Audax insanity (18 Hours Ago)
Another cycling milestone - my first 300 km addax done yesterday at great mental cost - this has hard hard hard!
Unbeknownst to me I was during this ride, taking on one of the toughest climbs in the UK - the so-called Devil's Staircase. Well named - I had to walk up most of that as it was just too damned hard.
Anyway instead of whiffling on, how about just a link to the GPS track log - incomplete sadly as my garmin unit's battery ran out towards the end. Suffice to say the final mileage was over 200 miles, there was about 3 vertical miles of climbing and it took 19 hours. Not so far away from the time limit of 20 hours (Audaxes of this distance require times of between 15 kph and 30 kph). This ride nearly broke my spirit twice, hellish stuff but I'm very proud of having done it now I'm back.
http://connect.garmin.com/dashboard?cid=94393785
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Tour of Pembrokeshire (3 Weeks Ago)
Well, done the hardest graft of a cycle yet once more.

This time, instead of an Audax it was a Sportive called the Tour of Pembrokeshire. 108 miles from St. Davids through Fishguard and Cardigan then back. 9920 ft of climing - this was the tough bit - about half as much on top of the most climbing I've done before. This is equivalent twice up Ben Nevis and more. Not sure how I've managed to get to this level in less than a year. Frightening.
Didn't do it without a lot of pain and had to stop for a breather on two of the later climbs- it did just get too much. In fact I think I was nearly bonking* on one climb about 70 miles in. It got too much, I stopped and nearly fell over with a big dizzy spell. It was time for some glucose intake at that moment for sure!
Anyway, after a feed station at the descent of that climb whatever I eat gave me a second wind. After one final big climb after that feedstation (which I also whimped out on half way) I got a second wind and brought the hammer down for the final 25 miles which didn't take me much more than 1 1/2 hours - zooming past everyone towards the end was very satisfying.
The other highlights? Stunning (and I mean stunning) scenery and a 56 mph (90 kmh) maximum speed on the descent from their Signature Perseli climb - a nice wide clear road and I just went for it. This was probably the only time on the ride that being (probably) the fattest/heaviest rider on the 100 mile course was a positive advantage! My brother was unimpressed at this speed - calling it ludicrously dangerous. I call it fun!

My presence can be demonstrated with photgraphic evidence too - http://www.sportysnaps.com/content/...op_2013/newport01_0915/liz_2804.htm
http://www.sportysnaps.com/content/...013/cycle_start_finish/mje11790.htm






*Cycling terminology for the same phenomenon as The Wall in marathon running.
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More audaxing - and success! (5 Weeks Ago)
Lost a bit of cycling mojo last month when I couldn't/didn't attempt my first 300 km audax due to heavy snow at the start and no prospect of better weather on the way round.

Did a 200 km on Saturday however with some of the family doing a 50 km event from the same place. They loved it and want to do more cycling events now - excellent

Anyway, not only did I complete an audax for the first time without (a) falling off or (b) having a mechanical breakdown of some kind but (c) I WON!!!!!

Or at least I was the first cyclist home anyway. Audaxing is very much not racing - no times are published and there is a maximum speed that you must not exceed (30 km/h - if you can do 200 km at 30 km/h then.... whoa!). Nobody was trying to beat me either.
However- still damn chuffed to bits with that. And was getting respect and impressed comments from the other cyclists at the final control point after zipping past them to get there first (you have to stop at certain points and get a proof of having been there- these are called control).
214 km in 9 h 20 min. Av. speed of 14.2 mph (23 km/h) - my speeds are definitely increasing
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(2 replies, Latest reply: 5 Weeks Ago)

Tribute to Thatcher. (5 Weeks Ago)
Did she surpass Churchill?
Is she our greatest?
No contest!
Greatest!

Do we capitulate to the Left?
Or do we rise to our station?
No question!
Grantham’s finest shows the way!

