Personal

One today

That year went very quickly, then.

Happy birthday Abigail.

Walks

The far north

These two walks are in the far north of Suffolk - on the narrow finger of the county that teases Great Yarmouth with hints of annexation.

Distance: 7.09 miles
Ascent: 172 metres
Duration: 1 hour 57 minutes

Walk 18: Somerleyton and Waddling Lane

If you're after a walk round an English estate village you'd be hard pushed to beat this amble round Somerleyton. The hall and gardens are suitably grand, but better still is the village centre: uniform cottages arranged around a water pump and village green. The green doubles as the playing field for the stunning thatched Primary School.

After a circuit of Somerleyton Hall's gardens the walk heads south, then west along Waddling Lane - a beautiful green lane that roughly follows the River Waveney.

Dragonflies abounded today. They were the main feature of both walks. Presumably they flourish on the nearby Broads, heading inland a little to serve as a tourist attraction.

Distance: 3.23 miles
Ascent: 40 metres
Duration: 59 minutes

Walk 1: Carlton Marshes and the River Waveney

Just the other side of Oulton Broad this short walk rounds the wildlife reserve at Carlton Marshes. The marshes are probably a bird-watcher's paradise, but personally I found them rather boring and flat.

They did teach me one lesson though. I was amazed by the sight of this caterpillar, certain I'd come across something rare. What's this caterpillar? put me in my place. The Emperor Moth is apparently widespread in the UK.

So this evening I'm thinking about the wonders of pupation. (Remember learning about it as a child? It seemed so improbable then. It seems just the same now.) And I've committed to opening my eyes just a little more when I go walking in the future.

Tech

Geek heaven

I suspect everyone has a book they dip into from time to time, but never read cover-to-cover. My two are an anthology of Scottish folk stories, and The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers.

(I tried reading the dictionary straight through once but only got as far as 1.082323.)

That latter book might be about to be superseded though. How about The Encyclopaedia of Integer Sequences? Even better, it has an online companion.

I think I've found geek heaven. Those Scottish folk stories will have to wait a while.

Greenbelt

Thirty-one

The latest Wing and a Prayer dropped on my doormat this morning. And inside, the wonderfully concise Greenbelt Review of the festival's thirty-first year.

It's a fantastic read. It tells you what Greenbelt is, where it's going and a little bit about how it got to where it is now. (Hopefully the document might make its way to the Greenbelt website soon.)

Inspiring stuff, and what a time to read it - just as we're revving up for the next festival. It's under a month away now and I can hardly wait.

Tech

Better than Soduku

I always think writing software is the ultimate game, the perfect puzzle. You get to dream the goal, you make up the rules. The game can be as hard as you like and will be as rewarding as you can make it.

Is it any wonder I cut code for fun?

This past three months my goal has been simple: figure out how to display maps of the country. I'd set myself a time limit of the end of the month. And when today - over breakfast - I realised this was the equation I'd been looking for, I knew my task was complete.

f(x,y) = a + bx + cy + dx² + exy + fy² + gx³ + hx²y + ixy² + jy³

The thing to understand is that this makes me very happy. It's like solving a huge Soduku puzzle, but with 4.6 million numbers rather than the usual hundred or so. Better than that it also has a point: expect maps of my walks on this website in the next couple of months.

Tech

"Even the box is a work of art"

... and with those words I knew the iPod won't be the last Apple product Emma will own.

Personal

A picture of happiness

If you try really hard you can just about convince yourself that these people are having fun.

Yesterday was Regatta Day in Woodbridge and it's fair to say that the event's a whole lot more fun when it's not raining.

It was nevertheless a good event. It's just that with the constant drizzle things took a new form. The tea shops were all doing brisk business; the fairground stalls less so. There was no need at all for the greasy pole. There were no piggy baps.

I can't tell you whether Father Raphael's time had come. I don't even know whether vicar rowing has become an annual event. A warm, dry home beckoned so we didn't stay long.

