purplecat

Offa's Dyke Day 5: Welshpool to Llanymynech

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 19:32:04 GMT

'The dull bit' is a common, but unfair, description so says the guidebook. I'd say it was definitely unfair, unless you are exclusively focused on hills and mountains. This was/will be the shortest and flatest leg of our holiday by some way.

( Picspam under the cut )

Welshpool to Llanymynech: 12m/20km.

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Offa's Dyke Day 4: Mellington Hall to Welshpool

Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:13:42 GMT

This was a gentler walk than Day 3 and took us along several sections we had walked previously on a group holiday to celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary.

( Picspam below the Cut )

Mellington Hall to Buttington Bridge: 13m/21km (Guidebook) with additional diversion to Welshpool 25.52 km (Strava)

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Random Doctor Who Picture

Sat, 18 Jul 2026 19:03:18 GMT

Rest Day, so have a Random Doctor Who Picture

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Offa's Dyke Day 3: Knighton to Mellington Hall

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:48:23 GMT

This was pretty confusing since we were heading West at the time but, whatever, borders wiggle.

"This is the toughest part of the whole route" warned the guidebook ominously, speaking of the path going "against the grain" of the countryside. It was honestly not too bad until just past the halfway point, but then there were a series of steep ups followed by steep downs. We looked enviously at various side paths that zig-zagged in a sensible way up and down the hills but the Dyke went straight across in the manner of a Roman road and so, so did we. Strava has congratulated me on my longest day walking, despite having definitely walked further in terms of mileage in the past.

Anyway, we are now ensconced in a fancy room* in a fancy hotel with rubbish internet. We have a rest day tomorrow where our plans amount to walking to the nearby village/town to buy B. a new hat (having left his in a Thai restaurant in Kington) and see if we can find good enough internet for "Family Zoom".

( Not much picspam below the cut because I stopped taking photos when we hit the relentless up and down. )
* B thinks I booked the Bridal Suite - we certainly have a four-poster prominently in the centre of the room and a jacuzzi bath.

Knighton to Mellington Hall: 14m/22.6km (Guidebook) 26.45km (Strava)

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Offa's Dyke Day 2: Kington to Knighton

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 19:15:19 GMT

Today was more challenging. It was hotter, or at least felt hotter, and I was concerned enough to be rationing my water supply. Theoretically it was a shorter distance, but we got lost a couple of times in a golf course and one stretch of path was so covered in bracken and low trees that we ended up taking a detour so Strava, at least, things we walked a mile further than the official distance. We saw a lot of the actual dyke though.

( Picspam of Offa's Dyke )

Kington to Knighton: 13.5 miles/21.7 km according to the guidebook 23.16km according to Strava.

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Offa's Dyke Day 1: Hay-on-Wye to Kingon

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 19:11:43 GMT

Having, for reasons documented elsewhere, had to cancel the first three days of our planned walk of Offa's Dyke, we set of this morning from Hay-on-Wye (where we did not buy books because our luggage was quite close to the limit allowed by the baggage transfer company).

( Picspam under the cut )

Hay-on-Wye to Kington: 14.75 miles/23.6km

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Tombs of the Kings

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 10:01:39 GMT

I mentioned in my Sightseeing in Cyprus post that I thought the Tombs of the Kings were worth a post in their own right. This is a sprawling necropolis that was in use from the 4th century BC to the 3rd century AD. The Brasilian with the car dropped me and the other Brasilian off to view it while he went to forage for fresh olive oil, saying he'd seen it before on a previous visit to Cyprus and no kings were involved. He afterwards did admit that it was pretty impressive, lack of actual kings notwithstanding, but that acquiring fresh olive oil was a priority. Some of the tombs were labelled and numbered, but we never established to our satisfaction if we'd explored them all - there were at least 8 across a large site - and many others that were just holes in the rock.

( Picspam below the cut )

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Random Doctor Who Picture

Sat, 11 Jul 2026 15:49:22 GMT

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More Orkney (AKA Random Neolithic Stones on a Friday)

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 15:11:37 GMT

Skara Brae

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Sightseeing in Cyprus

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 20:27:25 GMT

As mentioned previously, on my final day in Cyprus I went sightseeing with two (not entirely) random Brasilians.

