Blast from the past

I grew up in a boring part of the Netherlands. The most exciting place in the far surroundings was the local library. When I was seventeen, I moved to Amsterdam; quite an exciting place, but in, of course, an urban way. Then I moved to Arctic Norway. And then things changed. Suddenly life was full of outdoor adventures and other very un-Dutch things. Quite the culture shock! But a good one. I learned to speak Norwegian, drive, ski, climb and sea kayak. Live in a society where very every second person you meet has overwintered on Antarctica, traversed the whole of Svalbard on ski, done fieldwork on the remotest places on Earth (such as Bouvetøya) and feels more at home on a windy Arctic mountain peak in the dark than in a shopping street.

As you'd expect in a place like that, I met amazing people to do these things with. One was Sanja. I don't have many friends with whom I have done so many things I never imagined doing when I grew up. Like fishing in a Norwegian fjord, in a creaking old wooden rowing boat. Kayakking at night, under the northern lights. Doing a multi-day ski hike in Finnish Lapland, in December (during which I unfortunately almost killed myself but got away with only sinusitis). Making an enormous heap of reindeer liver pate. Going kayakking in Svalbard fjord.

Sanja having fun in a Svalbard fjord (July 2009)

The last time I saw her she came visiting me in Plymouth. I've not visited back! I'm a bit hopeless with staying in touch with people. It's hard enough keeping my ties with my family and old Dutch friends. But she was in the vicinity again (she suddenly mailed me she was at Cape Wrath, about to sail down the British coast, near to which I live) so she thought to pop by. Great!

The time since Plymouth I have made a concerted effort to be more like here. Actually, that concerted effort started in Tromsø, but I am a slow learner and only now I start to notice I'm actually making progress. So what is being like Sanja? Not worrying, not wasting energy on making a fuss over things you can't change anyway, not being a control freak, seizing opportunities, being hospitable (hmm, more work to do there) and making do with what you have. If everyone did that! And I'm far from there; I noticed I am not worrying about the future even though my contract ends in 3.5 months, the world economy is struggling and the UK has dived head-first into Brexit misery. I'll manage! But I am still a bit of a control freak in other aspects (you should se eme pack for a trip) and I am still too obsessed with work to seize all opportunities I could. Although going to Greenland last year was clearly a Sanja-style event. Although she would probably have sailed there, did her own thing, befriended the local population and caught her own dinner. Rather than joining a mountain guide-lead group! But I'm still young. I have time to learn more!

Living alone

In November 1998 I moved into an apartment of my own. I had lived in student accommodation, with shared kitchen and bathroom, for a few years. I had lived alone for a few months before that, but from that autumn now 18 years ago I lived on my own without interruption. (I don't count things such as holidays and scientific cruises in this; that's not at home.) And I can tell!

I notice it too on the annual fieldwork in Laugharne; it's actually quite nice to share a (loose) household with lots of other staff members.  We live in some four different holiday cottages but have dinner together. That's not too confrontational, though, as you do your own thing all day and only share meals. But I do get cranky if either people get between me and the kettle in the morning (must have my coffee! Now!) or if dinner is served so late I can't go to bed at a reasonable time. Or if I wake up and want to go to the toilet but someone else is in there.

I might have had visitors at my place for an entire week before, but it's not a common occurrence. I can't remember the last time. I think it went well! But I could tell I am very used to getting up when I want to, going to bed when I want to, using the entire house, eating and drinking exactly what I want to, putting things where I want them, etc etc etc. If I ever want to share a household with somebody else I think I need a bit of a period of adaptation...

The whole couch is mine! And so is the rest of the house! 

Typical that while saying all that I also have to announce the next guest. On Thursday the previous ones left, and on Saturday I'll meet the next one. And not just any! But stay tuned for more on that! 

Family walks

My father and his wife have left the building. They have been here for a week. A long time! But they are on their way hoime now. It has been a good visit!