Arts

Film: Batman Begins

Emma's observation was a good one: although a good film, Batman Begins is let down by its science. For me it was the microwave weapon capable of vaporising a city's water supply yet have no adverse effect on humans; for her it was the it the analysis of a toxin and manufacture of an antidote with just a couple of hours. I guess this shows she works in drug discovery while I let my mind drift when using the popty ping.

Visually I preferred Sin City but in all other terms — plot, pace, acting, atmosphere; need I go on? — Batman wins.

Personal

Obsessed

The choice today was: walk, garden or hack. I ended up gardening. This worries me - what am I becoming?

Angels

St Alban Street, Weymouth

I'm trying to find depictions of Angels rather than of the word "Angel". But this shop was too good to leave out. Note in particular all the merchandise.

Arts

Film: Sin City

I'll be surprised if Sin City doesn't at least get an Oscar nomination for Art Direction. It's like nothing you've seen before and perfectly reflects the graphic novels the film is based on: high-contrast black and white, with an occasional sparkle of colour.

Unfortunately for me the look is the best thing about the film. Its episodic nature belies its Rodriguez/Tarantino roots, as does its extreme violence. And unusually it was the violence that really turned me off the film. The narration seems laboured and unnecessary, although very nearly saved by the phrase "thugs with delusions of eloquence".

I can't decide whether the film is a landmark. It's certainly worth catching a glimpse of, but ultimately perhaps not worth watching right through.

Arts

Album: Drunkard's Prayer

When Time Out reviewed Madonna's American Life they counted the number of times her lyrics used the words I, me or my. Observing that she referred to herself every ten seconds the reviewer argued that self-obsession wrecked the record.

At the time I thought this was insightful. It seemed self-reference drew the boundary between the albums I liked and those I didn't.

Such an analysis fails on Over the Rhine's new album.

You might consider how formulaic an album is. With just a couple of exceptions the songs on Drunkard's Prayer alternate between opening with a single strum of an acoustic guitar and a long piano chord. They're quiet songs meant to be played loud, steeped in the tradition of 'beautiful heartache' that Over the Rhine play so well.

But there's something more going on here.

First time through the opening track seems trite. On its own I want you to be my love, 'neath the moon and the stars above isn't going to win any awards. But by the time you get to the end of the record the significance of its simplicity is breathtaking.

This first track lays out the manifesto: love, and a relationship to be worked on. For forty minutes we follow this relationship tumbling towards breaking point before climbing back up to the penultimate track whose opening line — My memory will not fail me now — is a defiant, triumphant lament with hope cut deep in its wounds.

It's a tough record to listen to. Its quiet, simple songs are tightly packed with gut-wrenching emotion.

You'll cry. You might not play it that often. It won't be the most enjoyable thing you've heard all year. But it might be the most honest.

Highly recommended.

Arts

Film: Duma

Duma is a South African film about a boy returning his pet cheetah to the wild.

That's it. Or at least, that's what it should be.

The script writers would have you believe it's a gentle film of awakening and maturing, of loss and compassion, of home and the heart. They might pitch it as a buddy flick, a nature film, a mini-thriller, a tear-jerker or a promo for the South Africa tourist board.

That's the problem.

The film just doesn't know what it really wants to be when it grows up. So instead it meanders along, settling on nothing in particular. It just didn't do it for me. Even the stunning setting was somehow lost.

Still, at least it's not Madagascar.

Personal

Goodbye popty ping

Enthused by rather healthy eating last week I've cooked for myself this evening. OK, so sweet and sour chicken with noodles is only a short step up from a popty ping meal but it's a start. Anyone got any good/quick recipes when cooking for one?

(English is a contagious language. It leaves rashes and scars on other languages the world over, but that doesn't mean those marks aren't to be adored. Given that the Welsh word for oven is "popty", what do you think a "popty ping" is? It's a phrase I've taken to using in preference to the English.)

