where art collides

killer walk to Clogwyn Station

Final prep for our walk today. Headed up the Llanberis Path to Snowdon. We won’t go all the way up as the weather is not good but at least for the moment it isn’t driving rain as it has been over the weekend.

Rhys and family are on their way over for an 11am meet. Was originally planned for 10am but that was a bit ambitious so I called (using Anne’s phone) and pushed it back.

Bit of a cold but ah well. It never deterred Mallory, presumably.

Had a nice roast beef dinner last night with the 6 of us around the table, Tom having left for London. As usual with fan assisted ovens I couldn’t get the timing and temperature right so the joint ended up being more towards well done than rare. I’ll never get that right.

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Seven of us, me Anne, Hannah, Joe, Charlotte, Rhys, Iwan and Elen, set off shortly after 11am. The uphill bit was a total killer. The downhill bit was tough but not the same level of killer. We stopped for a cuppa at the Halfway House which rejuvenated me somewhat and I was able to soldier on to above the snowline. We had been told by a warden not to go further than the bridge at Clogwyn Station, the penultimate train stop. Tbh it took an effort for me to get that far. No way was I going to make it to the top with a particularly steep bit yet to come. The warden also told us it was a 35 minute walk from the Halfway Caff to the Clogwyn Station. This was bull and must have assumed a high level of fitness. For me it was a good hour or more – see the table in the featured image.

As it happened the spot we turned around at corresponded with the highest point I have to climb to on the coast to coast so i’m not too unhappy about it. The map suggests this is 780 metres. Fitbit said 2,267 feet elevation gain. This is probably right as we didn’t start at sea level.

At least I’ve now climbed the highest climb on the coast to coast. Wouldn’t do me any harm to shift another 10Kg in the next month aka the weight loss so far.

The video was taken by Charlotte from the turning point. My phone is kaput. Still managed to upload my Fitbit data when I got back. I assume the fitbit Surge can still talk to the phone app.

The biggest problem I have with the Fitbit is that today’s walk used up all the battery when in GPS tracking mode. 5 hours isn’t good enough. I’m going to need a whole day. The Fitbit Surge was very generously provided to me by Fitbit themselves. I’m going to continue with it for the moment but largely without using the GS function.

Does anyone know anyone senior at Garmin who might want to comp me one of their watches for the coast to coast? Runkeeper will still do the job with an external battery boosting the phone. Once I have a working phone. The Oneplus 2 isn’t particularly reliable for this though and periodically freezes.

We ended up at Pete’s eats where I had a pint of tea, haddock, chips and peas and a couple of bottles of welsh cider. Huge portions – Anne finished off my chips!

Quiet night in…

Vid from Clogwyn Station (thanks Charlotte)

phone knackered so today’s image is chromebook selfie

Full of cold this morning. Probably a good job we’ve decided to give ourselves the day off. Weather is totally pants and the best two days look like being Monday and Wednesday so that’s likely to be when we go walking. Tuesday the forecast would appear to include thunderstorms.

I’m going to have to rely on others for photos over the next few days because my phone’s screen is totally dead. Everything else seems to be fine – it rang just now although I couldn’t answer it and calendar notifications seem to go off.

Hmm. It certainly makes me think about what device I might need for the coast to coast walk. The one that seems to top the reviews is the Galaxy S7 and this has the benefit of a great camera and an element of waterproofness. It’s also  very expensive so we shall see. In the meantime I’ll have to take back the Oneplus 1 off John who hasn’t been using it anyway because his sim is the wrong size.

Everyone is getting a lie in this morning, even me. It’s already 09.47! Pretty much unheard of for me at least. It should be the stimulus for a decent brunch. The curry last night was great – I’ve never had a bad one from the Llanberis Spice fair play. Just realised the clocks went forward last night so it is really only 8.47.

As I like in bed here the battering of the cottage by the rain is constant. Very impressive.

I’m going to get up.

