Coastwalk

Kirkbride → Beckfoot

Distance: 19.5 miles
Ascent: 362 metres
Duration: 6 hours 41 minutes

Until the sun sets
« Bowness on Solway | Workington »

For the first time, someone guessed right. "Are you walking round Britain or summat?" he asked.

That was just north of Silloth. The elderly man was a local, out for an afternoon stroll with a friend. He was keen to point out the sights: Criffel across the Solway Firth, and in the distance the flat-topped hill outside Lockerbie. ("You know Lockerbie, lad?")

Silloth itself is a lovely small town. Its perfect grid of wide cobbled streets grid are enchanting but somehow out of place. It's as if the present buildings are the heart of a once larger, bustling place. I can imagine film location scouts being thrilled on seeing this place.

I had planned to end my walk in Silloth but with the sun casting a golden colour on the sand dunes and an orange tint to the sky stopping wasn't an option. I walked until the sun touched the horizon.

By the time I caught the bus back to the car the sky was ablaze, burning away my memories of the morning's six mile squelch across Calvo Marsh.

Coastwalk

Bowness on Solway → Kirkbride

Distance: 9.08 miles
Ascent: 121 metres
Duration: 2 hours 46 minutes

Antennae
« Beaumont | Beckfoot »

I've had two companions all day today. First, the road. It's been one of those days when a map wasn't necessary - just follow the one road. The road circled my second companion: the masts of Anthorn Radio Station.

I've not made up my mind. Is the station a modern-day maypole? An oversized cake cover? A henge: first wood-, then stone-, now wire-. There are fifteen antennae laid out in the shape of the Star of David, connected with a cobweb of wires. As my viewpoint changed, the patterns in the knitting alternated between a complex knot and a beautiful net. I wish I'd been able to capture this well on film.

I also wish I'd snapped the fox who slowly padded along the road in front of me. Or the embankments stretching out into the estuary that once led to a bridge across to Scotland. I wish I could show you the way the sun spot-lit each of the Dumfries hills in turn. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it: even road walking has its moments.

Coastwalk

Beaumont → Bowness on Solway

Distance: 13.8 miles
Ascent: 160 metres
Duration: 4 hours 16 minutes

To the end of the wall
« Carlisle | Kirkbride »

It may not have been my intention, but today's walk followed the last few miles of Hadrian's Wall. Although there's nothing to see of the wall itself, signposts at almost every turn remind you of the significant role it played in this area's history.

So yes I'm back in Cumbria. Back walking along the River Eden. At first glance this month's floods might never have happened; the wide river flows gently and calmly. Look a little closer and you begin to notice things though: occasional eroded river banks and then high above the path, grass caught in the branches of trees like lamb's fleece on barbed wire.

This riverside walk accounts for only a short part of the day though. The rest of the time involved pacing along a low-lying lane across the salt-marsh to the wall's end at Bowness.

Anyone wishing to walk this way would do well to note two things. First, don't worry about the fords marked on the map on the riverside path north of Beaumont: sturdy footbridges provide a dry passage for walkers. Second, although many walk descriptions tell of how the road to Bowness may flood, none detail the conditions. A sign at each end of the road indicates that the road is liable to flood for two hours following a nine metre high tide at Silloth. It's also worth noting that alongside this road runs an old railway embankment. If I were coming this way again I wouldn't worry too much about the tides.

Personal

Lost: one derelict fighter jet

For a couple of years I regularly drove up and down the A1(M) - visiting friends, going to weddings. Today I made that journey for the first time in a year, so I wanted to finally photograph something I'd seen on all those journeys but never captured on film.

I couldn't find it.

It was a fighter aircraft. But not one carefully presented at the entrance to an RAF site. This one was abandoned in a field, rusting and covered in anti-war graffiti.

I could never remember precisely where it was though I have some clues. It was on the east side of the road, just north of a roundabout, somewhere between the A52 (Grantham) and A57 (Clumber Park) turns.

I'm beginning to doubt those memories now. So if you know what I'm talking about and can help me track it down please let me know!

