12.16.2012

It's LIFE, but NOT as we know it Jim.....

The Jim.... should be read as in the Goons....

Where was I?

Not been doing much recently, other than ferrying Ollie to college in Northampton and back, and Harriet to everywhere else in the Galaxy, and working.

The strangeness of the headaches and stuff is persisting, BUT after a long NHS period, I now have seen the Neurologist lady, and she thinks I am just falling to bits, but has arranged an MRI scan of my head to see what is going on, and IF there is anything in there to find.

TGOC Pics 2012 + Music (Just me) 
No Harm, No Harmony 4 min Improvisation extract 
Press PLAY NOW (I dare you) 
And you get TGO pictures as well

Now, normally I force music on folk with &autoplay=1 directive.
But the images in the clip above are from the TGOC 2012
And the MUSIC, is just me buggering about with electric guitar, so I am not going to force it on you.
But you can click play and watch and listen if you feel so inclined.
It was recorded using an Epiphone Les Paul Copy in sunburst red (not that the colour matters).

This was played through a Zoom G2.1u and via usb link to the PC,
where it was tracked with Audacity software.

I have NEVER tried this before so it is VERY rough and ready.
It was done with just the two tracks, recording track 1 with drum machine
and playing the rhythm and base line simultaneously.

The lead guitar was then recorded on track 2 and merged in.
The whole lot is totally improvised in one take. (1 per track)

No double takes or mixing, hence the rough and ready feel.
Album Cover
I am working on this in spare time, and will eventually if I ever really like the final output, put the whole lot together.

Currently the bit above is an excerpt from a much longer improvisation called 'Beyond Reason, Beyond Hope' (full track is 18min)

I am naming the Band (which is just me, if I ever go beyond just arsing around)

Wind Madness 
The Album (it will never happen) is called Avoiding the Obvious

There are currently 7 tracks (not that it matters, because they are not listed)

So that is it really.
Nothing to do with walking apart from the theme.

Oh yes, there is another track (a bit metal) called 'March of the Turbines'


So, off to see the Sloman this week with TGOC boss Mr Lambert.

Did I mention I was in?

Admit it you knew from Twitter.

Must go and do some hills (not easy in East Anglia), when the ramp from the road to our drive is considered to be a contour.


What else..

My Favourite photo's of the last 2 weeks.
Frosty Thistles - Along Quy Water
Flooded Fields at Wicken Fen
Clunch Pit Clearance at Quy Fen (My favourite)
Wonderful sunrise view from Sandysike Bunkhouse Walton
towards the Pennines
Flooded Path on Quy Fen
Clunch pit on Quy Fen
Light show on trees at Anglesey Abbey Lode (My 2nd  favourite)
 That's all for now!

10.19.2012

Nowt T' Say! But anyway ......Music

OCT 2012

And thus I am still struggling with neck pain, pins and needles in back, hands and strangely sensitive in fingers, plus other assorted weirdness like headaches, vision issues, tiredness, and other symptoms that no one can explain, and I have been to the medics.

And, it is still persisting after the trip the the physio and much twisting and bending,
so maybe it wasn't a trapped nerve or muscle spasms in the upper spine.


I did try Googling it but that takes you into a scary world of shit you don't want to read about.

And so, having pretty much Bugger All to say, I have decided just to post a few snippets of guitar music.
The first auto runs, but the others are by choice.
The music is mainly guitar.
I was going to upload some of me

BUT..

The Web Cam did not work.
And you might not want to hear it anyway



The Grand Hotel Des Guitars - Mario Manzini

Also, because Carl said I had to put poetic stuff in since I said I was a bit of a serial, all be it poor poet, while we were in the Peaks,
I have, and so, here are three of the shorter ones under the heading 


ON THE FUTILITY OF WAR

EPITAPH 


A suitable Epitaph
enclosing characteristic hieroglyphics
All in rows
All in Lines
Partitions the garden
Where No One Grows

CYNICS DIARY


"The fighting at the front is hard
We’ll have to recruit some more corpses"

UNKNOWN 


As a large section of head disintegrates

The homesick hero somersaults

And the war game
Continues .............   


