Mid May 2023

Well, it feels like we have been so busy these past few weeks. I have 30 photos to try and make some sort of sense from!

On the first bank holiday of the month, the weather was awful. But I had never been swimming in the river  at the weir so I just decided that I would do it. I jogged down with a tri-suit under my running gear.

The second bank holiday was the 'King's Coronation' and I was working that day.

The weather continues to be really good. We went to Ilkley for a short walk to enjoy the start of summer.

I have been trying to get as much swimming in as possible prior to the Great North Swim on the 10th/11th June. I have been going early before work. This day I think was when there was a train strike and I had driven in anyway and parked at Woodhouse Moor car park.

One of the things I wanted to do for the first time this year was something called the Harrogate District Summer League. The first race was at Knaresbrough on a Thursday evening. It was nice to do a race again as I hadn't done one in a while. It was mainly tarmac and I wasn't wearing road shoes, which made it a bit tough.

On the 13th of May, it was time for the Lincoln GP Sportive. I was doing it with my family and so had been looking forward to it for a while. Unfortunately the weather was cold and cloudy for the whole day. The course was so flat, except for a climb up to Lincoln cathedral at the end. We made pretty decent time and finished around 2pm.

I then travelled back to Leeds and we watched Eurovision in the evening.

On the 14th of May it was the Leeds Marathon. I went down to Otley to spectate and take photos.

On the 20th was a bike ride organised by Paria and North Brewing Co. It started at Springwell Brewery in Leeds and went to Harrogate and Otley. I had tried to organise it as a social thing, but slowly people dropped out over the week. I was very torn but ended up going anyway, and actually it was a good thing I did as Charlie from work was there and we ended up doing the whole thing together.

On the morning paper run.

Random photo of Izzy in the kitchen.

On one of my days off I made pancakes for breakfast.

Open water swimming has started and the first few have been really good weather.

I read an article recently about a graffiti artist called '10foot' and was quite surprised to see some around Leeds.

The weather has been very dry these past few weeks. I have been able to cycle everyday. I had a late duty and managed to go for a coffee at La Botega.

For the first time in I don't know how long, the trains were cancelled from about 5pm to 8pm due to vandalism. It got to the point where I just thought I would go get some dinner, so I went to Bundobust which is just around the corner from the station.

I found out I got an interview for a PhD fellowship. So I went up to the university to meet Dave and discuss things. It was beautiful and sunny and we sat outside.

In the evening, I was back at the lake. This time it was social afterwards so I hung around and got some tips off other people (James/Danny/Jamie) for my swim coming up.