Update from 1056 feet high

On holiday in Scotland on top of Maxwellston Hill. It's pretty windy up here.

The view is good though!

No Wind But Still Saw A Kite

Just out riding our bikes in Lily Lane, Byley, Cheshire when a bird flew from a roadside tree, recognised it straight away as a red kite, haven't seen one in Cheshire before. Great what you get to see on a bike.

Hello Hawks

I've previously mentioned that I was planning on getting an electrically assisted bike and after much searching, mostly in my wallet, I found somewhere I thought worth a visit where I could view and ride some bikes (eBikeShed). My wife and I went there and finding that the bike that best suited me cost more than I had hoped to spend, we left without making a decision. Then the next day I ordered two!

It looks like they are going to do the job. 30 years ago 36 miles on a bike would not have been anything to get excited about but times have changed and yesterday's ride was hugely significant. It was a big test of endurance for the the bikes and for me. It particularly answered the question as to whether the bike could look after me if I "ran out legs" which I did soon after turning back from the halfway point at Spurstow where we plugged in the chargers for an hour. 

The journey home was brilliant, we set off home with around 75% of charge in the batteries, that is just enough to light up the last of the four charge lights. When we re-passed Bunbury locks and used full power to get up the steep hill the power level went down to just 2 lights. Then on the on the level again and under less load all 4 lights came on again, so power conservation seemed highly necessary. We were carefull for a good while but after about half way we decided to run for home and selected the middle level of pedal assist (options being low, med & high) and that made an immense difference to the overall speed and of course the amount of effort we had to put in. So as a consequence of the better surface (tarmac V grass), the wind behind us and making good use of the pedal assist we were home in a rather unexpected 2 hrs! Still very, very tired though! There's no doubt that without the help of the motor I wouldn't have been able to do the 4.75 hours outward journey on often bumpy grassy canal tow-paths in the first place and I wouldn't have been able to get home on the relatively smooth back roads either.

This all bodes well for the bikes fulfilling the purposes we wanted them for. Years ago my wife didn't have a chance of staying with me on a bike, I just wasn't comfortable going so slow, then it changed the other way around and my fatigue meant I could hardly keep up with her let alone go any distance but now we can ride together. Another gain of course is the benefit of getting some exercise.

Our ebikes are "FreeGo Hawks", one a crossbar version and one a step through. They have 36v 10Ah batteries giving a range of around 30 miles. The 7 gears cover a good range with 1st gear being extra low to help with hill climbs and it removes the need for a twin chain wheel gear. I think it's worth mentioning here that one of the other bikes I considered ("Roodog Explorer") seemed very nice and it was a difficult decision to decide which to go for. In the end the deal that I was offered meant the "FreeGo Hawks" were a little dearer but were more suitable for us. The "Roodog Explorers" are mountain bike types whilst the "FreeGo Hawks" are more akin to the Dutch sit up straight style which as I have a stiff neck most of the time would be better. In addition we liked the full mudguards, battery powered lights (including a brake light), chain guard, rear pannier and less of a kick when the torque controlled motor engages.

We have completed about 60 miles on the bikes now and so far we have found the low power setting good enough for general use with a twist of the throttle for extra power when needed. Medium power gives a good boost and contributes to a much faster journey over smoother surfaces. We haven't had the need to use full power except briefly on steep hills. Often we have allowed the assist to help get the bike up to speed and then pedalled beyond the range of the assistance given at that power level, then if there's a need to slow down it's an easy job to get going again as the power assist smoothly comes in. Another alternative is to use pedal power, just using the throttle to get moving and an occasional boost when needed. When tired I found using the throttle alone for some distance is beneficial in that I can take a rest whilst still moving then resume with power assisted pedalling after while; alternating this pattern seems to be a good way of getting a tired body home.

 

Bye Bye Banana

My Raleigh Team Banana road racing bike has been unused for years, not just because I don't have the energy anymore but also because the roads seem so treacherous these days. One solution of course would be to avoid the narrow main roads with goods vehicles passing in opposite diorections leaving far too little room for a vulnerable cyclist; that pretty much confines me to going no where as all the roads leading out of town are of that nature. So what about off road cycle ways? Well that's my thinking but the wheels on my banana would never cope.

Time to for us to go our seperate ways and even though I haven't ridden it much in recent years it still feels like losing an old friend. So what about making a new friend that can cope with off road use. Yes that's the way I'm going but there's still the problem of quickly exhausting the available energy I have. Well I've been keeping an eye on the progress of electrically assisted pedal cycles for a long time and though the are still expensive they have developed to the point where in use they are entrirely practical. With a pedal assist range of 25-30 miles on average there's genuine benefit and a strong likelihood of being able to make it home again. I was amazed when I first tried one, they really do give pedal power a big boost.

There's a wide range of eBikes and reseach at the moment points towards a mountain bike style so now I have to find somewhere that stocks a good range and that I can try out.

Home Fires 2nd Series Announced

We had a great time as support artistes (that means extras!) in the filming of the first series of Home Fires and now a second series has been announced were hoping to get the call for that too. There's a short video clip on the Boss Casting Facebook site in which my wife and I both appear here.There was a fantastic friendly atmosphere in and around Bunbury where most of the filming was carried out and it was marvellous to actually see the series broadcast on ITV recently.

Since Home fires I've also worked in Close To The Enemy (BBC) in Liverpool and Midwinter Of The Spirit (ITVEncore) in Chester. I've been asked for availability for further television films so it looks like there's more work to come!

