Then once done at the Severn Bridge, I drove along roads, that I used during the End to End cycle. I could remember them, just like yesterday. This time it was off to the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Did not get to got over it this time. But I did go to local view point and get some great photos of the bridge.
More photos from this set be found at www.flickr.com/photos/gsvalentine/sets/72157645669392268/
I had to drive all the way to and from Bristol today! So a round trip of around 350 miles! That may not sound a long drive, but driving one way to, see my family up in Scotland is only 316 miles.
It was great being back in the Bristol area again. Only ever been once before and that was back in August 2009, while doing the End to End cycle.
So first of all, I had to drive to Severn Bridge. Then find somewhere to park, so I could walk over it! This shows how good my memory is. I did not look at a map once and could remember all the roads. So parked a road, on the English side of the Bridge. Then walked over it! I walked on the side that forms part of the national cycle network (route 4). So the other side, that I used while doing the End to End cycle.
More photos from this set can be found at www.gordon-valentine.com/zenphoto/days-out/31-07-2014/
Had a great afternoon in Skegness, with Mark and Cooper! Sorry no photos, at all of myself, Mark or the dog!
More photos from this set can be found at www.gordon-valentine.com/zenphoto/england/skegness/
Red Arrows: Inside the Bubble (BBC 2/HD | 9:00pm to 10:05pm | Sunday 27th July 2014)
Documentary providing exclusive behind the-scenes access to one of the world’s premier aerobatic display teams, The Red Arrows. Offering a unique insight into the 120-strong team of pilots and ground crew as they prepare to celebrate their 50th display season and turn British skies red, white and blue.
Coast (BBC 2/HD | 7:00pm to 8:00pm | Tuesday 29th July 2014)
The team discover untold tales of explorers around our shores, and far beyond, including a stop-off down under in Australia. In Cornwall Nick Crane uncovers the most astonishing artistic exploration of Britain’s coast. Mark Horton reveals the remarkable story of explorer and adventurer Lachlan Macquarie. Born on a tiny Scottish Isle two centuries ago, he went on to establish the country he named Australia. Tessa Dunlop investigates the hidden history of the Pilgrim Fathers. Why did the Pilgrims flee Britain to live in Holland for ten years, before their eventual voyage to found modern America? Andy Torbet teams up with scientific explorers trying to crack an age-old puzzle – how can you count the number of fish in the sea? Plus the struggles of modern-day explorers competing in an extraordinary race to row around the British Isles.
The Cycle Show (itv4 | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Tuesday 29th July 2014)
Matt Barbet presents the cycling magazine show along with Graham Little, Anna Glowinski and Simon Warren. Including guests from the world of track and road, as well as celebrity two-wheel enthusiasts, plus equipment reviews and news. Guests include news reader Jon Snow and musician Richard Durrant.
Undercover Boss (Channel 4/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Tuesday 29th July 2014)
As co-owner of nationwide pet retailer Pets Corner, Steve Charman is responsible for over 450 staff and a turnover in excess of £30 million. Plotting a potentially risky multi-million pound investment to grow the business, Steve is now going undercover to investigate the company’s operations before they change strategy for the future. As he battles to keep his identity secret, Steve investigates whether there is disorder in the shops, if sales staff are struggling, and how suppliers are paid. Confronting whether there are problems within the organisation that cannot be ignored, he questions whether his expansion plan can succeed.
The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway (BBC 2/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Wednesday 30th July 2014)
This episode follows engineers building London’s brand new underground railway, Crossrail, as they race to build ten new train stations across London. A team battles to put together the giant jigsaw that will become a cathedral-sized station at Canary Wharf. It’s so big, they have to build it in a dock and underwater. Its architect-designed roof is so complicated it comes in a kit of over 2,500 pieces. As engineers carve out the underground caverns that will become the new stations, they hit on some gruesome discoveries of London’s past.
