New Years in Wales

For New Years, I went to visit my friends in Harlech, North Wales.  We've not seen much of each other since they moved so far away.  To spend so much time with them was lovely, and the area is beautiful. This is the view from their driveway.

Their DRIVEWAY.

Harlech Castle in the foreground, the beach and bay behind, and then in the distance, the mountains of Snowdonia.  Surely people don't actually LIVE in places that look like this.  But they DO!

To be beside the seaside - North Norfolk Coastal Path part 3

We're back at the beach! Yaaaaay!

Cromer to Mundesley - 8 miles

To be beside the seaside - North Norfolk Coastal Path part 2

Holkham to Blakeney - 10.9 miles

After Holkham the next stop is Wells-next-the-Sea, which is a small town with more facilities.  It's a walk I've done before, along the beach, but this time we struck to the path properly and found ourselves wandering down wooded lanes, behind the tall dark pine trees that this stretch is known for.  On another breezy but still sunny day, the shade was nice, and we had company!  A relay race was taking place, beginning at Hunstanton and going all the way round to Great Yarmouth over the course of a day or two.  We kept moving over to let runners pass, each wielding their barcoded baton.  We emerged at the carpark for Wells Beach and followed the sea wall back into the town.  

John captains the clinkerbill boat, so called for the Viking-style rivets in its hull.

A Gentle Stroll

I have been adventuring!  Two friends from my church group announced that they were planning a two day hike-slash-camp in the Peak District and my ears pricked up.  I've walked with a full overnight bag before, and I'd done the suggested distances before, but never both at the same time.  However after a little of my usual fretting I decided to go for it - you don't know if you don't try.  Phil was expedition leader, with Harry, Manny, myself, and Hendrix the dog along for the adventure.

The walk we ended up doing was great, but also slightly more of an expedition that we'd been banking on!

Most of these photos are mine, but some are by Manny.  The nice thing about adventuring with other people is that you actually appear in the photographs, and he has kindly permitted me to take advantage of this.

Big Summer Adventure: Hadrian's Wall

This August I finally got to take on a challenge I've been hankering to do for over two years now: Hadrian's Wall.

This partially ruined wall marked the edge of the Roman empire in 122AD when Emporer Hadrian, struggling to invade Scotland while dealing with his rebellious British subjects at the same time, withdrew troops from the more Northerly Antonine Wall (earth ramparts) to consolidate their position.  At 6m high this engineering feat took three Legions (15,000 men) only 6 years to build and is a symbol of both the power of Rome and it's limitations.  It stretches from Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the North East of England in an almost straight line clear across the country to Carlisle, and then on to Bowness-on-Solway where the river becomes unfordable and attacks from people wading across would no longer have been possible.

This idea of what it means to be invader and invaded has been with me for a long time, and the Wall symbolises a lot of that for me.  My dad and uncle walked it together a few years ago while I was in university, and I'd been hoping to do the same (although unlike them, we won't have to walk from the Wall to our lodgings each night, as Nathan and Dad will be having a parallel holiday and have kindly agreed to pick us up and drop us off each day!)  This year I mentioned it to my Mum and we decided to do the trip together.  We would start at Heddon-on-the-Wall, the first place the Wall itself becomes visible, and finish in Carlisle.  It's a 55 mile trip, it was to take us almost five whole days of walking, and as usual I kept a diary...

All the cool music!

There's been a steady conveyor belt of live music in my life this last week, and all of it amazing.

First were the musicians at the ceilidh; as well as all the Hekety and Blackbeard's Tea Party, who were both fantastic.  Pirate folk - it's a thing that exists!  There was also a late night gig by Professor Elemental, Gentleman Rapper.  I'm so pleased to live in a world where there are things like 'Pirate Folk' and 'Gentleman Rappers'.  Just makes it all worthwhile really, don't it.