Marking update

It started with the big and the small piles of marking. I decided to get the small one out of the way first. And in two days, I had marked everything that had been uploaded. That was only about 2/3 of the cohort, as the rest had extensions. But it felt good to get to the end of the list as it was. I decided to not publish anything until the people with the extensions had submitted too. 

With the second batch almost coming in, I got my skates on and did the assignment myself. This is the one that is based on the field trip, so every year has different data. I have to process that as much as the students do! But I have done it before, so for me it is quite quick. Especially since I found a way of doing it in R rather than in Excel.

Before I started on the second batch I tried to make a dent into the assignment of the big cohort. It is not in itself a big assignment, but if you have to mark 100 scripts, it still takes a lot of time. And if you try to do them all in succession you go bonkers! So my strategy was to sometimes do a limited number. 

By the end of that week I had marked the entire small batch, including extensions. I hadn't made any progress on the big batch at all! Or the intermediate one. But I had spent a lot of time on the allocation; this gets its own blog post. And I had been away for two days, on a first aid course, and a day in the field. So I was quite satisfied altogether. The week after, I would have to get a big lump out of the other marking done!

 

There is an age-depth model in the small assignment. This is an example from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 322 Preliminary Report, doi:10.2204/iodp.pr.322.2009 

 

Cemaes in the wind

This year it would be Dei and me doing the field trip to Cemaes. And I had suggested we distribute the talking points as follows: we take turns, and he starts. That means we would both do ones we normally don’t do. We wouldn’t be as rehearsed as usual, but it made for a change! And that’s nice too. 

The forecast wasn’t very good! Rain in the morning, and wind all day. I made sure to dress warmly and bring even more layers. 

Dei started off with his usual enthusiasm at a dyke swarm. I took over at an old stromatolite. Then we made sure to drive as close as we could to the next site. There we had hydrothermally altered quartzite. We chose to have lunch in the vehicle. It was very windy, and it also still rained. No day for a picnic!

Dei and his dyke swarm

By the White Lady

The next stop was another melange, with some rare bright orange iron carbonate. Then we had an unusually pretty other stromatolite, and a remote view on a thrust fault. We also popped into the church. It is both associated with St Patrick, and the UK’s first Muslim MP. A big claim to fame! 

A limestone in the melange; a student is sceptical 

The iron carbonate 

We then went around to Porth Wen, where we looked at what may be that thrust fault again. And now up close. But was it? And does the landscape show signs of sea level rise? All this was more complicated than we would have liked. Or maybe we should have hoped for complication. It’s more interesting! 

By then we were all tired and ready to get out of the wind. We went back to Bangor. I think it was a good day! And this is the last trip of 2025. In the new year we will pick it up again…

First aid training: different from now on

I am one of the University first aiders. I just thought it would be a good thing to be. And the first time I went up for my qualification, it was ok. But you have to renew this every few years, and the second time I went up I realised that the course instructor did the course word for word the same. The same material, the same examples, the same jokes. It basically was two days completely lost, but with a certificate at the end. Imagine how frustrating it is if you have to renew again. And then I heard through the grapevine that the course instructor had retired. Hooray!

Sometime ago I got an email saying that my qualification would expire again. There was opportunity for a refresher course in late November. I took it. And the location was special: it was the universities farm and research centre. I have been aware that this existed for a long time, but I had never been! And it's even so close by I can bike there.

Found it! 

When I approached the farm I heard some alarm go off. I didn't think much of it. But then I came around the corner and I saw a lot of people milling by a building. Maybe this was my course? They turned out that it was. So I had accidentally found the correct building. We couldn't quite get in yet.

Luckily, after a while someone appeared who could make the noise go away, and we could get in. After a cup of coffee we started. And the instructor first did a little bit of an introductions round; who were we, and why were we interested in first aid qualifications? We were all university employees, mostly from ocean sciences or natural sciences. I suppose we are the schools that do field trips. It's not as if you never need first aid in the building, but it is perhaps a bit less likely, and there will probably be other people you could call on. I trust all security people have first aid qualifications, for instance.

The person I know best was my colleague Ronan. We also had a research assistant there whose face I knew well, but who I have never really spoken with much. And then there were several familiar faces from natural sciences. It was quite nice to have a group like that. And we were quickly united in being a bit chilly. That converted farm barn was not easy to heat!