( Pictures under the Cut )

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Random Iron Age Remains

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 19:07:23 GMT

Broch of Gurness again

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Paphos Mosaics

Tue, 16 Jun 2026 19:06:57 GMT

The conference in Cyprus organised us a trip to the Paphos Archeological Park. This is an excavation of the old city, parts of which date back to prehistoric times, and there are definitely Greek bits but in the main it is a Roman city and it is famous for the mosaic floors.

( Picspam Ahoy! )

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'Twas on the Monday Morning...

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 20:44:06 GMT

The plasterer who was making good around the new windows left the most phenomenal mess throughout the ground floor of the house. In his defence he had tried to mop up. On the other hand, I'm not convinced he really knew his way around a mop and bucket and I'm mystified by the lack of dust sheets. Most of the ground floor was covered in a thin layer of plaster dust but thankfully we only have carpets on the upper floors so it wasn't trodden into anything difficult to clean. Some things had actual plaster stuck to them - most notably an attachment that came with our toaster for making toasted ciabatta sandwiches which now has plaster stuck to each corner. At least we never actually use it, so I can merely be mildly non-plussed - did he think it was some kind of plastering tool? A dustpan? who knows? It was stacked on top of the toaster some way from the site of actual plastering, so I don't think it was just random plaster splashes.

The plasterer returns tomorrow to tackle replastering of the pantry where a leak had completely ruined the old plaster.

I have invested in dust sheets.

UPDATE: Apparently the plasterer won't be here tomorrow...

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Random Doctor Who Picture

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 16:57:12 GMT

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Random Iron Age Remains

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 19:22:18 GMT

Broch of Gurness, Orkney

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Reading, Listening, Watching

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 19:14:31 GMT

Reading I'm still reading Frazer Hines' Evil of the Daleks but I also started reading Modern Control Systems because I really need to know more about Control Systems particularly since, via a convoluted set of circumstances, I've inherited a PhD student who has papers full of phrases like "Lyapanov Equations" and I wouldn't know a Lyapanov equation if it introduced itself in the street. I am currently stuck on the first equation in the book which describes a spring damper system. I do not understand this equation and I've been returning to it and intervals for three days and have consulted wikipedia. I think I need a more basic "modelling physical systems using differential equations" book before I move on to control systems.

Listening Starship Alexandria in which Adrian Tchaikovsky and Emma Newman (two authors I have not read, but intend to) review books and films that I often haven't read. In this case Piranesi which sounds interesting but not so much so that I think it will earn a place on the to read pile.

Watching I am still snowed under by marking, so still nothing.

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New Window

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 19:35:16 GMT

This is one of our new windows. Actually, as is probably obvious, this one is a door onto the garden. Plasterer failed to turn up today. Apparently he had had a fight with his missus. I'm not convinced I could get away with that as an excuse for failing to turn up to work.

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Random Doctor Who Picture

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 15:05:11 GMT

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Fossil Friday

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 20:48:54 GMT

Acanthostega

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Reading, Listening, Watching

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 18:08:59 GMT

Reading: I've just started Frazer Hines' novelisation of Evil of the Daleks. Given he acknowledges Mike Tuckers and Steve Cole (purveyors of fiction), I do wonder how much of a hand he actually had in it. Good so far, but I'm only just starting Chapter 2.

Listening: I've been listening through the Missing Episodes Podcast. These started out really good but the one I just listened to on The Highlanders felt self-indulgent and over-long. Sufficiently so that I wondered once or twice if the presenters were drunk.

Watching: I was in Cyprus last week, and I'm now catching up and marking, so not much. Before I left we were watching Masterchef. B. is in Japan so it will be four weeks until we pick that up again...

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Belinda Icons

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 20:04:25 GMT

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Another Shipwreck

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 20:52:13 GMT

Just to please passerbyp, myself and two random Brasilians* one of whom was in possession of a rental car went to see a second shipwreck off the coast of Cyprus, MV Demetrios II. This was rather further from the shore so harder to get a good photo of.

*not that random, I actually know them pretty well.

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Random Doctor Who Picture

Sat, 30 May 2026 18:17:27 GMT

From the 2021 Dr Who Annual, apparently

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More Orkney (AKA Random Neolithic Stones on a Friday)

Fri, 29 May 2026 17:19:57 GMT

Ring of Brodgar

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Twelfth Doctor Icons

Tue, 26 May 2026 07:46:16 GMT

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