Some Horsing Around

Tuesday being much drier than Monday, and riding was far nicer. Stopped off at the boxing gym on the way home for another session, and it really is starting to come back as the rust starts to fall away - I just need the fitness to come back!!

With Wednesday off and Spurs looking good in the League Cup semi-finals, it was off to Burnley for the second leg of the semi-final. 45 of us on the coach for the trip up, and funnily enough, you could tell exactly when the beers took effect later in the afternoon. Tommy joined myself, Petter, Paul and Paul on this one, and we did have a fun time on the bus trip up - all 5hours of it.
The game itself, was a bit of a nightmare. The night was COLD and a drizzly mist was on the wind. Thankfully our stand wasn’t too affected by this, but as you can see, the seats in Burnley could do with some upgrading! (not that we used them).
Burnley going 3-0 up by full time didn’t really help, because that made it 4-4 on aggregate and we weren't looking good. Extra time meant more game for our money. Spurs scoring twice in the last two minutes of extra time meant that it’s their second League Cup final since I’ve been here. Now the fun starts in obtaining a ticket!
We got back home at 4am.

Thankfully I had the next day off, so I had a chance to go take the bike for a service and then have a bit of an exploration around the area by Brick Lane. Finding a great music store as well as some good looking cafés, a book store and also the vespa shop was a nice bonus.
Off to waterloo and south bank from here, saw me lunching with Lise and having a good catch up on the last few weeks.
Back to Brick Lane Bikes to collect the bike and a cruisey ride home...

Speaking of riding, I headed home early from the work crew at the pub so that I could be up early for one. I ended up finding a new way to get to Hatfield, and this time via Essendon, which is a very small but picturesque village. It was COLD again, being 2C, and this did make for a funny surprise at one point. I stopped to take the pic you can see here, and as I did, my glasses fogged up. I could still make out the screen on my camera, so continued to take a couple of pics. What I couldn’t see was the couple of horses that came over to fill up the lens by standing almost right in front of me. I’ll have to take some apples with me next time! (you can see one of them sneaking up on me here.
Anyway, on the way home I stopped off to make a quick phone call to congratulate Gene n Bec on their wedding, which was pumping along at the reception when I rang. It took a bit to get moving again after that as I had been out on the bike for just under an hour and a half with about an hour to go to get home. I did make it home after over 65kms...
The rest of the day was fairly relaxed with a trip round to Husky n Kels to join some folks and watch the Spurs - Man U FA Cup 4th round. A fun afternoon and night, which included a very funny game of monopoly!

Monday and Australia Day. Heading from work to the Porterhouse (pub/hotel), which actually serves both Coopers Pale Ale and Sparkling Ale. I can’t recall who came up with the idea, but we ended up having a drink for each Australian state;
SA - Coopers
Vic - Crown lager
Tas - Boags
NSW - Tooheys new
Qld - Bundaberg rum (shot)
WA - Margret river shiraz
A good fun night with Row n Mark, Marty n Karen, Troy n Suki, Vicki and a few others. We were also joined by Zara n Jarrett (pictured) Hadrian, and their friend Dave, and it was great to see them again as who knows when I’ll see my cousin Hadrian again as this was his last night in London. (Hopefully a little sooner than another 20+ years!)

Tuesday night, and it was Tommy’s last night before heading home to Australia. Back to White Hart Lane for the league match against Stoke. Both teams in the bottom three and needing to win to avoid possible relegation. 3-1 to Spurs who are strangely now in 12th on the league ladder. A fun night in the pub afterwards until the pub closed. (me, Richie n Tommy).

The Month So Far...

With the month a few weeks old now, it’s time to fill in the blanks, so to speak.
Back into work after the weekend in Wales, and I caught up with another cousin, Zara, who is currently over here with her boyfriend doing pretty much the same thing I am. That’s right, another cousin. When your grandfather is one of seven children, you do end up with a few cousins here and there... Anyway, it’s the first time we’ve seen each other in about 20 years, so we spent the evening in the austere surrounds of the Counting House discovering just how close our lives have actually been, and that we have probably crossed paths in some of our favourite pubs and bars while both living in Melbourne.