Personal

Ready

Here's the one piece of wisdom my walking has given me:

The secret to a great week's walking is one new pair of socks.

It's a small price for a little luxury. They provide one warm and cosy day no matter what the rest of the week holds.

Today I went shopping. Now I'm ready.

Arts

Film: The Aviator

Gangs of New York was a long drawn-out film about the making of modern America. I remember there being moments of brilliance in the film, but I can't picture them now. The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards but won none.

Leonardo Di Caprio and Martin Scorcese are back now with The Aviator, and I'll go against popular opinion to suggest that this is pretty much the same film, with the same genius hidden by the same flaws.

I'm glad I saw it but I don't think it deserves to win big come the end of February.

Website

What angel lane .org could have been

By chance today I saw that someone's registered backstreetsofheaven.org. This name was on my shortlist before I plumped for angel lane. It was my favourite for a while. I even got so far as to take a series of photographs to use in its design.

None of the other entries on that shortlist have been grabbed. Now that I've worn angel lane a while and seen that it fits, I can reveal the other possibilities:

• heartzero.org
• constructiveweekend.com
• rooftop2basement.com
• nunswithbuns.com
• beautifulheartache.org

(If I had to chose again I'd pick the last of these.)

Personal

Followed home

This morning I stepped out onto an Angel Lane covered with a thin layer of snow. The cold weather must have followed me home from Wales.

So again I'm thinking about next week's walking in Cumbria. The tourist office tell me the floods have fully subsided now, but I'll have to be stocking up on thermals if it's as chilly as it is here.

Personal

Sunset

Two days later I've finally grabbed the twin photograph I was hoping for.

Arts

Film: The Merchant of Venice

What is it with Shakespeare and sitcom actors? If it's not Richard Briers in Much Ado About Nothing or Calista Flockhart in A Midsummer Night's Dream it's Mackenzie Crook in The Merchant of Venice. That's not to say this isn't a good film, just that I'm puzzled by the way comedy actors gravitate towards ol' Shakey. (Are they trying to prove they're proper actors?)

Whatever the answer, there are two people who make this a great adaptation: Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. And neight of them have anything to prove.

Ceredigion Coast Path , Coastwalk

Aberystwyth → Llanrhystud

Distance: 10.7 miles
Ascent: 652 metres
Duration: 5 hours 7 minutes

Uphill
« Borth | Aberarth »

South of Aberystwyth, just past Tanybwlch beach, the coastpath heads steeply uphill. Despite living in Aber, Emma hadn't climbed the nameless hill - until today. And from the fact that we didn't see another soul between the foot of the hill and the end of the walk ten miles later I'd say very few Aber residents have looked back on their town from this viewpoint either.

From the summit of that first hill the path rolls around close to the cliff-top through fields and disused farmyards. We saw a nature at its fastest - a hare dashing across ahead of us - and at its slowest - a ram contentedly sleeping off the day.

It's been a bitterly cold day not helped by a relentless drizzle. But doesn't that just make the post-walk cup of tea so much better?

Personal

Sunrise

The plan was to photograph the sunrise over the east coast this morning before driving to Aberystwyth for the sun setting over the west coast in the afternoon. I just forgot to check the weather first. Wales' traditional welcome of overcast, showery skies greeted me.

Still, the morning pic worked out.

Personal

Daydreaming

An circular email today got me thinking what I'd do if I was given a year off work.

What would you do? Take another job? Go to South America like Oli? Volunteer for a charity? Sit and watch TV?

The obvious one for me would be to complete the coastwalk, but I've realised that's not my style. I wouldn't want to do it all in one go; I quite enjoy chipping away at the walk forty-eight hours at a time.

Arts

Film: The Phantom of the Opera

I used to love Andrew Lloyd-Weber's musicals. Heck, any West End musical if I'm honest but in the 80s there seemed to be only Lloyd-Weber. I never saw The Phantom of the Opera, but I knew its music.

So as the chandelier lifted tonight, hoisting the film from prelude into action, the music and the magical transformation of the derelict opera house to its former glory lifted me with it. I'm in two minds as to whether or not I enjoyed the whole film, but this opening sequence was superb.