Personal

Mission status: incomplete

So we didn't quite manage to close the gap on the south coast. We have significantly reduced it though. One more long weekend and we'll be finished. I'm a little disappointed, but not upset: it would have been difficult to walk any further in this heat. Besides, you should see the tan.

Coastwalk , South West Coast Path

Lulworth Cove → Flower's Barrow

Distance: 4.07 miles
Ascent: 467 metres
Duration: 2 hours 22 minutes

Looking down from the range
« Osmington Mills | Kimmeridge Bay »

It's the weekend so that makes it 'walk across a firing range' day. Today we returned to walk the other half of the Lulworth range.

Future coastwalkers should note that while the path from West Lulworth to Little Bindon climbs high over Bindon hill, an alternative along the beach of Lulworth Cove seems possible. That said, I'm glad we took the high route. Looking down at the natural harbour it's possible to make out the interference patterns in the waves as those generated by each headland cross.

It's rewarding to look down from the path a little further on too. The fossilised remains of a forest are visible in the cliffs below the firing range: strange circular mounds and hollow formations of rock. This is the Jurassic Coast at its most raw.

Coastwalk , South West Coast Path

Castletown → Weymouth

Distance: 5.97 miles
Ascent: 137 metres
Duration: 3 hours 7 minutes

Waiting for 2012
« Chiswell | Osmington Mills »

It's exciting times for the far northern fringes of Portland. The new Sailing Academy at Osprey Quay will host the Olympic sailing in 2012 and the whole area seems pregnant with development opportunities.

Back across the causeway the path from Wyke Regis the path is straightforward and pleasant, following initially the course of an old railway and later the prom into old Weymouth.

I've been to Weymouth just once before. At Easter in 1983 mum took us four children to Jersey for a week. We had some time to kill before our ferry set sail so we walked along the sea front. As you can see (that's Jez in the left-hand photograph; I'm the one in the unflattering picture on the right) not much has changed in twenty years. It'll be interesting to see how much changes in the next seven.

Coastwalk , South West Coast Path

Abbotsbury → Chiswell

Distance: 14.2 miles
Ascent: 367 metres
Duration: 6 hours 6 minutes

Avoiding the beach
« West Bay | Castletown »

For seventeen miles the high shingle bank of Chesil Beach runs from near Abbotsbury to Chiswell, its pebbles linking the island of Portland to the mainland. So rather than describe a relentless plod along the beach we made our way along the landward side of the Fleet lagoon.

(We have other excuses for not walking the beach: we wanted to avoid disturbing ground-nesting birds; we suspected one section of the beach to be closed due to activity on the Chickerell rifle range; we were worried about being robbed by pirates; we're just plain lazy. Take your pick.)

In the end it wasn't the rifle range that forced us to detour yet further inland. A short distance after Chickerell Hive Point a cow had just given birth beside the gate where we were to enter her field. The detour added a mile or so but seemed the best choice for all.

It's been another baking day and by the time we reached the causeway linking Wyke Regis to Portland we were exhausted. Walkers following in our steps should know there's a taxi office in the first buildings on the island on the left. They weren't surprised about where we wanted a lift to. Especially since the alternative was turning right and walking back along the beach.

Website

Bad news

I've just been told the Youth Hostel we're staying in has a wireless network. I'm determined to stick to my self-imposed 'read no email' rule during the week, but this makes it harder. On the other hand, I'm able to get website updates out more regularly now.

Coastwalk , South West Coast Path

Chiswell → Castletown

Distance: 10.6 miles
Ascent: 428 metres
Duration: 5 hours 12 minutes

The island
« Abbotsbury | Weymouth »

There seems to be some confusion as to the spelling of our starting point. My map names the village "Chesil" while Emma's map - and all the local signs - call it "Chiswell". The point isn't worth arguing; we finished less than half a mile from the start, having completed a circuit of the island we've been staying on. (This project would be so much easier if I lived on Portland.)

Portland seems to be an island with no centre. Quarries occupy almost all the uninhabited land. Quarries so deep I worry that the sea will flood the island from the centre.