And on that sombre note I will leave it.



Well apart from this short one ......

I offered her the World
And she took it ........



The rest are a bit longer so time to return to the musical clips




Giacomo Castellano
Listen to the Album Cutting Bridges
and in particular Garbage (NOT on YouTube)



Tristan Klein - Because we ended as Lovers

Lukas Nelson - Pali Gap & Hey Baby


Milan Polak - Sometimes I still Miss you

Luigi Schiavone - So Nice (that's the track name)

Marco Nista & lots of others Landscape

Concerto D' Aranjuez from Brassed Off
Love It


Same song by Paco De Lucia (an astonishing guitarist)

Yep, NOT your regular music, Walkers weird shit!






10.06.2012

The Bracken Forests of Bleaklow

Sat 29th and Sun 30th Sep 2012

I had comments about the dreaded music last week.
So here it is.
But for those that need to turn it off sharpish, I have put it at the TOP.


Richie Arndt - I Fall Apart
So, to the story.............. 

I had spent a rather good 3 days working in Warwick Bridge near Carlisle,
(staying at Walton on Hadrian's Wall).

Well not actually staying on the wall, more in a bunkhouse near the wall. I have been there before, I will not bore you with the details.
Anyway, it came to pass that I needed to head off to Alistair and Lynsey's flat in Stockport, so on Friday night I boarded the train at Carlisle, and began my journey.

A few hours later ........................................................................

 Alistair picked me up from Stockport station and back to theirs for the Black Cuillin Ale I had been promised and tempted with via Twitter over the preceding week.

'Twas a goodly ale and went down a tweet (sorry I meant treat).
 I could easily have been tempted with another from Alistair's cavernous beer cabinet, or even whiskey from his equally cavernous whiskey cupboard, but I resisted due to the need to wake without a headache.

Much chat and them time for sleep, because it was to be an early start to meet Carl in Edale.

Carl was leaving home at the insane hour of 4.00am.  

 "Good God man, that is in the middle of the night" !!!!! 

We rose early and got a lift to the station at 7.00, to get the 7.15 to Manchester and then across to Edale. All of a sudden we were there, Carl met us at the station,and I hauled my ridiculous work bag up the hill to Carl's car.
Dumped it in, and had a bit of a rucksack Faff. Carl had bought my rucksack up, which I had left with him on Monday.
He had resisted the urge to sell off the contents on EBay, and it was time to go.
Well, nearly, because first we needed a cup of tea at the cafe which was just opening.
A fine establishment, Carl grabbed some breakfast, and I had a nice cup of Tea.
Soon though it was time to head off, so back to the car, to grab rucksacks, and Carl, Lynsey and myself headed off to Jacob's ladder and then on to Kinder.






The interactive map below is roughly it, but since I was not doing a very good job of following it on the map, on the grounds that I did not have one (I know, I know...Leave it...) then this is a good approximation

The probable route. 
You can drag the map about and zoom in and out, 
and I might change it when I find out where I really went.





Carl and Lynsey (what fine company)
About to head up Jacob's ladder (looking back)
The wind was blowing in interesting gusts between the consistent buffeting.
It wasn't raining, but early on, we realised that a high camp was not going to happen unless we could find some decent shelter.
Anyway, enough of that, onwards with the journey.
It was a good stiff climb up to the top of Jacobs Ladder (why is it called a ladder, it's steps!).
Near the top we stopped for a quick gear Faff and a addition of clothing.
It was getting a might blustery.
Over the top to Kinder we were getting knocked about a bit by the wind, but it was just good to be out and about for a change.

Approaching Kinder Downfall.
It is rather out of focus. I was getting blown off my feet taking this
Once over the downfall, we climbed up to the top, before the descent down to the Snake Pass and then off to Blealkow.
Just near the top there is an excellent little depression with great shelter, and also almost perfect seating formed in the rock.
An excellent place for lunch, which is what we did.