Thatcher, we will always miss you.
Her name will never be forgotten.
Eternally grateful, we must be.

Who else could have lead us out of darkness?
Inpossible to think of any other.
Thatcher was the one and only.
Cherished in our memories.
Her legacy lives on.

Insurmountable vision.
Such passion for our good.

Death cannot stop her project.
England’s finest.
All of Britain mourns.
Do not give up the Conservative fight!

(I cannot claim to be the original author but I agree with the sentiment)
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More cycling exploits (Mar 2, 2013)
Well, successfully did the Gospel Pass 150 km Audax last weekend. Nearly didn't though as I bought a chain wear gauge the week before, discovered that both my bikes has severely worn chains and so replaced them.
Upshot being -the road bike was taken out of action as the gearing indexing was all screwed up and I managed to fray the rear gear cable trying to sort it. FIxed now, but too late.
Second upshot my Trek had to 4000 miles on one chain (FAR too much) and so the rear cassette was all word down. This meant the new chain was skipping like a little girl on my favourite (most used) gears. Had to do the big ride using this bike but it was dodgy.

Still all's well that ends well - no other mechanicals on the day and managed all the climbs. 100 miles more on the clock and 2280 metres of vertical climbing. Gospel Pass is the highest mountain pass in Wales so I'm rapidly running out of climbing challenges having already conquered Rhigos and Bwlch.

Or am I?...

So I've read on chat forums about a real beast of a climb in Pontypridd - known as Pontypridd Golf Course road or to give it its real name - Penheol Ely Road. Supposedly featuring (in an 800 ft climb) 25% slopes and a cattle grid on a 17% slope.
The latter point has rather put me off as I don't want to die on it (or break my bones or my bike..).
Turns out the cattle grid thing is BS - it's on a relatively flat bit.

But... my all conquering climbing mode came to an end today. Penheol Ely road is a true if a climb. 25% slopes is no exaggeration. This is the first time I've really had the front wheel coming off the ground due to the steep slope - the first time the bike has nearly stopped because of the steep incline, the first time I've been properly worried about destroying the bike's drivetrain as I put so much stress on it.
It's not the first time I've failed a climb though - this was too much for now - too much hard work. I stopped near the top and had to walk the rest of the steep bit as it was too steep to start again.

Ha well - again again (I won't say next time this time - it took me dozens of attempts to conquer Caerphilly mt).

Good, still to have a challenge



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'Grimping' (Feb 3, 2013)
More cycling exploits. Moving on from the first 200 k audax last week, the next aim is the 150 km Gospel Pass 'Grimpeur' on 23rd Feb.

Grimpeur is the french word for climbing or ascending it seems hence the name.

To train for this I took myself out on a seriously arduous climbing session yesterday. Did 82 miles including several major south wales mountains - that's without venturing into the Brecons. Started with my lunchtime favourite the Caerphill mountain - 700 ft with 18% slopes towards the top- followed this with the Senghennydd mountain north of Caerphilly - less lofty but had 18% hairpins twice after I thought I'd already reached the summit - ouch. This was then followed by heading north past Aberdare and ascending two of the larges climbs in the UK - the named ascents Rhigos and Bwlch - neither is steep but both ascend gradually for about 2-3 miles and for 1000 ft. Managed all four of these without stopping for breath.
Though the climbing was done after Bwlch and nearly blew up when my route sent m upwards on a climb prior to the town of Gilfach-Goch that I was not expecting - it was only 200 ft or so but it was steep as hell and , as I said, I'd relaxed as I thought I'd done everything. Still, I did manage it but (as at the top of Senghennyd) there was quite a lot of 'HWOOOOGHHH, RAAAAAA, HARUUUUUMPH, WHooooOAH" emitting from my mouth.

In the end, very , very pleased with this effort - total climb was 1704 metres, somewhat in excess of the height of Ben Nevis .