Tech

The thing I want most

Looking for an project? I want a 'find' tool for books.

I know I've read something - it'll be in a book somewhere on the shelves of my house - but I can't for the life of me put my finger on it. I can remember enough context to help software locate the text but I don't recall the book it was in.

Maybe it'll come to me later, but for now I'll just be scratching my head.

This is why I tend to type rather than write these days. I love seeing a page of hand-written text, but until I can search through notebooks and journals I'll punch all I might want to remember into a machine that will let me retrieve it.

(But if you hack together a solution, be sure to let me know.)

Personal

Leap of faith

A friend I used to work with resigned just before Christmas. He's back at work today. Back, not as a full-time employee, but as a long-term contractor.

This is the IT leap of faith. Resign then be re-employed - typically with better reward.

It breeds resentment and demoralisation, but it still goes on. I can only guess that companies consider the financial benefits sufficient to balance the risk of alienating the remaining permanent staff. A few years ago scarcely a week would go by without someone taking the leap. Its occurrence is far less frequent now, but it's interesting to note that it still works.

One day someone will jump and not make the other side. That's the day permanent employees are looking to. Or perhaps sometime the political mood will shift and contractor staff will start to take the reverse jump.

But until then, every new body gathered on the far side adds more weight to the suspicion that the employer/employee relationship within IT may soon be gone for good.

Walks

Orford coast and country

Having finally used my Suffolk Walks book, I'm determined to get through most of its 28 walks before the end of the year.

Distance: 6.58 miles
Ascent: 94 metres
Duration: 2 hours 5 minutes

Walk 14: Orford coast and country

It was warmer today than I expected, but once the haze built up and blocked out the sun that all changed.

This walk is a short circuit of Orford, taking in farmland, a small village church, forest, country lanes and the riverside.

I've walked part of the path before, but I didn't describe the most prominent feature on the coast by Orford: the Pagodas of the former atomic research establishment on Orford Ness. They're an incongruous sight, these hulking buildings which to me look more like the Acropolis. It's hard to imagine their presence being a secret since their nature begs questions.

Visiting the Ness will have to wait for another occasion though. After a busy start to the weekend, I needed to get out into the fresh air and this walk has satisfied that need wonderfully.

Greenbelt

Make Poverty History

The white band that appeared on this website earlier in the month has been joined by a matching one on wrist. They'll be there all year.

They're not to signify that I can use the slides at the swimming pool. Their closest relatives are Radio 1's blue Beat Bullying bands. (Just extend that idea to an international scale.)

To find out more check out makepovertyhistory.org.

Greenbelt

From the other side

For the past three years I've taken an active role in the GB brainstorming sessions. Most recently I've been ideas collator for the Media programme. Not tonight though. Tonight I'm just another punter.

I thought this would be easy. I thought teasing ideas out of 100 people was hard work (it's certainly exhausting). But tonight I saw it from the other side and I was stumped. Talks, fine art, light ents and music all came and went without me having a single moment of inspiration.

Thankfully there were others who weren't so tongue-tied though. By the end of the evening, the usual magic had happened - it looks like we'll have another unpredictable, innovative and fresh festival in August.

Arts

Film: Beyond the Sea

Part-way through American Beauty, Kevin Spacey's character is so frustrated with his wife's choice of music that he tosses her Bobby Darin cassette out of the car window. The thought of Kevin Spacey not only directing, but also playing the lead role in a film about Darin's life brought a smile to my face.

It's an interesting film with plenty of original touches but for some reason it didn't connect with me. Maybe that's because I don't know the subject well, or perhaps it's because I'd only recently seen another biopic.

Ultimately, an interesting and well-made film but somehow distant.

Personal

Time to change plans?

I planned my next bit of walking last week. But news of the weather in Cumbria since Friday has made me have second thoughts.

After all, being able to distinguish the coastline is a key prerequisite of walking round it.

Arts

Film: Ladies in Lavender

I'd made up my mind before seeing this film: I'd bitterly describe it as "nice, gentle British drama". I'd point out how the actors' hoary heads matched that audience's. I'd moan about how as a country we always fund this sort of film, but never seem to take risks with something new.

