Swamp hike: day 3

As usual, we woke up at 7. That’s when the light wakes Henco up, and when he’s awake he wants coffee. If we wouldn’t be awake yet, the rattling of pots and pans for the boiling of water would sort that out. And we had our breakfast, and a look at the map. Today would be wetter than before! 

Morning stirrings

Autumn colours on the way to the stream (again)

Map pondering

When we set off it was a bit damp. We walked back to the main path, to Stanedge Pole, and then cut through on a smaller path back to the edge. That was the soggiest we had had! I got damp socks. And when we were on the edge, the wind was strong. We followed it for a bit, again admiring the autumn colours, but then decided to seek slightly lower ground. We walked below Burbage Edge to Longshaw Lodge. It was a very civilised walk! We had decided it would be a good time to go and have an indoor coffee somewhere. So we did it there. And we actually even turned that into lunch.

Back to Stanedge Pole

Windy on the Edge! 

In civilisation, on our way to coffee

After lunch, we kept walking more or less south, and through very civilised landscape we walked to a copse on top of Froggatt Edge (our fourth, I suppose) and decided to camp there. It was another gorgeous spot! With a nearby stream. And an amazing waterfall underneath which you could have a wash. Lovely! And we even saw deer. I admit I had to take other people’s word for it that these blurs in the distance were deer indeed. 

Shire-like views

Our little camp

This night, Sleutel cooked. Pasta this time! It was good as usual. And we went to bed early, as usual. Only one full day left… 

Swamp hike: day 2

We woke up on the moors, surrounded by grouse sounds. And after breakfast we were on our way again. It was lovely weather again! And we headed north. We had a snack break at an impressive tor. And then we headed back south and then towards the next ridge along the way: Stanage Edge. It was also very beautiful! But quite windy. And at some point, we decided to come down from that ridge looking for a bit of shelter. And we found a beautiful copse. With amazing autumn colours. We had our location for the night! 

Breakfast 

Leaving in the sunshine 

Great autumn colours 

Our snack break tor 

On Stanage edge

Stepping back from the edge

Scouting for somewhere to sleep 

We pitched the tents, and I went to get water from a nearby stream. When I was there anyway, I had a wash. And this time, Henco cooked. It was lovely as ever! And it was bright so a bit cold, but no wind, so it was ok. We still went to bed quite early. 

Cooking

At midnight, I woke up because I had to go to the toilet. When I got out of the tent it was so quiet and moonlit I was glad I had had to go. And that was the second day done! 

Swamp hike: day 1

We would meet at lunchtime in Edale. The same location we had met last year. We had quite enjoyed the Peaks, and I suggested going again, as it's big enough for two separate adventures. And three of us had had to miss last year's edition, so they hadn't seen any of it. And there was quite some appetite for that. Henco had designed some routes. So I was about to set off when I got a message. It turned out we would meet at lunchtime in Bamford. I was glad I found out before I left! I said goodbye to the cat and went. And I got to Bamford without problems. I scored a table that would fit us all and waited for the others. 

They appeared! And we all had lunch. And then we did some last things (for me: getting my walking boots on and parking the car at a convenient location, and filling up water bottles for all) we set off. In the sunshine!  And the first thing we needed to do was walk up Bamford edge. The geology there is slightly dipping late Carboniferous sandstones, and the gentle deep causes distinct cliffs in the landscape. These are very scenic. Bamford edge is one. And walking up was not trivial! But very rewarding. And when we got there we basically just followed the edge until we decided it was time to look out for a camping spot.

There were more people wanting to walk up to Bamford edge

Not strange this is a popular spot 

We had a view over Ladybower Reservoir, along whose shores we had walked the previous year

 

We didn't see any shelter, but we did see some moorland where we could pitch tents. And there was a stream. We settled for it! I went for a wash. And Roelof pitched his tarp for in case it would rain. Erik cooked the first meal. He didn't cook all of it, as we hadn't had a full walking day, and we wouldn't be sufficiently hungry. But it was really nice food! And it was nice to sit there together, under the moon, and talk. And there were some excellent rums and whiskeys going around.