Amazing Spaces: Shed of the Year (Channel 4/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Thursday 31st July 2014)
In Britain there are around 16 million sheds. It is an astonishing number. Recent research has revealed that Britain is a nation of shed fanatics, with 65% of adults owning a shed and the average shed owner spending over a year of their life in their prized shelter. As the competition to find Britain’s best shed continues, the designs are proving to be a mix of ingenious and eccentric, with a host of elective uses. George Clarke and his fellow judges look at the finalists in two more categories. The Summerhouse/Cabin group throws up a replica 18th-century US frontier cabin containing a mummified yeti, a Gothic grotto decorated with 50,000 seashells, and a scaled down Elizabethan lodge. The Normal category defies its name as the team discover a festival-playing disco shed; a 1970s amusement arcade complete with a 12 foot high ferris wheel, a 1950s American diner, and a museum dedicated to TV comedy Dad’s Army and the Home Guard.
The Last Leg (Channel 4/HD | 10:00pm to 10:50pm | Friday 1st August 2014)
The award-winning gang show returns live to Friday nights with a joyful, offbeat take on the week. Adam Hills and regular co-hosts Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker take a look at the weird and wonderful talking points of the week. Each week, the trio are joined by a live studio audience and a weekly special celebrity guest. The show also sees the return of the all-encompassing question: Is It OK? Viewers at home and the studio audience are encouraged to ask this question about anything from the week, without fear of judgement, and the three hosts attempt to step into the minefield of sometimes difficult and delicate areas and answer the questions with their own unique insight. The first guests to kick of the new series are the main cast from The Inbetweeners.
All TV guide information taken from DigiGuide — www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=15119.
At the Peterborough Greyhound Stadium (my place of work) we had yet another theme evening. This time it was for the opening of the Glasgow 2014, Commonwealth Games!
Hope you enjoy this set of photos! Which, I am sure, you will do! Once you have seen lad in Lycra!
More photos can be found at www.gordon-valentine.com/zenphoto/england/peterboroughgreyhounds/glasgow-2014/
Live at Edinburgh Castle (BBC 1/HD | 8:30pm to 10:30pm | Saturday 19th July 2014)
A spectacular live concert staged in front of Scotland’s most iconic landmark, as daylight turns to dusk. The show caters for all, with hit songs from the likes of Smokey Robinson, Kaiser Chiefs, Jessie J, Culture Club, Paloma Faith, OneRepublic, Rizzle Kicks, Ella Henderson, Il Divo, Katherine Jenkins, Alfie Boe and Pumeza. Bill Bailey is on hand to provide the musical comedy, surprise guests appear too and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra are on stage to accompany many of the performances – not least the spectacular finale. Hosted by The One Show’s Alex Jones the concert also includes the final leg of the Queen’s Baton Relay before it arrives in Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games.
Seven Wonders of the Commonwealth (BBC 1/HD | 9:10pm to 10:10pm | Sunday 20th July 2014)
A one-off special to herald the start of the Commonwealth Games. Some of the nation’s best-loved presenters – Clare Balding, Denise Lewis, Anita Rani, Dan Snow and Reggie Yates – travel around the globe to marvel at seven diverse natural wonders and meet some of the two billion members of the Commonwealth. They venture to the oldest desert on the planet, the most pristine rainforest, the world’s greatest waterfall, the largest mangrove swamp, the richest coral reef and the world’s most spectacular fjordland. The final wonder is found deep in a cave far closer to home. Along the way they discover what it means to part of the Commonwealth today.
John Bishop’s Australia (BBC 1/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Monday 21st July 2014)
Series following comedian John Bishop as he sets off on an Australian adventure, cycling from Sydney to Cairns. In episode three John travels deep into tropical Australia. Pedalling through the heat and rain, John takes on a gruelling military fitness test, rides motorbikes with Vietnam veterans, and gets completely caked in mud while working on a banana farm. (It’s harder than it looks apparently). As the trip reaches its conclusion John takes in the breathtaking natural beauty of both the Great Barrier Reef, and the Daintree Rainforest, before ending his incredible journey with a surprising personal twist.