We didn't went through things such as Dr ABC. Soon after that we went outside to learn to put each other in the recovery position. We started out in all sorts of initial positions. He mainly made us think about: if you have to leave a patient, but will their tongue do, and what will happen if they vomit? If you have dealt with these questions, you are in the best position to run off and get help. On University trips, you'll probably never have to leave someone alone, but we might as well also think about situations in the outdoors outside work. There are plenty of places around where there is no phone signal. 

We also spent quite some time on CPR. I thought that was good! Normally, they make you do half a minute on one of these dummies, and that's it. He had us go on for quite a while. He wanted us to know how it feels if you I have to keep doing it and doing it and doing it.

We also spend some time on diabetes, and stemming bleeding and bandaging wounds. That is probably a bit more applicable in field trips! You don't get many students in cardiac arrest. But you do get diabetic students, and those who end up with a cut or a graze. 

Somewhere in the middle of all this we also had lunch. We didn't quite tackle all expected topics. He gave us some reading to do. That is stuff I have learnt again and again and again so I'm not nervous about that.

At the end of the day, I was quite happy. I had had a good day! This guy really added something to the material, and it would have been a nice group to work with. And the location was fab! This way I don't mind having to go up for renewal once in a while. So I'm up-to-date again, and it wasn't a drag!

Bridge update

In early August, the first part of the bicycle path I often take to work closed, because the adjacent bridge over the river would be replaced. I suppose building a new bridge and taking the old one down is not a trivial job! But I had seen them build the supports for either side of the bridge, and I had seen images on social media of the actual bridge being craned into position. That meant that important milestones had been made in this work! I wanted to have a look.

I could see with my own eyes now that the new bridge I was indeed in position. It wasn't, though, quite yet connected to the paths leading off on either side. I wasn't sure how they would do this. The original bridge was a footbridge, and clearly not intended for cyclists. This might be the same for the new bridge. However; accessibility demands that this bridge is wheelchair accessible, so you can’t have a step involved in getting onto it.

I suppose there's two big things still to be done now. Have smooth asphalt or other paving join seamlessly to the bridge, and then take the old one down. I hope that when that is done, they open up the bicycle path again. I know that there is still work planned in that area; it seems that the rugby club is taking the opportunity of extending its parking. But I hope they can do that work without the bicycle path being closed for it.

I can only watch and wait. But it’s good to see clear progress! 

Eryri Harriers AGM

This year’s AGM was going to be a lot more eventful than last year’s. I would know a lot more people, and I was actually standing for a committee position. I also knew that no one else has stood for it. So we're all likelihood, this would be a sizeable change!

When the AGM was coming up, there was a call for people to stand for positions, as several would be vacated, and some of them have been vacant the entire year. The club needs a committee! And given that in summer, I had retired from the rescue team, I figured I would be able to find time to taken a new function. I had initially thought of membership secretary, but Anna, who currently is actually functioning as both the honorary secretary and the membership secretary, recommended I would instead apply for the former. So I did.

The venue this time was only a few minutes on bike away. That was convenient! It was in the cricket club where I had never been. When I came in I saw familiar faces, and immediately got a hug from Nia Meleri, our chair, who looked unusually glamorous. I normally only see her in running kit! 

I spotted the table with the unwanted running kit, and dumped my stuff on it. Then I went to get a drink. We would almost start, so when I had a drink I sat down at a table that still had space. 

It started with the reports of the chair and the secretary, and then we would have dinner. Vegetarian curry for me! And then it continued with the reports of the other committee members, such as the cross country officer, the mountain running officer, and the road running officer. As I am mainly a roadrunner, I was most interested in that last one. Arwel is the relevant officer, and mainly spoke of the rather spectacular Caernarfon 10k this year, which would be the last one he would organise, and the Borders League. But he also mentioned the club road championships. It turns out I am in the lead among the women! What does this mean? Probably that I just did the most races of all the female Harriers. But it still felt good. There is only one more race to go!