Two of our tents om the moors (pic taken next morning)

With the moon visible it was quite cold, but not annoyingly so. Still, we didn't stay up late. Quite early on, it was bedtime. And I slept well! This was quite a change from hectic University life…

No more proposals for dissertation topics

This big task is over for this year! Every autumn, I have to give all the 3rd year students a dissertation topic, and I encourage them to design one themselves. It's a good academic practice, and they get to do something they find especially interesting. And it's a bit of work to get it right, so I start telling them in spring that this is an opportunity and that I recommend it. And they shouldn't let it come to the last minute.

A very small minority take this to heart. There was one student who gave themselves months to get it right, and they got my approval. And then there were quite many who gave themselves weeks to get it right. For most, that was not enough. And then there was the inevitable flurry of students who gave themselves days to get it right. This is not impossible; there were two proposals (but not very late ones) I gave my ok to straight away. But it is unlikely.

I had also made a change from last year; then they had an infinite number of attempts, which I regretted, as too many students made minimal changes to their (rejected) proposals before resubmitting them. That just took too much time. So this time I gave a maximum of three attempts. That helped. I had also considered standard replies, but I didn't implement that. I figured students would struggle to understand the exact changes they would have to make to improve on their proposals.

I have a double deadline for this: the first one for first proposals, and then a final deadline the week after for people who still have a few days to improve on their proposals if they weren't immediately given the ok. When the first deadline was reached I knew there was only a limited amount of work to do on this. And then there was relief when the final deadline was passed.

This year I received 26 first proposals, 16 second proposals, and 4 third proposals. In total, I approved 8. It's a lot of work for eight dissertation topics! But at least these eight students are doing something they are passionate about. And they have already shown some independent thinking and data finding. Good stuff!

I could imagine I will get some negative comments in the module evaluation about how difficult it is to get your proposal approved. So be it. Nobody benefits from me approving proposals that are not very well thought through, and are very likely to lead to low grades. I will probably even get fewer negative comments if I don't allow them to design their own topics in the first place. That would be a lot less work, but I would find it a bit of a pity! And at least the process for me worked better than it did last year. Not so much for the students, though: a much higher percentage got their proposal through last year…

There was a proposal about orcas. Pic by Robert Pittman, NOAA

Last teaching before annual swamp hike

The annual Swamphike was upon us! We would go as soon as reading week would start. We don’t have contact hours with the students then. But because Roelof had obligations in the later half of the week, we would barely wait for reading week to start. The Dutch delegation would leave on Friday evening. I would have to leave on Saturday morning, but fortunately not too early. 

On Friday I had a tutorial in Bangor at 10, and Kate did the lunchtime seminar in Menai Bridge at 12. I then had to quickly eat lunch, and get back to Bangor for a 2pm lecture. And immediately afterwards I had a two hour practical. And then I had to hop past the shop for some last hike shopping, and then get home and eat dinner. 

In between all that I also had to deal with the last proposals for students’ own topics, and publish the list with topic choices of all students who didn’t design one themselves. That had to be online before I would leave. It was terribly hectic! But I got it done. And once I was home and I had had my shower I felt ok again. And I could have a last night with the cat and Neil before I would leave them for days! And I knew I could ignore work for a while. That was good. It had been full-on! 

A plankton bloom, which are important in my practical, albeit that this is a different kind

This year’s foraminifera practical

After I pick the fossil foraminifera, it’s time for the students to pick the foraminifera from the surface samples they took. This year it would be an ok practical as the class size wasn’t very big. And it went well! Mike was there to help me out, like last year. It was a bit unusual in that we had one student not there even though he had been on the field course, and two students there who hadn’t been. 

We decided to let them pick forams until 11 am. The rest of the time was for identification and verification. And some students only had one species. We were done before the timetabled end of the practical. Great! And soon after, the students started mailing through the results. I didn’t yet have time to collect them. That day, I had to inhale some lunch, and was then in a School Board meeting for the rest of the day. And two days later I would have a practical again! 

Some of the fossil forams

Small blog break

It has been a busy time! So busy I can’t keep up. The blog will have a break of a few days. I will be back soon! 

