First door!

When I came home I came home to a door! A proper door that closed! And that looked good. I was excited. The joiner was a bit apologetic about how long it had taken him. The longer it takes him the more it costs. But I was quite glad I now had a door in place! And he hadn't needed to use any additional hinges. So, well, four hours on his hourly rate was maybe not the cheapest door hung ever, but it was the least of my problems. And some of the others doors might be cheaper; all frames are different.

A door!

The other side

I will have to do some repainting on the door frames though. But I have plenty of paint left over!

He will now just do the rest too. Every time I come home my house has become prettier! This was one of the last big jobs (not quite the last) and I'm excited! 

New car: MOT success

One of the reasons I bought my current car was that I could see online it had always passed its MOT juts like that! No repairs needed. I have always needed to fork up several hundred pounds for repairs before I would get my MOT certificate. I hoped, though, that with buying this car things would change. And they did! I had booked my car in for MOT on a Monday morning. Then the garage phoned me: that was a Bank Holiday Monday! The garage would be closed. False start. So I brought it in on the Tuesday morning. And before lunch I already got the phone call: the car had passed and I could pick it up! I like this car...

Run back to Dulyn Slate Mine

With my sister I had walked past some mines. One we had briefly visited. I hadn’t taken many pics but later I found out there were no pics at all of it on the site where the UK mine exploration community tends to keep its pics! So I decided I had to go back. With a camera. But I figured I may be too impatient to walk back to it. I decided to use it as my weekend run! And so I did.

I drove to the usual parking spot; I was lucky as someone was about to leave. That would create a space for me! It was a sunny bank holiday so all parking lots were busy. I parked and had a sunscreen session. Then I was off! And the way there was pretty much uphill all the way, but that was alright. It was beautiful! As I well know. 

I thought it would be cool to run just a bit further; to the lake it shares its name with. And I was glad I had! A decorative propeller was sticking out of the water. I don’t remember having seen that before!

After having photographed the propeller I went to the mine proper. And photographed it! As I was running I didn’t have much with me. And ‘not much’ doesn’t involve a torch. But I managed to reasonably document the place. Is that of use to anyone? Not sure! It might be. But at least the website is a tiny bit closer to being complete now. And I had a great run! Everybody wins! 

 

The propeller in Llyn Dulyn

 

Me enjoying the day

 

The small tunnel into the mine

The damp problem found?

When I found out my bedroom wall was damp I first thought of a roof (or wall) leak. Then it went away when I did and it looked more like an effect of my breath. But why was that so bad? I breathe in all rooms I sleep in! And the ones I do other things in. The neighbour suspected that it was a ventilation issue. There was a ventilation vent in the room but it had been in the 'closed' position. That sure wasn't helping! But opening that would only help if the conduit behind it would be open. It must have been the duct for the open fire in this room. All rooms probably had one! The house has three storeys and six chimney ducts. And especially when you have a wood burner on, one duct gets warm, and then you can have condensation in the others if they aren't well-ventilated. So when I was working on that room anyway, I unscrewed the vent. And it didn't take a certified chimney sweep to diagnose that indeed the chimney was blocked. Without much persuasion, a lot of muck came out! I'll have to phone my chimney sweep again. This isn't good. But hopefully, when I have this sorted, the problem will be solved!

 

I think I may leave the rest to the chimney sweep

Save the apple tree from the Buddleia

My apple tree is having a bad year! I counted 13 apples. Last year it must have been at least ten times as much. I think it needs some love! And maybe apple trees just have bumper years and normal years, but I think it still needs some love. And sunlight. I decided that it was at risk of being out-competed by a buddleia growing behind it. So I decided that had to die! There is no shortage of buddleias around here. A huge one stands by the side of the house. Another one is continuously trying to block the view from the conservatory (and it's good at it). So this apple-proximal one went! And its trunk will be a modest addition to my already sizeable firewood collection. I hope the apple tree can feel the benefits!

Before

After

Move a tree

Rose had lots of potted plants in front of the house! And some had clearly been there a while. Quite a few didn't survive my first summer as it contained a substantial heatwave. A few of them were trees; there is a pretty red-leafed one there, and a fir, and a beech. The fir died in the heat. The red-leafed one stays. The beech I figured I needed to do something with. It had been in its pot so long! It had a great big root coming out of the central hole in the pot. And then the pot had cracked. I figured I needed to act. But where to put it?

I have to big lumps in the back garden. They are quite overgrown but I think they are concrete mounts for machinery. And in between them the soil is thicker than elsewhere. So I figured it could go there!

I chopped the last bits of the earthenware pot off to finally rid the plant entirely from its prison, and then I replanted the tree. Now I hope it will be happy in its new home!

The rest of the pots is still a mess but slowly I think I can improve that! I hope I have a lot of time in this house.

What you look like after too long in a pot

 

Beech in its new location!

Cwmorthin horseshoe

I go to Cwmorthin (the valley) all the time. For Thursday Nighter trips, for dig nights, for getting to Nyth y Gigfran or Rhosydd or longer walks, you name it! But I had only been in the valley itself and a tiny bit on the flank for Nyth y Gigfran fun. But there is more to the hills around. I had wanted to explore these for a while! And then one day an opportunity presented itself.

I had decided with our PhD student and ThursdayNighter Kate (aka Bob) that one day we should go for a walk. And I had hoped to see her during the week so we could check on suitable weekends. But she was away often! One week with a suitable weekend I asked the other PhD students where she was and they said just working at home. So I mailed her! Was she up for a walk? She was! And she was up for a round trip over the hill crests around Cwmorthin Valley. Great!

We met at the usual car park. I started applying sunscreen while waiting for her; it was going to be a very sunny day! And then Kate rolled up and did the same. And we agreed we would go counterclockwise.

We started on the spoil heap of Cwmorthin. Not the most comfortable way but it's fun. And when we had scaled these we just picked out way up the hill, through the heather and the bilberry bushes; there only were faint sheep paths. It was slightly uncomfortable in our shorts but on a day like this, you don't want to wear long trousers.

When we got to the wide ridge we stopped for a cuppa and some chocolate chip bread (I had been baking again). And then onwards! A path appeared and the walking got more comfortable. We had views into the Oakeley like I had never had them before! And the views on Wrysgan were lovely too.

Seen by me for the first time: the wide crest of the hill above Cwmorthin

Oakeley seen from above

Wrysgan seen from an unusual angle

We walked on. Soon we saw Llyn Conglog. We decided to loop around that. And when we approached we saw the small lake next to it. It looked like an infinity pool! We couldn't resist that. We undressed and went in. Lovely! We swam to the other side and back and were very happy. And then we continued our path.

 

Our infinity pool!

On top of the cliff overlooking the entire valley we had lunch. And then we made our way, with some trial and error, to Rhosydd. And on the other side we went up the inclines. We aimed for Moel yr Hydd and from there picked our way down to Wrysgan. We had some more sarnies there and then we went down the incline. A very good walk! And we weren't done with the day; Kate suggested a cup of tea afterwards. I thought of the Lakeside Cafe but that was closed. We went into Blaenau instead. And there we found a cafe that had fresh ice cream. That would do!

Rhosydd

Kate and Cwm 

Near the top of the incline

We enjoyed our ice cream leisurely watching the goings-on on the Blaenau high street (riveting!) but it was nice. And then our ways parted! I had forgot my wallet (honest) so Kate paid for the ice cream, and she thought me getting the opportunity to reciprocate was a good excuse for doing something like this again. But I  personally don't need an excuse. It was a lovely walk and lovely walks are even better in good company!