Only me downstairs. I have a sausage and a mushroom on the go. Bacon and eggs will be added plus fried bread (I am on holiday and I have a cold). Quite nice being downstairs when it’s peaceful. I may even have shot off to Caernarfon to see Rhys before the others get up.

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Popped into Caernarfon but no sign of anyone at the Roberts house. Will have to borrow someone’s phone later to call. On the way back stopped at the Spar shop for some mustard, flour and beef stock – we are having roast beef tonight.

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The others are now up (12.15) and lazing about. Anne and Hannah are stuck in a car park in Colwyn Bay. They have a 2pm get together with Uncle Cliff in his caravan and are somewhat early. Ah well.

Featured image is a selfie of me taken with the chromebook camera which isn’t much use. Full of cold and not that cheery 🙂

Llanberis at its wettest

Sheets of rain blowing across the lake at Capel Curig when I dropped John off at Plas Y Brenin. Very dramatic scenery. I like this weather. Easier if you are dressed appropriately.

We arrived at Plas Y Brenin at 9am and maneuvered the car into a tight parking space. The receptionist didn’t have much of a clue about John’s course but directed us to the lecture theatre, through the restaurant and through the bar. The door was locked but we managed to get in. The welcome lecture had already started so we sat quietly at the back.

Then the instructors came in and the various courses were called out – Alpine training sprang to mind. They were all small groups and John’s Introduction to Mountain Biking had just 6 on the course.

We determined that the pick up time would be 6.30pm so I’m going to have to reschedule tonight’s curry.

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Back at 23 Ffordd Ty Du only Tom was up. I picked up some supplies from the Spar shop on the way.

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A very wet day in llanberis. Unfortunately the oneplus 2 couldn’t take the humidity and  is now on the radiator drying out after our walk around lake padarn. Ostensibly 5.6 miles but it took about 3 hours due to the conditions and runkeeper froze early into the walk. Looks like it was just after I took a photo at the slate museum. The rear facing camera is misted over! I think I will have to wait until tomorrow to see if it is going to recover. The photo was backed up to Google drive so I do have one souvenir of the day. I would have liked to have had more pics but it wasn’t going to happen.

Also my drybag should be sued under the trades descriptions act. Maybe the conditions were just as bad as they get today.

When we do the coast to coast we have to be prepared to walk for 8 or 9 hours a day in these conditions. I also need to identify a reliable means of tracking the route. Fitbit supposedly only lasts 5 hours using GPS although I have yet to test it. At least the fitbit is still functioning. I’m not sure that it is accurately tracking my movements though. It’s telling me I’ve done 11.55 miles so far today but that is not right.

All four layers were wet but not uncomfortably so. I’m guessing had I not had the right gear on this would have been a different story.

I swung by Plas Y Brenin to pick up John earlier than arranged. It was a good call. The lad was sat in the bar looking tired and wet. He is now in the shower and looking forward to going out for a nice curry later.

It’s a wonderful drive to Plas Y Brenin. The scenery is spectacular and the colours wonderful. Of course today they were all dark colours. Various hues of ochre and slate grey with swirls of white running down the mountainside. It’s impressive to see all the water running off the mountain.

Pic is from left to right, me, Charlotte, Joe and Tom already looking a bit damp by the time we got to the Slate Museum. J & C had to call it quits early on as their feet got soaked.

just a lovely day

Early morning at 23 Ffordd Ty Du and the sunlight is streaming in through the window. If you look out of the window though the mountains are shrouded in cloud or mist so I’m not sure what the plan is going to be today yet. We have in anycase to finish early to pick up Tom from the station in Bangor at 4.45.

We also need to nip to Llanberis Bike hire to sort out John’s mountain bike for the weekend. I just dug out the email and realised I was supposed to get in touch with Nigel at the shop a couple of weeks ago!

The weather for the next few days is looking typically Welsh, ie not very good. I’ll be alright having invested in the gear but not so sure about the about the others. I’m sure they all have waterproof tops but not necessarily waterproof overtrousers. We will have to see how we get on.