Ladies’ trip into lead mine

The ladies were coming to the west again! I had skipped the previous trip, as the venue was something like a 1:20hr drive to the east. That just wasn’t feasible on a week night. But now we would do a mine in the Gwydir Forest! That’s not far. And I like that mine. 

It would be a big tight; we would meet at 18:30, and I would be teaching until 18:00. But I know the place; I could rock up a bit later, and get to the entrance on my own. I was sure I would find them. But my lecture was done a bit before 18:00, and there was no problem with traffic, so I actually rocked up pretty much 18:30 on the dot. The ladies were still there! And I quickly changed. 

We walked up the hill to the entrance all together, and got in. Some ladies hadn’t been here before. And those who had been, hadn’t necessarily seen it all. And even if you’ve seen it all, it’s nice to see it again! So from the entrance chamber we all had a lovely time. 

We first explored the level we had come in on. Plenty to see! It’s a very diverse mine, where you never know what will be around the corner. And it’s full of drippies in all sorts of colours. 

We then shimmied up to a higher level. That was nice too! And then back. Sharon had belayed those that wanted that up and down the vertical passage, and before coming down herself she threw the rope bag down. It sounded like a human crashing down! Several hearts almost stopped. Luckily it wasn’t a human. 

Then we went back out. I was home by about 10:30. It had been a lovely trip! 

Near the entrance

Big chamber

Scurrying down the vertical passage 

Group pic

Own the night

The clocks would change. That means dark evenings. And some people depend on the evening for their exercise. And quite a lot of people have running as their main exercise. But not everyone is comfortable running in the dark, especially alone. And most of the people who aren't are women.

Welsh Athletics (WA) had decided to run a campaign in order to draw attention to this, and try to make an incremental change towards women being safe running alone, whenever wherever. And in order to do that, they organised a series of events called "own the night". And they encouraged individual club to organise events as well.

The Cybi Striders heeded WA’s call, and organised an event in Menai Bridge. I like the idea of promoting running safety, so when I found out about it (it was advertised on the track) I thought I’d go. Several track people would too. 

I asked Neil if he was interested. He was! He had been doing some running, and thought this would be a nice opportunity to do it in a bigger group. Even though the weather forecast wasn’t brilliant. 

He made sure to eat loads of carbs over lunch. And wondered what his outer layer should be. He was more scared of overheating than of getting wet. I went the other way. It would be a leisurely pace!

We found some more runners on the parking lot, and together went to the pub which was the meeting point. I recognised several people from the track. And Emma, the very fast Dutch lady. 

Group picture by the pub

After a while we set off. It was a leisurely pace! And one of the first things we did was do a little loop around Church Island. And it was dark, so it was difficult to appreciate how pretty it is, but I'm sure Neil got a little bit of an idea. He hadn't been!

On Church Island

We then ran along the main road to Llanfairpwll, and then back along the road higher up on the hill. That meant we were largely doing what had been my standard loop when I still lived in Menai Bridge (which uses trail where possible, though)! And upon leaving Llanfairpwll we were hit by a shower. I was a bit afraid that would make Neil regret his decision. But he didn’t! I was glad. 

After some 40 minutes we were back where we started. Most people left, but some 8 of us went for a swift half in the pub. That was nice! And then we dispersed again. 

This was the first time I ever ran with Neil! And we both liked it. So I’m sure that won’t have been the last time! 

Did this fundamentally change anything for how safe women feel when running alone in the dark? Not likely! But maybe we raised a tiny bit of awareness of the issue…

Shiny extension

It was rubbish weather, and Neil and I were at my place. And he is a very tidy man. His house is impeccable! And so is his garden. Needless to say, mine isn't. I try to keep the core of the house presentable, but this is nowhere near his standards. The parts of the house that I don't consider very relevant don't get much attention at all. And one of those parts of the house is the little kitchen extension. It's where the washing machine is, and I keep things there such as a recycling bin, some buckets, and a mop. And I had some items there associated with painting, bike maintenance, and window cleaning. It's not a space you would ever be in in a leisurely way. If you're there, you're there because you are either entering or leaving the house (it's the entrance I use when I am on bicycle), or because you are faffing with laundry, recycling, or cleaning. It doesn't have to be a pleasant space to be in. So I didn’t give it much attention. It was one big cobweb feast. The white UPVC had turned grey, and there were a big hammocks of cobweb hanging from the ceiling. This bothered Neil.

