Last Thursday Night Hill session off-road of the season

It had felt like autumn for a while already. Pretty much since I came back from the Netherlands. And when we entered September it meteorologically became official. And now there is something else to mark it. On the online invitation to the weekly Thursday Night Hill run, it was specified that this would be the last time this year we would be in the hills before we would get back to our winter route on asphalt. That made me slightly sad! Even though I also like our winter runs. 

We ended the season with subtlety. No crazy ascents of Moel Eilio or Elidir Fawr or any of that. Just a bit of running around in a general vicinity of Llanberis. Only some 400 m of ascent. But it was a gorgeous evening for it! Even though I, and several other people, got cold arms, as we were in short sleeves, and that might not have been ideal. I had a jacket in my running vest but it stayed there.

There was also a bit of slapstick when the group fell apart into two subgroups; I was in the slower one. We got to a junction and couldn't see the fast group. Rhian, sort of is in charge of the slower group, was certain the front runners had gone right. Until she suddenly shouted "STOP!" as she had decided that they had gone left. But after we went left the situation repeated. And again when we went right. I wasn't entirely sure if she was genuinely confused, or just wondering how long she could string that along. But by then, the front group had sent a messenger to indicate where they had actually gone.

It was a nice night! Big turnout, with both regulars and newbies. And when we will hit the roads, at least the people won't change. And then we will all still be fit when we get back into spring!

Surveying

After all the surface sampling was done, there were two days scheduled for surveying beach transects. We survey the same lines each year to see if the beaches have lost or gained sand, and by approximately how much. On the first day, I was needed for this. And low tide wasn’t so frightfully early anymore, so Stef (the technician) and me picked up the students at 7:00. We drove them to HQ, where Martin divided the students into three groups (we would do three transects) and we loaded up the kit. 

Once parked we each headed to our transects. I thought I knew where the start of ours was, marked by a wooden post. Without problems we walked to where I thought it was. I didn't see a post. I must have been mistaken. We kept walking, but it soon looked like we had overshot it. We then looked at the GPS; we knew its coordinates. We found the GPS a bit clunky to work with. While we were struggling, I sent one student north and one south, to see if they could just spot it by eye. No success! But then we managed to get the GPS to do what we wanted, and could, with its help, just walk towards it. And it brought us straight back to where I thought it would be in the first place. And then I suddenly saw it. It was the most obvious wooden post in the world! How could we all have missed that? And some of us several times?

We had lost some time this way, so now we needed to get moving. The beginning of a transect like that is always slow, because the temporary benchmark is placed out of reach of the incoming waves, so in the dunes, quite high up. That means you have to move your tripod a few times to get it into a position from where you can survey large parts of the beach. 

Even though all the students had been complaining they had learned to survey a million times, the start was a bit slow. The students were trying to get their head around what exactly it was they needed to note down, and where. But in the end they got it, and then I figured we would speed up. And we did.

Surveying on a sunny and windy beach

With the students being more confident we got to the waterline; here we obviously had to turn around. With big steps we headed back to our benchmark. From WhatsApp I found out that the other groups were already done.

We made big strides back. Soon we were close to the benchmark again. I eyeballed it and figured it was about a meter above instrument height. Our documentation suggested otherwise. Hmm. Had something gone wrong? We looked back at all the numbers that had been written down. Was something miscalculated? 

By then we were tired and windswept and brains were not firing at full speed. When the students were certain they had all the necessary numbers to be able to recalculate we packed up and went back to the vehicle. 

Once back at HQ the students could bring the paperwork in order in comfort. I had a drink and a sandwich. After a while the other students got impatient as they had finished well before my group. And we were in several vehicles so they left. My group got it sorted, and then we could leave as well. Another part of the field trip done and dusted! 

Digital access issue

The university has to deal with the changing world. One thing that changes is the increase in cyberattacks. Back in them days, you just logged in. Then, two-step verification came in. Initially, you didn’t have to confirm that often. Now you do. And I always had a code sent to my mobile phone. The other option was to use my mobile Outlook app. It should let you enter a code, but mine never did. But that was not a problem, as there was an alternative. Until there wasn’t.

One day the SMS option just seemed to vanish. And without it, I can’t log in. I tried to check something for the fieldwork and failed; when I told Martin about that, he seemed to know what was going on. He said I must have missed some emails about this; he said they hadn’t been particularly obvious. But they said that we now all needed to use an Authenticator app. That would explain things.

I found the right app in the App Store and downloaded it. Then I tried to link it to my work account. Guess what? You need two step authentication for that. How would I get that? 

When I got to campus after a morning in the field, I went to my office and first had a look for the emails I seemed to have missed. To my embarrassment, the earliest mention of it was from years ago. But there were only two, over the last six years or so. Possible to miss. But reading them didn’t help me. I phoned the helpdesk. 

To my relief, the person answering said he could sort this. He did a remote log-in on my computer, and that way managed to link the app to the account. And it works now! That was a big relief. I might be up to date-adjacent now. The times will inevitably catch up with me again, but maybe not for a bit of a while now! 

It works! 

New bits for bread machine

Over three years ago, I bought my current bread machine. And since then, it has baked a loaf for me almost every second day. That is over 500 loaves. That must show. And it does.

