It’s so long since I blogged, I daren’t even look!  But I’ve not been feeling particularly creative lately.  However, I found some old stuff on my computer, that I wrote years ago when my GT still had only two wheels.  It was so old that it was rather like reading someone else’s stuff and I thought ‘I quite like that’.  So in case you quite like it too, here it is…..

Is This a Record?

In the newsletter John invited anyone who’d like a Sunday ride to contact him so I did, and on 26 Jan we met at John’s  – John and Fran, Neil and Angie, and me.  It was a bit grey but not actually raining and looked as if it might improve.  It didn’t but never mind, we headed north in search of an obscure lake (don’t ask) and soon we passed Compton Abbas airfield – only we didn’t, of course.  Pass it I mean.  Hot chocolate was just what we needed as it was cold in them thar hills, and some of us hadn’t eaten.  Well, we had to start out earlier than John…….

When we came out, there was mist among the trees.  “Are we mad?” I asked.  “Well, we are bikers” came the reply.  Nothing daunted we took to the lanes and very muddy they were too. (They weren’t as bad as all that but it makes a better story!).  With some nifty map-reading from Fran “Well it’s either this way or that way”, we found Old Wardour Castle, as featured in the film “Robin Hood”.  No, not the Errol Flynn one, we had that discussion, it was the Prince of Thieves one.  I’d seen the sign but never been there, and very impressive it was too, everything that a ruin should be.  It even had a lake but it wasn’t the right one (I told you not to ask).

Back to the main – or less minor – road we headed for Tisbury and at some point between there and Hindon  we spotted the lake.  So that was ok (don’t ask me, ask John) and we carried on to Longbridge Deverill where we pulled in for a late lunch at the George.  Some time later we stumbled out of the pub, replete with bacon baguettes and roast turkey, to resume our ramblings and after another stop for tea and cakes we turned for home about 5.30pm.  The light was starting to go by then so we agreed to stick to the main roads which was a good thing as we found ourselves in thick fog for a while.  After much wiping of visors and peering through the murk the fog cleared completely and the rest of the ride home was fine.

The thing is, we left the pub without eating pud, which was disappointing particularly to Neil, so John took us to the café at Shearwater, where we had tea and large slices of meltingly delicious coffee cake.

And the distance between the lunch stop and the tea stop?  Oh, must have been nearly one and a half miles….. which is why I say……

Is this a record?

Dorset

An urgent message from the NABD for all bikers…….

“The National Association For Bikers with a Disability (NABD) is in its twentieth year with a very proud record of helping around 10,000 disabled people to enjoy the freedom and independence of motorcycling. Throughout this time we have remained dedicated to our belief that registered charities such as ours should not spend vast amounts of money on wages, expenses and fancy offices. To this end we have remained a voluntary organisation with only two employees (two lovely ladies who take care of the office and daily administration) and we have one of the least generous and most restrictive system of expense claims in the charity world. Our office and storage facility is small industrial unit on an industrial estate. The NABD is also one of those extremely rare charities that have guaranteed for twenty years that 100% of every donation has been used specifically for the purpose it was donated.

Unfortunately, like everybody else, the NABD has been hit hard by this current recession and now we need your support more than ever before.
Many bikers all over Britain get involved in raising money for a wide range of charities but most seem to support massively oversubscribed charities that already have millions of pounds in the bank like Children In Need, Comic Relief, Help For Heroes or Cancer Research. We all know that these charities provide much needed services and support for deserving people but the fact remains that they have vast resources and they enjoy huge support from all parts of society.

To give you an idea of what I’m talking about; on just one day in 2011, Children in Need raised more than £26 million in the UK. Comic Relief raised £74 million in 2011. Cancer Research raised an almost unbelievable £433 million in 2010 and each of these charities gets huge support from within the motorcycle scene.

The NABD has to rely purely on support from within the motorcycle scene and although this support has previously enabled us to become the world leaders in the field of motorcycling for disabled people and this in turn has given us the ability to develop new and better solutions to the problems faced by disabled motorcyclists, we have recently seen a marked fall-off in support from motorcyclists and motorcycle groups. And we do not need millions; in fact the best financial year in our history featured total donations of little over £68,000.00

One of the most important aspects of the services offered by the NABD is our system for making financial grants to help disabled riders to pay for the necessary adaptations to bikes, trikes and sidecar outfits. Now for the first time since 1999 we have been forced by the current financial situation to suspend this grants system due to lack of funds.