Nia Meleri and Anna taking the stage

When that was done we had dessert. And then we came to (minor) changes in the constitution, and the voting in of a new committee. There were no positions for which more than one person stood, and everybody was voted in with a large majority. It is a bit worrying that quite a lot of positions are empty, but I am a bit hesitant to take too much on. I have a busy job! But there is one position I might take. Mike, one of the stalwarts of the club, suggested I also become vice chair.  I am willing to consider that! But we'll talk about that in the next committee meeting.

When that was done we basically only had the ‘any other business’ to deal with and that wasn't an awful lot.  And at a reasonable hour, we closed the meeting.  I made sure to buy a few raffle tickets; the club has a Christmas fun run, and that comes with a raffle. I can't make it; I am busy turning 50 that day. but I thought I should get myself some raffle tickets because hey, it's my birthday, I might be lucky. You can win entry into several races! 

When that was done I talked a bit with Anna and Nia Meleri  about getting started in my new function. But then I left. I suppose a new era has begun!

Getting ready for the Eryri Harriers AGM

This year's AGM, my second, would have something new: a swap shop. We were encouraged to bring run-related stuff we did no longer use, and either sell it, swap it, or give it away. I figured I had some superfluous stuff, so the afternoon before the meeting I gathered it, and attached some little labels saying ‘free’ to each item. Ready to go! I wasn’t sure how much demand there would be, but if you don’t try you don’t find out. Maybe I could declutter while doing someone a favour! 

Ready to go

Looking for snow

We got the first snow this week! I saw it on the way to work. And if there’s snow, it’s great to get into it. Neil thinks so too! So our plan was to go and seek it out on the Saturday. 

In the morning, it would still be cloudy and rainy, but it would get sunnier after that, according to the Met Office. So we couldn’t really check the mountains from a distance. We just chanced it! We went from the front door up the path past Moel Faban and y Gyrn, and went up y Drosgl. Then we headed for Bera Bach. Hardly any snow! A pity. But still a beautiful walk. But by then we had to make a plan. What next?

About as much snow as we found 

Neil suggested to do a loop via yr Elen. That sounded good! First stop Carnedd Gwenllian. And we had lunch. But then we both wondered if that itinerary was a good idea. We both had forgotten to bring a head torch, and the days are so short! We decided to turn around and go back to y Drosgl. And went back over Gyrn Wigau. And we were back in town well before it got dark. And we were tired anyway. We got home and lit a fire! We hadn’t seen much snow, and the weather had been cloudier than hoped, which had obscured the views, but we had done a lovely hike that had allowed me to show Neil some new terrain. And there’ll be more opportunities to get into the snow! 

On the way down

Heading for Gyrn Wigau

End of a hectic week

I was hoping I could blog about having finished the allocation, or any of the piles of marking! But I can't. The allocation is almost finished. But almost is not entirely. And I haven't finished the small batch of marking because it was Friday afternoon that the students with extensions submitted, but I had other things to do then, so that will need to get finished next week as well. I still haven't started the intermediate batch, and I have made progress on the big batch, but that is so big I've barely made a dent in it.

Hopefully, next week I will be able to blog about all my triumphs! At least, the small batch should be finished, and the allocation done. Watch this space…

Finding a track friend during a race

I was just running along the course of the half marathon, in my own world, when I suddenly felt a tap on my arm. I looked next to me and I saw Katie, one of the track runners. She runs at more or less the same speed as me, so if she's there we very well might end up in the same little group. I was glad to see her! We had a little chat and then we parted ways again. All very unremarkable.

Then the race pictures were published. I looked at mine, and I saw that a race photographer had caught the whole interaction on film. And I initially had intended to buy two pictures; that’s £24. But four £30 you can buy up to 30 pictures. So I went with that! I thought it was funny to see me obliviously run along, and then my response when I realise she was there. I think she was focussed on running, and hence wasn't showing the same range of facial expressions. Judge for yourself! Here is the whole series…

 

Conwy Half Marathon 2025

I registered for the Conwy Half Marathon because it was in the Eryri Harriers road club championships. I had run it before: the first time in 2015, and the second and (I thought) last time in 2022. By the time this year’s race approached, I had decided that that championship was, in my eyes, a bit of a damp squib. And I had abandoned this race earlier on on purpose! I always thought the bit through Deganwy is a bit dull, so from the moment I realised there is such a thing as the Nick Beer 10k I only registered for that. That's the same race, but only the beautiful bits! 