One thing that happened is that the anti-stick layer of the bread pan deteriorates over time. It gets harder to get the bread out. Another thing is that the bread pan is made of fairly thin aluminium, and when the machine is kneading dough, the dough is pushed strongly in one direction, which inevitably means that something is applying force the other direction. And by the looks of it, this slowly distorts the pan. Mine started out rectangular, but is now more a parallelogram. And I am sure this contributes to that it is getting increasingly difficult to get the bread out.

I didn't automatically assume you could buy them separate; I didn't even expect it. But it was worth having a little google to check. Lo and behold; you can! So I ordered a new bread pan and it soon arrived. It is a bit higher than the other one, but it does fit my machine. And it works! It is lovely and easy to get the bread out. I'll just have to adjust the settings; with identical settings, you get lighter bread with new pan.

The old and the new

Another issue is that the shaft that drives the kneading paddle is more or less the shape of a half circle. The pedal has a similarly shaped cut-out. Initially. But the shaft is clearly made of harder metal, and it is on a mission to erode the material of the paddle away until in the end, the half circle has turned into a circle. And then the whole machine doesn't work anymore.

The paddle with the hole for the shaft; the red line indicates the approximate initial bottom of said hole

I should have ordered them at the same time, but I wasn't quite switched on enough to do that. I ordered a new paddle separately. And a message it had been delivered arrived soon. But there was no sign of it! A bit like my initial cabinet door handles. What a nuisance. 

I don't know how this will pan out; I hope they will send me a replacement. But I think the paddle will last long enough to allow me to keep baking while this situation is being resolved; let's hope at least that will be the outcome. At least I have my pan!

I also hope is that the actual machine keeps functioning for a while. It would be sad if I had a new pan and a new paddle, and then the actual bread machine gives up the ghost! Let's hope not…

Surface sampling

Low tide was at 7:17. I need low tide for my sampling, This would be an early start! And I would have to pick the students up from Bangor. That meant: getting up at 5:00, leaving the house at 5:30, load up the hired vehicle at 5:45, picking up the students at 6:15. We could then be at HQ at 6:45, and in the field by 7:15. Perfect timing! Jaco would pick up his students (basically, all those not coming with me) at the same time. And because of the student members, we needed a third vehicle, with some of his students, and some of mine.

It didn't quite work that way. One student had overslept and was only there at 6:30. I had picked up my gear, not Jaco’s; I figured he would do that himself. That was a misinterpretation. Our technician, driving the third vehicle, didn't pick it up either so someone had to get back for it. We didn't have the key for HQ, so we got there for no reason. It was a bit complicated!

In the end we all got to where we need to be, and the tide was still fine. I had discussed with the students where we would take a transact of sediment samples. And that had been conveniently close to parking.

It was a bit misty, but it was dry, and the temperature was pleasant. Perfectly fine fieldwork weather. On the way into the estuary we looked at the environment we came through, and chose which ones we wanted to sample. And when we decided we had been as far as we wanted to be, we tried to survey in the location I took the first sample. I couldn't make the GPS reach its normal accuracy, but it would have to do. At least the sampling went well. We made sure that only take as many samples as we have sieve stacks. That is novel; normally, I make every student take a sample. But this is quite a big class, and that seemed excessive. Fewer samples means less work for everyone.

The estuary 

When we were done, I was quite keen to get to HQ. We could; Martin was there by now. And a few students were keen on a coffee. I would take my student to the lab afterwards, and of course, in the lab, you can't eat or drink. So this was our chance. I also wanted to ask Martin a few things. Jaco and his students were done for the day, so they were more keen to go back to campus. So two vehicles went straight back to campus and mine went past HQ. 

It was about ten o'clock when we reached HQ, and I had had breakfast at five. I was quite desperate to consume something. One of the students handed me a coffee and I was very grateful. And I had half my lunch. I also go to ask Martin everything I needed to ask, so after that we could go.

In the lab, all went well (except one mishap with the handle of an oven.) With only seven samples to sieve, and the students really being quite executive about it, we were done quite soon. And then Stef, our technician for the day, offered to bring all the students back to main campus. That was great! That saved me driving there and back. Why use two vehicles when you can use one.

In the office I could do all these other things need doing, and when I was done, I could take the rental vehicle home. Nobody else needed it the rest of the day. And that meant I could drive straight from home to where the students are picked up the next day. That would save me at least half an hour!

The day after had the same schedule. And mostly similar weather, although this time we caught a little shower. The students were quite responsive again. And this time, I got the GPS to work well. 

The work in the lab was quick, like the day before. And again, Gareth took all the students back to Bangor so I didn't have to do that. And I processed the samples of the day before. Well before lunchtime I was done! So that was pretty much it for the surface sampling. Popping back into the lab process the second batch of samples will not take long. Onwards to the coring! 

Field trip starts

We the geosciences-oriented people always start term two weeks before everybody else, with the Newborough filed trip. And this year, the weather forecast for the start of the field trip was absolutely rubbish. In the morning before I left it was bucketing down. I also drove in through rain. The students, who had been asked to gather on the Ocean Sciences campus, had sought refuge in one of the buildings.

Martin took attendance and then we could all get into vehicles, to get to Newborough. We have fieldwork HQ there. And by the time we got there, it had stopped raining!