Neil had already pointed out earlier that he would really like to tackle that space. That's fine with me! And now that we had an hour or so to fill before our next activity, and we weren’t particularly keen to be outside, we decided that this was the time. Neil went through the place like a hurricane. I was a bit of an auxiliary. The space isn't very big so you quickly get in each other's way!

As the previous time he took on some neglected chore, he was such a hurricane I didn't even take a "before" picture. So you'll have to manage with an "after" picture. Believe me when I say it is really a difference! It's not fully done; we haven't cleaned the windows, and there is a plant growing next to the washing machine that I should remove, and the space would look a lot better still if we would repaint the low walls and the floor. There also is a tap, and a drain. (It is the drain that burps in heavy rainfall). The stupid thing is that the tap is not above the drain. One of those clunky idiosyncrasies of my house! And Neil said he could easily move that. So that might happen in the future. So this little space might get a lot tidier still. But it is already getting the Neil treatment. Unrecognisable in its tidiness! Maybe one day I'll turn into a respectable citizen…

Clean!

Bridge back to normal

As quickly as the bridge first closed, and then became one way but switching which way in the middle of the day, it opened again. Both ways, at almost all times. Apparently, repairing the bolts that seem to have been the culprit were easily replaced. It opened on a Friday, and it was great to be able to use it as normal. By Monday I already barely thought about it. I hope it stays open now, for the foreseeable future! 

Giving up on die Blechtrommel

If I can at all read books in their original language, I will! It's the real thing. And as skilful as translators might be, a translation is not the original work. And, of course, if a book is not in a language I am fluent in, there is a translation going on in my head, and it will inevitably be flawed, but at least I still get to see the original. I had once read "all quiet on the Western front" and I felt like I missed something. I then read "im Westen nichts Neues" and although I struggled a bit with the vocabulary, I did feel like I had now felt the spirit of the original work. 

Years later, I found "die Blechtrommel" in a secondhand shop. In the UK it is known as "the tin drum". I bought it! I had long had that story on my wish list. And it lingered for a while in my book cupboard. The time never seemed right for a German book. Until I decided to deal with it.

I have now given up. It is not very accessible German. It was a bit reading through treacle. And if you go to bed, and there is a book on the bedside cabinet, and you're not grabbed by a desire to read a bit of it, there is something wrong. It's better to read some book than no book! But with this one, it was too tempting to read the paper instead. So I've decided to get rid of it. Maybe one day I'll read it in English or Dutch. And now I'll move on with a book I had already started, in Welsh. That's non-fiction again. I'll have to get some fiction in some feasible language ready for when I finish that!

Forams

Every year, I ask the students to compare the foram assemblages in the sediment core we take in the estuary to those they find in the surface samples they take. Would they spot corresponding environments? The students process their own sample, and it is up to me to process the samples of the sediment core.

I've done that now! It is not a very diverse assembly, but it's ok. And it is ready for the practical session next week when the students pick the forms out of their own samples. Now they know what they will be comparing it against.

Several species of Forams! 

It's a busy time, and it's not so easy to find time to stare down a microscope. But it is nice to sometimes be able to do just that. Forget the computer, put your headphones on with a nice radio program or podcast, and look at the little critters! And let's see how good the comparisons will be between the surface samples and the fossil samples…

Cake competition 2025/26

A new academic year means a new cake competition! And I have been a faithful participant since 2016. I registered again this year. And in the third week of first rounds, it was my turn. And earlier in the year I had baked a pear cake, which I liked, so I had decided to enter that. 

I baked the night before. Neil came over and helped by peeling the pears. It was a bit hectic! But together we got it done at such a time we could still go to bed at a reasonable time. 

Done! Mini tart for Neil. 

Delivered at work

I was up against a chocolate cake. And I hadn't tried my own cake yet. It was nice to try them both! I thought mine was quite successful. And  so was the chocolate cake, but these are traditionally not very successful in this competition. But a faithful email would let me know about the outcome had been.