I was a bit miffed when I realised that a Borders League fixture had been organised on the same date, but that problem solved itself; the organisers of that race decided to postpone it. I quite like Borders League races! 

I had also barely run any half marathons without struggling with my IT bands in the last 18 months. After the problem suddenly appearing during the Snowdonia half marathon, I went to the physiotherapist, who gave me exercises I did religiously. Unfortunately, I was still hurting when I tried out my exercised ligament four months later in Caernarfon. And seeing a running coach who gave me helpful tips did result in me being able to do the Snowdonia half again without problems, but the next Caernarfon race the issue again raised it ugly head. I was a bit nervous about it now!

Being nervous, though, might be a good thing in a way; I had bought straps especially for helping me with my IT band problem, and the only way of finding out if they work is running yourself an IT band problem. This might be the day to do it! So there were basically three possible outcomes of the race, two of which would be good: either I would not have IT band problems, or I would, but the straps would help. The only bad outcome would be that my knees would start to hurt, but the straps wouldn't help. But at least I would then know. After all, I really wanted to run a PB at this distance after my 50th birthday!

Something else happened that suddenly made the race more attractive. And that something was Neil. He lives in that neck of the woods. Doing a race in his back garden sounded good! And what was even better: his niece, the daughter of Neil’s sister I had already met, was going to run it, with a guy called Mike. So I would meet them! We would all stay over at Neil’s house the night before the race.

I got there first. I was just doing a little walk on the Orme with Neil when his niece, Lois, send a message she had arrived. Neil had left her a key. So we hot-tailed it back to say hello. She really is a spitting image of her mum!

We had a cup of tea and a chat (Neil and all his relatives can talk for England) and then we had dinner. Neil had prepared spag bol. Good carb loading food! And after dinner we made a logistic plan. Neil was nervous about parking. Understandably so; Conwy isn't big, and there were 4000 or so entrants. And we went to bed fairly early. 

The next morning we had breakfast together. I had twice my normal amount of porridge. Then I prepared my pre-race energy drink and my post-race protein shake. Soon we were all ready to go! Neil drove us to the bridge over the Conwy, let us out of the car, and then went looking for somewhere to park. Lois, Mike and I went to registration, and the loos. And between those we found Neil again. Lois had taught us how to share our location with WhatsApp; that made finding each other in these crowds a lot easier!

I had also packed some paracetamol. Neil had suggested that maybe in addition to carrying straps to fight the symptoms, I might be able to prevent them by having a pre-race painkiller. That was a clever idea!

After all necessary number-pinning and bladder-emptying and paracetamol-swallowing and jacket- ditching it was time to make our way to the start line. We said goodbye to Neil. Lois and Mike would run together, and they aimed for 2:00. I went solo aiming for 1:43, so I lined up by the 1:45 pacer. That was close enough.

Me, Lois and Mike

Ready

Before the start, we all kept a minute silence for a runner who had recently collapsed in a race, and later died. He was so young!

Off we are

Then we started. I make sure not to go too fast. I was sure that going fast was a risk factor for my knee problem. I just happily pootled along! And I made sure to think about my running coach's advice. Run like a duck! And the kilometres started tick by. After not an enormous amount of time we reached the turn across the peninsula. And not much later we were on the other side. We all passed a drum band. They had been there during earlier races as well! I really appreciate them. I am convinced it is the same drum band that practices in Tregarth, in the village hall I pass regularly on my commute. Tuesday night, post-track for me, seems to be their practice evening. I always love biking past and listening to them! I once even stopped.

We then started our way around the Orme. That's the beautiful part of the route! I quite enjoyed it. And along the way I came across several runners I knew from the track, or from other races. I had a little chat with all of them. It was very nice!

By the time we rounded the tip of the Orme my knees were still fine. I was gaining confidence! And the next few miles are quite fast because they are all downhill, but not dramatically so. And when I got to the bottom there were only 5 miles left.

Pic from Facebook with a long view over the route down

Back from the Orme. Pic by Tony

The miles were still ticking away, and everything was fine. I figured it would be fine all the way. If it hasn’t even started to hurt by 15km, surely I can run the whole way without my knees slowing me down.