Whatever happens we do have to get some uphill walking in today.John is fast asleep at the moment but someone else has stirred. I am writing at 8am from the comfort of my nice and warm en suite bedroom but someone has gone to the bathroom. Perhaps there isn’t so much of a rush on our first day. We have to get through the requisite holiday full breakfast first.

Today I am full of headcold – first time I’ve had one for yonks. Makes a change from the bloomin toothache! Ah well. Bit of fresh air will do the job. Right, up for breakfast.

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Good fry up, once we had found the frying pan and then discovered 2 of them. Into Llanberis to sort out John’s mountain bike for tomorrow and then to an outdoors shop to get him a nifty waterproof. We also bought a second camelback for general family use. We then waved goodbye to John who went back to the house to do some revision and Charlotte, Joe and I set off up a mountain.

My idea had been to climb to Llyn Marchlyn Mawr (google it) and back in time to go for Tom. After an hour of uphill slog we came to the conclusion that this may have been a bit ambitious on day one. My gear was working really well. The merino wool base layer together with two fleeces. The new Deuter day sack was also great giving my back plenty of air. As a result there was no dripping sweat today. Progress.

Feet took a pounding though with walking on rock all the time. Was ok back on the road so again there is a bit of progress. If I push it a bit more each day this trip it should stand me in good stead for the coast to coast.

Peak elevation was 1,016 feet.

Had an ice cream from a van when we got back to llanberis and then made it in plenty of time to pick up Tom.

lots of picks and vids here

Featuring Neil McRae in the second video

On the phone to Vodafone. At the end of Feb I signed up with them and cancelled the next day for reasons discussed in this previous post – nothing terrible. Just didn’t work out.

Unfortunately I’m now getting threatening letters from their accounts dept asking me to cough up almost £400 in cancellation charges. Their system has broken in my case. The latest threatening letter took 5 days to arrive and gave me 14 days to pay the balance.

I called them up. Their automatic answering system didn’t recognise the mobile number they had given me. I eventually got through but the guy said I was a business customer and I had called the consumer number – it was the number they gave me on the threatening letter.

Eventually I was passed on to their business types who said it looked as if there had been a human error made the last time I called and their system was expecting me to return my phone before agreeing to cancel. I had a sim only contract!

So now the refund process is beginning again and takes 3 working days. Bear in mind this is Easter Bank Holiday weekend so the three working days will take me to Wednesday at which point it will have been 13 days since the threatening letter was sent giving me 14 days to pay.

Talk about cutting it fine.

So this morning I tidied up a few work bits and am now focussed on prep for Llanberis. My new North Face Base Camp duffel bag (Black XL) has arrived! I have also procured a Deuter Futura 32 day bag from GoOutdoors. This was reduced from £110 to £99.99 and I had a 15% off discount voucher. However I searched for the best price and good old Millets were selling it for £77 (down from  £110) so, good to their word, GoOutdoors matched it and knocked a further 10% off. Result.

Also bought a compass, some blister plasters and another pair of socks. I’m pretty much ready for Snowdonia now though unsure as to how the mountain climbing is going to go 🙂

Took John to his sax lesson and had a beer at the Taphouse whilst waiting. Nice chat with Charley who is now a new friend on Facebook. She is in one of the videos below.

Tonight it’s Will Farr School for the 6th form reunion and prize giving. 

Together with trying out new boots

New left boot had its first tryout today walking back from Coops’ having left the Citroen there. Socks weren’t as thick as the ones I’m wearing on the walk. I wore different ones on the way back down and they were more comfortable. Time will tell if the fit is right.

Picked up some penicillin to sort out the tooth abcess. Hopefully. Still giving me gyp. Got home to discover that I had run out of google drive space for trefor.net. I have two accounts and have a TB of space on the other one. I transferred everything over yonks ago but lots of stuff still left on trefor.net. Spent most of the morning sorting that out. I now have no images on trefor.net.