Carl at the Lunch stop above Kinder Downfall
Lynsey at the same stop
After lunch we had the long long descent down to where the path crosses the Snake Pass and near Dr's Gate. It was lucky in some ways that this part of the Pennine Way has been slabbed, because even so, it was very wet in places. I was trying to stop filling my Terrocs with water.
Carl stepped off the path briefly to submerge his leg to half way up the calf.
A tendency he would continue As it happens later on, I may as well have not bothered either, because I submerged them anyway.

Looking back to the ridge
So in pretty good but very blustery conditions we headed off up to Bleaklow.
Once we got up the top, we realised for sure that a high camp was not going to happen.
We stopped briefly for a rethink and decided that heading down to Ravensbrook Clough would hopefully find us some shelter.
 I say we, but as I cunningly had left my printed maps on the printer earlier in the week, I just nodded and agreed.

Carl and I near the summit.
Picture courtesy Lynsey's Blog
Just after this we came across some people making repairs to the path.
A Helicopter was flying in large bags of hardcore material.
Considering the wind this was a might impressive feat of flying.

First glimpse of helicopter.
We had seen it fly in from the West
Returning to get more ballast
Hovering just near us as it dumped another load
I had a chat with one of the chaps. We were about to head off into a wilderness of bog and hags, so we would not be in the firing line for hard core ballast attack, or being wiped out by a large metal pendulum hanging beneath the helicopter. There were red markers in the ground and we did our best to keep well clear of these.





It was quite a trudge over the top.
Good stuff, but no real markers on the ground, as we navigated our way through hags and bog.
Visibility however was excellent, which made navigation much easier.
Carl took the lead, taking us on an interesting route through slippery wet boggy, heathery bits.
He did a great job, and showed us many of the hazards, by demonstrating what might happen if we didn't look where we were going. Slips, slides, plunging into bog, twisting knees.

Excellent stuff. Could have done with a video :-)   




Me trying not to get wet feet (why did I bother?)
Picture courtesy Lynsey's Blog
Eventually we began our descent down to Ravens Clough.
The going was tough, traversing along the edge of the river, through wet ground and long grass and bracken.

This was bracken day one.          

AND  THIS WAS NOTHING!

There was definitely nowhere to camp.
We would need to drop a bit more.
We/I was getting tired limbs now.
This is the time of day that accidents happen.
Tired bodies navigating slippery, uneven ground.
 It was pretty obvious that no one comes this way, except maybe sheep.

Heather on the way down.
Slightly out of focus, it was blowing a tad.

Lynsey and Carl.
After this it got rather more slippery
Eventually, we arrived at a spot with nice tufty grass, and sheep shit.
The first possible pitch had a dead sheep in it, so we decided that crossing the river and pitching up the other side, as far away from it as possible was in order.
We proceeded to put up tents.

Lynsey had the Akto.
Carl was giving his Trailstar an outing, which was good, because it is always important to have a party tent.
I had brought Wendy out.

First time out since her injury on Ingleborough.
Now she had a new pole, repaired tear, and new stays at the back.
She was ready to go. I will still be using the Trailstar for longer hikes, and the Challenge, but I felt it cruel to leave Wendy confined to a cupboard.


Looking back along the river
View to the hills
I had brought the Samsung NX10 with me.
I think I will definitely take this for my next Challenge rather than the little camera.
I also this time just brought the 50 - 250 IOS lens.
This was an experiment, but for longer hikes I will leave this at home. It is too big to really carry 2 lenses, and on it's own it is not right.
You need to have something like an 18-55 with you to get the proper pictures.
The width is just not enough on the longer zoom lenses.
Although it is good for close ups from a distance.

Food preparation
There I was taking photos, while Carl and Lynsey were getting food ready.
Time to put the camera away.

