Walk in the river

When I came back from my World War II walk, I was properly cooked. So I quickly got into my swimming gear and headed for the river. I got in a lot earlier than the day before! I had a bit of a swim, supervised by the neighbour who had noticed me on the riverbank, but then decided I might use the opportunity to go for a bit of a walk. I was wet now anyway! And I had had the idea for a long time to just go for a walk in the river. This was a good day for it.

Walking through a river is not a fast endeavour, or at least not when I doing it. I did not intend to fall on my face. But I quite enjoyed it! I think few people get to see the river between the bits that are easily accessible. And it was beautiful and varied! Wide and shallow in some places; narrow, deep and fast in others. Some of the formations of the water-carved slate were amazing. And I even encountered a cute and curious dog along the way.

I only went so far as to be able to see the bridge behind the chapel. I took a picture and then turned back. I should do this more often; I could go further, and I could go downstream, and I could explore the other branch, as a few tens of metres upstream from my house a branch of the river that has split off rejoins the main branch again. And the summer is not over yet!

World War II defences in the area

My favourite historic period is the Iron Age. When I saw a public walk advertised, by my usual organisation the Carneddau landscape partnership, which would go into detail about local Second World War defences, I hesitated a bit. World War II; that is quite a lot later than the Iron Age! But I figured anything that makes you better understand the landscape is interesting. And pretty much everything gets more interesting if you know more about it. So I registered. This time I made sure I brought a hat! It was predicted to be the hottest day of the year…

Once again I biked to Ogwen cottage. This time I didn't have to bike any further. I parked up, but I didn't see any of the people I know would be leading this trip. But I saw a few blokes sitting on a wall, who looked like they might be other participants in this event. And they were! And I decided to sit in the shade and wait for the thing to really take off. I ended up chatting with an extended family that was clearly also here for the WWII walk. And after a while I saw Kathy, the archaeologist I head seen both in the online lecture and during the walk up Carnedd Dafydd. And even later, Abbie the conservationist appeared, in the company of a bloke in World War II attire. It looked like the leading team was complete! And I already felt bad for the bloke in period costume. It looked uncomfortably hot…

After a while we set off. The name of the bloke in the WWII outfit was Morgan, and he was going to do almost all of the talking. An we set off down the old road. Soon we encountered old tank barriers. I knew about these! And they stand out quite a lot. But Morgan knew a lot of detail about how they would be used, and why they were put there, and all such things. He also pointed out a cylindrical bit of concrete that turned out to have been a base for a mortar. That would have been more efficient against a tank than the type of rifle he was carrying over his shoulder! I was enjoying this already.

Talking about the base for the mortar

He also pointed out little home guard outposts. They looked quite like the kind of wind shelter you find on local mountaintops; just ring-shaped structures in dry stone. The idea was that you just would have a home guard person in there with the gun. They blend into the landscape, and anyone approaching might not notice you before you notice them. And a bloke with a gun can't do much against a tank, but I suppose the idea was that tanks couldn't get past the barrier anyway, so maybe the outposts were either for an enemy travelling by other means, or for in case people would come out of their tanks.

Morgan in his outpost; notice the role of blocky tank barriers in the background

He also pointed out metal structures that were used for creating barbed wire barriers; he said that in the 40s, there would have been barbed wire all across the valley. Then we walked further down the valley. And now that he had been pointing out the cylindrical structures and the outposts, we saw them everywhere.

We later also had a more theoretical discussion about how the Brits like to paint themselves as plucky and invincible, but that it had been a close call. Victory wasn't inevitable at all! And it mustn't have felt inevitable at the time, either. Morgan was convinced it was mainly a Nazi oil problem that led to an allied victory.

After the discussion, we went up the driveway of the farm at the top of the valley. That is not a public footpath, so I head never been there before! The walk had permission. It was great to see the valley from an unusual angle. And by a beautiful tree we sat down for lunch. I was peckish!

On our way to the lunch spot

I didn't only eat; I also found out that one of the other participants was also Dutch. He ran the nearby youth hostel. This was a difficult time for him, evidently! But it was nice to have a chat in Dutch. The group was, as expected, mainly Welsh, so we had a nice trilingual thing going there. I pointed out to him I was having a biscuit sandwich! I liked his face when I told him that.

I also asked Kathy the archaeologist if she know anything about the strange path between Llyn Ogwen and Capel Curig. It looked like an old tramway! And it has always puzzled me. It really didn't look like an old drove road; it is straight as a line, avoids any steep bits, and is quite wide. So someone really made an effort there! But why was that worth it? What is so important to be transported from Capel Curig to Llyn Ogwen that it is worth that effort? But she didn't know either. Oh well!