Cruising Coventry Canal

Spring is here and time to be getting about a bit and we've decided to try the Coventry Canal for a change. Back to our usual starting point at Mercia Marina with a hire boat from Avante our route took us along the now familiar Trent and Mersey canal to Fradley Junction. From there we turned into the Coventry canal.

We intended to go as far as Fazely Junction but made good progress, probably due to the absence of locks,  and ended up heading further south along the Birmingham and Fazely Canal for a few miles. Our daughter couldn't get enough time of work so she joined and left us at Branston which gave us the opportunity to visit the the Bridge Inn twice for some lovely Italian food.

We met some friends at Whittington for an afternoon and evening which also resulted in a pub visit when we reached Hopwas' this time the Tame Otter. Once again the food was excellent. The next day we visited a nature reserve near Drayton Bassett then started out return journey.

Just to make it seem like we spent all our time in pubs we also visited the the Burton Bridge Inn & Brewery. The brewery wasn't open but the pub was! Here we sampled all six of their beers, three each and no we weren't overdoing it at lunchtime because the "sample paddle" consisted of three 1/3 pints, so actually we only had a pint each. Once again food gets a mention. Hilary had faggots and I had a 6 oz burger made with beef from a local butcher, both very satisfying.

9 Trouble Free Flights

I had the Harmon Rocket out today for 3 flights, what a great flyer it is with a nice throaty four stroke engine. Also had 3 flights with the Mini Pred helicopter without crashing it and 3 flights with the little Tiger Moth in the calm late afternoon. I was at the field for 3 hours and I didn't check but I think the wind was probably 3 miles per hour!

All good things must come in threes then!

GWS Tiger Moth Maiden Day

Last year my daughter bought a GWS Tiger Moth for my birthday. It was quite a surprise especially since really it's the indoor model and I don't care for indoor flying. So it lanquished on a shelf for the rest of the year but recently I decided to assemble it, fitting a lighter lithium polymer battery pack than the heavier NiCad pack it was designed for. I also used the now commonplace 2.4Ghz radio system which also meant that I could fit a lightweight receiver. All these hopefully giving it chance to fly outdoors on calm days.

A couple of weeks ago such a calm day arrived so I decided to give it a try. The wheels are pretty flimsy so it would struggle to take off from grass (so I thought but I have done so since). There was no one on about that had hand launched a model before so I decided to try it off a tarpaulin sheet, that worked a treat. I wish I had remembered to ask someone to video the maiden flight which revealed a huge amount of yaw to the right, too much to correct with rudder trim so I had to hold the correction in on the transmitter throughout the flight. Amazingly it flew quite well, so well that I was able to land it back on the tarpaulin which annoyingly I couldn't repeat for the second flight in the video below.

By the time of the next visit to the field I had remounted the motor with more left sidethrust and it flew a straight without any yaw on another clam day. I flew it again yesterday when there was a light breeze and it coped though I would say it was on it's limit. All the same calm summer and autumn evenings may well see this dainty little aeroplane floating around.

An Unexpected Walk

It's not unusual for me to go for a short walk along the canal near to my home in Middlewich, on this occasion though my wife came with me and we decided to follow a path that we had not really noticed before.

It was 25th January, another cold breeze gently blowing but on the whole not too bad and the start was pretty normal, following the Shropshire Union branch to the shortest canal in the country, the Wardle Canal at just 47 metres long. The Wardle canal joins to Shopshire Union canal to the Trent and Mersey Canal and is famous for it's picturesque lock & lock keepers cottage.

Trent and Mersey canal near the Wardle canal junction

Having reached the Trent and Mersey canal we turned north towards Northwich for a short distance. The sun was behind us and a pair of swans were meandering along the calm water and beyond the bridge were some narrowboats belonging to Middlewich Narrowboats. A typical Middlewich view that requires the passerby to reach for a camera. I only had my phone camera with me but it didn't do too bad a job. Soon after this the canal runs parallel to Brooks Lane and on the opposite side of Brooks Lane is a public footpath though the industrial estate and into the countryside; we decided to explore it. The footpath was mostly well marked but in places became less clear. Mobile phone to the rescue again this time with GPS and maps and so we were able to follow the path as it headed in the general direction of Holmes Chapel then north again towards the A54. 

My Mini Pred Helicopter with training aids - in 2008!

By a happy co-incidence a small diversion had us walking past the South Cheshire Model Flying Club field where some other members were flying a helicopter. I've had a helicopter for years but haven't flown it for a good while but just lately these same chaps have been trying to encourage me to give it another go and on this occasion went so far as to let me have a fly with a buddy box connected (a training system) and I did alright. Hmm, we'll see!

By this time most of the afternoon had gone and it was time to head straight back towards Middlewich and home. All in this walk was very nearly 5 miles, far more than I usually walk and I was all in too!

Some Extra Work

Jambusters, a book by Julie Summers, has been the inspiration for an ITV drama to be screened around spring this year and will be called Homefires. A friend of my wife's passed on a recruiting leaflet from Boss Casting  which mentioned that location filming was going to be based around the Bunbury area of Cheshire; an area we know quite well, in fact I used to live at nearby Spurstow. Well we decided to apply and we were both accepted!

It was a very interesting experience and gave quite an insight into how the sets were made up and managed. Some days were an early start and though long, seemed to whizz by as we were kept fairly busy. This particular production's rate of pay wasn't brilliant but I more did it more out of curiosity really and enjoyed it very much, so much so that I just might do something similar again.

More information about Jambusters is available on Facebook and more about ITV's Homefires is here