Still, rather worryingly Gospel Pass (in the Brecons) itself is 1500 ft with 23% slopes about halfway up. It is also 2280 m total climb - lots lots more than I did yesterday.
This audax thing is one hell of a challenge! I love it!!!!!!!!!

Next one after that is a rather intimidating ride of 300 km (186 miles!) called The Dean starting in Oxford on March 23rd.

I fully cannot believe my progress in just 7 months - I was utterly unfit back then. I'm getting towards the same level of achievement as running a marathon - something I just never saw in myself. It's very satisfying.

Wonder if I'll have the wherewithall to do a 400 km Brevet - running that past the other half might be the main barrier
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Dr Foster's Winter Warmer (Jan 26, 2013)
So I have successfully completed my first Brevet Randonneur.

Or in English - a 200 km bike ride organised by Audax UK. And thanks VERY much to the organisers as they had to attend (and partly organise I think) the funeral of the guy who invented the ride I did today.

Turned out to be much easier than my new year horror show - mostly due to a lack of hurrican force winds and rain.
In fact it was very nice weather

Highlights included seeing a (peregrine I think) falcon up close and personal - it flew out of a hedge I was passing. And finishing the blooming thing without being in major pain or trauma.

Lowlights included nearly getting killed by doing an 80 mph+ undertake on the A48 in Newport within about 3 inches of my elbow. And getting a near disastrous puncture on the A40 near Ross on Wye. The lessons from that are (on such an event) bring two NEW inner tubes as replacements, old, patched ones might not cut it. Also, if your CO2 pump has rusted - GET A NEW ONE! As I had to anyway once I'd limped to Monmouth on a semi-flat using the cheap Tesco pump I had as backup (and very fortunately found a bike shop). Getting a puncture 50 miles from home and in a remote place isn't funny.
Also just buy decent stuff - I have a front handlebar bag that cost about £8 on amazon. You can tell how cheap it is and it's a real pain in the arse - it dangles down and rubs off the front tyre to I have to really concentrate on holding its straps up all the time rather than doing stuff like looking where I'm going, steering, braking and changing gears.

Anwyay, I also didn't come last. There was one rider slower than me which is mildly gratifying.

Met lots of other nice cyclists including joining an incorrect bunch at one point. I met a few fellow cyclists at the canal equivalent of a level crossing and asked 'Are you doing the Audax?" To which they replied yes.
This was the incorrect question. What I should have asked was "Which Audax are you doing" Utterly bizarrely there was another event on that shared a little of the same route as ours and I ended up riding with them, including getting my Brevet card stamped at the wrong control point (which is when I found out what was going on). Bizarre but highly amusing at the time.

Right so that's on 200k done - next stop a 150 km grimpeur at the end of Feb. This involves CLIMBING. Ouch.
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Bloody snow (Jan 18, 2013)
Normally I would be delighted by the sudden onslaught of massively deep snow overnight here.


But... it's set to stay for the week by the look of it and I'm suppose to be doing my first audax bike ride next week - 200 km from Cardiff to Gloucester and back through deep countryside most of the way. Not compatible with deep snow and what will by then likely be mostly ice.

*starts doing a dance to encourage the warm weather gods*
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(4 replies, Latest reply: Jan 24, 2013)

Timeteam coming home (Jan 13, 2013)
Channel 4 now, digging up the field/ancient roman fort above our house now.

I heard they'd been in last summer. Should be interesting


(Wish Tony Robinson would start pronouncing Caerau properly though )
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First century ride - worth it? (Dec 30, 2012)
I was intending to do my first century ride (100 miles) on 21st December - my first day off work of the holiday but not the missus - so it wouldn't inconvenience her too much if I disappeared off for most of the day.