Coast (BBC 2/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Tuesday 22nd July 2014)
The team explores the treasures to be found on surprising, secret paths around British shores. Nick Crane visits Cape Wrath, discovering where wolves once trod and a notorious hermit made his home. Ruth Goodman reveals how the bizarre Victorian craze for collecting ferns drove genteel women to extraordinary lengths in search of the much prized botanic treasures. Gem stone hunter Adam McIntosh follows a secret underwater path off the isle of Iona to discover rare and beautiful ‘green marble’. On the tiny island of Lundy in the Bristol Channel Mark Horton unearths remarkable historical treasures stretching from the stone age to the second world war to create a coastal walk that encompasses ten thousand years of the history of Britain in just ten miles. The steel track of a Blackpool roller-coaster intrigues physicist Helen Arney. On Anglesey Andy Torbet attempts one of the most spectacular sea cliff climbs in Britain, the infamous ‘dream of white horses’ route.
Undercover Boss (Channel 4/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Tuesday 22nd July 2014)
High-flying executives take extraordinary steps to ensure their companies are fighting fit by going undercover in their own businesses. The sixth series continues with Oxfam. CEO Mark Goldring is the man at the top of one of Britain’s best known and biggest charities. Awarded a CBE for his life’s work tackling poverty, he’s responsible for Oxfam’s balance sheet. But with income down by £18 million in a year, Mark’s worried the charity is over stretched.
Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony (BBC 1/HD | 8:00pm to 11:00pm | Wednesday 23rd July 2014)
Gary Lineker, Hazel Irvine and Clare Balding present the opening ceremony for the 2014 Commonwealth Games live from Celtic Park. The ceremony marks the end of the epic journey of the Queen’s Baton Relay, which has visited every Commonwealth nation in the lead up to the event, and Her Majesty the Queen will declare the Games officially open. A cast of more than 3,000 volunteers will take part in what promises to be a spectacular occasion. The Parade of Nations will welcome the thousands of athletes from the 71 nations and territories across the Commonwealth. Huw Edwards joins Hazel Irvine in the commentary box.
Operation Cloud Lab: Secrets of the Skies (BBC 2/HD | 8:00pm to 9:00pm | Wednesday 23rd July 2014)
Two-part documentary following a team of scientists as they take to the skies in one of the world’s largest airships for a unique exploration of the earth’s atmosphere. Continuing their journey across the USA, the team questions how the atmosphere changes with altitude and how that has an impact upon the life found there. Microbiologist, Dr Chris van Tulleken and former paratrooper, Andy Torbet, search for living microorganisms in the ‘death zone’ of high-altitude. Aboard the airship, expedition leader Felicity Aston and Dr Jim McQuaid explore the impact of human behaviour upon the atmosphere, questioning whether cities can create their own weather. Plus, Dr Sarah Beynon paraglides for a close encounter with a hawk.
The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway (BBC 2/HD | 9:00pm to 10:00pm | Wednesday 23rd July 2014)
This episode follows engineers building London’s brand new underground railway, Crossrail, as they take on a Great British obsession – building train tunnels under water. Linda Miller, an engineer more at home building space launch complexes at Cape Canaveral, battles to rebuild a Victorian tunnel under the Royal Docks in London’s east end. While a British tunneling dynasty – the Bermingham family – follow in the footsteps of the original father-son team of Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel to build a brand new tunnel under the river Thames.
The Secret Life of Students (Channel 4/HD | 10:00pm to 11:05pm | Thursday 24th July 2014)
The Secret Life of Students follows 12 freshers in their first year at university, exploring the drama of their new experiences and sharing their texts, tweets, pictures, videos and status updates. As the freshers approach the end of their first term, how well have they really settled in? Have they worked out the magic formula to balance a life of partying, studying, paying the bills and living with a group of students they have only just met? Living with other students can be messy and can distract you from your work. How do the students cope as exams draw nearer and they need to buckle down and revise? Will they crack under the pressure or manage to perfect the balancing act? And how will their social media updates correlate with their real life experiences?
All TV guide information taken from DigiGuide — www.getdigiguide.tv/?p=1&r=15119.
Below are the top three most looked at photos on this website so far during July 2014.
Number 1 (577 views) : Team GB Lycra skinsuit
Number 2 (289 views) : Team GB Lycra skinsuit
Number 3 (196 views) : Wetsuit cycling
Love this road leaving Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir. When cycling up it, you get great views of Belvoir Castle to the right.
Route used in the video
Cycling along the Grantham Canal from Grantham, just off the A607 to The Dirty Duck near to Woolsthorpe by Belvoir.
Route used in the video