The following weekend saw my housemate Paul and myself meet up with another visiting Aussie (Tom) for the trip up to Wigan for Tottenham v Wigan. Not alot to really talk about for this one. A bit of an adventure finding our way to and from the stadium and train, but it wasn’t much different to last week at West Bromich Albion - COLD! That and funny northerners.

This then puts us into last week, which saw me return to something I haven’t done for a few years - martial training. To be more specific, regular western boxing this time and not Thai boxing like I used to. And damn, have I missed that sort of training!! The smell of the gym, the smell of the leather gloves and mitts, the echoes around the gym, the usual lack of heating...
The head trainer couldn’t be more stereotypical either - aging black guy, portly, greying, and quite a character. Aptly named “Tony” too. He wandered about with advice, pointers and instructions as we all went around the various training drills. He took over the heavy bag from my partner during one of the bag drills, and then stopped me after two punches to quiz me on my previous training. He then put me through my paces to see for himself. Intense, but a big smile afterwards for both of us as he nodded approval before saying that he will improve my timing. I felt a bit bad for my partner, but he was happy for the rest.
One mistake that I did make was a simple one - I trained the way I remember, only I’m not the 21/22 year old that I was when I was last doing this (and about 12kilos heavier!). So I did feel it over the next few days...

Thursday saw another catch up with Zara for lunch as we work only a few blocks apart. This time, it was with her brother, Hadrian, who’s over for a week or two. A great seafood restaurant too, despite being busy and late with the meals. Lunch hours just aren’t long enough, so we decided that dinner on Friday night would be the go.
Zara, Hadrian and myself, along with Zara’s other half, Jarrod, met up for dinner at Fifteen - Jamie Oliver’s restaurant. An interesting place too. Zara and I met up straight after work to walk up to the restaurant and while enjoying a few drinks before the other two turned up - oh, and we certainly enjoyed the amazing smells permeating from the nearby kitchen!!
It certainly is a different sort of set up, but the food was impressive! So, despite not seeing either Jamie himself or any other celebrity, we had a really good night together. Unfortunately, Hadrian’s camera has the group shot in the restaurant, and he’s now in Austria for the week...
Afterwards, Hadrian and I stopped off in a nearby pub for a few drinks and a bit more of a catch up. Talk about relatives crossing paths! We’d not seen each other since we were young kids either, but both of us have connections to Miffland (Rolo’s Airfield) where I skydived, and he was a pilot!

So onto this last weekend, and a quiet Saturday with some bike repairs as well as managing to read nearly all of Stef’s book, I Dream of Magda. Quite interesting when you can pick references to things that have happened in our circle of friend’s past. It does add an extra dimension to the read...
Sunday was Portsmouth at White Hart Lane, but more importantly, it was a chance to catch up with Klinns and Fred before they head back to Perth. I met up with Tom and we headed to the Coach & Horses were we found them. A few drinks with them after the game before heading back to the usual haunt near the ground to catch Husky, Kels, Petter, Helen and Geir for a fun evening. (L-R Tom, Husky, Geir and well, you know who...)

And that brings us back to Monday, which was in fine form by trying to drown me while on the bike this morning...

Cymru (Wales) - Addendum

Just a couple of shots here pilfered from some of the others on our trip to Northern Wales... (Thanks Mark!)

The "penguin" slide I mentioned as I proved just how slippery the ice on the paths was. Originally I was going to replicate M*A*S*H's Sidney Freedman's famous quote "Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice: pull down your pants and slide on the ice." However I thought better of that...

Goofing about in front of Tryfan...

On the way up - Row, Andy and myself

Sitting atop the Glydders during our lunch break.

Making my way through the rocks to the Counterleaver.

