Category Archives: Travel

Hemlock

Posted on by
Reply
15°C, dead calm. 60% cloud.

Cycling: rode 45 miles today after a whole week off. It’d rather hard to say why- just a feeling of empty exhaustion. My eyes were prickly feeling all day – that after bed-time feeling. On describing this at work, the reaction was heartening to say the least. Several people said " Ooh, I’m glad you’ve said that " (thereabouts), "I’ve been feeling like that too" etcetera. Perhaps there is some virus that does this and makes my belly feel bloated. This is also why I have made so few entries here recently.

Here’s a quaint story about a bear.

flood retreat

Posted on by
Reply
21°C, sunny, like summer.C=41 miles
Digging roots: in the garden is not easy- old plants that have been there need deep deep digging to get the stubborn roots that grip the deeper ground. Hedge trimming is nice, but not with a machine- I use shears and hate the noise that so many gerdeners make with their trimmers, mowers, strimmers and saws.

Unfortunately, Microsoft have broken live.spaces, upload pictures no longer works and pages take several times longer to open- this means I can’t make the
blog entry I wanted to today.

Below is a panoramic picture taken on the bridge where Sunday’s panorama was shot. Although MS have shrunk the picture to an extreme degree, it’s still just about possible to see the difference. Though the floods have gone, the smell of rotting straw in fields is strong under today’s sunlight.
try this page and Today’s

Summer floods

Posted on by
Reply
 21°C, clear. C=54 miles

The River Tame has flooded: Oddly the R.Trent hasn’t. I suppose that the Tame sources in an area where the rain has been heavier.
Three times I was turned back by impassable roads while cycling today. It turned into a search for photo-opportunities instead. The river Trent was full but not overflowing, so travelling north was clear.

Below is a picture of a road that I use on most Sundays rides, I’ve never seen it like this. Five or more years ago, the Tame flooded up top the road’s edges, but didn’t actually spill over. The surface was like this for nearly a mile, so I didn’t attempt it on the bike. In practise, this all means that we can’t get to the east from here- the river cuts us off and all the crossings are blocked.

FFI:The R. Tame sources near Birmingham airport and rambles around Warwickshire before turning north. Since lots of streams join the river, then in practice, rivers have many sources and the designation of one starting point must surely be arbitrary.

Wormwood: is a plant, it turns out, one that leaves poison in the soil, hence the book title discussed yesterday. The book says that "Chornobyl" is the Ukrainian word for Wormwood. I will try to find out the British name for it. It’s of the Genus "Artimesia", Tarragon is a member of that group too. Absinthe Wormwood is used as an insect repellent, especially fleas!

Seems like a good book so far by the way.

Sparrowhawk down

Posted on by
Reply
20°C, rain then clearing before the next lot. 42½ miles cycling

Back on the bike at last! The weather forecast suggested rain and lots of it so I didn’t take a camera. That was a mistake because I saw something remarkable.
In the road near Lullington was a bird, as I passed it I saw a glimpse of bright yellow eye- and thought it was an Owl, so I turned round and went back.
I nudged it with my foot- and to my surprise it moved forward, flapping against the ground and further out into the road. So with a protective raincoat wrapped around my hands I picked it up. The yellowish legs were armed with claws far more fearsome than a cat’s so I was quite gingerly picking it up. There was something magical about that creature- I turned it over and it made eye contact. Turning it about to look for injuries and guesss the type of bird- it kept eye contact all the time, not blinking, just swiveling its head.
I didn’t know what to do to improve its chances, but over the fence was a flat area of warm, dry straw so reaching over the nettles- I placed it there. On landing on its belly, he immediately turned its head and looked at me again. I could still see those chalcedony eyes as I rode away. Still can.
 
Later; after looking it up in the book, it was a juvenile sparrowhawk.
What a shame about the camera!

3 Peaks Challenge

Posted on by
Reply

15 to 22°C. Lifting cloud on Ben Nevis, some snow, and hot sunshine on Snowdon.