The most interesting is the labyrinthine Tout Quarry, now a sculpture park. Here in 1983 Antony Gormley carved the first work, a life-size figure falling down the rockface. It was a treat to see, at a time when I'm looking forward to seeing more of Gormley's work soon on the Sefton coast.

The rest of the western coast continued the theme of active and abandoned quarries until finally a wide expanse of common ground opened out and we reach the brace of lighthouses at Portland Bill.

Sadly we can't tell you about the eastern coast: in the space of a minute the clear blue skies vanished as the sea mist rolled in once more.

Coastwalk , South West Coast Path

West Bay → Abbotsbury

Distance: 8.05 miles
Ascent: 205 metres
Duration: 3 hours 33 minutes

The mist
« Lyme Regis | Chiswell »

The mist was the defining feature of today's walk. The guidebook kept taunting us with "fine views along the length of Chesil Bank" while the best we could hope for was the occasional glimpse of the next field.

We stopped the walk at Abbotsbury, a charming - but rather overpriced - tourist village. We'd love to tell you about the newly hatched swans but since the Swanery's entrance fee seemed to offer little more than another walk down to the same body of water we'd been following all day, we can't.

Instead we can recommend the Old School tea-room, and exhibition on Abbotsbury during the Second World War that's currently being presented in the school. It's a very wordy display but well worth spending time over - each board based on painstakingly researched oral history.

(Today is also - for those who like to be accurate - the day to leave birthday greetings for Emma.)

Personal

They didn't build things for tourists

A day off - we're not tourists, not walkers, today. Two sites: the Iron Age hill fort at Maiden Castle and the Cerne Abbas giant (you know all about him).

Both were impressive in their own right, but were transformed when viewed at close proximity: the massive earthworks at Maiden Castle became gentle, rippling undulations in the grassy field when viewed from the top, and the famous giant hill figure was virtually invisible from the corner of his field. Although undoubtedly worth visiting, we were left with the impression that the best views of both were from the relative distance of the road.

Coastwalk , South West Coast Path

Flower's Barrow → Kimmeridge Bay

Distance: 3.92 miles
Ascent: 188 metres
Duration: 2 hours 6 minutes

Across the firing range
« Lulworth Cove | Chapman's Pool »

Emma and I are in Dorset this week, closing off the gap in my coastwalk between West Bay and Sandbanks. Right in the middle of this section is an army tank range. It's beautiful scenery, but a logistically difficult walk. The MoD only allow access for walkers at the weekend and getting from one end to the other is possible only by foot or car.

Today then, two hours after leaving the car we finally began the coastwalk. We'd turned the range into two circular walks and were knocking off the eastern half.

En route to the start we passed through extensive areas of MoD firing range, complete with warnings of unexploded shells. This area was 'evacuated' by the MoD in 1943. When the village of Tyneham was commandeered, residents had one month to vacate their homes. Wooden panels inside the church tell the stories of the families who were forced to leave. They are still waiting to move back.

Requisition of the land has meant that modern agricultural practices have not been adopted. Consequently there is a rich diversity of plants and animals present on the crumbling chalky cliffs; orchids were one of the several unique species we saw today.

Other features of note on this walk: one of us stepped in a cow-pat. A fresh one. And repeated the trick half an hour later. One of us left the nice cake behind. One of us fell down a cattle grid. Both of us fought the brambles, gorse, thistles and nettles of an overgrown and little-used path. Either that, or we were lost. Both of us have probably been out in the sun too long (which may explain some of the above).

Personal

Contrasting stones

"Be honest. What do you think of the scale," I asked. "I know everyone says it, but it is smaller than you'd think." was Emma's reply.

She'd never seen Stonehenge in person; I'd never paid to go in. Time to rectify both. But on our way there we stopped to see the much larger stone circle in Avebury. The contrasts just keep coming. Stonehenge was packed with American tourists and while Avebury was hardly quiet, there was plenty of room to breath. At Avebury we were able to lay both hands flat on the stones whereas a sturdy rope kept visitors at a good distance from Stonehenge.

