Now I'm in Edinburgh

Week 4 has seriously deteriorated. And now back to health informatics
at the Scottish BCS

Last day in Cornwall

We are leaving Mousehole tomorrow so we are having a stroll round the
harbour, watching people line fishing unsuccessfully, and possibly
making our way to the Ship Inn for a pear cider

An evening at the Minack Thatre

Today I walked towards here! But now we are back to watch a Cambridge
university G&S society production of the Mikado. Brilliant setting,
what!?

Lesley has moved in to the sun!

This is a lazy birthday in the sun near Mousehole :)

Lamorna

Here are some notes from yesterday!

Really falling behind with blogging but today has been fun so far
walking to lamorna on the cliffs.
Also important to mention that Lesley arrived for a few days as it is
my birthday this week. As a special treat we went for lunch to rick
steins seafood restaurant in padstow. Inspiringly good food.
Definitely in to fish! (me not rick - he cleasrly is).

Bright sunshine and wind from the north made it comfortable but quite
steep in parts so it was quite hard work. Apparently only 2.5 miles
but this without the crinkliness of the Coastal outline not to mention
up and down-ness, so nearer a fractal number of 2 I.e. Somewhere
between 2.5 and infinity miles. Felt like it too.
People learning to dive here, and also v nice cafe with excellent
sandwiches and coffee.

Sent from my iPhone

I really have left it a bit long

Sorry bur w Cornwall not awash with wifi!

Photos from yesterday and today in North Cornwall

I have been enjoying the sunshine and here are some photos from yesterday afternoon in Trebarwith and today in Boscombe:

 

This one taken from high up the coastal path

There were a lot of steps from the sea to up here, and I realised I am still terribly liable to get lactic acid in my muscles (quite quickly). But at least I got good CV exercise, judging from my heart rate.

Another one of the bay from the top:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the harbour at Boscombe

And this is the view back from Port Isaac to Tintagel

Finally here is the harbour and Hotel in Port Isaac

Now I am in Cornwall !

Keen blogwatchers wll note the sudden transposition from Lyme to the
Tintagel area of North Cornwall. I spent part of yesterday on the
coastal footpath between Trebarwith and Port Isaac, and can confirm
that the walking here is not for wimps, making the Northumberland and
Dorset bits seem like a walk in the park! The reward is the amazing
scenery, and no need to comment on the weather (perfect).
On the advice of Lesley I have made a detour via Boscastle, the site
of awful flash flooding in 2004. Lesley and I of course have an
interest in floods. But also it had been somewhere she remembers from
her childhood, whereas Cornwall is new territory for me.
Tonight I will be staying in Port Isaac.

Sent from my iPhone

Is this an eight rowing in the bay?

Finally the surreal sight of a bunch of chaps rowing across the bay in a boat! 6 + a cox. So not an 8!

photos from today in Lyme Regis

This is the harbour called the Cobb

and this is the western bay where the cliffs yield all kinds of fossils from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (250 - 65 m years ago)

 

And this monster is from a contemporary time, with a scarey throbbing note as it trundled beneath the clouds

Catch up - Tuesday 8th, evening

I am now in a particulaly comfortable room in Lyme Regis, overlooking the bay and not far from the Cobb, having had a busy couple of days getting here and sorted.

On Monday morning I packed the remarkably able Audi A2 with rather more than just a rucksack full of essentails, for the long trip to Lyme Regis - down the M6/M5 etc. It was remarkably quick, and I got here in time to find a hotel and a nice place for dinner - fresh local bream. Today I found a nice hotel with a room overlooking the bay, and moved in.

I spent some time this morning wandering around Lyme Regis. It was shrouded in extremely low cloud (occasionally fog) - giving it a soft feel. (Ed.: This is what the Irish call crap drizzly weather). There are lots of bookshops, fish restaurants, and unreconstructed B+Bs from the 70s. Also the occasional fossil museum, fossil shop, fossil information booth, and lots of quite well educated 6 and 7 year old fossil experts with their (enthusiastic) mums and tolerant dads. Or vice-versa.

This afternoon I headed west to the western bay area to find out more about this fossil business. It is an amazing thing. Huge slabs of rock with imprints of sea creatures from millions of years ago all over the place! And quite a few clever looking people finding exciting things. I found that some of the rocks were slippery and I nearly fell onto my poorly shoulder again! As I had learned previously this year, in these circumstances, protect the integrity of your musculo-skeletal assets and return to a bar to observe the world go by. This I did. Photos to follow! 10km of pottering recorded on the pedometer.

Resume of the week to date

Well, it's Sunday and up to yesterday I managed 3 days at 8 miles a day, 2 in downpours visiting places, and today will be visiting Kays in Newton Stewart. Yesterday I got the pedometer working and did 16.2 km from Warden to Corbridge. That was a great local walk which I haven't done before, particularly nice by the river at the Corbridge end. (Photos may follow.)