After lunch we reluctantly left the shadow of the tree. We were all baking, and Morgan suffered the most! But we still had more to see. After some negotiating of soggy terrain, and some clambering, we got to a dry stone wall that had been modified to provide shot holes. And from there we went further up to a pillbox. I had never known it was there! It was in excellent nick. And we were all glad to be able to pop inside. It was cool in there! After I had my turn, I made my way down to the river, and dangled my legs in. That was nice. By then the trip got a bit slow; one of the men struggled a bit with the physically demanding bits of the walk. At some point I saw him on the hand of the Dutch men. As during the Carnedd Dafydd walk, the stronger participants helped the struggling ones!

The A5 looked at from below; notice the two lumps on the rock above it. These are again outposts for the home guard!

The home guard scrambling up the hill

The pillbox

After the pillbox we were almost there. We made our way back to the road, which had lots of more outposts looming over it, and which also had fastenings for a barrier chain. But that was the end of the walk. We had overrun by at least an hour! And several of us were quite keen to get out of the sun. Especially Morgan. There was a little bit more happening, as the family I spoke of earlier had a history of finding Second World War relics, and they had brought some to show Morgan. He was impressed! And he willingly posed for a picture with the kids. That was really nice. But then I said goodbye to everyone and headed back to my bike. Time to get home; time to cool down!

Amazing views of the river just below the pillbox

I couldn't resist a picture of the bridge from below

First dunk in the river this year

My day in the valley trying to brush up on my natural knowledge had been quite hot. It was really the sort of day where you want to cool down in a river! So that is exactly what I did. It was the first time this year I went in. A bit late, it being mid-July, but I hadn't felt that cooked before this year! And it was lovely. The water wasn't very cold; I could just wade straight in without the urge to make any funny sounds, or losing control of my breathing. But it was still cool enough to be refreshing. It is really nice to be having a swimming spot right by the garden!

Bioblitz

 When I found out about the Carneddau landscape partnership, and liked it on Facebook, I didn't realise how much they would be offering with regard to activities. It started modest with an online lecture about archaeology, but from there things really took off; a week or two after that I was on top of Carnedd Dafydd with the same organisation. And two weeks after that it really kicked off; there were two separate activities that weekend, and I registered for both. I had had such a good time!

The first one was called the Bioblitz; the idea was that people would do a bit of a biodiversity survey on the terrain of a campsite-cum-conservation site. And part of that there were two guided walks; one about birds and one about plants. When I registered, I could only register for the one about the birds, as the other one was booked full. That was a pity! I know so little about this, and I had had so much fun increasing my limited knowledge the previous time. But I know little about birds as well; it would be fun to improve on that. I already made a concerted effort to get to recognise the ones in my own garden, but when I am in the hills, I always see lots of little birds scooting away, having no idea what they are.

I biked up to the campsite; incidentally, it was the same campsite where my bike had had its maiden voyage, but then I had come to climb. It was incredibly busy in the valley. Of course it was; it was a sunny Saturday and few people were travelling abroad. But I was on bike so I was going to be all right!

When I got there I saw a woman who looked somewhat official, and indeed she was associated with the event. She recognised me from one of the pictures of the Carnedd Dafydd walk. She pointed me in the right direction. And there I found lots of gazebos with nature-oriented people in them. I found myself at an RSPB stand. There was a very enthusiastic duo there who had been rummaging around in an owl pellet. It had been borrowed up by a barn owl! And I think barn owls are cool, so I ended up rummaging with them. They had a small mammal guide, so I tried to identify a skull I had found. I decided it was not a shrew or a vole; it was a mouse. The identification guide only had two mice; the wood mouse and the yellow necked mouse. Neither me nor the people behind the stand could tell the difference from the drawings of the skulls in the guidebook. So there goes; I identified a mouse! Not very impressive, but it was a start. And soon the actual walk started. It was led by the bloke from the stand, who had a bit of a thing with barn owls. But we wouldn't see any, of course. He had a sidekick who spoke Welsh; he was from the British Trust of Ornithologists. And we were off. The BTO guy had a thing for twites; I had never heard of them, but it seems there are rare but present and nesting in Snowdonia.

The BTO guy talks about twites

I was also approached by one of the other participants; I hadn't looked at her closely, so I hadn't recognised her. But she had been on the previous walk! It was nice to see her, and we caught up a bit. She is clearly also keen on activities like this, so I think I will see her again!

The first bird we actually saw was a magpie, but anyone can identify those. It got better when we heard a willow warbler and saw a whole array of redpolls. I had never heard of them, but they are very cute! Later we saw a meadow pipit; it was sitting quite ostentatiously on a rock, and seems to relish all the attention. The RSPB guy, Jack, also heard goldcrests. I would have to look these up as I had no idea what they were!

A meadow pipit!

By then the walk came to an end. And I was keen for some food! So I went back to my bag and had my coffee and my cake. And I have a rummage through the flyers the RSPB had there. And I wondered if I could blag my way into the plant walk after all. They had allowed additional people on the bird walk! They might very well also do that with the plant walk. But that wouldn't be in another hour. I decided to go have a walk to the nearest hilltop; the nose of Gallt yr Ogof. I just made it to the top and back before the walk left! And indeed they let me on.

