Home from home

Where did that 2 weeks go?! It seems like minutes since we arrived but here we are at Halifax airport munching on Tim's Bits (that's doughnut holes for you unlucky Brits who may not have had the pleasure) and waiting to board the plane and fly through the night to a long bank holiday weekend at our (other) home. Next time we do this trip, bar winning the lottery which would see us back here in about 5 minutes, we will be here for the Big Bike Ride - May 2011 seems a loooooong time to wait to visit again but a worryingly short time to up the fitness to a level that will cope with those hills. But I always did like a challenge :-)

The Great (little) British Tea Party

Well there were a few nerve wracking moments when 2.30pm came round and we comtemplated the plates of cucumber sandwiches, Bara Brith and Welsh Cakes beginning to curl in the sun.... and then our nearly-neighbours Sylvaine and Bonnie wandered up the road and got the croquet started (the simple version - get the ball through those hoops in any old fashion). Then a car or two pulled into the drive and off we went, all smiles and friendly chat and a rousing game of rounders. Cake and sandwiches washed down with tea and lemonade, dished up by my lovely ma-in-law, and most importantly a respectable $70 raised in donations and $90 in sponsorship - we are on our way! Thank you to all the lovely people that took time out of their weekend to come along and see us and hand over your hard earned dollars to Brigadoon. Photies to follow when I get home to Wales this weekend.

Middleton Century Ride

Well, not quite a century, just a token 50k through the beautiful Annapolis Valley on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning-hello to anyone we met and who was nice enough to graciously accept one of the cards I handed out. What a nice bunch of people - but then cyclists generally are. Anyways, I slogged along trying not to keep Simon hanging around, he was a very patient and congratulated me on my huffing and puffing red faced 10 miles an hour average. I now have a personal target to push that up to 12 miles an hour before Christmas and 15 miles an hour by spring. Gonna take some doing!

Busy planning for the Tea Party on Sunday, off to the printers today so I can whizz round the neighbourhood on my bike to spread the word. Anyone want to take bets on the final outcome? 100 sandwiches ans no guests? 100 guests and not enough sandwiches? Thunder storms and shivering in the barn? Watch this space :-)

Hello Nova Scotia

We fly out tomorrow for two whole fabulous weeks, plenty of time for some nice long bike rides and LOTS of relaxing in the sunshine. I have printed up some flyers and little cards to spread the word while we are out there, so hopefully after our trip we'll have a few more people checking out the blog and Facebook. And of course we have the Great British Tea Party to look forward to (or dread, depending on how enthusiastic and organised I am feeling at any particular point in time).

And - BIG news - I have booked the flights for the big bike ride next year - yay! 19th May to 9th June - after much debate on the route map to see if we could cram it all into 2 weeks, we decided that 3 weeks was more sensible to allow for any hiccups along the way. So the target will be to charge down the route and have a couple of days relaxation at the end... No slacking on the training plan now - we are committed!

Heeeeeere's Scottie!

Meet my beautiful new bike - isn't she pretty? She has lovely slender wheels, an elegant but rather uncomfortable saddle, and (here's the techie bit) disc brakes. Took her for a little spin up the road just to make her feel loved and now she's sat in the kitchen while my poor battered Specialized is sulking in the shed. Who'd have ever thought it - me with not one, but TWO bikes - in fact, I lie, I have another one in Nova Scotia - that's insane. Just shows what one can achieve with a bit of encouragement and dogged determination.

Went for a lovely ride on Sunday from Chepstow to Abergavenny with my buddy CJ - no she wasn't really looking at a house for sale sign like it was a roadsign ;-) she was just crossing the road to dutifully check the GPS her other half had kindly lent us for the occasion. Not that it did us much good, we were apparently in Iceland at one point... But it was a great ride, good company, a nice warm dry day and lots of pretty country lanes, luscious greenery and sun baked cornfields. Oh, and hills. Lots. But we made it up all of them bar one and, as CJ pointed out, we recovered pretty quickly after each one, so we must be getting fitter.

That's me done with cycling for this week, Thursday I'm off to Standon Calling, yay!

New bike!!

I am at this very moment sitting outside the bike shop waiting for my lovely husband to arrive and then we are picking up my new bike, which is, I believe going to be as light as a feather and whisk me effortlessly up those nasty hills. Or at least be a bit less of a killer weight than my trusty mountain bike, which is all good. And I will also be the proud owner of panniers, rack, bar bag and new waterproof trousers-weh hey! Pictures to follow...