As it turned out we both caught a real nasty flu bug some time before this and the virus took us both out for well over 2 weeks

So my initial plans of 100 miles, also taking in my favourite (and some new) climbs bit the dust rather sadly. I was still mildly suffering yesterday but today was my last chance before relatives come for New Year and then it's back to w*rk.
I was rather desperate to do something as I'm planning on 200 km Audax event on 28th January and so don't want to (a) lose fitness and (b) miss out on too much training for it. So I took a bit of a risk today to be honest. This is the one thing I seem to have gotten away with - no return of the bug at least.

So a more modest plan was hatched. This was to cycle the 100 miles or so it is from Cardiff to Bristol and back - a much flatter ride (not counting Bristol itself which I had forgotten how hilly it is!).

I set out 5.40 am this morning, intending to be back around 1 pm ish. All went well for a while. Little bit of rain but nothing to write home about but the first portent of doom appeared when the street lighting ended on the A48 between Newport and Chepstow. Only then did I discover that my poweful head torch had run out of battery power. I could have changed it to the new one but this would involved changing it on an open road, in rain and the sun was coming up soon anyway.

The real big doom occurred when I reached the Severn Bridge at Chepstow. I decided to stop and take a photo of the bridge so I could start a photo diary of the ride. So I dismounted, took out my phone from the rear pocket of my cycling jacket and with cold, wet, gloved fingers I fumbled it, made a move to catch it and instead batted the thing over the railing and down to the pits of oblivion below the bridge. I did actually see it land but had to climb over sharp pronged fencing and into a technically illegal area to look for it. Risking life an limb getting over the sharp fence and then the slippery slopes down to the river Severn I went down and then miserably failed to find it anyway So that's a iphone 4S 32GB lost to the ride.

Eventually I soldiered on and rode to England and found my way to Bristol. This was the third portent of doom. I was caught in a major rain storm, coupled with gale force winds. Truly awful cycling conditions. Rain is bad but doable (already drenched anyway) - heavy wind is a proper nightmare. But I was 40 miles from home and stuck with it. Got to Bristol and lost the route from my Garmin edge satnav as it uses OS maps and these aren't too useful in a city centre. The iphone would have been good here never mind. Nevertheless, I got to familiar places in the centre of Bristol, I was supposed to go all the way to Temple Meads railway station but couldn't find it easily and looking at my mileage I had done over 50 miles already so riding home would complete the century. So I got some change and phoned Phil to let her know I'd lost the phone so don't expect the call I'd promised. I then set out back...

4th Portent of doom - I got horribly lost as the Garmin was almost useless now - my first time using it more or less - the learning curve was steep at this point and eventually I worked it out. Not before much waste of time cycling was done in and out of various industrial estates, cycling halfway back to Bristol and such. Finally I got line of sight of the bridge in the distance and decided to head THAT WAY!

The wind hit on the bridge again. Now I know why they close these things in heavy winds. I could only go at a very slow pace as it swirled and it was a battle just to stay on the bike let alone anything else. By this point I'd done about 70 miles and was starting to get really knackered. This is when the wind *really* started to be an issue. First thing I'd managed to forget my bonk* rations so I was really struggling and having gale force winds in my face all the way home from here was a big problem. Not to say massively demoralising. I soon found a garage to stop at and get some biscuit Boost bars and some lucozade sport (to supplement my homemade isotonic drinks - I didn't forget then). This probably saved the ride later on - as I said the wind was gale force in my face for basically the last 20-30 miles and there were many minor uphills which were now not so minor! I had one final dose of doom as the gale force winds were supplemented by about an hour of torrential rain almost the whole way through Newport.
Light at the end of teh tunnel...the Welcome to Cardiff Sign, the arrival at Newport Road industrial estate - near to central Cardiff and finally my familiar commute route home - all done in a much lower hear than I'm sued to.
Sheer bloody mindedness and not giving in eventually got me home.

Still, at least I didn't get a puncture


All done, first century under the belt - never again will I do that in such terrible weather conditions. Combination of lacking experience and desperation to go out at just about any cost. Also, face centre of bridge next I take my phone out of my pocket.

