Skip to main content

Bike Ride to Upton Country Park

It seems that most of my friends have gone bike mad!  Every time I check my facebook feed I learn of a new bike ride, or see some beautiful photographs witnessed during a bicycle jaunt.  Never being able to resist a trend, I dusted off my bike and set to work restoring it to full working capacity.

£13.00 and a lot of elbow grease later, I had this;

My bike may not look very special, but it has led a very interesting life.  In the Summer of 2011 it suffered a flat tyre and was relegated to my parking spot, here it languished unused until a Saturday in October of that year.  I had planned to replace the inner tube and went down to it's usual spot to check the tyre - it had gone.  Our building had suffered a spate of bike thefts and after searching our parking garage from top to bottom I feared my bike had suffered the same fate.  Just over a year later, I was parking my car and saw a flash of metal from the corner of my eye.  On closer inspection it was my bike!  Covered in filth and dust, with the same flat tyre, but my bike nonetheless!  I have no idea where my bike went to, or the adventures it may have encountered, but I am so glad it is finally home :)

I have used my bike twice since fixing it, both times to cycle into town.  Today I decide I would actually go on a bike ride!  The Sun was shining, I had a free bike ride app downloaded to my phone (measures distance, calories, speed etc) and I was raring to go!  I decided to ride to Upton Country Park, a local parkland of over 100 acres, it features a grand house, gardens, gallery and tea room.  This place holds many fine memories for me, and it's free!

I decided to check the new lifting bridge - an amalgamation of design and engineering called The Twin Sails Bridge.  There has been a lot of controversy surrounding this piece, but I can honestly say that after seeing it in action (it was in the up position on my way back) I think it is beautiful :)


Upton Country Park has always been special to me as I spent a lot of my middle school years there with my best friend Sarah.  It was very close to our school and so it was a regular occurrence for all students to be dragged there :)  I can vividly remember members of the class (including me) getting into trouble for jumping down onto the lower gardens from this wall - I double checked it again today and the drop is fairly pronounced ;)


The gardens are filled with beautiful plants and some lovely little seating areas to relax and enjoy


The walled garden is beautiful!  It is a large rectangle with stone paths, bordered with plants and a huge green area in the middle - perfect for sunbathing ;)


In the middle of the green is a large paved area, lots of children seemed to be enjoying games on this


This is the back of the grand house.  Inside is off limits unless there is an event taking place, I have been dragged round the library by many a teacher! 


I love sun dials, such an ingenious invention - just not sure how much use they get with the terrible UK sunshine


I love this tree!  Many a child has tried to fit inside, to my recollection I don't think I've ever managed, but I certainly enjoyed trying :)


This is the large open gree in front of the house.  It is perfect for football and dog walks!


On my way back through the cycle path, I just happened to catch a glimpse of this view back across the bay - beautiful!

During my Twin Sail wait, I managed to get some lovely bay views.  You can just see my first flat on the left, I will miss living in Poole when we move :(


I also enjoyed the free gallery that is housed above the Tea Rooms.  Some pieces were amazing, whilst others were so simplistic and crude I couldn't help but wonder if I was missing some arty hidden meaning.  One thing is for sure, I don't think I will question my prices being too high again!

According to my app Cyclist I covered just under 12.5kms and burnt 224 calories - plus I got to see some beautiful things and enjoy some time in the sun - perfection :)




Comments

  1. Funny you should post about Upton house, I was only thinking about that place the other day :) Remember Lady always running into the stinky lake thing & all the mud hehe!

    So they finally have that bridge up! It looks much better than I expect.

    Where & when are you moving? miss you xxxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was surprised at how lovely it looked :)

      We're hoping to move April next year and at the moment looking in the more rural parts of Dorset :)

      Miss you too! x

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Colour B4 Extra Strength Review - Part Two Using the Dye Remover and helping to prevent re-oxidation

If you haven't already read it, you should really check out Part One of this as it details preparation, it can be found here Well it is done and I am rather impressed with the results, even if I do say so myself!  There were a few things that I did differently this time and I will go through the entire process and then share the finished result. You will need; Sectioning Clips Comb Colour B4 Extra Strength Cling Film Two beanie style hats Hair Dryer Shower Bucket Loads of Patience Step One Start by sectioning your hair and clipping the upper portion to the top of your head.  If like me you have long hair, it is best to start with the underneath layers.  I found the easiest way to apply the remover was to take a small section of hair (no more than an inch wide) and squirt a small amount into my gloved hands and start with the ends carefully rub it in.  I usually applied 3 squirts to each section; end, mid length and root.  Time should be taken to ensure each squ

Superdrug Colour Rewind - Hair Dye Remover Review - Part One

I started dying my hair at the grand old age of 15 - fast forward to 12 years later and my hair has become a dried out mop of horror.  I started with black - I loved Marilyn Manson and Slipknot and needed the world to view my hair as an extension of my sheer awesomeness!  This phase lasted until I was about 19; almost 4 years of the darkest of darks layered over my hair. I alternated between black, black-blue, black-purple and even tried dip dyed black and red.  At 19 I wanted a change and decide to bleach it so I could dye it red - after an initial day of ginger (luckily I was favouring the sporty baseball cap in this period) I switched to a dark red.  Next came a few years of alternating between different shades of red and then various browns. When we started trying for a baby in 2010 I was worried that the constant dying of my hair whilst pregnant could cause development issues - I went to a professional hair dresser and had blonde highlights put through my then dark brown

Replacement Blades for the Silhouette Cameo - UK users

From the moment I purchased my Silhouette Cameo I was in love.  The only way I could justify the cost was to start up a business , the only problem with this was the cost of the blades.  I was getting through a blade every few weeks, at just under £16.00 (including postage) for a single blade it was getting very expensive.  I knew that once business picked up I was going to either have to increase prices (never a good idea for new businesses) or take a big knock in profits.  The only solution I could see was be to try and find a cheaper solution to the blades. I was first made aware of using disposable blades by Ligaya's Creativity Zone .  She had had success with an aluminium (CB09) Blade Holder.  This blog was invaluable for advice on the different angled blades available and suppliers of the CB09 Blade Holder. The only drawbacks were the seller was based in Asia (have been stung for import taxes before, and it is a hefty amount) and there were reports that the holder act