Martin said some introductory things, and suggested that we might as well have lunch before we go into the field. We left at noon.

As usual, we went to Malltraeth first, to have a look at the landward end of the estuary. But it was high water spring tight, so there was less to see than normal. Then we went into the saltmarsh. I did my thing there. I told him about why these environment are important, and why foraminifera are important too. 

I thought we would then go to where we take our sediment cores, but we didn't; we went all the way to the other side of the estuary. Martin pretended it was on purpose. Dei knew he had just missed a junction. Never mind! We had a good look at the beach and the dunes and how the beach is different on either side of Llanddwyn island and where the waves break.

On the beach

Martin explaining stuff

View on Llanddwyn

 

By then it was time to go back to HQ. We skipped the coring location altogether. Fine with me. 

Back at HQ, Dei reminded all the students of how to survey. It turns out that they had almost all learned this already, more than once. He did it anyway. And then we could go back to SOS. 

The atmosphere in my vehicle was good. I had the impression the whole group was quite engaging. Great! Sometimes you get quite a number of very unresponsive students, and I find that rather disheartening. 

In Brynsiencyn we saw two hitchhikers. We had two spare seats. I asked the students if we should pick them up, and they said yes, so we did. They turned out to be German tourists, housesitting for someone in Tregarth.

We got back to SOS. That was the end of the first field day! The next one will be a lot more hard work. But so far so good. And in my own car I brought the hitchhikers to the recommendation and then I could go home. Time to eat pizza with Neil! And the day after, I wasn't needed. I could use this Sunday to get mentally ready for the Monday, which was going to be a day with a very early start… 

Phone problems

I like phoning my mum on a regular basis. I have an international phoning app, which is cheaper than just normal phoning. But it started playing up. First it wouldn't let me phone my dad, but at least there is a workaround as I can FaceTime his wife. Then it wouldn't let me phone my mum anymore either. I have no idea why.

One night I decided to just phone my mum anyway, but the direct way. Yes it is more expensive, but it is important that I manage! It worked once. But then just phoning her resulted in the same refusal from the phone. And she doesn’t do WhatsApp or FaceTime or email or any of that, so if I can’t phone her, I can’t let her know I can’t phone her, except by snail mail. 

I was wondering if it was my phone. By phone standards, it is old. It does more quirky things. Neil didn't believe it. He thought it might be something with the SIM card or with the provider. 

When I couldn't phone my mum at all, I did some more fanatical googling. Why couldn't I do this? I got nowhere with the international phone app. I tried some phone settings and rattled the SIM card. I googled if maybe there are alternative apps I could use. When I couldn't phone my dad anymore I had already googled that, with little result, but maybe I hadn't looked hard enough. I got nowhere.

The next day I did log into my account on the website of my provider, and I noticed that it seems to have merged. It used to be O2, and now it is Virgin Media O2. Might that have something to do with it? Did something change with the conditions?

To be on the safe side, I sorted an international calling bolt-on, and raised my spending limit. Even though I think that if this was a money problem my provider is an idiot. If someone is trying to make a phone call and they ran out of budget, surely the thing to do is disconnect the call and then display a message that says “you ran out of budget; go here to top up or change your allowance”. I mean, I want to make a call and they want to earn money; why not enable both? 

Either way; I hope I have sorted it. But if not; I asked my future killer AI for advice regarding useful apps. It found things I hadn’t, and they looked useful. I still have my old phone but I may be in business again! 

Threat of AI

When it is on the news that AI insiders are warning that there is more than 10% chance that AI will kill us all within 10 years, that is a reason to worry. Have I heard some people claim that this is a publicity stunt? Yes. Is that thinkable? Also yes. Unfortunately, it is also quite thinkable that they mean it, and that they know what they're talking about.

Some months ago I had a discussion with Neil about this. He wanted to know what could go so wrong. I didn't know the details. But what I had done was read a review of a book that goes into detail about these things: If Anybody Builds It, Everyone Dies. I bought the book, and gave it to him. I told him to read that rather than ask me questions. He's not finished it yet, but when he has, I'd like to read it myself. Not in order to feel reassured! Maybe more to know what to get mentally ready for.

I remember that many years ago, I read in the newspaper that some scientist in the know said that the next big disaster to happen to humanity would be a pandemic. They said it was pretty much inevitable. They just didn't quite know when it would happen. And I must say that when COVID-19 broke out, I did appreciate it I had had advanced warning. This could be the same thing.

Will we be killed by AI? I don't know! One way to find out. I really wouldn't put it past humanity to let it get this far. And that would, obviously, be sad. But if it happens, at least I think I will have lived longer than most people, ever. So I could consider myself lucky…

Cwm Idwal with the Challenger conference

The Challenger Society describes itself as the foremost learned society representing the UK academic marine research community. Once every two years they have a conference. This year, it would be in Bangor. Tom was involved in the organisation, and he had sent an email around saying he wanted to include a few field trips in the program; would the usual suspect who lead trips into the field, like Dei and me, be willing to do the same for the conference? I said yes. And we agreed I would do the trip to Cwm Idwal.