Now I just need to heal - body is in big pain, that bit is worth it though

(PS, I can see the funny side of how I lost my phone - just bloody ludicrous)




* Bonking is how cycling aficionados, slightly inappropriately describe the same condition as hitting the wall in running. You really don't want to bonk so you take energy drinks and high energy, quick release foods with you. Not an ideal thing to forget.
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Dragon ride a no no (Dec 3, 2012)
Boo hiss! Didn't make the ballot for next years cyclosportive event the Dragon Ride.

Ha well, I shall spend my refunded entry fee on another one - the Tour of Pembrokeshire in April is much cheaper at £20 and then there's the Etape Cymru which is more expensive at £59 but has closed roads (luxury!)...

Hmmm, the former is on 27th April 2013, the latter is on 8th September, both are calling to me...
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Virtuous circles (Dec 1, 2012)
My brother recently used this phrase to describe the training process - losing weight and getting fitter lead to a 'virtuous circle' and hence more effective cycling.

I got this in spades this morning. I extended my weekend training ride to nearly 87 miles this morning and in addition to starting with Caerphilly mountain I added the dreaded Bwlch climb which is on the route of the Dragon Ride and one of its most notorious climbs (must check if I've made the ballot!).

Anyway, progress, progress. Not only did I make it up Caerphilly Mt in one go (first time on my higher speed, but also higher geared road/race bike) but despite my expectations of failure I made it up the Bwlch too - in one go and at the first attempt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Rather pleased with that to say the least.


Also - rather cheaty measurement admittedly but upon weighing myself after the workout I can now claim to have lost 4 stone in the last month. Yay indeed
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King of the mountains! (Nov 27, 2012)
Or mountain at least. I have today finally conquered Caerphilly mountain - cyclingwise.

This has been a big goal of mine for some time now as I'm trying to train myself up for a big sportive next June called the Dragon Ride which features 3350 metres (10,000 ft approx) of climbing in South Wales.

To put Caerphilly mountain into perspective - it's about 2.3 miles long distancewise and 700 ft heightwise.

So I have a long way to go - but until today I had a big psychological issue with surmounting this challenge since I couldn't even do the pimple that is Caerphilly mountain (compared to say the Bwlch and Rhigos climbs, the Devil's Elbow and the Black Mountain - all of which feature in the Dragon ride ). I do at least feel now that I stand a chance and I still have seven months to train - and probably more importantly, lose further weight. Weight is a *big* issue when it comes to cycling uphill. Nearly four stone down now and probably another couple realistically to go - and I'll still be *very* heavy for a climber in cycling terms even then.
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Shopping!!! (Nov 15, 2012)
Badly need new troosers due to my six long weight loss regime.

Will be interesting to find out my new waist size - 34 or 36"? (Current pipes are 40" and literally falling off me) Ooh the excitement.

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Ooops (Nov 2, 2012)
Just registered for the ballot to enter this

http://www.wiggledragonride.com

If I get in, this is going to be one gruelling ride - here's hoping, should be my first century ride with months to train for it...
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My latest obsession (Oct 18, 2012)
Can't believe I haven't journaled about my near six month old change in lifestyle here.

Been cycling to and fro from work since the end of May. My better half Philomena suggested, not for the first time, back then that we get some bikes to go out on during the weekend.

So I agreed but said we should spend decent money on them as all my previous bikes have died rapidly as I'm a large powerful chap and am very hard on them.
So we went to a proper retailer (i.e. not Halfords) and spend several hundred pounds each on a couple of really nice hybrid bikes - that is ones that are a cross between a mountainbike and a road racer. I knew I would try commuting to work but we also wanted the flexibility to go off road as Phil was not so confident about cycling on roads with heavy motorised traffic.

Turns out she has a rather ulterior motive which was to get me cycling regularly so that I would get fit and shed some of the admittedly ridiculous weight I'd put on over the last four years or so of not exercising properly.

