, have changed our car again. I don't drive enough now to have too much of a say in what we have or when we change our cars! This one is, once again, another Ford Fiesta. It's a Titanium model, metallic silver, and just a few months old. 

The new car.

Very little to report tonight...

The weather has turned on its head again since last weekend. From Tuesday afternoon onwards there has been a distinct feeling of Spring in the air! The birds have started to sing much more - we have a Blackbird and a Robin that are even singing in the middle of the night! - the sun has been out for long periods of time and is starting to have a lot more warmth to it, trees and bushes are starting to bud. On Wednesday and Thursday evening I even saw a couple of bats flying around as I cycled home!

Yesterday afternoon the new car was given its second wash - the novelty obviously hasn't worn off just yet! If the weather stays as it is I may well go for three washes in three weeks next weekend! A trip over to Nottingham in the evening gave the car its first out of town run and also gave me the chance to play with the trip computer. Its surprising just how carefully you can drive when trying - successfully - to get an average of over 45 MPG! I'm not so sure I'll be keeping an eye on the MPG reading on a motorway trip to Scotland though!

This morning started rather early for a Sunday. I was up, dressed and eating breakfast by 7:00AM. By 7:40AM I was on my bike and heading off into the now rising sun on a two hour, 26 mile, cycle ride around South Derbyshire. The first few miles were a little tricky due to the overnight frost leaving some of the roads and paths icy and also because I was riding straight into a very bright, and very low sunrise!

Sunrise over the Trent & Mersey Canal near Swarkestone.

My route took me out to Swarkestone, then Kings Newton, on to Melbourne, along side Staunton Harold Reservoir and then into Ticknall. From there I rode through Calke Park, which looked beautiful covered in a heavy frost, over to Breedon on the Hill and finally joined the Cloud Trail at Worthington in Leicestershire. From there it was a quick 10 mile sprint back home!

Route of the ride - plotted on Google Earth!

Wildlife highlights along the route included 8 Hares chasing each other around a frost covered field, 3 Jays, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Green Woodpecker, a male Yellowhammer, numerous Fieldfare and Redwing, and dozens of Blackbirds, Robins and Song Thrush singing their hearts out. It may well have been cold (minus 2c when I set off) but it was one of the best mornings I've spent locally in a long time.

Out with the old; in with the new...

Yesterday lunchtime, Lynda picked up our new car - a shiny black Fiesta Zetec - and said goodbye to our old red Zetec.

Unfortunately, yesterday afternoon also saw the return of Winter, luckily it was only a "one day special" - or at least it has been so far! At just after 3:00PM the skies over Derby suddenly started to darken, the wind picked up and the next thing I knew we had near blizzard conditions for almost half an hour, not the best of weather to take delivery of a "new" car. Still, the snow didn't last too long and by the time Lynda and I left work all trace of the afternoon's snow had gone again.

By the time we arrived home and had then driven into Derby and back for the Battlefield Band gig, the car was no longer quite so shiny! It had turned a horrible grey sort of colour due to all the salt that had been put down on the roads. So, this morning we treated our new little baby to a new sponge and leather and it's first bath. This is the first black car we've had and I can see that keeping it clean is going to be a bit of a challenge!

It cost me a few layers of skin from one of my knuckles but I also fitted mud flaps to the front and back of the car this afternoon so maybe, just maybe, they will help to keep the road dirt away from all that black paint. Black privacy glass isn't the easiest to clean either! Luckily, the blood from my knuckle washed off the alloy wheel, tyre and rear bumper okay! I'm getting to old to work on my own cars now!

Clean again; mud flaps fitted; all traces of blood removed!

It’s been a busy old weekend, for saying I’ve not really done much!

Our Burns Night Supper on Friday was delicious. We had Haggis, of course, mashed potato and Sweet Chestnuts. Add to that a couple of rather large measures of Glenmorangie and the night was enjoyable to say the least!

Whisky and Haggis!

Saturday morning was spent at work, which wasn’t too busy, so I managed to catch up on a lot of paperwork. Straight after work I went off to get my hair cut - bit of a mistake that as it took me almost an hour and a half to get it done. The shop was packed and everyone was working flat out.

On Saturday evening, Lynda and I met up with our friend Mike for a few drinks. We started in the Rose & Crown in Chellaston but after a pint of cider and a very nice, and rather large, bacon, lettuce, and tomato baguette, I started to feel that maybe this wasn’t the best of places for us to spend the evening. The food was great and the cider was fine but we had chosen Karaoke Night! The final straw for me was when a young boy started to murder a Kate Nash song (Foundations)… time for us to make a quick exit!

The rest of the evening was spent in the much more pleasant surroundings of The Coopers Arms, in Weston on Trent. This pub used to be a regular haunt for Lynda and I, while she still lived in the village, and it was good to see that the place hasn’t lost any of its character over the years. The place also had a good “buzz” about it but without being so loud that you couldn’t hold a conversation without shouting. The drinks continued to flow until last orders were called at around 11:15PM. At that point double measure of Talisker whisky finished off my evening rather well! Needless to say… Lynda was doing the driving last night and spent the evening enjoying soft drinks!

This morning I was out of bed at just after 8:00AM so that I could take part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. This annual survey of the UK’s garden birds sees participants counting the number of birds that land in their garden, or local park, at any one time in a single hour. Our tiny patch of garden didn’t come up with any surprises in terms of species or numbers but it was good to be able to sit and see just what would turn up. My bird count for the hour between 8:30AM and 9:30AM was…

House Sparrow 10
Starling 8
Blackbird 4
Collared Dove 4
Wood Pigeon 3
Carrion Crow 2
Dunnock 2
Blue Tit 1
Robin 1

After a late breakfast, Lynda and I headed off in search of a new car. We’ve been looking at changing ours for a good few months now but have struggled to find just the right one. Today, we came close enough to ticking all the right boxes to finally make a purchase. The car we’ve chosen is a four-month-old Ford Fiesta Zetec. It has everything we wanted and a couple of things that I didn’t really want, namely two extra doors!

I’ve never been a fan of five door cars but I’m sure I’ll come around to the idea quickly enough. At least everything else on my shopping list is there… alloy wheels, air con, ABS brakes, heated front screen, CD player (with MP3 player connection), rear spoiler and low mileage. It even has black privacy glass that looks pretty smart seeing as the car has metallic black paint. As Lynda put it “it’s proper pimped up”! Photos of the new “toy” will appear here sometime after we pick it up next Friday.