This afternoon ordered a Macbook Pro with bells and whistles. Whilst I am an avowed Google fan the Chromebook has had a few unresponsive moments of late. This could be because it needs more RAM/performance. Although the Mac is expensive I’ve finally been convinced that it’s the right thing to do, still using the Google ecosystem. It will also allow me to properly edit movies. I’m not sure that the world is yet quite there for cloud based video editing.

This evening Tom and i set going an ad for our Anne’s Vans vw campervan rental site – 25% off if you order before the end of March. It’s costing a bob or two but you have to speculate to accumulate and there’s no point investing in the van without some corresponding investment in marketing. Tom’s experience at the BBC is proving to be very useful and he basically designed the ad. We shall see how we get on.

Tom is in the Isle of Man at the mo with dad. Good bit of bonding. He flies back on Thursday and is joining us in Llanberis on Friday.  Still a few bits and bobs to gather before the off and we need to sort out what we are doing about food, when but there is still time.

Pics from today’s walk – typical Lincoln sights plus a few miscellaneous extras. Used the Fitbit for the first time – currently registering 13,240 steps.

Durham bound

35 min swim this morning then home for a bacon sandwich. Could have done another 10 mins before the pool session finished but have a lot to do today so had things on my mind.

Arranged to pick up a prescription from the dentist tomorrow morning. No time today as off to Dirham to pick up Hannah. Before I go I have to book some tickets for Julian Clary gig in October for Anne. They go onsale at 10am so this bit of diary is just filling in some time before that happens.

Also paid the car insurance for the “new” Peugeot. Received a “payment overdue” letter on friday but I hadn’t noticed the first bill when it came in.

Just before I set off a parcel delivery arrived. It was a Fitbit surge sent to me by Fitbit themseves to use on the Coast to Coast walk. Really good of them to do so and the device is already on my wrist acclimatising (I haven’t worn a watch for decades). I will report back on this.

The drive to Durham is a bit tedious. A few 50mph stretches. I only have two more trips to do with Hannah as she is now home for Easter with only one more term to go. Arrived at around 13.10, slightly delayed due to road works. Picked the girl up, waved goodbye to her mates and then stopped off at a garden centre for lunch – the pub we had chosen wasn’t open.

We then headed for Richmond and the Alt Berg shop to sort out my boots. Ended up buying a pair one size up. They gave me a substantial discount fair play. The lesson is that when purchasing boots in future I’ll have to go for a size 10 and wear two thick socks on my right foot (size 8). For the moment I have two different sizes of boot. At least it should get me through Snowdonia and then the coast to coast.

garden centre trolleys

After we got home I popped out to GoOutdoors to buy another Berghaus fleece – last day of the sale for the specific fleece. I had one on the walk yesterday and was very impressed. Very good wicking properties. Got the last one and then headed to the Morning Star for a swift un before dinner.

Charlotte arrived today and we had a nice dinner (without Anne who is out at Craft Creations) before she and Joe themselves headed out to a pub quiz at the Widow Cullen’s Well pub.

Whisby here we come

Last weekend I had the pleasure of walking to Woodhall Spa with son Tom. It was an 18 miler and we were both fairly pooped by the end of it. Today son Joe came with me to Whisby Nature Reserve. We walked mostly off road to get there and clocked up 10 miles. It took us 3 hours 45 minutes so we (I) don’t appear to be getting any faster. My left foot is still giving gyp. I fear that it will take the next size up boot to sort it. An expensive decision which I will make tomorrow en route to pick up Hannah from Durham.

The photo illustrates the problem. My right foot is size 8 and you can see from the insole that the toes don’t come anywhere near the front of the boot (which is  9 ½). The left foot on the other hand is a size 9 and after the foot has swollen a little when walking (which is normal) you can see that the toes are very near to the front of the boot.