The first day we walked around where I live. It was nice weather and they apporeciated the varied lanscape with copses, rolling hills, grazing sheep, and not-so-pretty villages. And the two magnificent bridges! But I see that environment every day and even though it wa sonly the first day, I got restless. The next day I dropped them off in Pentraeth, upon which they walked back, but I went to the office. Stuff to do! And I am spoiled; I can't be asked spending an entire day walking in a environment that for me is that common. A good day was had by all! When I came home with the shopping on my back they were sitting in the garden, in the sun, with a bottle of wine open and a glass for me already waiting.

For the next day I proposed a walk near Beddgelert; I drive past there an awful lot, always notice how beautiful it is, and never actually going there, so I thought this would be the day to do something about it. And we did! The weather was nice, and we started a nice walk along the river. We then turned inland in a nice narrow valley, with an amazing aerial ropeway still partially in it. It had been a copper mining area. It was great!

Pretty riverside view in Beddgelert

Coffee at the riverbank

 Approaching the top of the walk

On the other side we walked down to Llyn Dinas. There Joke wanted to go for a swim. A great idea! The water was lovely. We had considered adding an extra loop to our walk, but we also wanted to go for ice cream in Beddgelert too, and be home in time for a shower, grocery shopping and getting to the Bridge Inn in time for dinner, so we canned that. And did what we had intended! Of course we also popped by the station of the Welsh Highland railway. He loves his trains, and this railway had been reinstated so recent that he hadn't seen it in action. But no train came... and one had passed us on the way but due to it being on a bank steeply above us we had barely seen more than its steam. Oh dear!

We drove home via the other way, so they had seen Peris Pass too. And the food in the pub was great!

The next day we would set off on a two day hike. The idea had been a three day one, but most accommodation in Snowdonia was fully booked by now. Wim and Joke had struggled to plan a route without having been to this area before, and I did not want to make presumptions on what level of difficulty they would want their hikes to have, or what level of comfort they wanted for their overnight stays. We would sort it out in my kitchen. Possibilities were limited; we found a bunkhouse in Penmachno, which I thought was spiffing, because I know that valley is beautiful. We didn't find much else, so it would be a two day walk. We decided we would drive to Blaenau Ffestiniog, drop the car, walk to Penmachno, sleep there, and the next day walk to either Dolwyddelan or Roman Bridge and take the train from there. So we set off!

It wasn't such good weather, and we struggled a bit to find the start of the path. It hadn't clicked with me it was the same path we would use to get to some of our mines. It was nice to do it in hiking clothes this time! It was a bit windy, cold and damp, but not too bad, and the landscape looked good under the circumstances.

The grim landscpae above Blaenau Ffestiniog

We walked up the slope until we reached the old tramway going east; we would follow it all the way to Rhiwbach mine. The walking was flat and the route very clear, but the track was a veritable swamp and we had to do all sorts of antics to not swamp our boots. We had lunch in what probably had been the sawing mill of Rhiwbach. From there we walked through the wood, and tried to approach Penmachno via the SE flank of the valley. We abandoned that idea when the path on the map crossed the river on a dam, but the dam turning out to be breached. Forget it! We'll take the standard route. And then veer off to the left, approaching Penmachno from the NW. That worked well! The map was impeccable and at 5.30 or something we reached the lovely bunkhouse.

 Cup of tea in the woods

We knew the bunkhouse did not serve foor that day, so we had brought ingredients for pasta, and a bottle of wine. We had a nice and calm evening there! And we had a room to ourselves. Wim and I had a walk on the village; that doesn't take much. It is a cute village but not very prosperous. 

The next day we walked to Dolwyddelan. The route was clear, but the path very, very wet. It started with the occasional overtopped boot and ended with all of us eneding up with water up to all our calves. Not ideal! But what can one do. We were glad to reach the village. The sun also came out!

We knew a train would leave Roman Bridge at 17:12. But we were so ealry, we might be able to catch the earlier train of which we didn't know exactly when it would leave. We thought we'd see and hear the train coming from quite a distance. I didn't quite trust it, though, so when the station was near I started running to see what I could find out. A wise idea! The train spontaneously appeared out of nowhere and approached the station at full speed. The driver saw me, though, and slammed the brakes. We got it! That was lucky! Soon we were back at the car. We went for a coffee in Betws-y-Coed and then went home.