In terms of social networking, I have managed to come to terms with getting the blog to work and editing it, and have got tweetdeck to work on 2 macs and an iphone, also sorted out how I am going to handle my email in the future. Updating the blog by email from the iphone including with attached photos is the easiest. However signals on the routes I have used are poor to non-existent. In one small coastal village there was no signal anywhere until I found a friendly naked wi-fi coming from somewhere which enabled me to make a quick call to summon a taxi using skype from the iphone! Brilliant and thanks. I also have been taking photos with my canon digital ixus but haven't been able to transfer the photos as I forgot the adapter. Photos are much better but hassle factor much increased. In one instance I re-uploaded the iphone photo later after retouching it in iPhoto.

The most significant other discovery was a podcast from This Week in Google (TWIG - see http://www.twit.tv/twig ). In episode 4 Kevin Marks is interviewed about his ideas about how twitter works (rather than "that it  works") - ie how people have appropriated the technology in a way unpredicted by the designers. Massively parallel human filtering of web content is I think how he describes it and I found not only his analysis but the whole podcast interesting. And his job history is interesting - quicktime - google - now a VP for BT. You can download the podcast from the site or subscribe through itunes for free.

And so to next week. I have decided to head off to Lyme Regis and the Jurassic / Limestone coast tomorrow, so if you live en-route I may pop in! I have decided to take the car and somehow juggle that, and thereby up my mileage and fascination opportunities.

Friday Rained off

Not for me this hardy walking off into the rain in a cocoon of gortex. I am home to dry out clothes and regroup. Still pouring and good weekend ahead - but where?!

Walkers don't mind weather

1. It gives opportunities
1. If good, worry about distance
2. if showery worry about the merits of gore-tex
3. if like today do alternatives
1. plan to go to edinburgh
2. have a long bath hoping stiff legs will be better soon
3. cancel trip to edinburgh as A1 and train line both flooded
4. go to Seahouses and eat fish and chips
5. visit the amazing Barter books in the old Alnwick railway station
6. visit the Grace Darling Lifeboat museum and witness really crap weather from the observation gallery
7. wonder why the RNLI issued 23 gallantry medals to women, mostly in the latter half of the 19th century, and 3 since 2004, but none in the century between!
8. marvel at the fact that lots of 1800s tough action was done by women - like dragging a lifeboat across 3 miles of beach to launch it in a storm
4. whatever, go for dinner in an amazingly cosy bar/restaurant in the Victoria Hotel
2. it might change tomorrow!

Hmm technology failure

 

Photo update. A view of Alnmouth from Church Hill (1/9/09)

This is just over the estuary, but over an hour's walk from . To think I have lived in Northumberland for 27 years and never walked to this amazing place, where Cuthbert was made a bishop in 684AD.

A Saxon church was built on Church Hill when King Egbrid and his nobles with Bishop Trunwine set sail from Alnmouth to beg of St. Cuthbert, at his retreat on Lindisfarne, to become the Bishop of Lindisfarne. Cuthbert agreed to their request and a Synod was held at Twyford, the place of two fords, this place was recognised as Alnmouth, one ford being below the church hillrunning west and the other at Pan Leazes to the north of the church hill.

[the above from alnmouth.org.uk]

In AD 684 at Alnmouth (under the name of Twyford – the place of two fords), Cuthbert, later to become St. Cuthbert, was chosen to become Bishop of Lindisfarne, in the presence of King Ecgrith and Archbishop Thodore.

In AD 793, the Vikings raided Lindisfarne and over the following years plundered many places on the East Coast. In 1789 two fragments of a Saxon cross were found on Church Hill, dating back to the late 9^th / early 10^th centuries.

[the above from alnmouth.co.uk]

Nearly at craster

What a great place for a park bench! This coastline is stunning and
summer weather and no crowds make it even better. Body tells me
something healthy is happening. Remind me to ask about endorphins later!

Finally got started - the first day

I have been worrying that I would get soaked, cramp, exhausted....
As it turns out today has been brilliant. Weather mostly warm and sunny, and did about 8 miles, though I am tired now.  Amble, the starting point, is a working small fishing port with a newish marina, and it looked busy with fishermen. My first visit, and a pleasant walk round the port's bay, on a jetty undergoing refurbishment. On the beach, curiously enclosed by the jetty, I noticed lots of sea coal, which I remember from my childhood. People used to collect it from the beach and sell it at a big discount compared to proper mined coal, but my mum said it spits badly and so not to be contemplated. I had not thought of it sice apart from a chance encounter with a horse and cart selling sea coal in Lynemouth 2.5 years ago, when I drove down a side street whilst testing my new satnav out (I had set it to shortest route possible which was not the best strategy normally).

Then after that on to Warkworth, with an imposing castle, and history, where I had lunch. In an inn. This is probably related to the fact that I am following the Inn walk of Northumberland. Good book mind. As I left, it started to rain, and I headed for the sand dunes and beach, towards Alnmouth.

Started today, after a delayed morning, in the harbour at Amble, Northumberland

Here is a photo of Amble harbour. Got here at 12 after shopping for
essentals! These mainly relate to the possibility of the kind of rain
we witnessed at the Newcastle match last night. As it happens the
weather was brilliant.