I had lost! And my opponent had been a chap I sometimes have lunch with. He isn't actually officially in our School, but we have a lab that can accommodate him, while his own School can't. So he's based in one of our buildings now. He is a nice chap!

I always feel a bit two minds about winning a round in the cake competition. It's always nice to win something, but in general, I do prefer to do my baking when it's convenient, and not in the middle of a week that is probably quite busy anyway. So I'm happy like this! And I'll just do my duty judging in the competition for the rest of the year. And then try again next year…

Post-chore adventures

After Neil and I had been doing chores all morning, I suggested we do a little adventure in the afternoon. I figured he would never have been to Bryn Hafod y Wern. And it was true! And it is not a big slate quarry, but that is ok, as we only had the afternoon.

As it is almost an hour on foot to get there, I suggest we bike. That opened the world for Neil. He bikes all the time, but in his case, it is exercise. He has a featherlight bike and it doesn't have a lock. He stays with it until he is home again! But my bikes are different. They are for going somewhere. And that was a bit of a paradigm shift for him. But we did it.

We biked uphill to the quarry. Neil was painfully aware of how much heavier my bike (including lock) was than his. And he wasn't in his cycling shoes, obviously. But we got there.

We had a lovely time exploring the derelict buildings and the spoil heaps and the inclines and the famous aquaduct. We puzzled at the metal pipe sticking out of a stone lump. We visited the reservoirs. And then we went back. That was basically all wizzing downhill! Very smooth. And on the way back we came across some exceptionally handsome sheep. Some petting ensued. 

The Bryn Hafod y Wern aquaduct 

The mysterious pipe

Handsome sheep

We then went to Llandudno, as Neil’s cat had been alone for a while. We first had a nice glass of mead (which I had won in a race) in the back garden, with the Orme limestones towering over us. Very snug and autumnal! And then we had dinner, and watched a documentary about Svalbard. 

I felt a bit guilty about only leaving the post-lunch part of the day for such things, but I still had a lovely day! 

Chores done together

 It had been an exhausting week, with two field trips, which are exhausting enough on their own, but of course also get in the way of the day-to-day work that piles up while you’re out traipsing through the landscape. And I had managed to not let all of it get in the way of my usual running activities. By Friday I was knackered. And Neil was coming over. When I got home I cut down a Buddleia that was growing over the pavement. In my street, the pavement is sometimes used for parking, as it is a dead end street anyway. With the buddleia gone two cars could fit there. Neil had been eyeing up that space, especially as Neuadd Ogwen had had a skip placed by the back entrance again. I wanted to get rid of that shrub before he got to my place. There was no time for getting rid of the branches.

I also showered and cooked and was just about ready when he appeared. And we had dinner together, and a quiet evening.

Normally, when we have a weekend day together, we do some kind of adventure, like traipsing through Cwm Pennant. But this time I asked if it was ok to do some chores first. And he was ok with that. And the first thing that needed doing was get rid of these buddleia branches. That was quickly done. 

One of the other things I wanted to get done was tidy the front of the house. I have a legal obligation to do that! And I had let it slide. Neil wanted to start with that (there were more chores) so I handed him my garden shears. He vanished around the corner. 

He blasted the front of the house and then continued to the side. I had been intending to tidy that up for ages, but it had never reached the top of my to do list. So I never had! But now Neil was blasting it like a tornado. I just took it upon myself to remove the waste he was rapidly producing. He was so quick I never had the chance of taking a "before" picture! So I can't show just how spectacular it was. And the neighbour came out to see what was going on.

Smarter than it has looked in a long time 

It’s not as if all the work is done now! Neil uncovered the trench drains, but I'll have to muck them out for them to fully work. And I want to pull out all the grass and weeds and put actual intended plants in. I'm not sure if this is the season for that. But it already looks so smart! And it also makes it less daunting to now keep going.

We were only doing this until lunch. But so much progress was made! I was quite chuffed. Although it did mean we were not doing something spectacular like climbing a mountain or something. But I suppose that I need to keep on top of my life. Sometimes it just takes time. And then we can either do it together, or we spend less time together. I think this was by far the most pleasant solution!