I have done that trip many times; I don’t need to prepare for delivering the information. But close to the time I wanted to know what the logistics were. What time would the coach leave where, and what time did it need to be back? How many people would attend? The answer to the last question was: quite a few. I had just spoken with James, our new PhD student, and he offered to come along. I gratefully accepted that offer. 

On the day, I biked to the visitor centre. It’s about as far as to the office. It was great weather for it! When I got there I checked if the bloke we had given the mystery bag to was in, but he wasn’t. Then I just waited for the coach with conference people to turn up. It was quite early!

We were 29 in total. A big group! I was glad I had James. And we also had Sijing, one of our PhD students; she was also happy to help. Great! 

We did the trip counterclockwise as then you get to some good bits quicker. The audience had a few geologists in it, a few biologists, a bucket-load of physicists, and some undeclared people. And they had all chosen to be there. It was a lovely group! 

View on Tryfan

View on Llyn Idwal

We looked at the mountains, the syncline, the roches mouttonnées, the grass that gives away the presence of mafic rock, the lake, and the moraines. And I talked about the earliest British geologist who has been mapping here. And that Darwin had been one of them.

I had a great time, and I think the people in general did. We did have some people who walked rather slowly, though. And once you are at the far end of the lake you are committed to a fair walk back to the coach. I decided to do my last spiel everyone except the tail walkers. They need all the time to get back to the road. We were a little bit late, but the coach driver was relaxed about it. Fortunately!

When we had loaded everybody up I could accept my bike ride home. That practically downhill all the way. Very comfortable! I figured it had been a success. 

Group pic. Notice Sijing far left and James far right

Talk about lakes

One day I came into the office and saw that the name on the office next to mine had changed from Dr Iestyn Woolway to Prof Iestyn Woolway. Normally, you know that that is happening. There tends to be a promotion round announced, and at the end of it the Head of School sends a congratulatory email to everyone about all the people that have been successful. None of that had happened.

Soon after I saw a public lecture by Iestyn advertised. His inaugural lecture! Or so I thought. I like these. But it turned out it was something else; it was the Jack Darbyshire Memorial lecture. Jack Darbyshire was the first Professor of physical oceanography in Bangor, and Iestyn can trace his academic lineage straight to him. They also by coincidence both come from Blaenau. But whatever lecture it was; it was public, I wanted to go, I wondered if Neil did too. He had listened to a public lecture by Tom, be it online, and he had really enjoyed that. He might like this too.

I saw Iestyn on the day of the talk and he was complaining that talking for one hour is actually quite difficult. I was confident he would be fine. 

When I made my way to Main Arts, where it would all take place, I was a bit nervous because it was so quiet there. How many people would show up? But I was just early, and more people did appear. One of these was (obviously) Neil. 

He was also a little bit early, so after tidying my stuff up and helping Tom with some introductory sentences in Welsh he wanted to say (he would introduce Iestyn), I took Neil on a brief tourist walk through the building. It is quite beautiful! He agreed with that. Then we went into the lecture room. 

It started with the recently retired head of the National Oceanographic Centre, who had been a student of Jack Darbyshire, who did an introduction on the man. He spoke for almost half an hour. Iestyn wouldn't have had to worry about having to talk for too long! And then Tom introduced Iestyn himself. He is an unusual man given that he is in the school of ocean sciences, working on freshwater. Somehow he manages to be more successful than anybody else. 

Ed Hill talks about Darbyshire

Iestyn starts his own talk

He started with climate change. And with what’s so special about lakes. And what sort of ways there are of gathering data about them. And then he went into detail of the work he and his research group had been doing. On lakes in the Amazon basin. Lakes in the Arctic. Lakes in the Himalayas. Lakes getting warmer. Lakes getting bigger or smaller. Lakes providing varying levels of connectivity to communities that rely on boats for transport. 

The results were always: there is a problem, and it is getting bigger, fast. And then the talk was over. There was time for questions. 

Neither Neil nor I asked one. Soon we were outside again. And we left soon after. 

Neil was a bit depressed after this relentless doom. I am used to it. But at least he had found it interesting. So had I; I know Iestyn works with lakes, but now I know a lot more about what he does with them. And it was nice to put some faces to names. I talk a lot about colleagues, and now Neil has seen quite a few! 

Important folk: fltr Yueng, an alumnus, Ed Hill, Jack Darbyshire’s son, Iestyn, Tom, Stuart, and John

Welsh classes start again

New term, new Welsh class. I had found one again that was online on Monday night. That suits me. It was again a southern provider; unfortunately, not with the same tutor as the previous time I did that. I just hope that this one would be good too.

The first thing I noticed was that it was a huge class. More than 20 people! And it had run the previous year as well, so a lot of people knew each other. 

When we did a little round of introductions, I noticed there were more Northerners, like one bloke who lived in Bangor but was originally from the south, and someone else who was from the Dolgellau area. And we of course had people based in England. That’s standard! And we had an Irishman from Donegal; he was fluent in Irish. 

It started dull, to be honest. After the introductions the tutor, Lyndon, went through a big document with all sorts of guidelines and resources and whatnot. That took us all the way to the coffee break. 

After coffee, we actually got some work done. We read an article on the BBC Cymru website, and went into breakout rooms for some chats in smaller groups. That was nice.

It was an ok introduction. I hope next week we get a bit more down to business. One way to find out!

