climate change activist and science communicator; photographer; mapmaker
My actual travels, those I aspire to, and those of others
With luck, the first full day on this thesis writing retreat is proving useful for the conversion of heaps of notes and myriad random thoughts into well-sequenced textual arguments. I hope my fellow program members are finding equal success and that those lucky enough not to have theses to write are enjoying their liberty.
Until April 7th, I will be in Branscombe, Devon working on my thesis. Rather than spending hours coming up with eight posts, you will just get a photo each day for the duration.
Wish me luck in finishing a good first complete draft: 30,000 words in five chapters.
After an agonizing two hours of trying1 to book Eurostar tickets, I gave up and got a flight to Paris from EasyJet. I am not sure if the bookings problems were Eurostar’s or NatWest’s fault. If my bank is to blame, they have sunk even deeper in my estimation. If it was the train company, they lost two customers because their web interface is unreliable. It failed at every possible stage: listing train times, entering payment information, and processing my credit card.
I am leaving on the afternoon of April 26th (three days after my thesis submission) and returning on April 30th (a few weeks before exams). It would be nice to go for longer, but the middle of an Oxford term is not the time for an extended foreign jaunt.
[1] Over and over and over again, without success.
Please note: I will be in Branscombe, Devon working on my thesis between the 31st of March and the 7th of April, as previously noted. During this period, I will have limited internet connectivity at best. Upon my return, I will have sixteen days left to finish my thesis, so don’t expect to hear enormously much from me during this period.
Oh, and I will be leaving for Paris sometime soon after the submission of my thesis on April 23rd…
[Update: 11:30pm] I have just learned that there will be… no Internet access at all. I am told that: “There may be some internet cafes in Sidmouth, a walkable 6 miles away.” Gasp! Sputter! That is almost reason enough to just stay and work in Oxford.
[Update: 26 March 2007] For some reason, whenever I go on vacation my reader numbers plummet. This happens when I leave pre-written posts set to appear at timed intervals. It seems to happen even when I blog from internet cafes while on vacation. Should I simply not bother, leaving a pause in this long-advancing progression of text?
Welsh landscape with sheep, taken on the third day of walking.
Small lake, halfway up a mountain.
Welsh valley, viewed from the highest point we reached on the third day.
Snowdonia does not suffer for lack of moss. I like the colours.
A gloomy view of Snowdon, as well as the two other peaks we climbed on the first day. This is the last photo from Snowdonia that I will be posting.
Bridge in the nature reserve we visited on the second day. Because of the low altitude and protected status, there was far more vegetation there than elsewhere in Snowdonia.
Pool at the base of a waterfall
Another group photo, this one with me in it
Creek flowing from the waterfall
View uphill to the ‘barn’ in which we stayed. Nearby was a small power plant, with turbines operated by water pressure. A long pipeline – resembling those for natural gas – ran down to it from a lake somewhere above us.
Keeping my hat on was a constant challenge, given the lack of a chin-strip and the strong winds.
Because the winds on the second day prevented us from going up any peaks, we visited this nature reserve instead. It was nice to see some trees.
In the reserve, some of us climbed along a steep hillside to see a large waterfall from above. We also got some nice views of the valley below and the seashore.
The Welsh landscape is dominated by bare rock, separated by grassy sections. Often, you see veins of quartz in the shale that look like snow, from a distance.
Shed beside a Welsh lake.
All over the Welsh countryside there are walls and paths made of slate. The amount of labour involved in building them all must have been colossal.
Our first group photo, in front of the view we had from all three peaks on the first day.
Climbing Snowdon was a foggy business.
On the third day, we hiked up to a ridge but found it too windy to continue. On the way down, we walked around this lake.
Wales was not without surprises, two of which I will quickly detail now.
The first concerns the ‘barn’ in which we were to stay. When I heard the term, I thought about the barn that Meghan Mathieson’s family has in Duncan: uninsulated wooden walls, big swinging doors, hay, and the rest. What we actually got was a ‘hut’ belonging to the Pinnacle Club – a group of women climbers. It was the size of a house, warmed by a coal stove. It had fridges and stoves and showers and a special room for drying sopping gear (though our numbers and level of soppingness challenged it). When compared with my initial expectation – better than a tent, with the possibility of rats – it was downright palatial.
The second surprise should be evident from the videos I posted last night. We were almost constantly buffeted by gale force winds during the first two days, and still encountered moderate winds at high altitudes on the third. I spent much of the trip literally holding on to my hat. Since it has no chin-strap and I could not come up with a way to tether it that did not risk either destroying the hat or garroting me, I had one hand on the brim (or atop my head) for the better part of all the hiking. On Snowdon, the cold and relative thinness of my gloves meant that my non-hat-holding-hand was always desperately trying to recapture warmth in a fleece pocket, before I did the switch – mindful that a pause could send the hat flying off into the foggy abyss.
As is so often the case after a vacation, things have piled up in my absence. I have two issues of The Economist to read, two letters to respond to, several dozen emails to deal with, and a thesis chapter ostensibly due on Wednesday (with all the reading and writing that entails). Forgive me if I am a less prompt correspondent than usual for the next while.
This short clip was made when the Oxford University Walking Club reached the peak of Snowdon – the highest point in Wales – on March 10th, 2007. As you can see, we did not get a terribly good view for all of our upward marching.
Here is another short video, and some photos on Facebook. I will post some nicer versions here soon. For now, I need to prepare for my meeting with Dr. Hurrell tomorrow.