While I was contemplating that, I was accosted by a fellow runner who was fearing cramp. He wondered if there are any tricks for avoiding it. I didn't know any, other than stopping and stretching. He didn't want to do that; he was aiming for a sub-1:38 time. What? And he was running with me? But he said he had started the back, and I hadn't. I had been three minutes ahead of him. But that meant that if he ran his target time and I ran with him, I would finish at sub-1:41. That was so much faster than I had anticipated!

When the guy unsuccessfully tried to get some sweets from a marshal I offered him a gel. I had plenty! And we kept trudging. I was wondering if I was on my way to a PB. In a way, that would be bad. I wanted to run one next year! The faster my time was this year, the harder that would be. But I hadn't tried! Surely, if I could run a PB without trying this year, I could run one while trying next year, no matter what my actual time this day would be.

I got onto the bridge and found myself a last target. A lady within reach! It's always satisfying to overtake ladies. I knew I was not going to do well at all in the female category in this huge race, but every woman overtaken is one. So that I did.

At the turning towards the finish I saw Neil shouting his lungs out at me. That was fab! I had been looking out for him. There were so many people! It would be easy to miss him. Except that I figured he was going to be noisy enough to not be missed. I had been right. And then I finished. I forgot to look at the timer, but from my watch I could see I had been pretty close to my PB, set two months earlier in Caernarfon. And I figured that this organisation was not going to tell me what my official time was until much later in the day. That is their modus operandi. 

Crossing the finish line 

The first thing I saw after finishing was pretty much that I had come in really soon after Richie, the Cybi Strider with whom I have a bit of rivalry going on. This time he had clearly beaten me! We hugged. This means that in the last four races we both ran, we have each beaten the other twice. What will happen next time?

Then I got my medal and my T-shirt, and fetched my bag. Time to have my recovery shake! And put a jumper and a jacket on. Then I wanted to go back back to where I had seen Neil, but that wasn't happening. He could still track my location, and he had to come to find me! That was fab. Together we went back to the finish to wait for Lois and Mike. We could see them approaching on his little screen. And we yelled at them as well!

On our way to where they would come out of the finish funnel I asked the organisation how I had done. I had been about four minutes faster than I had expected. There was still a chance of a category win! But they told me I had come second in my category, beaten by a lady who had been six minutes faster. She totally deserved that medal!

We struggled a bit to find Lois and Mike, but in the end we did. By that time, Neil had become a bit agitated as he doesn't like crowds. I don't either! I was glad we could quickly make a glorious exit. We walked back to the car and got back to his house. Then, showers and lunch followed. Both very much appreciated!

I laid there and found out that I had come 54th woman out of 1371. Not bad at all! But the one thing that really struck me was when I saw my official chip time: 1:38:57. The exact same time I had run in Caernarfon! That was a strange coincidence. Quite a beautiful one in a way. I was happy with that. 

Altogether it had been a wildly successful race! I had a good time, my knees were fine, I have a new strategy for running half marathons without knee problems, I have met Neil's niece, and Neil has attended a race for the first time in his life. I am sure that soon he will be registering for one! I have recommended Nick Beer to him. Watch this space to see if he takes the bait! And watch this space a bit later to see if next year I can indeed improve on this half marathon time…

The marking has started!

First, it’s the students’ own dissertation topic proposals. Then it’s the allocation of all dissertation students. And then the marking hits. This year, I would get two assignments at the same time: one of a small cohort (~30) and one of a big one (~100). The week after, I would get the intermediate cohort (~50).

When I started the week after the swamp hike I felt all that marking looming. I tried to get as much as possible done on the allocation, so as to not have all three things tugging at me. Fortunately, I made good progress with that. 

That Friday I had to pause the allocation anyway. I needed to kick some colleagues in the bum. In order to make it work, I have to give staff students on topics they haven’t designed themselves. But they have to volunteer for topics. Some need encouragement to do that to such a degree it actually helps. That encouragement has now gone out. And while I waited for that to have effect I could start marking.

The disheartening sight of a very full assignment upload

That first day I got beyond halfway on the small batch! Not bad. And the week after I need to finish that, and the allocation, and make a dent as big as possible in the big pile of marking before the intermediate pile comes in. But when that’s done, most of the marking for this semester will be done! That will be great…
 

Ocean

If you're in the School of Ocean Sciences, you notice when a film comes out that is called "Ocean". I suppose it got a lot of media attention overall, but I suppose in my circles, nobody at all failed to notice. But I don't watch TV, and if it came to cinemas it sure didn't come to run anywhere near me, so I had heard all about it but never seen it.

