summary of the year - so far...

a very busy year.  Here are some of the things I have been doing...

• Georgina's 17th birthday
• strongly involved with the Save Woolley Valley campaign to stop rogue developers ruining an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty across the valley from us
• Lots of trips to Paris - sometimes a bit wet
• Italy at Easter
• 130km bike ride from home to Weston Super Mare
• Italy in the summer
• Edinburgh Fringe Festival
• Making lots of bread - especially Sourdough
• New Colnago road bike
• Sicily Volcanoes
• 50th Birthday celebrations
• Works in the front garden
• Spain for Christmas

Sicily Volcanoes

Fantastic trip with Gary to Sicily to walk up the volcanoes - Mt Etna, Stromboli & Vulcano.

Pictures below.

Sicily volcanoes 2010

my new racing bike

My new Italian racing bike - a Colnago Ace.  It's very light and fast, the only thing that's slow is the large fleshy thing sitting on the saddle!

My Colnago

Italian country bread recipe

Italian country bread recipe from Mary Contini's book. It takes about 6 hours start to finish - although not difficult. Makes 2 loaves.
1 - Make a biga starter - Put 100g strong white bread flour, 100ml warm water & 10g fresh yeast into a large mixing bowl.  Mix together, cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place for about 3 hours. It will will rise & fall and be all bubbly.
2 - Make the dough - to the biga starter, add - 900g strong white flour, 25g sea salt, 20g fresh yeast, 475ml warm water and 25ml malt syrup.  Knead by hand or with a dough hook on a mixer for about 10 minutes.  Take dough out of the bowl and form into a ball.  Add a little olive oil to the bowl, return the dough and coat it with the olive oil.  Cover bowl with clingfilm and leave in a warm place for about 45 minutes.
3 - Punch down dough to knock out the air, form into a ball, return to bowl and leave to rest another 30 minutes
4 - Take two round plastic colanders, line with teatowels and dust liberally with flour.  Divide the dough, form into two balls and put into the colanders - dough seam side up.  Put each colander into a plastic shopping bag and fold under.  Leave for about 40-60 minutes until dough has risen to top of the colanders.
5 - Carefully tip each dough ball onto a floured baking tray, slash a couple of times with a sharp knife.  They loaves may collapse - don't worry they will rise in the oven. Bake @ 200C for about 30-40 mins, cool (if you want) and enjoy.

Post from Lloyd Burgess at CHUM.LY

/johngotts
:-) let me know how you get on. http://chum.ly/n/2aec87

Great initiative for saving our green belt - Piece by piece

A showcase for local campaigns fighting for the UK's natural habitats
The Guardian's Piece by piece project will bring together groups working to save biodiversity from ill-conceived development -  www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/27/piece-b...ction http://chum.ly/n/266945

Post from Lloyd Burgess at CHUM.LY

- if I do a post from iPhone chum.ly and put an '&' in the text the rest of the text gets ignored. Should I escape the '&'? http://chum.ly/n/263412

had a lemony chicken and chickpea thing for dinner tonight

For 4: soak 150g dried chickpeas overnight (or use canned chickpeas and add near end of cooking). Soften chopped onion and garlic in olive oil. Add 1 tsp turmeric and some diced chicken (thighs are best) and brown. Add chick stock cube, hot water to 1/2 cover chicken, soaked chickpeas, lemon juice, some herbs and 2 tsp Dijon mustard. Simmer gently for about 45 mins. If you fancy, stir in a bag of spinach 5 mins before end. http://chum.ly/n/26340e

Weather in Paris

A little wet. It went on like this for about an hour.

Morning after my bike ride

Morning after my bike ride and feeling fine. It went really well - cloudy most of the time so it wasn't too hot. It was very windy and drizzly going over the Mendip hills however once passed, the weather cleared and the roads were flat. I prefer the flat!
One strange thing - it wasn't easy to get a feel for how many people actually went on the ride. Everyone left the start in dribs and drabs and arrived the same. There was no large 'peleton'.
All in all a great day out and I would definitely do it again.

Day of my ride

Headed off from home about 06:30.  The girls were still in bed.

Start of the Bath to Bristol bike track

Along the bike track  @ 06:45 - no one else seems to think this is a sensible idea

Long Ashton pike & ride - official start of Great Weston Ride

It was difficult to know how many people took part as everyone started at different times

30 miles in - Chew Valley lakes - feeling fine

40 miles in - half way and a refreshment stop just before the climb up the Mendip hills

Pridey - after the Mendips.  50 miles. A bacon sandwich (yum) & banana to keep me going.

10 miles to go - very flat.  I like the flat!

The finish at Weston - and not feeling too bad at all!!
At the end the bike computer said: 5hours 40 secs riding time; 78 miles; 2064 kcal burnt; 13.7 average mph.

another training ride

Last training trip before the big cycle ride on Sunday. 44 hours to go... http://chum.ly/n/1f733c

Woolley to Weston bike ride

On Sunday 18th July 2010, I will be cycling from Woolley Valley (near my home in Bath) to Weston-super-mare to help raise awareness for the Save Woolley Valley campaign.  This campaign is trying to stop unauthorised development in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  There has been national media coverage of our campaign including articles in The Times, The Daily Mirror, The Guardian, BBC - to name a few.

Some of the high profile support  includes Peter Gabriel (former lead singer of Genesis), Jonathan Dimbleby, Jacob Rees-Moog (local MP), Bel Mooney and The National Trust.

There are some pictures of the environmental damage already done by the developers (Golden Valley Paddocks Ltd).

My 80 mile (130 km) route will start in Woolley Valley, I will join the Great Weston Ride at Bristol and then end at Weston-super-mare.

You can help me and the campaign by:

• signing the Save Woolley Valley guestbook
• leaving a comment on my Blog
• making a donation to the Save Woolley Valley fund

THANK YOU!

Woolley Valley - before

and after the damage

 

Here is my route

View Woolley to Weston in a larger map

Marlborough tavern for a quick drink and snack

Sat outside at the Marlborough Tavern and had a nice drink while waiting for George

Save Woolley Valley Protest - press items

Here are some links to press articles about the events of 19 May

• Daily Mail
• ITV West
• The Guardian
• Telegraph
• Bath Chronicle
• The Times
• BBC West

and some other articles

• 27 May - Bath Chronicle - Cautious welcome, and another
• 20 May - Bath Chronicle letters
• 27 April - Bath Chronicle

and the Save Woolley Valley website

Lloyd & Harry Mount from Daily Mail

The protest

Peter Gabriel & Bel Mooney

One of the protected trees cut down

Saturday morning

Jayne & I dropped George at work then had breakfast at Jika Jika.  Good eggs benedict - still not sure about the coffee.  Went an ordered my new specs - thought I would try varifocals this time

Bogdan in London

Went up to London for the day and met Bogdan for lunch.  We wandered along Exmouth St, Farringdon and ended up at Moro restaurant.  I had forgotten how many great food places there are around there.  Lots of stalls out on Friday lunchtime selling tempting treats.

It was great to see Bogdan again and catch up.

Afterwards caught bus to Oxford St and then train home.

Indian takeaway for dinner

Same-Same but Different

Dinner at this restaurant - highly recommended.  A small place in Bartlett St. ll home cooked with great care.  I had pork belly with beans - fab.

£50 for three.

Circus for lunch

Three of us went to the Circus restaurant (34 Brock St) for lunch as a treat for George before going back to school.  Had planned to go to the Olive Tree but not open for lunch on Mondays.

The Circus was excellent, although a touch expensive.  I had lemon sole - was delicious