It worked. In four and a half months I have shed more than 2 1/2 stone in weight (37 lbs or 16.8 kg to be precise) and discovered a love for the sport I didn't know I had. My longest rides have been in excess of 50 miles in one go recently. I've learned lots of the jargon and techniques of cycling properly and am now signed up to get a second bike. This time on a salary sacrifice scheme from work which will see me get it tax free. This one is a road bike too - my initial idea of a hybrid was good but not ideal as it turns out. My passion is to hit the road and churn out long fast miles, plus I seem (bizarrely given my large frame) to like climbing. So the road bike is the one that is going to come out on my exercise days and in dry weather. I've grown rather less fond of off-roading - too many man-made barriers and too many pedestrians in the way to really get speedy.

And did I mention climbing? I'm particularly inspired today as I did my first 'classified' climb today. In racing tours they classify climbs from grade 4, the easiest, to grade 1 and then there is the Tour de France style Hors Category which I will never be able to achieve I don't think - imagine cycling up Ben Nevis and that's the sort of height we're talking about.
Anyways, today I managed to cycle from central Cardiff up to the top of the Caerphilly mountain - a grade 4 or 3 climb depending upon which website and satnav device you believe. About 700 ft up in 2 miles anyway, that's what it was, hard hard hard.
Much pain but boy was it worth it


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Internet silliness (Jun 7, 2012)
Learned a couple of things today from (other) people who know better.

In order of amusement.

1. Go to google and do an I'm feeling lucky search for "I'm looking for Chuck Norris"


2. Look at the customer reviews for Veet Hair removal gel for men on Amazon.co.uk

Have fun if you're interested.
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Popped my ebay seller cherry (Feb 7, 2012)
Anyone want a faulty 3G iphone?
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Free solar panels - or not... :-/ (Dec 1, 2011)
Well we signed up for one of these free solar panel deals recently.

The idea being, you get solar panels fitted for free and get to use any or all of the electricity generated for free. The deal is that the company fitting them get the feed-in tariff - that is the payment you get from the national grid for any excess.

Trouble is the feed-in tariff if getting halved on the 12 December.

I knew that.

What I didn't know was that existing applications have to be fully fitted and complete by a deadline of the 11th December.

So we have got our pack from ecovision yesterday. So we need to get our roof surveyed (optional but really quite important), get permission from the building society - and I know that includes a new valuation survey to be done, get all the legal dobbly-doo-dah done and *then* get them up and running in only 10 days.

Yeah that's going to happen then
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Wow, have I slipped down the pecking order! (Oct 18, 2011)
Well I got kind of used to being one of the oldies around here. Now we've moved, there suddenly seems to be many old researchers suddenly returning.

I've seen Loonytunes, Dragonfly, Delphic Oracle, Silly Willy to name but a few on the whose online pop-up. Names from a different era.

All of a sudden I'm now well down the list on the Whose online pop-up.
How cool, I hope some of them return to stick around properly.
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(4 replies, Latest reply: Oct 26, 2011)

Ooh, still all gooey. (Oct 16, 2011)
For some reason I was all worried the skins would change and stuff.

But it's all here, just like before apparently. Well let's see...
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(6 replies, Latest reply: Oct 17, 2011)

Thoughts from Istanbul (Jul 16, 2011)
Just a quick entry with 8 1/2 days of the 14 gone.

What a beautiful, amazing city! Awesome scenery - the Bosphorous strait is particularly beautiful.

The Turks still (even if they seem to think they don't) crow on an awful lot about their conquest of the city from the Byzantines(/Romans/Greeks). Really this still seems very important to Islam in general. The conquest of Constantinople was a big thing to Mohammed himself it seems and so the sight of hordes of Muslims, clearly also here (like me) to see this legendary city is a bit of a revelation.