View from the hilltop

This time, we were all encouraged to grab an identification sheet and a magnifying glass. And then we were let loose into the meadow! The biodiversity expert in charge also had some more specific identification guides; one for trees, one for grasses, et cetera. I took the grasses one. I was keen to see if I could identify anything! I been doing some very limited grass identification (for grass, read: grasses, sedges, and rushes) in saltmarshes, but there was a lot more going on here. And one of the participants turned out to be quite a plant specialist as well. The biodiversity expert ended up asking him for advice quite a lot!

Staring at plants

What are all these grasses?

I turned out to be absolutely crap with the grasses. I sometimes had a reasonable guess, but I found them hard! I suppose it's easier if you have a more extensive guide, where you can see the various stages in the development of the grass. And the variability within the species. But I had fun! And the others were sometimes drawing attention to whatnot, such as eyebright, tormentil, bedstraw, and an orchid. On the way back we accidentally saw some sundew. That was a nice cherry on the cake!

Sundew

By then I was thoroughly boiled. I later heard on the radio that it had been the hottest day of the year so far in most of the country. And I had been traipsing around without the hat! So I thanked the organisers and headed back to my bike. It had been a good half day! And I still had another one to look forward to an the day after…

Not only in Welsh

Every language has its quirks. Welsh is no exception. I do find it weird, for instance, that some numbers are gender specific and some aren't. If you can't remember what gender a noun is, you should not have two, three or four of them, because two, three and four have masculine and feminine forms. If you just have five or six it doesn't matter; the number of stays the same, whatever the gender of the noun. But something that bothered me more is that "only", as in "there were only apples", in Welsh is "dim ond", which literally translates to something like "nothing but". "Dim" means "not". That means that in Welsh, the sentence "there were only apples" is negative. And sometimes I want to use negative sentence that features the word "only". But how do you do that if any sentence with that phrase in it is already negative?

When in my summer class, we were asked to translate the sentence that had "only" in it, I saw my chance. I asked her how you would make that sentence negative. The sentence was something like "there are only two left", and that sentence can have a negative. Maybe someone tells you there are only two, say, tickets left, but you have information that they don't have, and you can tell them that there are not only two left; actually, there are 10 left! So how do you do that? Then it became clear I wasn't the only one who struggled with that; a bloke from Harlech clearly chimed with my request, and started to jump up and down too. And the tutor had to think about it a bit. But she came up with an answer!

She found a way by going formal; both "not" and "only" are concepts you expressed differently in formal Welsh. So she exchanged "dim" in the middle of the sentence for "nid" at the start, and "dim ond" for "yn unig". And that's how she managed it! No weird repetition of "dim", which would make the sentence ungrammatical. So now I can finally say something like "there weren't only apples" in Welsh! And I will sound like a 50s newsreader but I don't care. If this would be the only thing I learned in the summer school, it has been worth it!

Welsh summer school

Every summer, the body that organises Welsh teaching for adults organises summer schools. I have never actually joined them! Even in summer I have a fair amount to do. And I am sometimes a bit hesitant; you tend to learn languages a bit quicker if you are Dutch than when you are British, and most of the people in such schools are of course British. So there is a beautiful valley not too far from here where they do week-long residential summer schools, and they have a really good reputation, but I was arrogantly afraid I would get a bit bored.

This year they offered online courses. And one of them was short! Just four afternoons, between four o'clock and half past six. And as I have not been doing a proper course the last semester I registered.

On the first day, I recognised a lot of faces! It often is the same bunch of people who show up for classes like this. It is nice to get to know some of them a bit. The tutor was new to me! That is a bit unusual; I have done so many classes I know most of them. And that it was an online course had perks; most of us were from around here, living in places like Benllech and Criccieth, but we had one bloke calling in from Ottawa. He was originally from the Conwy valley, but had moved to Canada decades ago. And now he had decided he wanted to stay in touch with his mother tongue. I think he'll be glad if online courses continue after the pandemic!

The first session seemed a bit slow; the tutor had a lot of work talking some participants through the technology, so there was a lot of time spent in breakout groups just discussing either the topic tutor had given us, or straying from there. But from the second day on, that got better. And we even did some proper exercises, with grammar and all! So I was glad I had registered. I came across several things that I remembered having revised during my sick leave, but which I had forgotten since…

Berry time

It always happens so fast! One moment you have some unripe berries in the garden, and the next they are all ripe, and you have to hurry up to process them. And that happened again! And my first harvest went into a blackcurrant clafoutis, which I baked for the lunch in the garden session with my colleagues. The second batch became compote. And then it was time to tackle the gooseberries. And I am sure that by the time I have eaten those, the plum tree will be yielding fruit like there is no tomorrow. I like the fruit season!