Caernarfon Half Marathon 2026

I was full of adrenaline! I'm not really sure why. I really wanted to run a PB, but I am not sure why that should result in such race jitters. I had come to Caernarfon with what I thought I would need to succeed: a vest with water, gels, IT band straps and paracetamol. As the previous year I had run a PB in spite of hobbling over the finish with sore IT bands, I figured that I would manage if I just would sort this knee-adjacent issue. 

I did the usual going to the loo, chatting with other runners, dropping off my bag. And I saw Louise, who was obviously not running today, but was there to support. I had promised her to run that PB the day before. The pressure was on! Then it was time to line up. 

Before the race

I had a target pace for the first 5 km, the middle 10 km, and the last 6 km. The first one was the slowest. When we set off it wasn't difficult to reach it. We ran through town and onto the bicycle path alongside the railway, where Race the Train runs as well. Nia and family were supporting! That was nice. And this part of the race is slightly uphill, hence the conservative speed.

After the initial turmoil there seemed to be a bit of crew of equal speed developing. Apart from me, there was a young lad in a white top, a lady who looked like she was older than me, and a few more. We did a bit of leapfrogging, but for quite a while we essentially stayed together.

On the bicycle path, with some fellow runners. The young lad would come in first of us three, and then me

When we came off the bicycle path I knew I should speed up. And I felt like I could. This part of the race was rather flat. I trundled on rather uneventfully, with my crew. But then we came to the Foryd; where the road follows the coast.

This meant a few things. The first was: it really felt like the only thing I had to do was run back to the start. We were just over halfway there, and I knew I would soon be able to see the town, where the finish was. It also became quite exposed to the wind, but this was a tail wind, so that was a good thing. It was also exposed to the sun. No shelter here! And it was quite warm.

With the wind in my back I accelerated a bit. I left the lady behind. The bloke in the white top matched my speed. I managed to keep my speed where I wanted to be. Sometimes a bit faster even. It didn't feel like I was really pushing it hard. 

Where the coastal road bends around to follow the river instead I saw Neil. I had suggested to him he doesn't come to the start, because that would mean waiting for me for more than 1.5 hours. If he comes to the finish it's good enough! But it was clear he was a bit early, and had gone to spectate. That was great! 

I knew that straight afterwards, we would get the last major uphill. That knocked me a bit. I had actually spent quite a lot of energy already after all. And I took it easy because I knew there were still several miles to go; exhausting yourself on an uphill is no use. And I opened a gel. 

I tried to do a bit of arithmetic in my head. Was I on course for that desired PB? But I don't think that by that time, my brain was working at maximum speed. I just did my best. Pushing it, but not so hard I would burn up too soon.

I didn't feel fluent or bouncy anymore. But I just did what I could. And when I got back to the castle, Neil was there too. And I was glad I knew I still had to follow a strange zigzag course through the town to get to the full half marathon distance. A a bloke running near me told me after the finish he had seen the castle and thought he was almost there. Not really! And there are some nasty surprises at the end; some short slopes up, and a little bridge you have to go underneath which functions as a wind tunnel, where you get the full force of the wind in your face. But when that was behind me I gave it what I still had. And by then I knew I had that PB in the pocket. And Neil was there again!

Approaching the finish with dramatically flapping hair

Done it! 

I squeezed out a final sprint and came over the finish in just under 1:37. Excellent! The old PB was just under 1:39. Two minutes faster! And I was still panting heavily just behind the finish line when Louise and her entourage found me and congratulated me. I had done it! Neil joined them. 

Then it was a case of getting my medal and T-shirt, retrieving my bag, having my recovery drink, cheering some more people on, and chatting with other finishers. And catching up with Jacko! He was there too. He was in flip-flops and I think he was happy not to have to wear running shoes himself that day, for the first day in months. He looked fresh! 

Then it was time for the presentation. Emma had won it! Just like last year. I had comfortably won in my category again; I was about six minutes ahead of the next F50-54. Neil was disturbed by the fact he went to attack his sandwiches, but he saw nobody else eating. Hadn’t we just burned loads of calories? And Jacko got an honorary mention. And then it was over. A good race! 

Proud category winner

Finally seeing Kate again

It had been a while since I had seen Kate. The last time we had gone for a walk was in May! So it was time to catch up again. And the only good day for it was the day before the Caernarfon Half Marathon. 

I had first gone to Anglesey to cheer on Louise in the Ring O Fire, and then I headed inland. When I got to her place I soon heard Bryn barking. He had spotted me! He was delighted to see me. Kate was pleased too. 

Her suggestion had been to walk from Conwy Falls cafe to Fairy Glen and back. It sounded good! Pretty, but sedate enough for a runner who wants to rest before a race, and a geriatric dog. But I first needed some sandwiches. 

After the sandwiches we were off. The path between the cafe and the Glen is lovely, and Bryn was fine. And when we got there it was fairly quiet. And beautiful! Kate did a brief evaluation of Bryan’s paws, as he gets limpy quite easily these days, but he was fine. We continued our way. 

Dog physio assessment 

We then got to the most spectacular part of the walk. There were a few people there already. But the place is sizeable; you don't have to get into each other's way. We just pottered around a bit. Bryn went into the river. It was quite nice! 