Then an email came in. There was going to be a screening of this David Attenborough production in the University's big lecture theatre. It was at 5:30, so neatly fit after work. I decided to go.

I got there at 5:30 sharp. It wasn't very full! But I suppose many people were fashionably late, and even though the room never filled up, attendance was such that the choice of room wasn't a miscalculation. I sat down the lawn, but later a little group of people including one of our master students sat near me, and one of my second year students joined me as well. That was nice.

The screening was an initiative of the Marine Conservation Society. They first introduced themselves with a little video and a presentation. What they really wanted to increase their numbers of volunteers! No idea of that worked, but it may well have.

The MCS doing its spiel

Then they started the film. I had heard a lot about it so I don't think I reached any great new insights, but at least it was lovely to actually see the footage for myself. Of course it looked beautiful. It also looked devastating in places, obviously. The film is famous for showing the awful effects of bottom trawling. But it also shows how much recovery is possible.

The first scene of the film

It ended with the "30 by 30"Initiative. Many countries have promised to protect 30% of their seas by 2030. It's a great initiative! But so was the Paris agreement. Everyone agreed to keep global warming below 2°. Look how that's been going. But without Paris, the situation would probably be considerably worse than it is now. So I have good hope that even if we don't get full protection of 30% of the seas by 2030, some positive change has been made. And that's great!

COP30 interview

The 30th COP has started in Belém. And all news outlets are paying attention to that. Sometimes they want an expert to comment on things. And this time I received an email from Global, who are behind LBC, Heart and Capital. Was I available that day for a brief interview? It would be pre-recorded. I said OK. If you have a platform you should use it. 

Brazilian president Lula and governor Helder Barbalho of Pará at the ceremony where Belém was granted COP 30. Pic by Ricardo Stuckert

I met the journalist on Zoom. We exchanged a few pleasantries and then it started. These journalists are always in a hurry! He asked how optimistic I was about the summit. Not very. There isn’t much to be optimistic about! The revised NDCs associated with this meeting still don't come anywhere near what is needed for the Paris Agreement. Finance for poor countries or a rainforest fund is slow to materialise. 

Was it important that the US and China were barely represented? Yes of course, it is hard to sort out emissions without the biggest emitters. 

Did I still have hope? Yes! There is no point in not having hope. And there still is the possibility of societal change. Think about how we viewed smoking in the 80s compared to now. Maybe unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions will be as unacceptable as indoor smoking in the future! Let’s just hope it won’t take decades. 

It was soon over. I quickly asked when and where it would be broadcast. Heart and Capital at 4, 5 and 6, he said. I made sure to tell Neil. Then I went back to what I had been doing. 

Neil then said there was no sign of me. He had been listening! I wondered if they had changed their minds. Or maybe there are substations and Neil had been listening to the wrong one. No idea! I think I’ll never know. I hope they didn’t think it was so rubbish they deleted the interview and put me on a blacklist. That would be embarrassing. I suppose over the years I will find out if I get called back. 

In the meantime, at least I gave it a go! As the people in Belém are doing… 

Remembrance Sunday on the Orme

 I was at Neil’s place on Sunday the 9th, which was Remembrance Sunday. And he mentioned that Llandudno has a quirky tradition: on that day, an acquaintance of his fires a cannon (blanks, of course) from a hill overlooking the Promenade. And we decided to go and watch. 

It seems that he had the cannon custom made. It’s very shiny! And he fires it using gunpowder in aluminium foil, with a crumpled up newspaper as the blank. We got there just in time. Below, you could see the crowds on the promenade, where a ceremony took place. 

It was cool to watch! With my fingers in my ears. Is especially having war machinery made in the spirit of Remembrance Day? Is a clearly pre-20th century cannon design particularly apt? Is coming for the cannon rather than the act of remembrance the most respectful way of approaching the occasion? Not really, to all of these. But there we are. It’s what happened.

