March 2017 - Blackpool Here We Come

We travelled up for the weekend to Preston to see my lovely daughter Emily.

We spent the day in Blackpool, a brew at the top of the tower and a wander around the town. The weather was not brilliant so we kept it short and sweet.

We stayed in Preston in a hotel close to the centre of town, I was pleasantly surprised by Preston, it had some impressive buildings, and was not how I expected it to be which was all doom and gloom.

We had a good night out, with a few beers and found a rather lovely tavern down in the cellar just off the main shopping street.

Emily has lived in Preston for a good few years and it was her first time in this bar, and loved it. So much so that after we had left she introduced all her mates to it!

We had driven up in the car, it was just easy to do rather than take the Ural. Plus the weather was wet and horrible which would of made it a long trip!

I didn't get out as much as I would like during the month, but one memorable ride was taking my mate "Ghosty" to look at a car.

I say look, as that was what he was supposed to be doing, but he ended up buying it there and then and drove it home.

I reckon I must of traumatised him being sat in the chair!

Towards the end of the month the sky did clear enough for a quick trip out for a brew with a view.

One of my favourite spots to stop - on the cliff tops just outside of Milford on Sea looking towards the Isle of Wight.

In Bournemouth I spotted this little beauty in a shop window, I must admit to feeling sorry for it. A bike like that is just crying out to be used as it was intended, not as a shop prop.

The journey continues............

February 2017

It could be said that I get bored and distracted whilst out shopping - Think the picture below illustrates this nicely!

I did manage to get out on the bike, a quick blast down to the sea, we really are lucky to live in a beautiful area.

Now that it's getting lighter in the evenings, if I get an early finish there is always this place to stop and savour the view.

Decided to head inland today - the weather crisp and cold. The New Forest always looks great when high up.

And so another month comes to a close. Lighter evenings and warmer weather on it's way I hope!

The journey continues..............

January 2017

January and a start of a brand new year - Kiera sent me the picture below

I don't need to add anything to that do I?

So we decided to book a 2 week holiday to Fiscardo in Greece and what a magical place it turned out to be! More of that later..........

Back to reality and a bit of DIY

Which led to Dry January going right out of the window after day 8!

For the rest of January I suffered from an intermittent electrical fault, which still plagues me every now and again, either that or it's a different fault - who knows?. But what a nest of vipers! Starts off one colour, goes through a connector block and emerges another colour! 

No wonder it led me to this!

Then this!

Finally in January we found a farm butcher that not only cut the largest Pork Chops ever, but they came complete with kidneys! Wonderful!

Of course washed down with a few of these!

So not a great deal of travelling, but plenty of things planned out for the rest of the year.

The journey continues.................

December 2016

The month of December started with beautiful sunshine, and a trip out on the Ural along the Coast.

Luckily I live on the coast, it takes less than 10 minutes to get to the sea and equally a similar amount of time to get deep into the New Forest.

I really do have the best of both worlds!

Today as the sun was shining it was the coast. Keyhaven was the place.

Looking out towards the Isle of Wight.

When I was working on the buses, early morning starts was normal for me, always a struggle as I need my sleep, but it did come with it's advantages.

Parked up in a car park at the top of Milford On Sea - looking East and over towards the Isle of Wight.

It's the colours of the sky that gets me - simply beautiful.

An old friend of mine gave me some old photographs of when I was just a lad - As you can see camping has always been in my life!

I'm the one on the far left sat down

Bottom right hand corner

Also in December a few of these were consumed.

And then a few more!

And then before you knew it - Christmas!

On Boxing day we decided to take the Ural out for a spin as it was a lovely but cold day.

Quick stop at Tesco, so we could cook off the back of the Ural out in the forest.

However, we spotted a Turkey going at a stupid price so we decided to buy it!

And then take it for a ride out to the forest!

Starting to cook, but cannot remember what!

Once home a few beers

The a few more!

The a couple of cocktails

Then hit the Gin! Lymington Gin to be precise! A mighty fine Gin as well.

I'm really not sure how the Turkey ended up going from this 

To this! It was all a bit blurry!

 At least Turkey got a final ride around the New Forest!

And that as they say was that, another year done and dusted and what it year it had been!

Roll on 2017!

The journey continues................

Catch Up! Month By Month!

It would appear that I have been a tad busy and have neglected this blog of mine, so I will endeavour to put things right by updating and bringing you up to speed with all the adventures I have been on since I last put up a post!

Needless to say there has been plenty going on, so I will update things on a monthly basis.

You will probably see that there is a theme to my life, basically it consists of beer, food, more food, spending time with Kiera and riding a motorbike and a good bit of traveling!

So here we go, following on from my last post - which was me having my bike decorated for Christmas and proving everyone wrong that I am not a total Bah-Humbug!

The journey continues...........