Wendy
Shock Horror
As I checked on Wendy to add a bit of tension, I noticed to my horror, that one of Sean's added guy tabs was already coming away. The other two were steady as a rock, as was the repair to the pole sleeve at the back. Luckily it was fine, even in the wind, and I have now over sewn it, and resealed the seam with some tape.

She will be fine.

Not sure why this one came loose, because as I say the others were rock solid, and the Oookstar last year was absolutely bloody marvellous.

Me Faffing around with something at the camp
Picture courtesy Lynsey's Blog
So, I dug out my stove, and boiled up some water, sitting near the porch of Carl's Trailstar.
It took forever, and I have now decided, that unless I am going to be cooking food in a pan, then I am going to get a Jetboil Flash. Most of the time, I just boil water, and have drinks, or soup, or cook in the bag meals from Chris at Outdoors Grub, so for me, it will be an ideal addition. And, so I had my meal.

My feet had been rather wet, and I had foolishly put Crocs (I will not discuss the colour) on over the wet socks. (see how I did that?)
My plan was to dry them out a bit. As it happened, I just froze my feet in the wind to the point where I could not feel my left foot, and the big toe had gone white. I trudged off to my tent, and removed the wet socks, rubbed them quite a lot to try and get some circulation in them, which from outside the tent sounded a tad improper, although I hasten to add I was NOT moaning as well.
Then I put on some warm fluffy windproof socks, and bemoaned the fact that I had decided to leave my Down Socks at home.
My feet were bloody cold, and let that be a warning to you. It took another hour and several drams of malt, before they came back to life.  

Lesson learnt.

Eventually, it was time to head back to Carl's tent with mini music speaker, and a very sociable and enjoyable evening, where much whiskey flowed.
Carl had also bought some Tennants 9% lager (aka rocket fuel).
Much talking, it was a bloody good evening in brilliant company, and I had a great time.

So enough of Bothy Nights,  

Trailstar Nights is the new social hub.

Eventually it was time to go back to Wendy, gathering cooking equipment and stuff on route.
The wind had dropped, but it was now seriously chilly, and I was glad to get into my bag.
If I needed a pee in the night, it was going to have to wait.    

Day one was finished.

Tomorrow we would leave at 8.00 for a route back to Edale, as yet not fully decided.   

And then it was morning I could have got out of the sleeping bag a bit earlier.
I had heard muffled signs of life.
It had been a blustery night, but only a short rain shower, so the tent was not too wet.
Eventually it was time to surface.
I packed most of the stuff inside the tent, and then came out to pack her away.

Everything done, we were away by 8.02 (AL !!!!!)

We resisted Carl's initial route to cross the river 15 times, and just stayed on the same side.
It worked well, until the fence with BARBED WIRE on it.
No idea what this was keeping in or out other than walkers, because there was a big hole under it.
After looking at the possibility of a Slomaneque disaster climbing over, Lynsey and I checked rucksacks over, and then climbed under. Carl walked up the hill and climbed over somewhere.

We continued through vast swathes of every increasing bracken and bog and hill and wet and stuff.
This was NOT a route to bring someone to introduce them to hill walking.
BUT it was an excellent and isolated route, and surprisingly Scotland like in places.

Eventually we descended to a stile, and we could see the track to Derwent Water in the distance.
Why the stile was there I don't know either. No one as far as I can see had been that way for years.
We stepped over into a muddy descent and more undergrowth.
Great stuff.

And lo it came to pass that eventually, we arrived at a track, that became wider, crossed over the river, came out onto the road,


and then along the length of Derwent Water.

One of the Two towers of the dam at this end
It was bloody hard to resist the temptation to catch the bus I can tell you.
A lot of runners and cyclists about as well today.

Nearly all of them ok Read on .................

Once round the little pointy bit of the walk along the dam (technical jargon that), we turned off onto the track.

A surprising steep climb up.

By the time we got to the top it was definitely time to take the sleeves off the 3rd Element Paramo jacket, despite the cold wind. I was cooking on gas.

As we waited, some mountain bikers came down the track.
They were all quite pleasant and polite. I say ALL!

