Last year I challenged myself to a short bicycle camping tour – West coast of England to East coast of England on my Brompton along the Coast 2 Coast cycle route. I planned to do it in three days in late September – I figured this was about as late in the year that I’d want to be sleeping out in a tent up North.
James Houston
Sturmey weather
The rear gear hub on my bicycle hadn’t been running smoothly – it was noisy and would not turn freely when I back-pedalled, causing the chain to go slack with a good chance of coming off. I think either some dirt had made its way into the hub or some over-zealous cleaning had de-greased the grease. I decided to have a go at getting it running smoothly again myself.
The bike is a six-speed Brompton. It has a standard three-speed Sturmey Archer BWR hub gear, combined with two derailleur-adjusted cogs on the back wheel:
Paris marathon 2013
I put my name down for the Paris marathon at the end of December. I enjoy running. I like a challenge, and I also like to have something to motivate me. Signing up was the easy bit. The next three months were hard work, but I had a plan and stuck to it, and managed to run the marathon and by doing so I was able to tick off something that has been on my to-do list for years.
Deprecate vs depreciate
A quick guide to highlight the difference between these words..
New Year in Paris
New Year was spent in Paris.
Baked lemon cheesecake
This is a baked lemon cheesecake with sour cream and lemon curd on top and raspberries and raspberry coulis on the side. There are a lot of unhealthy ingredients, and it tasted pretty great.
Lohikeitto (Finnish Salmon & Potato Soup)
I needed something to go with the rye bread and use up fish stock that was in the freezer, so queue the fish soup. I’ve made this recipe on three occasions now – never (and not deliberately) following the recipe explicitly but instead adjusting it to the quantities that looked right at the time. Like a pho, it feels pretty nourishing to eat, and it’s one of my favourite dinners.