But instead I found myself drawn back to Screamadelica. Somehow this pre-war film perched on the cliffs of Cornwall provided an unexpected study of my favourite lyric from the record:

People can be precious but they ain't for keepin'
I get too possessive but souls ain't for stealin'
You were my addiction I got strung out, crazy
Hit me like a fever when you left me baby.

So I retract my earlier thoughts. I'm slowly learning to open my mind.

Greenbelt

Orthodoxy

Tonight's words on insight about Greenbelt come from Paul Northup. Surveying the scene of five laptops that were in blast-shields-up position at the start of tonight's Management Group meeting he observed, "it's the only way we're orthodox".

Every now and then I really enjoy conforming.

Arts

Yep, I know that feelin'

I finally got round to watching Wim Wenders' 1984 film Paris, Texas today.

Then, perhaps two hours in, I suddenly heard a familiar voice. "Yep," said Jane, "I know that feelin'".

That line appears right at the end of track nine on Primal Scream's Screamdelica. For once I'm in total agreement with popular opinion: that album defined the early 90s.

So to hear a snippet of it on a film made seven years earlier was surprising, exciting and moving.

Comment

TV personality

What makes someone a "TV personality"?

Naturally they have to appear on TV from time to time. But they can't be too well-known; if they were, the label wouldn't be required.

A new plaque on the Market Hill reveals that we will be graced with the presence of Helen McDermott on Thursday. There's another clue: if she was particularly famous, the council would capitalise on the event by holding it on a weekend.

Confirmation finally came via Google: local newsreader. I won't be putting in an appearance.

Personal

Shape

In the middle of a stack of paper I got through the post today (who said the digital age is upon us?) was a highly detailed map of my street.

I've always been a map fan, but this one was particularly fascinating. Angel Lane itself is one of the oldest streets in the town, so the layout of properties wedged between it and Chapel Lane has been complicated by centuries of tit-for-tat trading of land.

The end result is a fragile mosaic of lines that demonstrate there's no such thing here as a standard size garden. And right in the middle, an island of land that seems to have no road frontage. Tomorrow I shall attempt to discover what hidden treasure is buried there.

Personal

Good guys use Macs

I've been re-watching the first series of 24 this week.

The thing that sticks out most for me this second time around? All the good guys use Macs, all the baddies use Windows. Yes I know it's only fiction, but with associative evidence like this do you really want to risk being found guilty?

Arts

Album: The College Dropout

So I was wrong. I had heard of Kanye West before. Or rather, I recognise at least three or four tracks from his debut album.

I'm not one for 'skit-tracks' that litter these sorts of records, but when they provide filler between songs as good as We Don't Care and All Falls Down I'm prepared to forgive.

Kanye talks perhaps one or two times too many about his near-fatal car accident, but apart from that I'm all over this. It's full of hooks, and crammed with life. Very worthwhile.

Arts

Film: The Incredibles

I knew it would be this way.

Just as Knicknack was greater than Finding Nemo, and as For the Birds beat Monsters Inc, so Boundin' leapt ahead of The Incredibles.

I don't mean to knock the main event, but everytime Pixar come release a feature, it's the short that leads into it which I enjoy the most.

Tech

At last

Here's something exciting to start the year: a website detailing all transport options in the UK. You punch in a pair of addresses and a start time. The website then tells you how to get from A to B, whether the journey requires a bus, train, ferry, car or walk.

There are still some wrinkles to be ironed out - for example I'd like to download full timetables - but even in its current state this will make planning my coastwalk trips so much easier.

Personal

Not so happy

For the past seven days I've been catching up with world news by my usual means: online and on the radio. Today though, I caught a one-hour special on ITV covering the Asian Tsunami.

I'm stunned. The news I'd seen all week didn't come close to conveying what I saw here.

Personal

Happy New Year

In the foreground: The Deben, the Tide Mill, the quayside.
In the background: church bells ringing, fireworks flying, voices from the square.

Why go to one New Year party when a walk by the river can take you to all of them?