Aylesbury, England

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Sundae

It is for friends and relatives of residents who want people to stay overnight or longer, and is rented out at £10 per night.

What a great idea!

[Sundae]

I've mentioned somewhere on here that I'm going down to London/ Surrey/ Aylesbury at the beginning of August.

My brother is taking part in a 100 mile bike ride, and wants someone to whoop and holler on the hardest part of the course (climbing Box Hill).
Going down the night before, staying in London - courtesy of my bro - then travelling down to Surrey. I really want a shooting stick, so I have somewhere to sit if it rains. I'll have to carry my overnight bag with me, but I learned my lesson from Arran. I'll take two outfits and clean knickers, and a roll-up plastic mac and that's IT!

Because after London I'll be travelling back via Aylesbury, where I'm booked into the bedsit for two nights. Yay! We don't have any plans, it's just silly to travel more or less past Aylesbury and not take the chance to see the aged p's.

And I'm hoping to meet a dashing young Dwellar for lunch - or at least a cup of tea - on Monday. Wearing my flat shoes this time of course.

Steven's given my permission to share any photos, so no doubt there will be a lot of me, and some of Surrey
He says:

And if you want to share any of my photos with your friends on the Cellar, please feel free, but there are even more of my suffering on my sponsorship page (http://tinyurl.com/steve100miles), so if you direct them to that with, maybe one of them might feel it's worth chucking a fiver my way at the same time!

It's not begging if it's for charity and not for me, is it?
Although really it is for me; Steven chose the charity for my benefit, bless him. My Brother the Superstar.

Anyway, if you're interested in cycling, photos of my family, pictures of Englishmen suffering, check out the website. It's a Virgin Fundraising page, but there's no strings atttached.

[Sundae]

Boychik in his team colours.
Am so proud.

Thank you to the Dwellars who have contributed to his charity. It's not too late: http://tinyurl.com/steve100miles

[limey]

Yay!


Sent by thought transference

[Sundae]

A week to go, and my baby bro is now £60 over target (again, thanks Dwellars)
Every penny goes direct to the charity Mind, not to him, so feel free to contribute.

Been looking at the terrain he'll be riding. Despite the fact that it's one hundred miles (ONE HUNDRED MILES!) I can see why he wanted me at the hill climb stage.
Even embarrassing sisters whooping and hollering are better than fighting uphill alone.
Very nearly bought a chair to take with me today. Only £10. I hefted it about and it weighed nearly nothing. I even took it inside to pay. But then saw a dress on sale instead. I'm actually a bit too top-heavy for it. Ask Carruthers, he saw the photo!

Anyway, I figured a dress would be more useful long-term than a chair. So I put back the latter and bought the former. I'll take a plastic bag to sit on.
And it is a lovely dress. Got me a discount at the carboot sale..

From a Yorkshireman.
That's saying something!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Sundae

I can see why he wanted me at the hill climb stage.
Even embarrassing sisters whooping and hollering are better than fighting uphill alone.

A slingshot might help too.

[Sundae]

I'll write up my London/ Surrey/ Aylesbury trip when I have more time.
I had a wonderful day - if a little upsetting at times (this is me, remember - currently unable to cross the road without tears and drama). However the boy wonder had really planned everything well for me. And the lovely Mr Carruthers provided a telephone support line to make sure I didn't lose my nerve at any point.

Steven didn't complete the 100 miles, sadly...
Nah - he completed the course! It just wasn't technically 100 miles in the end, that was all. They had to close off a section because of a fatality, so I shouldn't joke about it.

He once again asked me to thank the Cellar for your support. £400 - $625 - raised in straight donations. Plus the charity can claim back tax money when the donors are British tax payers. The boy done good.

Mr Robinson with his new prize.
Steven, I'm so proud of you.


And then me messing about in the bedsit last night (I'm in Aylesbury until tomorrow).
Guess who isn't careful about sunscreen any more? Well I never get to see the sun in Otley!
Reflection in kitchen window.


This is what I was actually there to take a photo of.

[Big Sarge]

That towel photo made me take an extra dose of blood pressure medicine!

[Sundae]

You shoulda seen the out-takes

Anyway. Had a mini, short GTG with Carruthers last night. First time he's been to my 'rents since last December, when things were very different.
We exchanged pens (his gift to me) for Penguins (chocolate covered biscuit bars) and chatted and laughed and generally got on as well as any two Dwellars could. I took him on a tour of the estate. By which I mean the garden. But it's a decent sized one by town centre standards.

Received this mail from my bro. He apologised in a follow-up for sending it (why?!) because it's generic, but I completely get that there are a lot of people who he wants to update.

I DID IT!

And it was fantastic.

Okay, due to the unfortunate incident that closed Leith Hill, we were diverted and I wasn't able to do the full 100 miles, but 92 miles is still by far and away the longest ride I've ever done and I still felt great at the end of it as well (unlike some of my shorter training rides!)

My official time was 5 hours 56 minutes - if I'd have done the full route, I estimate that I'd have finished in about 6:30, which would have been 30 minutes up on my estimated time (and that includes longer stops at the water stations than I'd planned as well), so obviously I'm pretty chuffed.

The best moments were definitely flying up Box Hill (1 min 30 secs better than my recce ride), the huge crowds in Kingston town centre (cheering so loudly!) and sprinting down the Mall (24 mph average!)

If you want to see the full details, I've uploaded my GPS data to Strava - https://www.strava.com/activities/360248140. I've also added a few more photos to the gallery on my sponsorship page if you want to check that out (tinyurl.com/steve100miles), but I've attached two to this e-mail of the start line and my medal.

Definitely putting my name down to do it again next year!

Maybe I should stop calling him Boy and start calling him The Man.

[Carruthers]

My visit to see Sundae was highly enjoyable but far too brief.
I can't really leave my Dad for very long as his balance is not too good and the possibility of a fall is a constant worry.

I know Aylesbury very well having been born there and I live only about fifteen minutes drive away.
The old town, where Sundae's parents live, probably hasn't changed much in the last couple of centuries.
Almost inevitably, it's on a hill, and not far from the parish church. It's astonishing just how quiet it was out in the garden despite the proximity of a major road.
We had a good old chinwag and more than a few laughs and it was great to see her again

[Carruthers]

I went into Aylesbury for the usual shopping foray this morning but zipped around in double quick time and headed home before the sunshine reduced me to a frazzle.

That said I did make time to take this picture.



It isn't the first time Ronnie Barker has graced the Cellar with his presence.

Link

[Griff]

Thank you for that.

[limey]

Excellent, Carruthers!

[Gravdigr]

Thread resurrection approved!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Neat, I take it he's a celebrity of some sort.