I had no idea that in the Topkapi palace I would see the Rod of Moses and the skull and arm of John the Baptist. Quite numbing and quite a thing to make you come all over respectful. This was very holy stuff to the muslims in the room even if you personally have very serious reservations about the authenticity of such relics.


The Roman stuff here knocks spots off anything the Ottomans achieved in my opinion. They've never bettered the Valens aqueduct or Hagia Sofia.
Having said that, I'm sure even the Romans would be impressed with the size and scale of the modern, post Ottoman city.

Like most brits, my idea of a Harem is largely derived from having watched Carry on Follow that Camel and possible Carry on Up the Khyber. The fact that the harem was simply the private quarters of the Sultan and his family (albeit, admittedly, along with sometimes several hundred concubines) is a bit of a revelation.

Turkish cars - particularly those driven by Taxi drivers - should have the horn removed at manufacture. In the UK they would get punched several times a day. Particularly ignorant is sounding your horn because you've been held up by 3 seconds at 7.30 in the morning on a street with about 20 hotels. How many people have you awoken?

If you go to Turkey, eat kebabs for a couple of weeks before you come. Only way to keep things solid I reckon - or at least worth a try (too much information yes).

Recommended sights.

The Walls of Constantinople - incredible - but get info on the various bits of it or it's going to be just a bunch of walls and towers.

Hagia Sofia - one of the most impressive historical monuments I've ever seen. Probably beats anything I saw in Rome and is much more interesting than St Peters in Rome. Wonder what it would be like now if the Byzantines had held the city until now. However, see what the muslims added to it...

Chora Church (Kariye museum) - beautiful Byzantine mosaics.

Bosphorous cruise. A rare chance to truly relax (and get sunburnt!) in this busy city.

Taksim Square and the large shopping street descending from there. Oxford street eat your heart out.

The Grand Bazaar - personally I preferred the real turkish market streets that separated it and the Spice Bazaar.

Blue Mosque, Suleiyman Mosque and others - Meh. Nice but 5 minute jobs and barely worth it. IF they think they surpass Hagia Sofia they are poorly mistaken.

Basilica cistern - amazing - simply amazing although not more that an hour or so visit.

Galata tower - well it looks interesting from the outside. Four days to go...

19th century Sultans' palaces. Went to Dolmabahce when it was shut (doh!). So will let you know. Did however see the Beyrlebeyi palace (just a hunting lodge) on our Bosphorous cruise. Wow. Sumptuous doesn't begin to describe it - it doesn't surprise me in the least that they nearly bankrupted the Empire building them.

Topkapi palace. Impressive certainly but aside from the religious artifacts section I wasn't all that blown away. I hadn't appreciated the religious side of the Sultans and their empire before I visited though. Clearly they at least saw themselves as Caliph as well as Sultan.


Palace of Blachaernae (palace of the porphyrogenitus) - disappointing. Just a wall next to a playground where the kids try and hustle you.

That's it for now. Remaining plans - Dolmabahce palace, Archeology museums, possible Galata tower. Maybe visit Uskudar on the Asian side. But primarily - rest our poor sore feet.
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And to get me in the mood for my hols this year... (Jul 6, 2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnTzM-LhvTY&feature=fvst

Tomorrow morning. What a long day today is...
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"Births fuel Britain's population rise" (Jun 30, 2011)
Whilst not a headline, but instead a link to a story on the BBC's website, we should all join in a chorus of...



"Well, duh!"
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Stoozarama (Apr 1, 2011)
I think I may have graduated to professional stoozing.

I've considered myself an amateur at this until now having stoozed a virgin credit card for a year a couple of years back and having last year opened a current account with Santander primarily to get a zero percent, zero rate balance transfer credit card but also to get their 5% interest rate for a year on the current account.
That is about to come to an end and so I find myself opening three 'reward' current accounts with Halifax (one for me, one for t'other half and one joint account - the most you're allowed) so I can get the £5 a month reward on each of them.

I'm suspecting this no longer counts as dabbling.
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