I’ve only had 3½ hours sleep since Sunday, my knee is sore occasionally, but fine the rest, (just don’t pivot on that leg).
Ben Nevis– 3½ to summit, 2½ hours down.
that decent was the most exhilarating thing I have done for a long time. Crossing the icefields was fascinating, especially when the real danger became visible through the mist. The summit is on a curving ridge, but an ice-sheet cut the corner. It had a series of cracks where the next section of the ledge was ready to break off and fall hundreds of metres below. We were equipped with rope/compass and heading to take if visibility got worse. We would then take a heading of 220° for 150m before continuing on 270° back onto the bare rock. The ice was melting from below, such that some strides plunged your leg up to the knee revealing a cavity of dark rocks.
~
Descending was extreme fun, Carl was urging us two on (as a breakaway pair) aiming to beat the clock. He’s call out encouraging time targets, significant turns and pressure to speed up. When he ran out of words he’d just growl! It got faster as the minibus came into sight, the last hundred yards was a sprint for the bridge. In fact, I ran past my colleagues from the first group, over the bridge and straight for the minibus. I’d run out of water ½ before so I stabbed my finger into the 4x2l water bottle pack and dragged out a 2 litre bottle of mineral water. Then I could start relaxing and winding down. It took a very long time to come down after that.
~
Scafell Pike 5½ hours (3h 05′ up with the group, 2:22′ on my own back down)
The problem one; descending this was beginning to hurt my knee, but the time lost on the ascent was enormous- the group had taken 18 stops- I felt the need for none. We could have taken an hour off that time if so many of the others had had breakfast. You just can’t take on five hours of exercise on an empty stomach- but they tried to. It was also a shame that the van was so slow- it would only do 60mph on level ground, we were too late to see the sunrise on the summit. Beginning the climb was darkness, but most of us had turned off our headlights within 15-20 mins as dusk broke.
~
Snowdon 3h 40′ solo, incl. 15 mins at the summit.
I took this at my own pace, which resulted in a curcuit time 2 hours faster then the others (/boast). The air was clear at the summit, A milky light just allowed Anglesea to be seen- if you knew what to look for.
I ran the last mile off Snowdon to get a better time and then waited for the others. Those who’d withdrawn met me there with a bottle of water and a round of applause! I needed that drink- it was the last of 11 litres g;ugged down my throat on that day.
I’m cycling in to work tomorrow to try to loosen up the legs; sleeping now since only had 3½ hours sleep since Sunday.
G’night.

Two entries

Posted on by
Reply
Two themes occupying my time recently-
Holiday in Isle of Mull, and
3 Peaks Challenge.
 
So I will make an entry here for eachg, and add, edit and illustrate over the next few days.

Mull tomorrow

Posted on by
Reply
15°C, getting cooler & rain is coming down the Northern approaches.

Drive to the Scottish Isle of Mull. That will be one monster drive. It also means no more posts here for over a week.
 
Next Saturday, we drive back home, then Sunday drive back up North again with the 3~Peaks team to Glen Nevis, Scotland.
…bet I’m too tired to post on the Wednesday after returning.
Camera is all charged up and ready to go. It’s hard to know what photo opportunities will be there- the weather forcast is poor- rain, sun & showers are to be expected for an island facing the Northern approaches from the Atlantic. Prepare to be surprised then.
 
BTW: one of my pictures is getting awards on the Flickr site: Sturgeon’s field.

Check and re-check

Posted on by
Reply
20°C, rain then sun, rather humid.

Bags Packed: just checking the kit, thinking through what might happen and what to carry in response. There is just enough space left for food in the rucksack lid; side pockets lined with emergency stuff, first aid, a light, whistle and torch. Inside , some bin-liners, an extra fleece (which was laughably cheap at £2). I have loaded up with 4 litres of water based on previous climbs where I drank 2 litres each time.
 
…no more entries here until Sunday I expect.

Finally– you couldn’t make this up: