Cycle around the Shore

The other day, the wife (Marlene) and I decided that we needed to branch further afield with our cycles. We bought them to use with the camper van, however, when we sold the van they sort of got left in the garage. With the enforced Lockdown, a perfect time to get them out and start enjoying, a, the cycles and b, the shoreline so close to us.

So off we set, up the main road towards Fareham and then a turnoff up to Cams Hall Golf Course. The cycle/walking track then heads off around the edges of the golf course, keeping to the shoreline.

It's more of an estuary than a shore,









but it's quite pretty and at just 5 miles, the right distance for us to start on. While I am quite used to riding longer distances, Marlene hasn't done more than a mile or two in the last year and needs to build up her strength. We've also discovered that she needs a more comfortable saddle. Hers is more suited to a racing bike rather than the genteel rides we do.

All in all it was a lovely ride, we took the cameras with us and managed a few nice shots as well as meeting similiar minded people along the way. Unfortuantely only able to nod and say hello but maybe when all this is over we can stop and chat more as we definitely intend to continue cycling. It's pleasant out in the fresh air, gets us fit and more interesting things to see.

New Recipe

Happy Easter everyone. Bored now, ran out of paint for the garden furniture and difficult to get anymore. Have a few ideas but none come to fruition yet. However the wife gave me a new recipe the other day so I tried that out instead. It's a simple Weetabix cake and it tastes yummy.


Weetabix Fruit Loaf

Makes one 800g loaf

2 weetabix + 1/2 weetabix for topping
170g Caster Sugar
227g wholemeal self-raising flour (I used white flour)
85g seedless raisins
85g mixed peel and currants  (I used 170g mixed fruit)
200ml semi-skimmed milk

METHOD

Crush the 2 weetabix into fine even crumbs
Add the other ingredients and mix well
Blend the milk in fairly slowly until well incorporated
Turn the mixyure into a greased loaf tin 20 x 10 7.5cm
Level the top and then crush the remaining 1/2 weetabix and sprinkle over the top of the mixture
Bake at 190 degrees C for 1 hour or until a thick skewer comes out clean
Cool in the tin for 15 minutes and then turn out onto a wire tray and leave to cool complete
Wrap and store in the cupboard for 8 - 12 hours (It's worth the wait

AND ENJOY

All finished

That's it, all finished. Quite a nice job if I do say so myself. That's the instructors cane and pace stick all nicely varnished and put back together and now again safely residing in the umbrella stand for the next few years. Who knows, I might give them to a member of the armed forces, at least they will be put to good use.

The new tin of hammerite paint I ordered also came, (earlier than expected so I was also able to finish off the garden table and chairs. This will give them a new lease of life.


 

The next stage is to sand down and redo the wooden garden furniture. We bought this some good few years ago when we were living in Fareham so I suspect it's at least 15 years old. Mind you the wife reckons that we bought it before that when we lived in Weston Super Mare which would make it over 25 years old as we moved down here in 1995. We shall see. You get what you pay for my father always told me and this wasn't cheap. However it's stood the test of time and will look resplendent with it's new coat of preserving paint.
This is what it looks like at the moment. Unfortunately the weather has gone cloudy and damp so it will be a couple of days until I can get to it.

 This little bench was bought for our oldest grandson who is now 14 yrs old and a bit big to sit on it. However successive grandsons have all sat on it and we now have 7, The youngest is George but at only 4 months of age he's a bit young to sit on his own yet.

We shall see in a few days.