Pennies Down the Well

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Walking on the heads of the Twelve Apostles

A beautiful walk along a ridge above a series of stone columns, locally called the Twelve Apostles. Sam, who is precise about this kind of thing, counted fourteen.

Stranger in a strange land

A holiday in Germany this year, the Altmühltal, part of Bavaria. This was a bit of an expedition into the unknown for us. Altmühltal turns out to be a little bit like the Wye valley. But first, the journey down; I had forgotten how to drive on German motorways; the most entertaining are the two-lane no-speed-limit sections. Here, the speed on the inside lane is about 60 mph (which feels a bit slow), and the speed in the outside lane is about 110 mph (which is above my fear factor). I start out by overtaking a slow lorry, with the road behind apparently empty, only to find a black Audi with its headlights on materialise behind me.

Canoeing in Altmühtal

We had a fine day canoeing along the river Altmühl. We collected our boats from a wiry little old guy in a back street of Beilngries, who drove his carlike a maniac to get us to our start in Kipfenberg. After several excursions along the Dordogne and the river Wye, we're getting reasonably competent. It was my second try at the double kayak with Tess; lots more fun than the rather more majestic progress of a canadian canoe.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Back from Holidays

We're back from our visit to deepest, darkest Germany. A 540 mile drive yesterday - started driving at 10am and stopped at 9pm. Yikes. Today we spent doing the serious tourist bit about Brugge, then a blast under the channel and home.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Last Session until September

I made my last pilgrimage to the Star music session before going on holiday. I am very glad that I did, because it was a really good one. I find it very hard to work out exactly what it is that makes a good session. It seems to be something to do with;

Who is there
What mood they are in
...and only a little bit to do with how many

In any case, this was a 'slow build'; we started of with just a few, and more people kept dropping in as the evening wore on. I sat next to a very good lady bodhran player.

Monday, July 31, 2006

Getting Ready for Holidays

Four days and counting. Three weeks away from work, for the first time in so long I can't remember. I'm looking forward to cycling, canoeing, walking sketching, reading, whistling etc for a long time.

Happy drinking Espresso

Sometimes, you just need that fix.

Added Flickr Pictures Badge to this blog

What fun! A little animated badge on the blog's sidebar linking to my flickr pictures. And, whats more, links from flickr to some movies on Vimeo.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Dreaming at the Trowbridge Village Pump Music Festival

Streamers 1 Originally uploaded by Brother Swampicus.

What a fine way to spend a weekend. Great music, from bands big and small. From the Huckleberries and 'Last Nights Fun' to Karine Polwart and 'Show of Hands'. At the campsite, more music with Hannah, Andy, Andy and Glenys. Good also to meet Bob and family properly for the first time.

Who could have predicted that the cool instrument for teenage boys would have been, of all things, the Ukelele.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Java and Chocolate

DSC04672
Originally uploaded by Brother Swampicus.

For the discerning geek.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Tess's Birthday at the New Forest Water Park

The whole gang

On to the banana.

Balloons at the Wimborne Folk Festival

...a beautiful day at the Wimborne Folk Festival plus camping with buddies at the Inside Park. Hannah and I had an inspirational lesson in whistle playing from Michael McGoldrick: a nice bloke and a very good teacher to boot. There was however a hint of steel in his admonishment to me to practice harder when I whinged that I found some rolls harder to do than others.