Bryn does model duties

Pic of the Glen by Kate

Bryn flaunting his rock and his big feet

We then made our way back. Bryn was fine. And then I wanted to go home to prepare for my race the next morning. So it was a modest rendezvous, but I really enjoyed it! 

Supporting Louise in the Ring O Fire

My plan had been to pop back onto Anglesey after meeting my Welsh tutor, and cheer on my friends Louise and Tony who were doing the gruelling Ring O Fire ultramarathon. All runners wear GPS trackers so you can find out where they are. But then I got the additional dinner-with-Lionel plan. I thought I could manage to squeeze Supporting in before the dinner, but Lionel was back on the surface earlier than I had expected. Maybe I could do it afterwards?

It was about 8 o'clock when Lionel and I had had our dinner, so I figured there was time to go back to the island. I had a quick look where Louise and Tony were. They were quite far apart. Oh dear. I had a guess at where Louise would be once I got close, and set off. She was ahead of Tony, and it makes sense to go see the front runner first. I headed for the general direction of Llangoed. I don’t know the tiny country roads there very well, but I hoped I would manage. 

When I stopped somewhere to check again she had moved more than I had anticipated. I couldn’t catch her there. So where to go? And soon I realised it would have to be on the tiny road from Penmon back west. 

It was all a bit improvised. I was in my work outfit and didn’t have a head torch with me. I was supposed to do this in daylight! Fortunately I have a torch keychain. My phone would be useless as it has short battery life, and I needed it for navigation. 

I parked up by the toll booth and got out. I brought my phone on its charging pad, plugged into my power bank. That, at least, I had with me! And I made my way in the dark towards Penmon. I couldn’t catch her just about see enough. 

After a while I saw a head torch approach. I shouted ‘Louise?’ No response. It was not Louise, I wished the runner well. And then there was another head torch. And headlights. A car was overtaking a runner - surely Louise - and the driver was shouting encouragements. It was indeed Louise! And I think the person in the car was Emma but I’m not sure. I hugged Louise. And she asked if I could walk with her. I wish you good! And even wrong. I might have been in a civilian outfit but I can jog for a bit like that. 

She told me how it had been going. Quite alright, so far! She was feeling good, the weather was lovely, navigation had generally not been a problem and she had support. She said she had had a pot noodle and a change of clothes not too long ago. She was so fresh for someone who had just run 100 km in 12 hours! 

We ran for a bit but I knew I had to turn back at some point. Get back to the car, check if I could still catch Tony, and at some point go home. At something that looked like a suitable point I gave her another hug and turned back. Without her I just walked. I was hot! And I want to spare the battery of my mini torch. When walking I could just about see enough.

I got back to the car and had a look at where Tony was. He was just entering an area you can't get close to by car. And it was getting late. I felt a bit sad but I decided to go home.

Screenshot of the tracking page, just after I got home. The blue dot is a relay runner. Louise is race nr 111.

I went straight to bed. And in the morning I had a look at where Louise's and Tony’s dots were. Tony’s dot had gone black in Beaumaris; he must have decided to pull out. But he had come halfway! Still an amazing feat. Louise was comfortably in the lead. Even ahead of the relay team. Wow! That was amazing. 

I was going to see Kate later that day, but she didn't mind if I first trundled up to Anglesey do another little round of cheering Louise up. And again it was a wild goose chase of tiny little Anglesey country roads, and her dot on the map jumping around. I ended up parking near Rhoscolyn, running down to the shore, and then just running east until I found her. She was glad to see me again. And she was clearly tired. Obviously! By this time she was about 190 kilometres in. Who wouldn't be tired.

The landscape where I found Louise

This time I was marginally better prepared. At least I was wearing a sports bra and running shoes, but after I had set off I realised I had forgot my running vest, and my running shorts and top don't have pockets. I really relied on my phone to find her. Having my car key on me was also a good idea. So I decided to just keep my trousers on over my running shorts. These at least have pockets!

We trundled west in the general direction of Trearddur Bay. And we chatted a bit about how it was going. She also said she hadn't initially intended to do this race. Someone had had to pull out, and had offered her their ticket for free. She had thought she might as well take that offer. And look where she was now! She was struggling, but still going strong.

After a while we came to a parking lot where her support were: her husband, several of her children, and her sister. The sister had followed her around all through the night. That is quite some dedication! I had had a good night’s sleep.

This seemed to be a good location to hand her over. She had a little chat with her support, had a sip of coke, gave people another hug and then she was off. Shortly after the parking lot there was a somewhat vertical bit with a step down and then several smaller steps up. We could see her legs were stiff by now! But we had faith she would make it to the finish without problems.

I chatted a little bit more with Rebecca, Louise's sister. She sometimes comes to the track as well, so I know her a bit. But then I drove back to my car and headed for Penmachno. 

Still from a little video made by Louise's bloke

I tend not to have signal in Kate's house, or anywhere near it, but Kate magically does, and she confirmed that Louise had indeed won. Comfortably! And not just as first woman; first runner altogether. The first man came in about an hour later. Then when I got home and could look at an update myself I saw she had even broken the course record for women. She is such a legend!

