Rewalk

Teignmouth → Starcross

Distance: 7.9 miles
Ascent: unknown
Duration: 3 hours 11 minutes

Brunel-on-Sea
« Shaldon | Exmouth »

After the Shaldon walk we continued on to Starcross. It's a section of the South-West Coast Path which Em hadn't yet completed. We've decided every now and then to rewalk those parts which I've finished but she hasn't.

I know this walk well and it never fails to impress: the railway and the footpath sandwiched between bright red cliffs and thundering sea. Every now and then a wave crashes against the sea wall and spills over the path. For a short distance the railway passes through five tunnels while the path climbs up and over the cliffs before reuniting.

Originally walked on 21 February 2001.

Coastwalk , South West Coast Path

Shaldon → Teignmouth

Distance: 1.66 miles
Ascent: 17 metres
Duration: 36 minutes

The unseen village
« Torquay | Starcross »

When Jez and I walked the coast from Torquay to Teignmouth eight years ago we took the ferry the sort distance across the River Teign. Continuing my theme of walking-out ferries, today Emma and I took the ferry from Teignmouth to Shaldon then walked back to town across the Teign Bridge and through the docks.

Although I've been coming to Teignmouth all my life, I've never been to the dock area. So I was surprised to see streets evocative of a Cornish fishing village ABP's warehouses.

Coastwalk , South West Coast Path

Plymouth → Wembury

Distance: 13.7 miles
Ascent: 343 metres
Duration: 4 hours 41 minutes

A tale of two lighthouses
« Portwrinkle | Wonwell »

The assault on the remaining south Devon coastline starts here! The foot ferry from Cremyll lands at Admiral's Hard in the Stonehouse area of Plymouth. We arrived just in time to grab the last space in the free car park beside the jetty and headed off.

From here to Jennycliff Bay the Waterfront Walk takes the South-West Coast Path right through Plymouth. It's "innovatively" marked, with plenty to see on the way: quotations set into the pavement, embossed stars, nautical debris, model warships, sculptures and working ports. It's a great walk, although the section between Cattedown and Oreston was notably less interesting. There's a good gallery of the waterfront on the BBC website.

The centrepiece of Plymouth Hoe is John Smeaton's Eddystone lighthouse, brought to this point and reconstructed stone-by-stone one hundred and twenty-three years' service on Eddystone Rocks, thirteen miles out to sea. From Jennycliff Bay the rocks Rocks themselves came into view, with the new lighthouse standing slender and proud next to the stub of Smeaton's.

Film

Slumdog Millionaire

On the way home from the cinema tonight Emma and I checked each Academy Award won by Slumdog Millionaire. Best picture, cinematography, directing, editing, score, song, sound and adapted screenplay - it'd be hard to deny any of them are well-deserved.

What I enjoyed most is the absolute lack of preaching. There are a dozen ways to sermonise the film but none are explicit. There's food for thought if you look for it but if you're just in the mood for an evening out, enjoy it.

Tech

Open heart surgery

How do you measure the productivity of a software engineer? Most developers recognise that in software quantity is no substitute for quality.

Today's been a good day. I've been performing open-heart surgery on a project of mine. I deleted 2,000 lines of code and replaced them with just 800. A manager I once had would not have been pleased: by the end of the day I was 1,200 lines of code down. But what's left is more straightforward (and therefore more understandable and less prone to bugs) as well as more elegant and more efficient.

Technologies like Core Data make days like today possible and make life as a Mac developer productive, fun and exciting.

Greenbelt , Personal

Hiraeth

Hiraeth has been haunting me recently. It was carved into stone at Cardigan Quay as I ended my tenth anniversary coastwalk; the Bishop of Saint David's mentioned it the next day in his sermon. It's a Welsh word. Most sources I've consulted say it's impossible to accurately translate into English, but then all end up with the same translation: homesickness, a longing for home.

Home is such a strong notion. Krzysztof Kieslowski once said the sense of "home" is one thing that marks Europeans out from other people.

Greenbelt's theme for this year is "Standing in the Long Now". It sprang out of a discussion of home and exile amongst Trustees when I was reminded of Brian Eno's comment that he would like to live in the "Big Here and the Long Now". We latched onto the latter part but I'd like to not forget the former.

I hope in a future year we can return to the idea of Home. I keep wondering where mine is - somewhere by the sea, maybe?

Personal

Elan and Ystwyth

Driving from Suffolk to Aberystwyth I always used to take the A44 across the Cambrian mountains. On recent trips though we've found a new favourite route, up the Elan valley and down the Ystwyth. From Rhayader take the B4518 east to Elan Village, then follow signs to Aberystwyth with their red "Mountain Road" warning label.

The Elan valley is home to a chain of huge reservoirs which supply drinking water to Birmingham. The lakes are always spectacular, never more so than when the level is high enough for vast quantities of water to thunder over the lowest dam at Caban Coch.

Beyond the summit of the pass, Cwm Ystwyth is a different affair: a narrow, steep-sided valley dotted with old mine buildings. I imagine my grandfather here as he wrote the Valley of Vision prayer. It's a stunning welcome back to Ceredigion.

Personal

Whisky

A couple of years ago I wondered aloud whether we'd fall in with a good set of neigbours once we'd moved.

We already had the answer, but Friday night made it abundantly clear: an emphatic yes.

I bumped into our host again this afternoon. "Were you alright Saturday morning?" he asked. This is the voice of our eighty year-old neighbour who shared seven of his hundred and twenty whiskies with us and a couple of others on Friday night. He provided tasting notes, an enthusiasm and genuine interest in everyone's opinion.

Anyone know where to find a scotch for the man who quite literally has them all?

Angels

Gabriel's Nitespot

There were Angels everywhere last weekend.

My favourite was the Angel Hotel in Cardigan. Sadly missing a pictorial depiction of an Angel, the hotel made up with the sign pointing down its side alleyway to "Gabriel's Nitespot". Tempted as I was to return and see just how they'd themed the club I think some things are best left to the imagination.

Angels , Faith

Saint David's Angels

When we decided to come away to West Wales this weekend Em suggested getting to a service in the cathedral at St David's. It wasn't until we checked the service times online that we realised the perfection in the idea.

Today's 1 March. Saint David's Day. Where else would anyone want to be?

I sat with Emma on my left and a recently retired member of the cathedral choir on my right. With harmonies coming from each and with a congregation determined to drown out the organ there was nothing to be done but sing with as much passion and vigour as possible.

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant Hapus!