Cycling or alcohol

At the age of 51 years old, Dick Proenneke decided he needed a new and final challenge. After a career in the US navy and latterly as a mechanic, he upped sticks in the spring of 1968 and headed off to one of the wildest and most inhospitable parts of Alaska, to live and record a new life of solitude. He took only an early 16mm, wind-up movie camera, plenty of film and a few hand tools with him - removing all the handles from these before he set off so they would weigh less. The handles could always be re-made and refitted once he arrived. There would be no shortage of wood up there.  He remained there, on his own, for most of the next 30 odd years. His first job was to make and attach new handles for his tools. Then, with those he built a home with his bare hands, a small but cozy log cabin, before the harsh winter set in. He recorded a series of fascinating short films along the way. He documented his initial struggles to reach a life of self-sufficiency, and then, once he had ac...

Just before leaving the UK for my latest trip to Spain in January, I had a new garden gate fitted. I found a young, local chap setting up in business, who seemed really nice. He came around to measure up and quoted me for the job. I was a bit concerned about him being so young, but it was just a garden gate what could go wrong?  He had already let me down back in the summer, cancelling at the last moment, but he sent me a really nice email in December apologising and saying Covid had caused problems with his business and would I like to proceed now? I felt sorry for him, and against my better judgement gave him a second chance to fit the new gate.  Our home backs out, almost straight away, on to the countryside cycle trails that lead - a long way up - to the peak district. I can tantalisingly see the hills from my home and they often seem to call out to me - a strong reminder to get off my backside and get up there. I didn't want to carry keys on my bike rides so I asked him t...

Rome 23BC - The poet Horace writes the poem Odes 1:11. He ended it with the well known, killer line 'Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero' - Seize the day, trust little in the future.  At a little Spanish guest house we stayed at last week, as Rach was checking us in, I wandered off around the ornate, Andalucian courtyard. Amongst the semi-tropical plants I was reminded of Horace's advice, which I had learn't in my A level history classes all those years ago, embroided on a pretty tapestry.  . It got me thinking. I always felt I had lived my life fully to this mantra. Always up for a party and having fun, seizing the day, right? Wise old Horace knew we only got one shot at this life and he would have been proud of me.  The second part of his final line -  'trust little in the future' I completely agree with. We have to remember though, that at the time he wrote that poem the average life expectancy of a Roman was around 25 years of age, there wasn't much...

On the 7th of July 1966, just over three weeks before England beat Germany in the football world cup final at Wembley, a mere 15 miles down the road a young 28 year old Spaniard, Manolo Santana, was lifting his first and only Wimbledon men's single's tennis title. He hated grass, or at least playing tennis on it. He was famously quoted as saying 'grass is just for cows'. This, together with his working class childhood - as a small child his Father had been imprisoned by Franco for his political views too - made his victory even more remarkable. He would win a total of four majors during his career, and in doing so moved tennis out of the exclusive reserve of country clubs in Spain, and put it firmly on to the streets.  He retired to the outskirts of Marbella and set up a tennis ranch.  And a beautiful one too. Six tennis courts of varying surfaces - no grass of course - a large gym, restaurants, bars and chilling out areas, and if we were in any doubt about joining, the...

At the end of the 2006/2007 season Stuart Pearce's Manchester City finished an unspectacular but safe enough 14th in the Premier League. The following season under Eriksson they climbed to 9th. Mark Hughes would do his bit and dragged us up to 5th during the 2009/2010 campaign. Then, next up, Mancini, did what many City supporters never admitted, but secretly feared they would never see in their lifetimes, he ended the pain and won City's first league title for 35 years in 2012 - that's one hell of a transformation by anyone's standards. We saw it all. When Rachel and I moved back to South Manchester, from France, with our young family in early 2008, I decided it was time to introduce the kids to English Premier League football. Having done our bit and supported our local club Lille whilst out there, we had returned to our roots where we planned to settle for good. We started going to City games for the rest of that season and the following year seasoncards were duly pu...

What is it that keeps us from taking the first step and making positive changes in our lives? Fear of the unknown, denial that changes are needed, complacency, addiction, not knowing where to start? Maybe all of the above in my case.  My love of cycle touring started in 1998 with a ride from Lands End to John O'Groats which I undertook with my best man, just two weeks before I got married. In the early days of touring, due to my inexperience, everything had to be planned to the nth degree and every eventuality had to be catered for. All accommodation was pre-booked and I ended up carrying far too much stuff. I restricted myself to one route, and over-burdened myself with weight along the way, just so all my fears could be allayed. I would say I now cycle with 30% of what I used to carry. Why? Because shit happens, and when it does I've learnt to worry about it, and deal with it at the time, not waste energy worrying about it before it happens, which it usually never does anyway...

Although a long running source of some debate amongst historians, Lantejuela just outside the small city of Ecija, Andalucia is now generally accepted as the place where the battle of Munda took place in 45 BC.   The residents of Ecija, staunch supporters of Julius Caesar, were instrumental in winning this battle for the soon to become dictator of the Roman Republic. This was the final and decisive battle of the Roman civil war, which allowed Caesar to return to Rome victorious to claim his title.  Caesar never forgot the loyalty and bravery shown by the Ecija residents against his opponents the Pompeian army, led by the eldest son of Pompey the Great, whom Caesar had killed off a few years earlier. After the victory he rewarded Ecija handsomely and ploughed wealth into the city for regeneration and fortification works. Caesar himself was assassinated a year after the famous battle, which paved the way for the rise of the Roman Empire. He never got to  see the final ...