A victorious Louise

She later her texted me to say thanks for the support. I was surprised she was awake, but she pointed out she didn't want to completely destroy her circadian rhythm. And she said she would be supporting the Caernarfon Half Marathon the day after. I would see her there! And I really looked forward to that!

Brief catch up with old caving friend Lionel

 I was in the office when I received a text from my old friend Lionel, saying that he was on his way to North Wales, with the Plymouth Caving Group. Was I around?

It was a Friday and I had already been wondering how I would organise all the things I wanted to do with my weekend. On Sunday, I would be running the Caernarfon half marathon. After that, I wanted to see Neil. On Saturday I wanted to see Kate, who I hadn't seen in a while. I also wanted to run the last lap with Jacko. That Saturday was his last day! And on top of that; the Ring O Fire race, a 210 km ultra doing the entire Anglesey coastal path, was in progress. Two of my friends were running: Louise, Lionel from the track, and Tony, who is in the Eryri Harriers. I had hurt Louise mention that if people come to support her it really helps, so I wanted to go in cheer them on at some point as well. Altogether I had a lot on! And I still wanted to take it so easy on Saturday that I would be rested for my race on Sunday.

Long story short: we decided to go for dinner on the Friday. They were staying at Ty Powdwr, the hut of the Karabiner mountaineering club, as is the default. And I drove down to pick him up. 

It was good to see him! The first thing he did was say that I hadn't changed a bit. But who was talking? He hadn't either!

Back in the days, and I am talking 2010-2013, we quickly developed into the duo that you would contact if you had a slightly irresponsible caving adventure in mind. We were up to all sorts! And had loads of fun. He was also instrumental in getting me to join the cave rescue team. And he's been back up in Wales several times since. Nowadays we are more likely to do an hill walk together. That's fine too! And there is no time for any of that stuff, we at least try to get a coffee together in. 

When we got to town it was still quite early, so we first went for a pint in the Heights. After that we went to Pete’s Eats; it has the same name as before, but everything else seems to have changed, and I wanted to know what it was like now. It is absolutely totally different! But the food was fine. 

We caught up about all the things that had changed in our lives, and those that had stayed the same, since the previous time we saw each other. He is quite busy with his house and all the grounds around it, and the animals. I told him about my kitchen project. And we talked about the recovery of our mutual friend Rick, who had had an unfortunate incident on his motorbike. And we talked about running, and mines we had and hadn't been to, and things like that. Enough to discuss!

When we were done I brought him back to the hut. I don't know when I'll see him again, but I am confident I will!

World scientists’ warning to humanity

The first notice went out when I was still at school. It was quite brief. What sort of notice was this? It was an attempt of a group of scientist to write a peer-reviewed journal article that was actually addressed at the world population, and in order to try to give it weight, they tried to get as many scientists as possible to add their signature to it. Did it work? Clearly not!

The second notice was 25 years later. I was already working in Bangor by that time. A lot can happen in 25 years! And what happened to the notice? One thing that changed was that they shifted the focus away from the size of the world population. They figured it was not the polite thing to do to blame people for existing, or for having children. And there was 25 years more of data. And pretty much none of that data was encouraging.

As I actually was a scientist by that time, and I must have heard of it (although I don't quite remember how), I signed it. Is it likely to be particularly effective? No! But if someone takes an initiative like that, the least you can do support it. Signing might be largely ineffectual, but doing nothing is worse. Several of my colleagues, such as Stuart and Martyn, had signed as well.

They've clearly not waited another 25 years for the third notice. I received the email already. They are getting ready now for the third notice to be published 10 years after the second one. There is 10 more years of data, and as usual, that does not provide much inspiration for hope.

 

Top of the front page of the draft third notice

So will this third notice get noticed? Quite possibly not. Even though there are now ways attracting attention to something that didn't exist yet 10 years ago. That is not a guarantee of anything, though. Poor old Jacko was really straining to get attention for his Guinness world record. And this is just a text. A lot less sexy than a whole bunch of ultramarathons! But what can one do? If these things come to my attention I will keep signing them. 

I do think that maybe by now the effects of the climate apocalypse are so tangible that people are starting to pay attention. But paying attention is one thing, and changing society to avoid the worst is a different one entirely. I might still have a few decades to live, and I will find out the hard way how this issue pans out over that time…

 

Fruit and veg harvest

This year’s harvest started with beetroot. I figured they might not grow an awful lot more, and I might as well eat them. I ate the first batch. That was one meal. I think I can get another meal out of the next. That is it! Quite a lot of work for not much food. But I think the beetroot were suffering in the drought. And I didn't want to go and water them every day.

Sad beetroot plant 

The next step was: apples. I don't know if it was something to do with my untalented tree husbandry, or the blisteringly hot and dry summer, but it's not been a good apple year. There are apples, and they are tasty, but just not very many. 

With this camera angle, it actually looks quite good

It is going to end with beans! I had never grown them before. They seem quite forgiving plants. And they must be! I have beautiful beans on my plants. I look forward to eating them. And I will certainly do this again! When I eat them I will also dig out some potatoes. I have loads of potato plants, but it seemed too early to harvest them. But I think the best thing with homegrown beans is homegrown potatoes.

Look at those beans!

I am wondering if I should do another round of planting crops. Would the autumn be long enough to yield something? I suppose I don't have an awful lot to lose! 