TNH post-blood donation

I remembered really well how rubbish I was at hill running the previous time I donated blood. So just three days after my last donation, I had been wondering a bit if I should go. But I did. You can always bail out if you feel that’s better. 

I also would be able to try out my new head torch! 

On the parking lot where we gathered, there was a whole bunch of people who weren’t feeling they were in key shape, for various reasons. Ian said he would skip the first leg of the route. When we do the winter route, we run something I see as a clumsy sketch of a dog. We start with the tail; that’s on the flat. And after that we head up to the Llanberis path, and that’s one of the hind legs. So Ian would skip the tail. I decided to join him. And I mentioned it to Geoff, who hadn’t been for a long time, and the fellow sports scientist he had brought. When I said it was because of blood donation, I saw his sport science brain immediately kick into action. He wanted to know more. But also, both sports science folk decided to join too. 

Map of the normal running route. The tail is indicated by the black arrow.

We got to the turning around point before anyone who had run the tail did. And Ian wasn’t lingering. I followed! And we were the first at the second turning point too, together with a bloke who had been late, and skipped both the tail and the first leg.

When we went down from there we came across the rest of the bunch. And by the time we got to the next turning around point the main group had fully caught up with us. That was fine!

From there we do the other confusing ‘head of the dog’, which involves very short episodes of running with breaks in between. It is easy to stay together then. And when we set off for the last proper hill, I noticed quite quickly that indeed, I was bringing up the rear. Write a margin. At some point I could see nobody in front of me. But nobody cared. Someone has to be last! 

From there went back down, mostly together. I was glad I had come! I was also glad I had skipped the tail. Altogether it has been fine. And then the week after I would have more red blood cells to propel me up these hills.

I was about to head torch? That was a success! I realised early on that I hadn't bothered to check whether they sell them with their batteries full or not. And it did radiate light, so the battery was not totally flat. I suspected that it was actually not far off. But it got me to the end of the run. I could easily see enough! And it was great to have a lightweight item on my head. The torches I had been using so far were heavy and cumbersome. So I was very happy with my new purchase! And I intended to charge it immediately upon getting home. I will see the difference the week after!

Llanddwyn field trip

This year I had two field trips in a row: on the Tuesday, hunting glacial striations, and on Wednesday, showing freshers Llanddwyn. We didn't have that many people on the module this year. That means: only one vehicle, and we decided to only go with two staff. Jaco stayed home. 

Dei and I had divided up the talking points. And I think it went well! I started on the pillow lavas, which he continued on the next outcrop, and then I talked about the much messier basaltic deposits a bit further on, and the mudstone with sand lenses. Dei then showed us some hydrothermally altered muds, and I talked about the limestone. And Dei finished off with the melange at the far end. By that time you could tell that the students had pretty much maxed out on information intake! And we were actually quite tired ourselves. It was time to get back. And not only because we needed to be mindful of the tide, which can cut off the way back to the beach.

I think it went fine! And next month, we probably do something not dissimilar, in the Cemaes area. If the weather is as good then, I expect the trip to be as good!

Dei and some altered rock

Some spectacular rock a bit further on

What is even going on there

On the beach at the far end

Track running: tracking laps

I have been track running for months now! And it has made me a lot more aware of pace. But quite a lot of people there are aware of a lot more than pace: they know exactly how fast they have done each lap. I had once tried to get my watch to tell me that, and it had failed quite miserably. It has a function called track running, which I didn't manage to make work for me, but that is not the only option there is for quantifying laps. There is also the "lap" function. It's not obvious! It's basically the "back" button. I was going to try that out.

I first did a tiny little try-out on the parking lot. I just walked some circles, and pressed that back button. In Strava, there was nothing to be discerned. But then I looked at the software of Garmin itself, and I saw that indeed, I had quantified laps.

That was how it happened on the track as well. Every time we came over to finish line I pressed the back button. That didn't tell me how fast I had done that lap. But afterwards, I could look it up in the Garmin app. 

