Derby, UK: Making Atten and other things...

After the 22 mile bike ride to Beeston and back, Andrew, Hannah and I were too broken to move further than the back garden the next day...

Even my chalkbox needed a rest...

I popped it into this snug chalkbox-shaped dent in the top of one of their bricks, before setting my sights on everything within 10 metres of my feet.

'Cute'
(I wrote that before the cat came along...)

But, fair enough, she did live up to the word's meaning with all of her rolling about and whatnot...

'Wheely nice day' in Derby

Look!

A day perfect for creating, one might say...

...and for cups of tea from pear-shaped teapots :)

This is me making a sock puppet...

First I snipped up the middle of a pair of socks and sewed the two sides into two, very skinny legs...

Then, using a knitting needle, I filled in all of the different areas with sock puppet guts (stuffing), and pinned on a face that I thought might suit his personality...

Taking a break to find hidden corners in the garden...

...and then chalking little messages there for unsuspecting gardeners later in the month...

'Oh, hi!'

Sweet :)

Sweets?

SA-WEET

Returning to complete my sock puppet, only to find I now have an extra pair of eyes watching the process...

A scared (and incomplete) sock puppet.

(Cats are too much for Atten)

Yep! That ill-looking puppet is called Atten...

Hi 'Atten'!

Sitting on a chair in the garden and taking in the surroundings...

...before embarking on our big journey back to the North-West...

'Time to go home'

(Atten had to come back to Liverpool without ears and arms because I ran out of time and didn't want to make him look all stupid by rushing)

Riding my bike on Crewe train station...

'Chilling' before the final train comes to take us home...

Annnnd home.
Atten looking rather happy with his bed-hat (a fixture until some ears can be sorted)

Snug as a bug, like.

...and dreaming of more adventures of the Derby to Liverpool variety.

The day he met a cat, rode a bike and made a friend in 'Helen Chalks'.

***

Ilkeston - Beeston, UK: The day I chalked and cycled for 22 miles...

On the sunniest weekend of 2012 (it was, people were out washing their cars in the street and everything), I got on a train and travelled to Ilkeston, Derby for an exciting adventure of the East Midlands variety...

'Going on an adventure'

(at 7.20 in the morning)

'With a broken bag'

(That metal savaged my tights before I'd even got to Crewe)

And a broken bike.

(I broke it even more when I wheeled it off the train in Derby)

'Hooray! The broken bike has arrived!'

And so had my brother, with a car for broken Wendy (my bike)

All in!

It was time to visit destination #1: a local hardware shop and 'The Bike Hospital' (aka a local hardware shop followed by my brother and his girlfriend's back garden)

...where we fixed new nuts and bolts onto the front wheel, pumped up the tyres and glued the back reflector back onto the bike.

Checking through the hole in this gate for any obstacles that might cause Wendy to fall apart again before the big adventure...

...and spotting a cat.

mustnotcycleoverthecat.

Time to head to the canal :)

Not by myself, though!

  

Meet Andrew and Hannah.

Right after I took this photo of Andrew he said, "just so you know, I usually cycle A LOT faster than this when I go to work in the mornings..."

Found a cool house!

See! That's cool...

Cycled past my brother's work...

Ducked as we cycled underneath a tree full of shoes...

And 7 miles later...

...we stopped for some food.

'My bum hurts'

More broke than my bike ever was...

Celebrating a barge sign so-seemingly made for Hannah...

Arriving at Attenborough Nature Reserve

And then cycling around it...

Miles now cycled: 11

Taking a small break and debuting some orange chalk!

'Sitting on a rock'

Eating icecream...

And then completing the 22 mile-round trip back home again, while Andrew tries to wipe a load of orange chalk off his shorts...

***