It is our fervent hope that this awful situation is a temporary one, but without a marked resurgence in support from within the motorcycle scene this much needed service, and others, will not be available to those fellow bikers who need it so much if they are to regain their freedom and independence through motorcycling.

Please don’t leap to the incorrect conclusion that the NABD is in danger of disappearing, this is not the case and nor will it be the case in the foreseeable future. However, in the current economic climate, more people than ever are requesting our help and we have already paid or agreed to over £74,000.00 worth of grants in the 8 months of this financial year. To put that into perspective, our previous record in one entire year was just over £70,000.00. Whilst we can afford to pay for these, we cannot, at the present time, agree to any more. We simply don’t have the money.

The NABD needs your support now. If your club is having a party, why not make it a fund-raiser for the NABD? Why not ask your local bikers pub to run a raffle or a party to raise funds for the NABD? Or you could simply become a member of the NABD for £20.00 (you don’t have to be disabled to join and support our aims). You can buy NABD supporters patches and other NABD merchandise via the shop on www.nabd.org.uk we also have You’ve Been Nabbed 21 rally tickets for sale via the web site or by calling 0844 415 4849
Please help the NABD in its hour of need, it’s the biker’s charity and bikers are the only people who make it all work.

Donations can be sent to: NABD, Unit 20, The Bridgewater Centre, Robson Avenue, Urmston, Manchester, M40 7TE or you can donate on line www.nabd.org.uk or by phone 0844 415 4849

The NABD, is a biker’s charity run by bikers for bikers with disabilities and it needs your help now…”

Rick Hulse
NABD Chairman
_________________
John Byrne (Byrnie)
NABD Treasurer

I’ve had osteoarthritis for years but recently been having trouble with my back which has resulted in pains running down the front of my leg, which my GP thought was due to my femoral nerve being affected.   I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep because of the pain and not been able to walk very well.  As it’s gone on a while and I was getting a bit low the GP referred me to a ‘pain management clinic’ with a view to possibly getting injections in my back.

I had an appointment through very quickly which was great but I found the experience a bit confusing and disappointing.  The doctor at the clinic asked me a few questions, when I said the pain was ‘like sciatica but down the front of my leg’ she told me you can get sciatica in the front of your leg. I thought that was a bit odd as I’ve had sciatica before and I know that the sciatic nerve runs down the back of your leg but she’s the doctor….
Then she examined me and said ’she didn’t think it was nerve pain’ – again, she’s the doctor but as my chiropracter said – what does she think I feel pain with?
So she said she ‘thinks’ I now have arthritis in my spine.

The GP had referred me for injections in my spine and the clinic doctor was happy to put me on the list for that but I’m wondering if there’s much point. She said they don’t do them routinely and IF they work the effect only lasts a few weeks – oh and the waiting time is 12-15 weeks! And keep taking the tablets and doing the exercises – neither of which was helping which is why I was referred to the clinic.
That was it, in and out in 20 mins.

Maybe I’m naive but what I really expected was some discussion of ways to deal with the pain???  When the NHS is good, it’s great – but a lot of the time it’s awful!

Anyway I’m going back to the GP to ask for X-rays as I’d really like to know what I’m definitely dealing with, not what they ‘think’ it might be!   I don’t like the idea of randomly injecting my back because it ‘might help’.  It just seemed like a waste of time and petrol and car park fees!

On a happier note, it seems the money I’ve been paying out on getting my back treated by a chiropractor has been much better spent as it’s definitely improving – why doesn’t the NHS provide treatment for the problem instead of just for the symptoms?

My grand-daughter has always wanted to go pillion on her dad’s bike and my trike – we’ve had to check often to see if she’s big enough and now she’s 10 and her feet reach the footpegs safely but my spare helmet was too big, so she had to wait till she got some bike gear – a helmet’s not mandatory on a trike but I choose to wear one and I wouldn’t take a passenger without.  So she was thrilled when a neighbour who’d given up on her scooter passed along her jacket and very cool girly pink helmet!

She went out on her dad’s Buell on Sunday leaving a very scared Mum waiting at home – Rose is a biker herself but mums are like that, it’s their job to worry!  Of course Grace came home safely with that enormous grin, if you’re a biker you know just what I mean!  Monday was a teacher training day so Grace came to me bringing her bike gear and hoping the rain would clear, which it did, and that the trike would start as I’d neglected it for weeks.

