One Man's Junk is Another Man's Treasure

The weather is still not very conducive to cycling in Yorkshire. we've had more strong winds this week and we woke up to a blanket of snow this morning. I'm praying that the weather will improve soon so that I can get out on the road.

Meanwhile I've been focussing on fundraising for the ride. Things are going well and so far, thanks to the generosity of friends and family, I have raised over £500. I've always been a keen ebayer so I've been having a clearout to see if I could find anything to sell on ebay to add more money to the bike ride fund. I seem to have struck gold with something I found in an old cupboard the other week. I used to go to lots of rock concerts when I was young and I recently came across a bag containing all the old ticket stubs from the concerts that I went to. They are all rather old and a bit tatty and I wouldn't have thought they would be of any interest to anyone. But I had a look on ebay and discovered that there are people out there who buy them. I've put a few of them on ebay and to my amazement they are selling like hot cakes. The best result so far is a ticket stub from a Kate Bush concert that sold for over £10. Overall I am hopeful that these old ticket stubs will bring in over £50 which will be a great fillip to the fundraising. What is really good is how far this money goes when Christian Aid use it. The £10 from the Kate Bush ticket could provide an emergency survival kit for a family who have lost their home in a cyclone or a mosquito net for a child in Angola to prevent them getting maleria. So I will keep clearing my old junk out in the hope that someone out there in cyberspace will think it's a treasure!

I'm off to Easter School this afternoon for a week so there will be no postings for a short while. We use a Police College for Easter School and the catering there is all geared around feeding big beefy policeman so I will probably come back a stone heavier and have to work even harder to get in shape.

A Host of Golden Daffodils

Its one of my favourite times of year in York when the daffodils come out on all the bankings around the city walls. It really makes you feel that spring is on the way, even if the weather makes you feel that we are heading back into winter.

I had a good training ride yesterday on the roads out by Marston Moor. I just did 50 minutes but the legs were feeling strong so I really pushed it. I was hoping to go for a long ride today but the strong winds have returned so I had to give it a miss. It did give me chance to fit a new bike computer though so I will be able to gauge my progress more accurately in future.

One thing that I am really enjoying about keeping this blog is the number of people who are visiting it. I am always amazed that anyone finds it at all. I would love to know who you all are so please introduce yourselves and say hello.

Cycling with the Cistercians

After a few days when very strong winds have prevented any cycling I did manage to get out for a ride today. I had a great ride up through the Hambleton Hills to Byland Abbey. It was 22 miles but with a strong headwind it felt twice that distance. It was very cold today but nice and sunny. I felt a bit better than my last long ride but the legs are still feeling very heavy when I get to the hills.

Byland Abbey is a lovely place. It dates from 1147 and was one of the major Cistercian houses in Yorkshire along with Rievaulx, Fountains and Jervaulx abbeys. At its height it had over 200 monks but by the the time it was suppressed by Henry VIII in 1538 there were only 25 monks left. I 've always thought that the Cistercians knew how to do things properly. The choir monks employed lay brothers to do all the dirty jobs such as cleaning, cooking etc for them so that they could concentrate on being holy. That was there excuse anyway! I like the quirky rules in the Rule of St Benedict, the monk's rule book. Monks were only allowed a bath if they were sick and were not allowed underwear except when they had to go on a journey. Even then they had to return the underwear as soon as they got back to the monastery. On the bright side they were allowed half a pint of wine a day.

Byland Abbey is in a really nice spot nestling just below the hills. The abbey must really have been something in its day and I would have loved to have seen the great rose window when it was complete. There are still monks in this valley, just over the hill at Ampleforth Abbey.

Spring is in the Air

Unfortunately I've not been able to get out on the bike this last week for various reasons. I hope to do better next week - only 144 days to go until we set off.

Spring was definitely in the air in York earlier this week and I thought I'd share with you the above picture which I took in St Cuthberts churchyard in the centre of York.