Walking up the hill past Dolwyddelan Castle

The next day we parted ways again; I went to the office (and had a very productive day!) while Wim and Joke walked back from Penmon. And then there was one day left; we did some Anglesey coastal path. We dropped the car at Traeth Bychan and walked along the coast to Traeth Dulas. We then went inland to Mynydd Bodafon, from which we intended to walk to Din Lligwy. That went terribly wrong, though! We had to walk a short distance along the main road and turn off on a forest track. I went ahead; after a while I came to a locked gate. Would this be our turn? I decided to go for a leak while Wim (who had the map) approached. He shot past, so I figured this wasn't it. When I caught up with him it turned out he had just walked past without checking. Oh dear! It had been our turn. But by this time, Joke was far ahead, out of earshot. We had little choice but to just continue along this very unpleasant road. It was raining too! An unpleasant end of our last walk. We went back to the car via the shortest route. We had walked 6 km on uninterrupted asphalt of which half along the busy road. Not good!

We went home, had a shower, and ended the trip in the Anglesey Arms for dinner. The visit was coming to an end! The next morning I just went to work after breakfast. As the next guest might arrive the very same day Wim and Joke offered to tidy up the house, after which they would first explore Bangor and then Manchester. And then go home! End of a long visit. 

I noticed I struggle a bit to not be a one person household; normally, everything goes exactly my way, all is exactly where I put it, all rooms are at my disposal at all times, etcetera. But I managed! And they are very good guests. 

I'll see them next time in the Netherlands. It was good to have some extended time together; when I am in the Netherlands there are always so many people to see I feel I am short-changing absolutely everybody. But they came here to only see me. And they did!

Family visit

My father and his wife love walking. North Wales is a great place for walking. I don't know how much longer I'll live here. So altogether, it made sense they'd come visit me. And they did!

They'll stay for a full week. The plan is to do a three day walk in the middle of that week. I hope we'll manage; three days require two nights of accommodation, and Snowdonia in the middle of summer is a rather fully booked place. We'll see! And the rest of the time we can do day trips. And sometimes it will be only them doing the day trip. I'm not so good at not going to work, maybe a full week is a bit much to keep the conversation going, and some of the places where they want to walk are a bit done and dusted for me. So I think we're managing to strike a nice balance. This is family summer!

A  cat who likes railways in Llanfairpwll

Clean the house and the head

I am a creature of habits. I like having a standard morning run route; when I roll out of my bed in the morning I don't want to have to think about where I go. I've been eating the same breakfast every day for years, and every day I look forward to it. Things like that do not mean I'm stuck in a rut; my life just won't allow that, but within the greater storminess of life I like some habits that stay the same. And if they're very useful habits such as going for a run every second day or doing my arm- and core strength exercises every day, it's nice if they're part of the pattern and I and up pretty automatically doing them, rather than having to convince myself to do it every single time.

I got into the pattern now of evaluating my possessions. The start that was made with the vacuum cleaner has persisted! I now regularly plonk things on eBay, and bring them to the local charity shop if they don't sell. Clothes fairly often go to the roadside if at an opportune moment an opportune charity announces a collection them. And that's only been going for a short time (a lot less than the rule-of-thumb period of 66 days) but it's rather addictive, and I think it'll last.

Then I realised I had accidentally changed another habit. Or rather, lost one. I suppose refraining from doing things is as much a habit as doing them. I suddenly realised I hadn't watched any television for a fair while. I'm not sure how long. Only a few weeks I think! But it suits me. I think I'll keep that going. Clearly, the habit of checking whether anything interesting is on has died. And I have no way of being sure it'll last but I think it will, and I think that's alright. It's not all good; a few months ago I realised there had been a short series by my TV hero Dan Cruickshank, and I'd missed it. I like his programmes! But it's a modest sacrifice. I have stuff to do!

My TV, still having a central place in the cupboard, but for how much longer?