That's not to say one henge is better than the other. Perhaps the lesson is that there's not just one Neolithic monument that's worth spending time with.

Coastwalk

Dovey Junction → Ynyslas

Distance: 8.75 miles
Ascent: 119 metres
Duration: 2 hours 21 minutes

The furnace
« Aberdyfi | Borth »

At one point I'd planned to catch the train to Aberystwyth for Emma's birthday celebrations tonight. It turned out cheaper, faster and more convenient to hire a car. And of course when I booked the car I wasn't aware that yesterday driving would be the shrewd move.

However I got here the result was the same: a day to kill while Em works. You know me well enough by now to realise there was only one thing to do.

The walk up and down the Dovey Estuary is horrible. I can say that with confidence even though I've only completed the southern half - I've taken a peek at the map and the north is no better. Eight miles pounding along a busy, fast, narrow, pavement-less road isn't my idea of fun. But since there's no ferry across the river-mouth what alternative did I have?

Walking it did at least provide a different perspective on what is becoming a familiar road. I enjoyed exploring the huge water-wheel and abandoned furnace at Eglwysfach. I found an abandoned truck turned into a greenhouse. I saw three old graveyards and lost count of converted chapels.

Come back in a couple of months to see what the A-road along the north bank holds.

Personal

Bad communicator

I'm frazzled. By some thing you know about. By some things you don't.

A comment name-checking a nursery rhyme tripped me up today. Its intention was harmless but I fell flat on my face. I sent an email I shouldn't.

I'm not communicating well today.

So instead of saying something else that might embarrass me in the future I'll keep my words brief.

I love London.

Personal

Threes

You know, as in "Good news comes in...".

1. London 2012 wins. (If we can't win a medal, we may as well celebrate winning the whole event.)
2. The EU will not allow software patents. (Meaning software developers will be able to innovate without fear of litigation.)
3. ...?

I guess the last one is down the the guys up at Gleneagles.

Personal

The view from the bus

That week I took the bus to work turns out to have been a fluke. With the car still out of action I've been bussing in for the past month.

These are the things I've learned:

1. The landlord at The Anchor wears his dressing gown while straightening the outdoor furniture at ten to eight.
2. iPods are just as popular here as in London.
3. The bus home turns up about 35% of the time.
4. An umbrella is essential.
5. It's a long walk home.

Personal

On the move

I moved desk today. It's nothing major - just a chance to move into slightly better accommodation while our old office is refurbished.

Coincidentally a dozen or so caravans pulled up outside work - a group of travellers have decided to occupy the land outside the gate for a while.

All the voices in the office are about moving then. The sad thing is the words that are being used to describe our new neighbours. Prejudice, fear and resentment abound. It's not much fun to listen to.

Arts

Be faithful to your dreams

Ip-art rolls on. This year the Ipswich Arts Festival seems to be celebrating art in ordinary places. Tracey Emin's neon exhortation greets visitors to the council offices.

I was unimpressed when I saw it, but now I can see its siting is inspired.

Tech

Speed of technology

Before the gig is even over the opening track from tonight's Live8 in London is on sale online. In fact it's already the top-selling song of the day on iTunes. Who knows, with downloads counted alongside singles, might it even chart tomorrow?

I'm getting a bit bored of people drawing comparisons between Live8 and Live Aid, but there's one more to throw into the mix. Could you have even imagined that back then? A song charting less than twenty-four hours after being recorded.

Arts

K and Q

Q magazine this month has an article on "the most controversial band ever", the KLF. I dispute the title and while it's a good read, the article never goes beyond recounting the events. It doesn't ask why Drummond and Cauty did all they did. I have my theories, but they're best shared over a cup of tea. Or perhaps more appropriately, a bowl of soup. Ask me sometime.

(By the way, isn't there something just a little strange about a mainstream magazine so regularly writing about KLF/JAMs/whatever? Is it just a journalistic way of saying, "look at us: we're still cool"?)