All apart from the first arrogant TWAT, who did not slow down at all, and ploughed through a large puddle, pretty much soaking Carl.
What a ***t.

Where are your walking poles when you really need them. 

As we shall see, not the ONLY MTB incident.
We carried on up the hill and over the top.
As we turned the corner, to head down to Hag Farm, the wind really picked up.
We dropped down another steep track to the farm and then crossed the Snake Pass road again, and headed up and into the woods, and then over towards Edale.
Near the top, we started to get overtaken by a variety of fell runners.
We passed over the top, and I texted Ollie (No 1 son, to wish him a happy 17th Birthday).

I had not planned the date of this weekend walk very well.
We dropped down to the bottom again. At the bottom a we thought that a runner had collapsed.
But it turned out to be a young lass, who had been out pony trekking.
Her horse had been spooked by an MTB  (just sayin' probably just a spooky horse but ....)
A man who had been running had stopped to help, and seemed to be completely in control.
Definitely had medical skills.
Carl gave them a second Space Blanket to keep her warm
She had fallen heavily and hurt her chest and back.
The Mountain rescue had been called in and were on there way.

Later we would see ambulances and a helicopter (and it was bloody windy).
We had to go on, there was nothing else we could do. Everything was being done.

As it happens a HAPPY ENDING, we later found out that she was ok, just badly bruised and winded, but kept in for observations.

SO........ Whatever, SLOW DOWN for Horses OK!!!!

Not fare to go now ....................

We made our way back finally to Edale.
The cafe was open and we went in.

AND that was one of the best Bacon Rolls I can remember.
(Carl had 2, told the lass it was for me, but she could easily see through the hungry falsehood of his statement)

Along with much Tea.

We stayed here quite a while.
And then it was time to leave.

Carl was giving me a lift home
We dropped Lynsey off at the station, and drove South to the Fen Flatlands.  

It had been a truly excellent weekend
In the absolute best of company.
Brilliant!


AGAIN, AGAIN they cry.










     

8.25.2012

CLOUDY WEATHER

OK, BE PATIENT, IT WILL BE CLOUDY SOON!

Did I mention coming back through customs on the way home from France?
We had as you know if you read the last post, taken Harriet's boyfriend Reece with us.
If you take someone under 16 abroad, and they are not related, then you have to have a letter signed by their parents, giving you permission, which is fair enough.
So we did, and on the way OUT OF THE COUNTRY, we were not asked for it.
On the way back in, we were. So it was rather unfortunate that Lucy had packed the letter in the bottom of a bag, in the bottom of the boot, assuming it would not be needed on the way back.

It was!

So that was fun (NOT).

A bit of advice

Best not to have a laugh with customs people while you wife is looking for the letter by saying

"We weren't expecting to bring him back, but we couldn't find a buyer"

Just sayin....................................


And now, all the good things (for me)

Olly got his results this week, on his return from another holiday in Portugal (him not us), and all is good with the world.
Well, all is good in Olly's World,
because he has his place at Moulton College in Northampton.
This is an excellent thing, because he can now do his Advanced Diploma in Sport, which is an A level equivalent, as part of the Rugby Academy, which is of course his passion.

So all in all, EXCELLENT.

Olly is No 25, playing Open Side

And also he had his first run out for Shelford Nomads (2nd XV ) this afternoon.
He had a good match, and Shelford won which is a bonus.
Ok, not the best game and a bit ragged in places, 
but first outing of the new season, and a win is a win.

So successful rugby, although tough taking photos in the never ending rain.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This next bit is for Catherine, who has for some reason taken exception to the fact
that in my 2011 Day 4 Cannich to Ault Na Goire write up, where we passed through Bearnock for something like 15 minutes, inc coffee stop, that instead of writing about the people and history and social aspects of the area, I mentioned it briefly, and fleetingly.
Apparently, this made my blog entry, pretentious and pointless, and I need to get a life.
Well, you cannot please everyone can you.