Practicing blowing things up

We didn't have Mick with us for a fair number of Thursday nights; he was busy doing the build-up for the Farnborough Air Show. Soon he would be off to the Cropredy Fairport Convention festival to do the same. One Thursday in between we would have him with us!  We wanted to have a bit of a calm night during which we could catch up. We also wanted to try out some hilti caps (they are essentially blanks) which we could use for dealing with unyielding big rocks in our dig. No reason why these can't be combined! So we headed for Pen y Ffridd as it was nicely accessible, had a fireplace, and had plenty of rocks we could split.

There weren't many of us. We loaded our bags up with the drill and all other necessities, and a frying pan, buns and bacon for some traditional undergroundy food, and started walking. Soon we were at the spot and had a fire going. We started with some bacon bap eating!

 Approaching the entrance

David starts a fire

After a while we went for a stroll; Mick hadn't seen this mine yet, and neither had Chris. We walked all the way down and then back up. Time for some marshmallows (for others) and then some blowing up of stuff. I spotted some suitable rocks. Then David couldn't find his firing pin so it looked like the exercise was off. He then found it near the frying pan and we were back on track. Mick drilled the holes. David did the first round; one hilti cap, which resulted in a crack in the rock. Then I did the second, with two; that shot a corner of the rock clean off. Nice work! I thought I'd never used two before, but looking it up on the blog shows I was wrong. I had used two the only time I had done this before. This time we must have had weaker rock! It was nicely spectacular. And more comfortable; we were in a huge chamber so there was plenty of space to swing a hammer.

The drill hole and the new rock face we created

Then it was time to go home. We will see Mick again in September! And before that time we may use our hilti skills on our dig...

Crawl a cave for archaeologists

The SEACAMS people not only have a recently opened building; they also have snazzy equipment, and friends and connections. So when one of their archaeological connections asked them to use their cutting edge laser scanner to scan a cave in which neolithic human remains had been found, they not only said yes, but also opened a can of cave-familiar friends. Or in other words, when Guy was asked to do the scan he asked David and me to join him. And we did! David was needed for underground photography; the laser scanner normally takes pictures to inform it of what it has scanned, but in a dark space it can't. And I was invited as there was a narrow passage they wished to have explored. So off we went!

We drove to Trelawnyd, near Prestatyn, where the cave (Gop Hill Cave) was. It was part of a famous ensemble of cave and cairn; the cairn seemed to be the second biggest in the UK. We met the lady on whose land the cave was; she was very nice. Then we started to get ready.

The Landrover got the kit close to the entrance. The view was nice!

Guy and his mate Steve got the scanner out, and the targets that come with it which help with stitching various scans together. David and I changed into our caving suits. Soon we were all ready!

The cave entrance and the scanner. The white balls are targets

I had a look in the main chamber; that was rather small. Then I went into the narrow passage; it was narrow indeed! Guy had said it was unexplored, but I figured that was unlikely given the fame of the place and its accessibility. And indeed; there were signs of human entry all the way until it got so narrow no adult human could go any further. I tried to take some pictures in the narrow space and that was my day done. I had offered to also be lighting assistant to David so I didn't change yet. I decided to have a coffee in the sun and read an article to pass the time both pleasantly and usefully.

David turned out to not need me with light, but he realised he hadn't brought a macro lens, and there were nice crinoids in the walls and ceiling of the cave. I took it upon myself to try and document them with my compact camera. When that was done I changed and had some tea. The I got sleepy and decided to try to have a nap in the sun. I hadn't been quite healthy for a while and this was a good opportunity to try and recharge the battery.

Crinoids and funny mud patterns on the cave wall

David taking photographs 

The next thing on the schedule was flying David's drone over the cairn and the cave. We went up to the top of the cairn as it seemed a nice launching spot. It flew around merrily! And the farmer came back to have a look, this time with a baby on her back and a dog by her side. She knew a lot about the place (of course)! And the dog was very keen on fetching sticks. I tend to be perfectly happy to oblige. Very pleasant altogether! But then our job was done. We waited for Guy and Steve to be done (which involved a bit more reading and then it was time to go home. 

David getting ready for drone flying

The dog's intense stare

I suppose soon Guy will be able to show us the 3D image. Exciting! The result of a shamelessly relaxed day...