Two winter rides in a week

The weather in the UK has been calm, settled and very cold this week; I've been fortunate to get out for two bike rides in gorgeous but chilly weather. The picture below was taken on a leafy lane in West Sussex on Monday, when I left the car at Byworth near Petworth and rode in a loop through to Amberley, Storrington, Billingshurt and Kirdford following a Nick Cotton route of about 40 miles in reverse.

Although I managed to forget the little camera tripod, I did remember the stove and kettle, and had a memorable break at dusk for a steaming pint of tea and half a buttered malt loaf in a field with a couple of deer and a hooting owl. I finished the ride at 7pm by the fading light of my Petzl headtorch and the wan glow of my dynamo driven front light.


You may spot that Regina's recommended Bio-Grips from Rose Versand are now cushioning my hands, which are an improvement on comfort on the MTB grips.  Also just visible in the picture: front suspension hub from Pantour (makes a big difference!), obligatory clipless pedals, and of course Brooks saddle (well broken in now). I had to scrape ice off the car on my return to it, but returned home to find the fire blazing and the bath water steaming hot - pure luxury!

Park Corner Farm (above) is typical of the buildings along the route I followed today from Dippenhall near Farnham: (Dippenhall - Well - Long Sutton - South Warnborough - Ford Farm - Odiham - Roke Farm - Park Corner Farm - Crondall - Dippenhall). There's another very fine mediaeval building on the way to the eponymous Well. The ride encompasses long sweeping straight roads with a downhill trend on the way to Long Sutton with half-hidden winding lanes through woods and is a dream to ride at sunset on a really chilly day in the pinkish evening light. On my return to the car, the thermometer read -3° C.

Snow in the Lofotens

Leknes in the Lofoten Islands looks marginally more appealing with a layer of snow on it :-)

The home page of my intranet site at work has updating images from the webcams embedded in it, so that I can follow the weather there. Snow fell for the first time late last week.

The images below are "live" rather than "still":-

Svolvær (above) is the main port for the Lofoten Islands, second stop for the Hurtigruten after tiny Stamsund, and the only place in the archipeligo where you can buy cheddar cheese. Most people arrive and leave the islands from here. At about 17:30 UK time the Hurtigruten arrives: two huge blasts from its horn rattle windows and echo off the cliffs behind the settlement. An hour or so after docking, the mighty ferry will head off towards the Vesteralen islands, and the bustle on the quay will be replaced by silence, and the odd squawk from a gull.

Leknes (above) is the commercial hub of the Lofoten islands, a single gravel street with shops down either side, and the place you pass through most if using public transport to get around, since most bus routes start and stop from the bus station here. Not a huge amount to see , but a useful place if you need clothing or a haircut. Leknes seems to have a small airport. If you are travelling through by bicycle, Leknes has a small shopping centre with a posh toilet upstairs with hot and cold running water.

Kabelvåg (above) hosts my favourite webcam, and not much else. The settlement here is one of the earliest in the Lofoten Islands; it sees a major influx of tourists in the summer looking for rorbuer accomodation for a week or two, and apart from a few craft shops, a good museum, and the Gallerie Espolin, there's nothing much to it. This view is looking out towards a small mountain called Vagakallen, 942 m above sea level.

Changing the personality of your iPod

Another thing to try out on those cold winter nights when it is too dark to cycle anywhere is customising the graphics of the iPod nano and photo with the help of this handy article from Phillip Torrone at engadget. I am looking for a good way to back up the firmware for the iPod photo, ideas anyone? Should be a dd command from cygwin with the appropriate values for blocksize and count and the usb driver running... haven't quite sussed this out yet.

Good clean fun for all...