Cymru (Wales) - Day 3 & 4

With over ten miles now in the legs, day three began with another big breakfast from the hotel restaurant - porridge, yoghurt, bacon, eggs, sausages, baked beans, tomatoes n mushrooms. While “filling the tank”, so to speak, Andy was talking up today’s expedition and promising that it would be painful...
We headed off via Capel Curing and a store there where Andy knows the owner. Yet another sale, and while the others were looking into and buying some stuff, I picked up a much needed beanie, which would be far better than the ear-warmer/baseball cap combination. Did I mention that it was -7C according to the car’s gauges while driving to this small village?
First up, we dropped off one of the cars at our destination. Yep, we would be coming down those hills in around seven hours time...
Across the road, was something you don’t see every day...
The frozen lake that this was in...
Back off to our start point, which is roughly at the other end of that frozen lake. This is the car park at the base of the peak known as Tryfan. As you can see it’s a fair way up and rather steep. It was -8C in the carpark here.
We started out to the left of Tryfan, as our destination was a higher peak and ridge known as the Glydders. (That’s with an ‘i’ rather than an ‘I’.) You can get an idea of how cold it was if you look closely at the creek here...
Looking back after some time of ascending - that’s part of the lower side of Tryfan on the left. The carpark is not visible, but you can just make out the road down there.
Onwards and upwards. That’s the Glydders at the top right of this pic. We would head left of that long ridge before making our way along it (from left to right of this pic)
This is now looking upwards and along the aforementioned ridge, which is steeper than the last pic makes it look.
Looking back out across the valleys. You can just make out that small lake on the right in the sun of that hillside. We’d come up just this side of it and to its left - yep, we’d come up from what looks like a hole in the shadow there...
A bit higher up and looking back towards Tryfan, which is just left of the middle of this pic, and should give you an idea of how high up we were. It was warmer up here, being a whole -3C.
It was with this view that we had a break for lunch.
With fuller bellies, we continued up. Yes, that’s snow on those ‘rocks’, and that did make it tricky to walk across.
Atop the Counterlever on the summit of the Glydders. This isn’t a trick shot either, and that stone isn’t particularly wide either!!
Looking out from the top...
Onwards again, and our route down was on the other side of that peak in the distance. We just had to get there first.
Again, looking out across the valleys.
Discovering what would have been a most impressive way to get back down!!
Closer to that ridge before making the trip back down, with Andy doing the big grin there, and me enjoying the warmth from the new beanie!
Looking down towards the entrance to the Devil’s Kitchen. It was a fair way down to those frozen lakes and creeks, but we still had to head down into the valley on the right...
A bit of perspective on the trip down to the Devil’s Kitchen through all the shale...
After the shale and loose surfaces, the next challenge to get to that ridge and the Devil’s Kitchen - ice, and it was everywhere...
Pretty though.
Andy about to head over the ridge down the Devil’s Kitchen. Once down this, we need to go around that lake and then down again to the bottom of the valley to where the car is parked...
Looking back up after starting down Devil’s Kitchen. I have no idea where these names come from, but it was steep and treacherous going down through some of these rocky “paths”, without the extra issue of the ice.
Looking across the Devil’s Kitchen
Ice falls anyone?
Crossing one of the small creeks on the way down. Don’t be deceived by the light in the photos, as we were losing light fast. These are long exposures which is why the sky looks white, but it was far from it.
We eventually got all the way down, with the last hour or so in the dark, and thankful for headlamps!!
Stopping off at a local pub for a round of pints by an open fire on the way back to the hotel, did wonders! A hot shower and the three course dinner back at the hotel also did the job to finish the day!

Day Four: After checking out of the hotel, and passing through the now snow covered Capel Curing again...
... we pulled up at the side of the road before reaching Betws-y-coed for a short relaxing walk through the countryside.
All relatively flat this time around as we passed through the moss covered landscape that still contained its share of ice and snow.
Once back in Betws-y-coed, it was time to indulge in their rather famous fish n chip shop for a hot lunch before heading back to London.
It really is such a lovely spot in the winter, despite the cold and the frozen over rivers.

