Planning

The trip to France has kept me busy with planning. The first question is which bikes to use. We could bring them from New Zealandor hire them locally. But a better option seemed to be purchasing them particularly as we plan to spend more time in Europe when we retire.
I have spent alot of time on the internet looking at all options and was really impressed by the advantages of a folding bike. as we will spend alot of time in UK and Europe the only option was a Brompton..http://www.brompton.co.uk/

Wild weather continues to pound North Island - National - NZ Herald News

Wild weather continues to pound North Island - National - NZ Herald News

The tour of Northland was scuppered by torrential rain im Northland over the last few weeks with flooding in large areas. The road from Dargaville to Opononi was shut for 2 days. We have called the trip off for now but hope to arrange it again for another 4 day period. 

37.55

kilometer

37.6 kilometer Road Cycling on Mar 23, 2012 at 09:41 am

This Bike Ride starts in Northland. Find more Northland Bike Rides.

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5 km

2 mi

    

We went for a good ride today to try and make up the disappointment of not going on our Northland trip. Used our road bikes but at least we managed 37 Kms. Need to do more!

Electric bike ride. training ride for our planned Northland tourMore photos from Jerry Gathercole

Electric bike ride. training ride for our planned Northland tour
More photos from Jerry Gathercole

Sue and I are planning a trip to France in early June 2012. We both have conferences in France booked but hope to complete a cycle trip part the way from Bordeaux to Toulouse along the Garonne river and canal de Garonne. It looks flat all the way and this was important as it is our first self-supported trip.

What makes google Plus different.

I liked the idea of my  blog having a connection to a social network, but I am not really keen on Facebook. 

From my research my impression is that Google+ is the 'adult' version of Facebook. The ability to have 'circles' and keep followers in separate groups is what makes it special. I don't want everyone seeing everything I post.

One could argue that Google is taking over the world but their product is great. Gmail and Google docs as well as Picassa, provide me with all the cloud memory I need. These options have been available for what seems like years. It surprises me that Apple followers think that icloud is something new! At present google+ hasn't nearly the following of Facebook but I think it has a good chance of becoming more popular.

This is a test for my first effort at blogging. I am not sure how it all works but felt trying it out was the best option.
The long term plan is that I have a blog with connection to Google plus, and it looks as though this is the best option.

I am looking at having a project to plan for in a year or two's time. It was triggered by finding out that I had 144 days long service leave. The Hospital had never knowingly informed me that this was available to me and I only discovered when the leave data was computerized and I was able to look up my leave for myself. Apparently I have had 3 less days leave annually than others with my specific contract and it has built up over the last 27 years. The other problem is that this leave has to be taken all at once!
I didnt want to waste this time with a ordinary holiday and needed to plan something special.

What better than cycling New Zealand from top to bottom!

But could I do it considering I'm 60 now? Of course, but I am thinking of all the hills. What about an electric bike for assistance?