Otherwise after a hot bath I am far less stiff today than last week, bearing in mind the walk was 8 miles shorter but even so it shows that the body is slowly getting used to the exercise. I am looking forward to the day when the boots are perfectly moulded to the feet and I am able to walk up mountains with nonchalant ease.

The other success today concerns some of the purchases I made yesterday. The bottom of my Berghaus fleece was dripping wet. Initially I thought my camelback must have been leaking but now I think this is the merino base layer and the fleece working together to “wick” away the copious amounts of perspiration I am still generating whilst walking. It’s working really well.

We were somewhat later setting off today than I had planned and in consequence arrived at Whisby for quite a late lunch at around 2.20. Anne picked us up shortly after 3pm fair play.

After a nice soak in a hot bath we got an enquiry for Anne’s Vans through the Camperbug website. Fingers crossed eh?

Now I’m just whiling away some time before the roast pork dinner is ready. I will be on gravy making duty as usual.

Pylons rehearsal at our house

The toothache is back. This time it isn’t sensitive teeth but one specific tooth that is very sensitive to the slightest touch. I can feel the gum swollen at its root. Currently drinking whisky whilst watching Wales v Italy.

Also got to get going on the next Anne’s Vans facebook campaign.

A couple of extra bodies in the house after Joe went out last night. Phil Gale kipped in Tom’s room and Troy on hte settee in the TV room. Presumably Phil bagsied first.

Swung by GoOutdoors to buy some gear. Bought a great Marmot hard shell, couple of merino base layer, a Berghaus fleece, merino buff, Tilley hat and a pair of kecks with overtrousers. That’s most of what I need now sorted.

On the way home in popped into Coops’ to book the Citroen in to get the warning message sorted. Something to do with the “filter”. Anne is driving it over Easter and we don’t want any “incidents”.

At home I was sequestered to pick up Joey the Pylons drummer and his kit from Dunholme. The cheese and onion sandwich set my tooth going again! It doesn’t like anything in contact with it.

The Pylons are now just setting up. Hope they have a long practice as they are at least an hour into the setup and I don’t yet hear any music coming from the front room. They were good at the Extravaganza last night fair play.

We are off to Jezzer’s tonight to watch England play France. England have (unfortunately) already won the 6 nations and this is for the grand slam.

Strains of music emanate from the front room…

paracetamol deployed as a precautionary measure

I think I’ve just avoided a hangover this morning. Rich, Will and I headed out after our meeting. Started in the Morning Star, went on to the Lincoln Taphouse and Kitchen and thence to the Bronze Pig before ending up back at the Taphouse. Martin arrived from Stockholm half way through the meal.

This morning I still feel drunk and walked to Tesco to get the sandwiches in for lunch. At £14.50 it must be the cheapest LONAP board lunch we have ever had. That’s Lincoln for you.

I also seem to have picked up a sensitive tooth overnight. Hopefully once the alcohol has worn off and my body gets back to normal it will go away.

Today my Facebook timeline is filled with pics from Timico staff on their way to Cheltenham to the Gold Cup. Timico now sponsors the race. Expensive but a very large amount of exposure on the back of it.

Very productive LONAP board meeting. Dropped Will and Martin off at the station then back for a swift beans on toasts with sausages before heading to school for the Extravaganza. John was playing the sax in a jazz band and Joe made an appearance with the Pylons.

Home now having dropped Joe, Phil Gale and Troy down at the West End Tap. Nanight.

Guinness seems appropriate

Popped down to see Coops to see how he was getting on with the vw. Not started yet but am now putting the pressure on as we need to see some progress before the Norton Lodge wedding fair.

Back home for a bit then out with Joe to see Ajax re the walk and then down to the in car audio place on the high street via Fosters butchers on monks road where a pound of spicy lincolnshire sausages and a wodge of dry cured bacon was procured.

At the audio place we opted for a set of speakers and a DAB enabled radio with bells and whistles and paid a £50 deposit.