But this isn’t the end of this weekend for me. As we were passing through Hemel Hampstead before reaching London, I had reason to stop off at the Three Horseshoes pub. Nick and Vanessa were here enjoying a night of frivolity, pints and a warm fire.
We kicked on into the night before retiring back to Nick’s for pizza and the movie classic, Porky’s, which we’d discovered was on the box as the late night movie. Hilarious!
Up early and this was the view (below), as I made my way to the train station and back into London to begin the working year of 2009...

Cymru (Wales) - Day 1 & 2

So New Year’s Eve after the afternoon playing cluedo in the pub was a quiet bit of dinner with Row, Mark and their friend Yetta. Some bubbly to ring in midnight and the end of the rollercoaster year that was 2008. We were up early and loading up the car with our gear the next morning to then be on our way to Northern Wales shortly thereafter.

As we headed northwest out of London’s outskirts, it didn’t take long before the surrounding countryside was appearing more and more white. Other than last April’s snow ‘dump’ on London that lasted for only the morning, I’ve not really been in a snow covered country before, so you could say that I was a little impressed with the scenes we were driving through. The further we went, the white it got - as you can see here.

We met up with Andy and Lindsay at the first ‘services’ that we called in to for breakfast. A little expensive, but that’s the English roadside services for you. Once underway again, and it was just more and more impressive scenery as we progressed into Northern Wales.

Betws-Y-Coed (pronounced ‘Betsy Co-ed’) was our first stop. Petrol and Outdoor stores. Bargains a plenty here as most of the stores were either outlets or in full sale mode. I didn’t actually know that Northern Wales was a large and popular camping/hiking/climbing/trekking/outdoor wonderland, which explained that there seemed to be more camping/outdoor stores here than any other type of store. But I digress... This little township was simply stunning.

After doing some shopping in several of the stores, we decided to head out for an afternoon walk, before heading back to a pub.

I did say it was a rather picturesque place.

Once warmed in the pub, it was time to head on to Llanberis (pronounced ‘clahnberris’ - yes, the welsh language is something quite unique as you can see here on this sign),

and check in to our hotel. You have to love winter deals that these places do just to keep ticking over in the cold, non-tourist season - £99 for three nights including breakfasts and dinners, and the meals were VERY good, especially for the price! Sure, the view from the restaurant isn’t bad either, not that you could see it at night while downing the 3-course dinner.

Day Two, and again it was up reasonably early to do the trek up Mount Snowdon - the highest peak in Wales. Well over a thousand feet in altitude above our hotel, and the only way was up.
Whilst it looks easy enough to traverse there are some very steep sections as well as some spots that were a little more interesting to navigate (as Mark is showing us below) - yes that's ice, and very slippery ice at that, which I proved later by going for a penguin slide down it...
Impressive view from up here, and yes, that lake you can see near the middle of the pic is iced over!
Unfortunately, further up, the winter weather stepped in to make life both COLDER and somewhat more interesting...
We stopped briefly at the summit in the -15C wind to eat before continuing on our way. That’s Andy, Row n Mark down there sheltering from the wind.
Believe it or not, that snow n ice covered path on the right was our planned path down. When you consider the sheer drop to the right and our lack of ice climbing gear it was "back down the way we came"...
Thankfully on the way down, the weather began to lift and the sun showed us just what we hadn’t seen on the way up...
Amazing views...
Aren't they...Andy said the place was better than both the Lake District in Yorkshire and the Scottish Highlands. I can see why, even if I can't quite show you here...
Once down, we dropped into the little teahouse at the base of the climb and the qwerky little owner was entertaining in his own way (even if a little annoying), but his hot chocolates and welsh whiskies were excellent for more than just their taste!!
It was then just a short walk back to the hotel, for dinner followed by some time in the hotel bar with the pool table rounded out the evening.