Pretentious Me (probably), 

"but nowt wrong we mi life tha nas", Catherine

So, this posting has therefore nothing to do with the life and times of the people of Bottisham, Cherry Hinton, or Shelford, all places I cycled through today fleetingly on my way to the rugby to watch Olly.
And as such it is of course flippant, pretentious rubbish, and not worth reading or writing.

Catherine of course does not have a blog as far as I know.
If she does, I am sure it is Shakespearean, or Dickensian in its social and literary content.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And back to the plot.

It rained a bit today in Cambridgeshire.
Rather a lot really.
Thunder, lightening, sleet and hail.

It rained on the way there, a lot, I know I was on my bike.
It rained during the match.
In fact at one point they had to come off for 15 min, because there was no visibility.
AND I can definitely testify that it rained on the way back.
Lots and lots and lots of it.
So much that I had to stop twice and spend 40+ minutes in bus shelters.
Yes, I could have cycled, but it was so heavy, that I was more concerned about the visibility to motorists.
Eventually I did make it back, but was quite surprised having cycled through the A14 underpass, to find that by the time I got half way through, the puddle was actually over 2' deep.
In fact, it was nearly to the top of the wheel at one point, and damned hard to cycle through.
Suffice it to say, that when I eventually got back home I was rather damp.


And so, to the cloud pictures at last, taken from our house, looking out across the fields.
Wonderful moody stuff.

I like clouds, you might have spotted that,
and so here are some especially pretentious ones :)



I had cycled through that lot.
Well, at ground level.




I did fiddle with the colour balance on this one


This is my favourite (but I love B&W)

Probably second favourite.
Very Close Encounters



All pictures taken with a
Samsung NX10
& 50 - 200 OIS Lens
+ Massa Polarising Filter




This posts music is
#98 by Matt Corcoran
I couldn't find a U Tube clip so you may not get a controller for it.

8.21.2012

C'ETAIT DE BONNES VACANCES

Mais oui!

Nous avons quitté Portsmouth à St Malo sur la nuit en ferry.

Il a fallu un certain temps pour obtenir à bord, mais finalement nous avons réussi à obtenir dans notre cabine.

Le soleil commençait à descendre, et nous sommes allés sur le pont pour regarder le soleil se coucher

C'Ă©tait magnifique

Coucher de soleil depuis le ferry

Quitter Portsmouth et l'une des tours Martello
Le jour suivant, nous avons débarqué à St Malo.
Mais, sur la route nous sommes allés rendre visite à des amis qui habitent à St Jacut.

Roger est l'anglais, et Claire, elle est français, mais a travaillé en Angleterre depuis de nombreuses années, et parle couramment les deux langues.

Oh enough of this French stuff, I struggle with writing it almost as much as speaking it,
so I apologise for the endoubted multiple errors in the above.
But heh, I tried.

So, yes, we did go to France.
We are English.

And....
We tried to speak French as much as possible.
Well, Harriet and I tried to speak it.
Lucy can speak it, having spent some time in France in an earlier life, before I came along and ruined it for her.

Which brings me to a completely unrelated and off at a Tangent topic.

Recently I received an odd Anonymous Comment on my 2011 TGO Challenge Day 4

I have NO IDEA what it was all about, although a bit after that there was some strange activity on my blog. Not saying the two were related, just sayin.........

I did reply to this, but I have now stopped anonymous comments, on the grounds that if you haven't the balls to put your name, then you probably have nothing to say.

Just my opinion.

Well I did also answer the comments in probably a less than friendly manner, but heh....

Anyway as another response to it I would say

"Pretentious!  Qui Moi?"

And back to today's topic ..................................

Roger and Claire's super garden
Infact, we spent much of the day there, after breakfast, we went to the beach and then back to lunch.

The beach


I mean, it was a holiday after all.

Eventually however, we had to drive the extra 60km down to Quechera (I may have spelt that wrong), which is near Gomene, which is a bit to the West of Rennes, and a bit North West of Ploermel.

The closest town is Merdrignac.