Gertie duly fired up and off we went to Poole, the slow route through the town as Grace wasn’t ready for the dual carriageway – I’ve never gone pillion on a trike so I don’t know what it’s like but I guess it’s all a bit daunting the first time.  We parked up on Poole Quay like you do, and collected a couple of hot chocolates from the kiosk and chatted with another biker – that’s what it’s all about!  Grace loved the ride and was happy to go a bit faster so we went back along the bypass at a daring 60 even overtaking a Reliant Robin, then out into the country and homeward along a traffic free back road.  Of course I didn’t break the speed limit ossifer but I think Grace would have been happy for me to give Gertie her head and let rip!

Nothing to do with nuts on bits of string! Conkers is the campsite near Moira in Leicestershire where the Round Britain Rally entrants have their last meet of the year. This year I was brave and took my tent – last year I was in the youth hostel but I didn’t enjoy it and decided to risk the cold and damp this year, with the promise of sleeping in a heated awning if it was really freezing! That’s the thing – sensible people take caravans or campervans, but Sheila, Carol and Ian, and I brought tents and we were all very glad Jim had his caravan and enormous heated awning for the evening gathering. This year there was no frost so I slept in my lovely big Outwell Oakland S tent – it’s tall enough to stand up in, and large enough to have a proper table and chair making camping still possible in spite of encroaching arthritis! Have to admit I went in the car, it’s just too cold on the trike at this time of year.

As I hate motorway travel I drove up via Swindon to Stowe and got on the Fosse Way – it’s a wonderful road, took me all the way to the A5 and it’s not far then to Conkers – I know it takes longer but there’s no stress and I get to see all the wonderful countryside. Dinner from the chip van on site on Friday and bacon sarnies courtesy of Carol and Ian for Saturday breakfast, then I went to have a look at the Moira Furnace just along the road as I never got there when it was an RBR Landmark. Interesting site alongside the Ashby canal and lots of photo opportunities including a family of Buzzards – didn’t manage to get more than one in the frame although there were at lest three of them!

Back to the campsite for the barbecue cooked by ‘Mommybear’ Vivien but missed the group photo so no record of ever having been there – boo! Quite a few folks turned up on Saturday to get their RBR photos marked by Graham and it was good to see old friends and meet new ones.  These camping get-togethers are almost the only time the rallyists meet exceot when (rarely) they turn up at the same landmark at the same time, oddly this year it happened to lots of us!

A good evening of boozing and chat in Jim’s awning – the RBRers are a great bunch, all different and with different bikes and different ways of approaching the rally but all slightly mad and totally addicted to riding round the British countryside looking for ‘landmarks’ which may be anything from a castle – easy! – to a memorial stone hidden in long grass – not quite so easy – and there’s always the question of whether it was the right stone!  Finally snuggled into my sleeping bag, quite cosy as I had my tent heater and hot water bottle! We had no rain the whole weekend so I was packed quite early and home before 4 – 346 miles there and back to NOT get my photos marked as I forgot to bring them but it was worth it for the company and the craic. That’s my last camping weekend for this year, it’s going to be a long winter and we’ll all be suffering from ‘cabin fever’ long before next year’s RBR starts on , appropriately, the first of April!

The rest of my pics of the weekend and my vist to Moira Furnace here

I finally retired from work at the end of August, it was such a relief as I’d been struggling to deal with shift work and sitting my arthritic bones at a desk for 8 hours at a time.

Those who’ve already finished will know the kind of questions people ask – the daftest one was “How long will it be before you’re bored?”  Bored?  Me?  Never been bored in my life!  And the other that came up quite frequently was “What are you going to do now?”  Well if I’d finished in the summer when I wanted to the answer would have been, go to lots of bike rallies, as it was the answer was – nothing!   Just for a few months you understand, till the novelty wore off (or the rally season started).

So what did I do?  I went to a bike club meeting (as in Dorset Motorcycle Club, not cycling, as far as I’m concerned if it has 2 or 3 wheels it has to have an engine).  Nothing out of the way about that you might say, perfectly normal thing to do.  Yes but it’s my big mouth!  When Bob, who’s kept the club going almost single-handedly the last year or two, announced that because of a job change he wouldn’t be able to do it any more, a couple of people said they would deal with the organizing but they were no good with emails and websites and stuff.

“I can do that” my mouth said.  Honestly, it was nothing to do with me, it said it all by itself!  So I am now the SPOC for the bike club.  SPOC?  – ‘Single Point Of Contact’

Well it’s better than being called an old PRO, isn’t it?