Is it just a case of me not having the correct watch? Maybe if I had a more sophisticated model, I would be able to live track my laps? Quite possibly! But for now, at least in hindsight I can see how fast I have done each lap.

This time we did 2x1600m, 2x800m, 4x400m. I had just given blood the day before so I started conservative, aiming for 4:20 on the mile, 4:15 or 4:10 on the 800 m, and then I sped up on the 400m laps. I heard the people behind me be a bit shocked at the increase. But if you only have 400 meters to go, you can give it a lot of welly!

The last of the laps, one of the guys asked if he could go in front. Of course he could! And he still has quite a lot in the bag. He showed off like an arrow. I couldn't keep up with him! But that last lap was by quite some margin in the fastest.

I might have to google if maybe I can just change the settings on my watch. It would be nice if I can actually see the lap times. Surely that wouldn't be too much to ask? But if not, maybe one day I'll be such a running nerd I buy a more sophisticated watch just to get that functionality…

Llyn Llydaw in the mist

This year, it would be a special episode of the annual field trip with the second years. I would get Susan to come with me as the first aider! That was fab. There had been some tense years with the School photographer, with whom I quite differ in views on women in society, and one year even worse when he stood me up. One year I had had Pete, one of the technicians, and that had been fine. But having Susan is even better! 

We also had a student who has some idiosyncrasies that mean she can’t travel on the coach with the other students. That got solved by Lynda looking after the students in the coach, and me picking up her and Susan in the School vehicle. That worked out fine!

The weather forecast had been good, but it was a bit foggy. The Met Office hadn’t warned us about that. But it was atmospheric! We walked up in nice calm weather. And soon we had the students getting on with the work. 

Lydia explaining to the students how a compass works

Lynda had baked leaf-shaped biscuits! And the fog lifted a bit 

While we were there, the cloud lifted a bit. And when we walked back down, we had much wider views. And most of the students handed in their raw data right there. Two days later, I had the data in excel format from all groups as well. It looked like it had been a successful episode! 

Donating blood after the main racing season

I used to not give blood donation second thought. I would just do it, and not notice the difference. Not even when I took up running. And racing. But when I took up hill running I suddenly did notice. It was like running through treacle! For two weeks after donating. I was quite consistently bringing up the rear. And I’m not among the faster Thursday runners, far from it, but normally there are at least a few people even slower than me. Not for these two weeks.

When I became an Eryri Harrier and got even more fanatic in my racing, I didn’t want to donate blood just before a race. And there is always a race. I could have donated blood in June, but that was racing season, so I didn’t book anything until October. After the Bangor 10k there would be a lull. Time to donate! 

It all went well. And I was even tended to by Chris’ mother in law, whom I had met during racing season. That was lovely! 

I knew I would be sluggish for a while. But I don’t want to not donate blood for selfish running reasons. I have already booked my next session, in February. But I think my donation after that will again have to wait until summer is over!

Exploring Cwm Pennant

Neil and I had a day where we could go on an adventure again! And he had said he had never been to Cwm Pennant. I hadn’t been in a long time. And there's plenty to see there! So we decided to go for it.

We parked up in Rhyd Ddu, and made our way over the crest of the hill. It was quite foggy. And then the mining remains started! There are ruined workshops and a mill that doesn't have a roof anymore and inclines and tramways and whatnot. We just had a good look around! Not really a plan; just a valley to be distracted in. And over time, the fog lifted. 

We decided to go back via Bwlch y Cwm Trwsgl and y Gyrn. The former made Neil laugh: it translates, according to my dictionary app, to the Pass of the Oafish Valley. He decided he felt at home there. I suspect the etymology is different, but the term trwsgl really is in use as oafish; I noticed my Welsh tutor using the same term (in that sense) the day after. 

Once we were back on the crest of the hill, it wasn't long until we were back at the car. And we decided to have a drink in the local pub. We stuck with non-alcoholic beer, but that was okay! We were snug by the fire. Another day, another adventure!

How it started

It got even more atmospheric

Moody first look into the valley

It cleared up and the workshops appeared

Neil on a spoil tip

The roofless mill

Arbitrary ruined farm

View over the reservoir

Some bushwhacking

Trwsgl selfie