Rich rang whilst we were there. He was already at our house so Joe and I hot-wheeled it home to start my LONAP meeting.

We are now having a slight break whilst we wait for Will to turn up.

It’s the Bronze Pig tonight and also it’s St Patrick’s day so a Guinness or two before hand will probably be consumed. Be jaysus.

Btw featured image is of a row of brown bins – they stretched the whole way along Wragby Road.

back from Harrogate

Pleasant start to the day having breakfast with Anne. We had a reasonably nice suite at the Holiday Inn. She has now popped off to the shops and to “do” Betty’s Tea Room again and I am at Convergence Summit Nowf, again. It’s a quiet second day – not really worth having two days of it and apparently this is the last one that they are doing. Next year it will be just the one show in Birmingham.

Had lunch at an Italian Restaurant near the hotel with Colin, Hayley and Alex Kinch. Colin very kindly picked up the tab. I had a spicy pizza (as usual). Not particularly ring burning but hey…

Then skived off, picked Anne up and we were off by 2.30, home by 4.30. John was having his saxophone lesson with Colin (Dudman). The house needs heating up a bit.

John and Joe both off to Jazz Vehicle tonight. Tomorrow I have Rich from LONAP coming up for a pre board meeting, out for dinner in the evening and then the board meeting on Friday.

Initial feedback on the mods to my left boot are favourable btw. Will only really find out after the walk on Sunday whether it has worked.

Hale’s Bar

Anne and I went off to Harrogate for a night. I was speaking at Convergence Summit North and manning the ITSPA stand. The plan was to meet Phippo for early doors and then head back to the conference social whilst Anne and he went for a meal. We met in Hale’s Bar – oldest pub in Harrogate and still illuminated by gaslights.

I got back to the room before Anne! We had “started early” at the show by blagging some champagne of the UKFast stand 🙂

Dinner was mass produced fish and chips and a few other “Yorkshire” odds and sods. A good time was generally had. Big thanks to Guy Miller of TalkTalk business for the ticket to the bash.

Pics here

Vids below

Coast to Coast donations for Cancer Research UK begin to rise

Coast to coast donations for Cancer Research uk are on the up. But first I picked Joe up from Newcastle today. Had a bit of a result I think as i called in the AltBerg boot factory enroute. The first guy that served me said there was nothing they could do re my “rubbing toe”. However an older more experienced chap took me under his wing and applied a bulge to the bit of the boot where my toe rubbed. I am optimistic that this will sort out my problem. If it needs a bit of a tweak then I can return when I head back north to pick Hannah up next monday. I will find out in Sunday if it has worked  we are off on another walk.

If you are in the market for some walking boots don’t buy them from a local shop. Take the effort to go to the AltBerg shop in Richmond. They are the best walking boot outlet in the world – I am not exaggerating here. There is nowhere better equipped.

The plan on Sunday is to walk to Whisby Nature Reserve for lunch. It’s around 8 miles. We can then walk around the reserve, 4 more miles perhaps, and decide whether to walk home with Anne available to pick up some or all of the party.

When we got home John was in bed feeling a little below par. He had been to Leeds on a school trip despite complaining about being unwell before going to school. Unfortunately his complaints fell on deaf ears. Perhaps we should listen to him next time. He recovered enough to accompany us to Bibs ‘n Ribs for dinner. It was great having Anne and us 4 lads around the table. Only Hannah missing. She is working hard in Durham. We will all be in Llanberis for Easter.

Before the meal Joe and I headed to The Lincoln Taphouse and Kitchen for a couple of swift uns. Tom had a BBC conference call and John was in bed.

Last night btw I published the Coast To Coast event page on Facebook. This has resulted in around £245 worth of for Cancer Research UK donations in the first couple of days. The game is on.

If you fancy donating the JustGiving page is here. Trefor.net Coast to Coast Sponsored Walk event page here.

Featured image is me ‘n Joe with Lewis at the pub.