More unexpected tidiness: car this time

My car is known among my work-related friends as ‘the ecosystem’. In better days, it had some good biodiversity! Some of that has suffered at the extremities of car repair people and dogs, but it’s still remarkable I suppose. Neil calls it ‘the moss car’. And I have already had a scrap merchant at my door wanting to buy it off me as ‘it obviously wasn’t in use anymore’. 

Neil is a very tidy man who has already spread his influence into my house. And he has been asking if he could wash my car. I said no! For the outside. The inside was on my to do list. It was filthy! Some of it just the usual build-up of sand and dust and whatnot. Quite some of it, as well, associated with mine trips with Lydia. 

When I was at his place, Neil suggested we tackle it. And so we did. He hoovered the whole thing. I tidied up the ratchet straps lingering around, and threw away all the old parking tickets and similar junk. And tried to rub off all mine mud. It didn’t all come off! But at the end, the car looked so presentable on the inside. One day, Neil is going to make a respectable citizen of me!

 

Big bladder confirmed

I have always been a big drinker. My mum noticed early on that if I was grumpy and belligerent, giving me a big glass of lemonade would often solve the problem. I must have often have been unknowingly thirsty as a small child. Recognising your needs is a skill you have to develop! 

By now I am very aware of it, and can take measures. When I ended up drinking two pints of beer on the last night of the swamp hike (the second was unsolicited) I just made sure to drink about 1.5 carafes of water for each of them. That way I was fine. One of my friends was a bit baffled by where I put all that liquid. I only went to the loo at the very end! I know I have both a big stomach and a big bladder. Unfortunately, I had to go twice (!) more in the night, but that was a reasonable price to pay. 

Some 10 years ago, I was ski touring in Norway with a group of friends, and in the beginning we had ski guides with us. One of them told a story of her being stuck in a snowstorm with clients; it was too dangerous to go outside for a wee. Everyone had to wee in bottles. And she said that one lady had done that, but the capacity of the bottle turned out to be smaller than that of her bladder, and once she had started weeing she couldn’t stop. Chaos! I decided there and then I needed to measure my bladder capacity. 

It never made it to the top of my priority list, not even when I kept a 2L milk bottle aside for the purpose. I could weigh it empty and full. 

Then last weekend it finally made it to the top of my list. After all those years, I finally know! If I wait until I feel a strong, but not worrisome urge, I produce 1.4 litres. I suppose I might get up to about 1.5 litres if I wait until it hurts. So if I ever have to wee in a bottle, I should make sure it is at least a 1.5 liter specimen! 

Now that I knew, I wanted to know what ‘normal’ people have. Google suggests the normal range is 300-600 ml. So I’m three times that! That counts as big. 

I know I must have a big stomach too, as it’s not unusual for me to drink 2.5 litres straight after lunch or dinner, which most people don’t do. But then, my digestive system works fine, and with my running career going as it goes one would assume I have a sizeable heart and lungs too. So how does that work? How does it all fit? There is limited space in my rib cage and abdomen. 

This is something I may never find out. But at least, everything works fine, and that’s the important bit. And another thing: I can stop weeing if needed. Not sure if I’ll ever really need that, but it can’t hurt! 

Post-hike hike

This Saturday after the Swamp Hike, it would be good weather. Neil was keen to take advantage of it, and suggested taking the bus to Cwm Idwal, and walking back over the ridge. That sounded good! And he had picked a bus for it, which would go rather late in the morning. That meant we had some time for other things before setting off.

My stock of sawn firewood was a bit low, while that of uncut wood was high, so we spent the time in the morning doing something about that. As a team of two, we were very effective! We made a big difference. That is going to keep me going for a while.

We then took the bus. We had decided to go up  y Garn. (Devil’s Kitchen would also have been an option.) When we started walking up it felt like work. I come here with the students every year! But that was already lessened a bit when we took the path through the little quarry, which had been closed for a long time. And when we diverted from the path around the little lake and headed up the hill, that feeling was over. We don't go there with students. But whether now or with the students, I am still struck by the amazing views there.

We had a little snack break on the flank of y Garn, and then we proceeded to the summit. It was a bit windy but nothing too serious. And when we got to summit I heard a scream. Who was already there, other than Lydia. That was a nice surprise! She was hiking with a friend.