We are in the whiteis building to the left of the road bottom left of picture.
You cannot see us, but we are waving.

The rather fine farmhouse and outbuildings
The entrance to our gite


Inside our gite.
Well, a bit of it anyway


It looks flat round here, and ok, it is not the Alps, but I can testify that it is a darned sight more hilly than it looks, as I found out when I went out for a run and to see what was about.
Get a 1:25000 of the area and look.
Definitely hills.

This was a really fabulous place and Julie who it belongs to was excellent, and friendly.
Ok, it is a bit out of the way, and you really do need a car to go and do anything, unless you have some good bikes.

Here is a link the the website La Campagnard

Well worth a visit if you like a bit of peace and quiet.

Part of the garden at the gite
The pond at the gite.
It was this and Roger and Claires that inspired us.
Ok our pond is much much smaller, but then again, so is our house and garden

Anyway, if you like peace and quiet, and countryside  
(well, apart from the few Wind Turbines - Don't  start me off,
the French seem to like buggering up some of their views too
),
but other than that it is perfect.

Bob the cat at the gite.
He is a fine fellow and very friendly


So anyway, we liked it , and luckily for us, the weather was excellent the whole time.
Apart from just the one afternoon, when it hosed down.

So that is it really, we spent a great week, doing very little, apart from going to rivers and beaches and swimming, and hiring canoes, and generally sight seeing and dosing about, in a slightly energetic way, and I did a few runs, and we drank French wine and Pastis and Belgian beer.

Tough life eh.

Did I mention the swimming pool?


This is with the roof on at the end of the day,
but the roof folded back completely to make it an open air pool.
Only 12m long, but after a hot day out bloody wonderful



Anyway, the rest is just a few photos of some lovely places in Brittany.

Well places we went to anyway



A local bread over being restored.

Apparently, you can get a grant to get them restored.
The chaps working on this one, (I say working), had been at it for weeks.
They seemed to spend a lot of time not actually doing anything at all, and then they went home again. In the week we were there I think they did 5 layers of tiles.


Just another roadside cross.
There are many of these all over the place
and also many places which have croix in their name

The church at Ploermel

Wooden scuplture at Ploermel

A meniere / standing stone in Gomene
These are also littered liberally all over the place

The small lake in Gomene, looking towards the church.
Taken on an evening run

I just liked this old window in Josselin
Lanes in Josselin

Window Shutter


Looking along the river at Josselin from near the Chateau

Looking up to the Chateau

I just loved the colours of this cottage

Now this is an odd one.
This is the LAKE at Mendrignac
It is marked on the maps as a lake.
It is a lake of very little water content

Another standing stone near Meniac

Along the beach at St Jacut

The castle at St Jacut, looking across to the town

View of the bay from the castle at St Jacut

I just liked this bit of old wooden beam

Another bay view at St Jacut


And then we had to come home.

However, on the way we went back and spent the day and a night in St Jacut.

So after another fine day on the beach having borrowed Claire's canoe, and also a rather nice walk round the old castle, it was time for dinner with Roger and Claire, and then we were off to St Jacut again, to walk across the bay to the island.
This is a walk in the dark with candles, and an annual event.

As luck would have it, this was the day, and so we joined somewhere around 400 people.

St Jacut has an enormous tidal range. I believe it is 14m at its maximum

Dancing before the sunset, whilst waiting for the tide to go completely out, and the walk started

Looking out to where we would walk across and round the island

Sun going down by the beach

Crocs at the ready.
Let's hope Humphrey doesn't spot these then

Almost time to go

Handheld timelapse at the island.

Looking back at the candle lit procession
Remember, this was done at night, across a sandbank, either side of which was water.
Probably would not be allowed in England due to the requirement of 15 pages of forms that would need to be filled in before it was rejected by our Nanny State, and a bunch of Jobsworths.

Vive La France!


And then we really did go home.


Alan Stivell - Renaissance of the Celtic Harp It's a bit long this, but beautiful and somehow rather appropriate.