This weather is ridiculous!
We never get snow in this part of Dorset till February – even the big blizzard of 1978 was in February, now we’ve just had our 4th snowfall of this year. At 0630 I set off to go to work 9 miles away out in the country and it got worse and worse. By the time I was halfway I wished I hadn’t turned out but it was easier to go on than back – then at 0930 the manager came in and said they’d been told to expect a foot of snow imminently and we should go home. It was snowing again by then and driving was horrible on ice and slush and snow. Halfway home there was a snow plough clearing the other side of the road, that’s something I’ve never seen in this part of Dorset! It snowed then sleeted, eventually turning to rain – please let that continue and wash all the snow away!

Click image for more snowy photos.

This was on 02 December - wasn't stopping to use the camera today!

A pome what I wrote…..

Rum’s good enough for some folks but not the drink for me
Cos I am made for finer stuff like wine and Earl Grey tea.
I’ve never spliced the mainbrace, whatever that thing is,
Though I must admit that Rumtoft with ice cream is the biz!
But when I come to drinking (which I come to every day)
A glass of finest cognac’s the sophisticated way.
And when I’m feeling poorly and in need of cheering up
I pour it in Ribena or in my coffee cup.
I don’t suppose it cures the cold or stops the nasty snot
But it gives me happy feelings and I giggle quite a lot!
It’s also more convenient to raid the brandy store
Cos t’other arf drinks brandy so there’s always oodles more –
If any reason’s needed for choosing what to drink
The fact that it’s available is number one I think!

Cheers!

Had a great time at the Caldarium MCC ‘s Hex Rated Rally, the last weekend in October.  It’s been my last rally of the year since I first went in 2004, the first year I had the trike and it’s always a really good one.  Having a level site and a village hall with real loos helps, but it was just as good when they had a site that was uneven and far too small at a pub where not everyone could squeeze in at the same time!  It’s the people that really make a rally, and the people that go to this one are all just the kind of people you want to spend a weekend with – if you don’t know anyone when you get there, you soon will!

And then there’s the famous – or infamous – ‘Mr Hex Rated’ competition!  I’ll leave that to your imagination – let it run riot and you might come close!  Anyway it’s very entertaining and so are the silly games, the food van had something for everyone – gone are the days when it was burgers or…. burgers.  The beer was good, the company was better – only downside for me was that I was in the car as I can’t ride that far in the cold now, and it’s just not the same when the trike’s not there.  So I’m not sure what I’ll do next year, I might have to be sensible end my season a bit earlier – on the other hand I might just go anyway!

It’s going to be a long boring winter without any rallies but I’ve got lots of blogging to catch up on, and I can always look through the pictures to remind me of all the fun I had this year……. (click on the V-Max if you want to see more)

I’ve started getting interested in taking better pictures, and back in the summer I saw an advert for a photography workshop in August at Kimmeridge which is only a few miles from home (and incidentally I booked up right away!  I could hardly believe the cost of only £30 for a whole day workshop with Ben Osborne, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009, who worked on BBC’s ‘Life on Earth’ series.  The workshop was backed by Dorset Artsreach making it affordable, and said it was for ‘anyone interested in photography whether they use a mobile phone, compact camera, dSLR or Hasselblad H4D’ – yes, I definitely fit in there somewhere!

We were a mixed bunch who met in the classroom, but maybe because of that we all got on rather well, and Ben’s enthusiasm soon had us all fired up and wandering round outside the Marine Centre taking pictures we might never have tried – well certainly I wouldn’t, I had a new digital compact camera that I didn’t really understand and had only ever used the ‘auto’ and ‘kids and pets’ settings.  The weather was kind to us in spite of a less than encouraging forecast, and when it started drizzling we went inside to see some of our photos projected on the screen and hear comments not only from Ben but also from the other students – it was really interesting to hear about the different ways people saw the same pictures.

After lunch it was more of the same but further afield, round the other side of the bay.  Kimmeridge is so picturesque that you can hardly help but take attractive pictures, but it’s really exciting when you know you’re improving the quality of the photos you take!  The day went far too quickly and in his summing up Ben asked each of us what we thought we were taking away from the workshop – for many of us the answer was “Confidence! “.  I know I need to learn more about the basics, exposure, depth of field etc, and ideally I’d like a better – or different – camera to go with the little compact I have.  I’ve always taken pictures that other people actually enjoy, partly because they have an interest in the subject – relatives and friends love family pictures, fellow bikers unsurprisingly like bike and rally pictures, and I love capturing those magic moments that pets present – but now I have the confidence to show my pictures to anyone!  I’ve found a new hobby –  and even when the time comes to give up triking and camping I’ll still be carrying a camera everywhere I go!

For the full set of pictures, click on the image below