After we caught up we each went our way; they headed towards Llanberis while we headed for Penrhyn Quarry. Neil and I enjoyed the views on the ridge. At a particularly nice point we found some ladies taking pictures of themselves. We offered to help with that. As thanks, their dog punched Neil in the nuts, and the ladies took pictures of us.

We continued our way. And we had a little snack break in a wind shelter on one of the summits. There was a lady there doing the same thing. It was nice to have a little chat! And it started raining, but that didn't last. Fortunately.

At some point, we were above the Atlantic Slabs. I would like to do these one day! Preferably with Kate, who knows what she is doing. If you get it wrong you might be in trouble. But while we were admiring the impressive rock face we saw a little figure scampering up. When he reached the top, Neil accosted him, and asked about how you go about it and how difficult it is. He wants to do it as well!

When I have done this walk before, I just took the little path that goes down Cwm Ceunant, but Neil wanted to come down in Penrhyn Quarry. I suppose that is preferable. When we were approaching the little junction in the path where you go left for the quarry and right for Ceunant, we bumped into a man coming the other way. We found out he actually wanted to come the same way as us, but was not confident he could do that without problems. But with us there, and Neil's local knowledge, he was happy to come with us. All the rocks were wet and slippery, but it wasn't too bad. And if you're with other people it doesn't feel so risky. Someone can spot you, for instance! So with the three of us we navigated the tiny little path that led to the gate into the quarry. And a few tens of meters later, you're standing on the big track where the lorries come up to drop punters by the top of the zip line (and which is also a public footpath). There, our guest vanished. He had the bus to catch. We just continued our way.

Not much later we were home. It had been a nice hike! It is difficult to have too many hikes in one week…

Work after hike

I came back from the swamp hike and there were only two days left of the working week. And that was enough! And the first day, I stayed home. The cat nicked my office chair at 8:30, and didn’t leave it until 16:00. 

My first big task was trawling through all my mails. There were loads of emails about the dissertation topics, and about some assignments of which the deadline is later this month. And I tried to collate the results from the foraminifera practical. And I should have submitted my MSc projects. I forgot! Oops. Did that the very next working day though. 

I also started preparing for several batches of marking that would soon come in. That would be hitting me like a sledge hammer! Better to make sure I’m as prepared for it as I can. 

I was also in two meetings. The first one ended up overrunning by 50%, in spite of my best attempts (I was chairing). The second one I could as well not have been in at all, and it wouldn’t have made a difference. Oh well! 

The last thing was starting to get a spreadsheet together to start the dissertation topic allocation process. That is another big demanding task! 

I was happy with my progress at the end of that very short working week. I hope I can get quite far with the allocation next week, before the big marking starts! Last year, this part of the year was quite trying… 

Swamp hike: day 5

This last morning we could take it easy. We were minutes from the railway station from which the others would start their way home. And my transport home was parked a stone’s throw from the tents. 

Not much later than seven, the rattling of Coffee paraphernalia started anyway. And I wanted coffee too! And we sat down in the shelter of the shower block for breakfast. And after breakfast, we took down our tents and packed our bags. We put them all in my car. And we decided to go for a morning walk. I brought precisely nothing!

We started exactly how we had started the previous year: heading west on the Pennine Way. And the weather was actually pretty good! We did check if there was any possibility of sinking down into a bog to our groins. That would make for a good photo to send Viking, who couldn't be there. But we didn't find any.

Choices! 

The last picture I took, before the sun came out

We kept walking until upper booth, we decided to take the that will take us back via a slightly more southerly route. And then we went for coffee in the campaign café. That was nice! And then the moment had come. We would all leave. I brought all the bags to the railway station, and waited for the others. And then we said our goodbyes!

My drive back was initially through very dreamy and atmospheric Peaks landscape. Until I hit Stockport (not sure why my phone chose that route). But from there on, the drive was maybe not beautiful, but efficient. Good enough. And when I got home I was really happy to greet the cat. And then I made sure to be quite proactive with throwing quite some smelly items of clothing into the washing machine. And hanging out my damp and the dent. And all those things that happen post hike.

Another episode done! Where would we go next time? We haven't done the southern part of the Peaks yet, with its Carboniferous limestone. It is worth considering doing that as well. But we could also go somewhere entirely different. We'll work it out!