Yet another car update

I mentioned that my plan for getting myself an electric car was: go to a big car dealer in England soon after my trip to the Netherlands, and then just buy the EV they have that I like most. It sounded like such a simple plan!

I had already phoned them; they said you could reserve a car, and book a test drive, but only one. It is a long drive, and it seems stupid you can't just drive a few. If you can drive only one, then why would you even? You might as well just buy a car from a distance. Who would make a 5 hour round trip more than once to decide between a few possible cars? 

The good news is, of course, that Neil would come with me, so he could book a test drive as well. And then I could at least make a two car shortlist, and then just choose the best one.

With that plan I phoned them. I had already started a spreadsheet with interesting cars before I went to my trip; I had identified six. When I came back, two of these had been sold, and nothing had taken their place. And with only four left it shouldn't be too difficult to make a two-car shortlist. But when I phoned them, they said that the two cars I was most interested in were not available for test driving. They said they had to undergo some technical tests. I thought that was a bit annoying. Can't they mention that on the website? It is all very well to have all these cars on that site, but if you don't know which ones are actually available, that's of limited use. They said you can go in and switch the engine on, but I do think that there is value in actually driving around. Without that, you might (again) as well buy them from a distance. And then you still want to know which ones are actually available.

They took my details and the license plates of the cars I had hoped to test drive. They say they will let me know when they might be available. It could be weeks! By then, term has kicked off. Very inconvenient. I hope this will work out. Oh and at least, I got the money back I plaid for the Nissan Leaf…

The Bluest Eye

I still have an urge to read classic books. And after I had managed to get through the rather practical book about running and breathing, I started one again. The Bluest Eye. I figured I should really read a Morrison, and this one seemed a good one to start. 

Spoiler alerts!

The protagonist is a nine year-old poor Black girl. And she basically reveals the big plot twist on the first page: there is another girl in their social circle, who ends up being raped by her father and pregnant because of it. The protagonist has a real child's perspective on everything.

You don't really get the perspective of the other girl, but you do get the whole life stories of her parents. And given that they are American, poor and Black, these are not uplifting stories. 

Quite early on the book, the protagonist says that she doesn't understand why dolls are always depictions of pretty blonde white girls, and that she hates them. She understands the social pressure to love them.

It is the girl that ends up pregnant that is the one that explicitly asks for having blue eyes herself. Does this end well for her? I'll leave that to your imagination.

This is obviously not a cheerful book. It is full of racism, poverty, domestic violence and alcoholism. But who said that books should be uplifting? What I did like was the big background you get of many of the characters in it. It is one thing to introduce someone who does monstrous things. It is another thing to show the life that someone has had before they did it. And I think it is a good idea to read more or less realistic depictions of awful lives. People have those. And if you're lucky enough not to have one yourself, it is good for the soul to sometimes step into the shoes of people who do. Or did.

It's not a big book; I read it entirely during my trip to the Netherlands. I can really recommend it! For those that don’t mind a bit of a battering…

End to my Dutch trip

The main focus of my stay was family, but I would spend the last night with friends. I would go see Roelof after he would come back from work and at some point, Viking would join us. I would spend the night there, and then I could go straight to the Eurostar terminal the next morning.

On my way to Roelof

When I got there I first caught up with Roelof over a drink, on the balcony. Micha did the cooking. Spectacularly, as usual. And after dinner we returned to the balcony for more drinks. Viking was at a promotion party, so he came a bit later. Unfortunately, not before after bedtime. Oh well; I thought I would be able to cope.

In order to not keep Micha awake, who wasn't 100% and had to stick to conservative bedtimes, we went to a nearby terrace. Viking soon joined us.

Viking had been on holiday, Roelof and Micha had been away twice and would go a third time, Roelof had done things on his house and had exciting events coming up. We had all read books and seen films and listened to music. And had thoughts about climate and AI and the nuclear apocalypse. Enough to talk about!

Then the pub closed, and we all went home. Then followed one of the less successful parts of my trip: the night. Roelof asked if I wanted to the balcony door open or closed. What was more important: get fresh air in, or keep mosquitoes out? And I am not used to having to think about mosquitoes at night, and I like fresh air, so I said open. And regretted it.

I woke up a bit sleepy the next morning. The mosquitoes had had a whale of a time! I counted 14 mosquito bites on my left leg alone. That makes me appreciate my rather mosquito-free time in Wales again.

Travelling back to the UK went smoothly. I had a direct train to London, which was great. Getting to Euston was fine too. When I was at the picnic benches awaiting news of my train, some lady waved at me. She came up to me and said she recognised me from the Eisteddfod. I had never expected to have a lively conversation in Welsh in the middle of London.

Soon after that, things turned for the worse. My train, which would get to Wales via Stafford, Crewe and Chester, was delayed. Initially only by 20 minutes, but soon the sign said that getting to Crewe would be faster by a train that would leave 41 minutes after the original departure time of my train. Shit! How bad would it get?

Delightful Euston

Then there was an announcement. My train was only 20 minutes late after all. And it duly trundled all the way to Bangor. Soon I was home. And I got to sleep in my own bed, next to my own cat. It had been good to be in the Netherlands, but it was good to be home as well!