We had another nice little BBQ in the garden last night. 3rd (or is it the 4th) already this year, which in this part of thw world is usually as many as you can manage in a whole year thanks to the weather.
In fact we had none last year. Lets hope the summer continues like this. Although it has to be said that I don’t think there is really any need to consume quite as much protein as we do when having a BBQ, it just smells so good that you can’t resist it. Even Morgan seems to eat quite a bit, but that probably has something to do with the fact that he is able to run around in the garden in between mouthfuls.
BBQ in the garden
Chilling in the Garden
Morgan's Best pose
Although it was the Boardwise Demo weekend at Aberdyfi, there was no hint of wind so after taking Morgan swimming in the morning I met Steve and Darren (Bad Excuse for a Sailor or BEFS) at Coed y brenin for a MTB ride.
It was a warm, sunny day and the car park looked quite busy so after pfaffing for a bit of time in the car park we headed off for a ride around the MBR trail to start with. This was Steve’s first mountain bike ride since his knee op so he took it easy on the first rocky bit out of the trail centre but seemed OK. BEFS and I waited at the end of the section for him, and I checked my spokes in my rear wheel at every opportunity after snapping a couple last week. I had since had the wheel checked over and all spokes re-tensioned properly. My bike also started its annoying squeak again and I can’t work out where it is coming from as all seems OK when I’m not on the bike… I don’t think its my joints!
I hadn’t done the MBR trail before so was a little surprised by how rocky it was, but soon got into the swing of things. Steve punctured farily soon and joined the ranks of other people lining the trail fixing flats. I was to join him later too. My first puncture for about a year since going Ghetto Tubeless, and all because today I was riding with the rear wheel in standard tubed format because I hadn’t had time to go tubeless after fixing the spokes. Just goes to show how successful the Ghetto Tubeless system has been for me beause as soon as I have a tube in there I get a pinch flat.
The ast section of the trail is still closed so we were soon back at the visitor centre having done about 9 miles. We then headed off for a trip around the Tarw trail. The first couple of sections were closed so this started off with a farily steep climb. BEFS then took a spectacular tumble on the first section of singletrack (Heart of Darkness) and Steve followed suit soon afterwards. Steve also had another puncture later on and started cramping up so was taking things easy. This all came to a head on the final road back to the visitor centre where his legs seized up and he fell off his bike in the middle of the road and then couldn’t get up as he couldn’t move his cramped legs!
BEFS and I obviously found this quite funny and were unable to help him as we were laughing just a little too much! We did eventually help him up and we all made it back to the cars in one piece. Although i did seem to have sustained some chafing which will probably put pay to a ride today as planned. Never mind, I can play on the beach instead.
Anna and Morgan seemed to have a good time too as they had been to the Aberystwyth Show (I’ll let her blog about that!) and then we all had yet another weekend BBQ. This could be the summer of BBQ’s before long.
Summer is here (I wonder how long for). Friday was gloriously sunny and reached 24.6ºC (A May record since the weather station records began). Yesterday was similarly sunny and reached 23.8ºC. Today looks as though it will be a scorcher too.
As usual I got up early (5am ish), answered e-mails and did a little bit of work and then made the most of the cooler morning and got out in the garden to do some gardening. I got a little carried away and did loads of weeding, mulching, moving of plants, mowed the lawn, and even turned the compost in the compost bins. I sowed some seeds too. A little late really, but better late than never and hopefully they’ll germinate. All in all I spent about 5 hours gardening and the garden is beginning to look a little better.
We then had a lazy day in the garden. Morgan played in his paddling pool, I pottered around the garden as I can’t sit still and Anna read her book. Dave and Sarah then came over and we sat under the gazebo trying to shade from the sun.
We did of course have the obligatory BBQ as well, along with some very refreshing lager shandy for me.
All very nice and very relaxing, but I really needed to DO something, There wasn’t quite enough wind for windsurfing, there wasn’t any surf and it was too windy for playing in the canoe. I think today I shall go for a MTB ride, although it will be hot out there, so maybe a longish, easy ride will be the order of the day.
I know it makes a change, but we’ve just had a lovely sunny bank Holiday weekend… One to make a note of as it usually rains on bank holidays! What’s more, we had visitors and had the day off so managed to enjoy the weather as well.
My parents arrived early Sunday afternoon, with my niece Kia and nephew Shaun, so we had a full house. After a BBQ in the garden which went well, we headed across to the beach for a walk. Morgan was on his bike as he wanted to show off his bike-riding skills! After a bit of bike-riding we ended up on the sands and before we knew it the children were getting wet and very sandy!
Monday dawned bright and sunny too so once again, after eggs and bacon for breakfast, it was off to the beach, this time with a wheel-barrow loaded up with stuff ready for a full day there. There was even a little bit of surf so I had a quick surf session before taking Shaun and Kia out in the inflatable canoe. Shaun was a little reluctant to go too far, but Kia seemed to enjoy it, even if I did make sure she got a soaking in the waves!
We played on the beach and in the dunes for a bit more, but by lunchtime it had clouded over so we headed back for lunch and then played in the garden. I set up a hammock between two trees which the children liked and we did a bit of gardening too.
Unfortunately Anna and I are back to work today (Tuesday), but my parents are here for a couple more days so Morgan will be kept fully entertainedf and will have Kia and Shaun to play with too. Shame Anna and I can’t join them.
