In this novel [e-book-link], Charles Stross explores the consequences of a Vingian Singularity --- how would one come about, and how could anything resembling human beings survive or thrive in such an environment?
There are a few answers in this book that are worthy of interest, one is the integration of law with computer software and the GPL, an interesting idea (which is not that far-fetched in that many have observed similarities between legal affairs and computer programming). The other is the exploration of a post augmented-intelligence society, and finally a glimpse of what happens when the entire non-fusion components of the solar systems have become themselves intelligent. The result does not seem to bode well for humanity, though Stross does have an excellent explanation for why there aren't signs of intelligent life on the planet.
The novel is written in an extremely jargon oriented fashion, with words like open-source, self-replicating, and neural networks tossed around with any explanation. Geeks and computer science majors will love this book. Others will probably find it a mystery:
The divested Microsoft divisions have automated their legal processes and are spawning subsidiaries, IPOing them, and exchanging title in a bizarre parody of bacterial plasmid exchange, so fast that by the time the windfall tax demands are served, the targets don't exist anymore, even though the same staff are working on the same software in the same Mumbai cubicle farms. Welcome to the twenty-first century.
All in all, a book worth reading for its ideas, if not for its breathless, unrelenting pace.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Friday, August 18, 2006
Exit Clov at Google
I will admit that I dislike most of the bands brought in to Google to perform at the Social TGIF --- they are usually over-amplified and under-talented. So I walked over today to the fabulous kitchen to grab some food and run back to my desk to eat and code. But I got caught up by the sound on the way back and had to simply stop and listen to Talkin Radio, a song that really stopped me in my tracks.
I listened to a few more songs after that, and after I heard Dead by Association, I bought their CD, Starfish. Listening to it now, it sounds a little under-produced, but the songs are still excellent and very enjoyable and listenable.
Recommended, even though my brother thinks they're Teeny-Bopper J-Pop in English (which by itself would make them unique).
I listened to a few more songs after that, and after I heard Dead by Association, I bought their CD, Starfish. Listening to it now, it sounds a little under-produced, but the songs are still excellent and very enjoyable and listenable.
Recommended, even though my brother thinks they're Teeny-Bopper J-Pop in English (which by itself would make them unique).
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Review: Tomorrow Happens
This is a rare book that was available at the Mountain View Library, and was very much worth reading. David Brin is one of the most thoughtful and interesting science fiction writers today, and he explores topics ranging from pollution, politics, and privacy in both fiction and non-fiction. If you're a careful reader of his blog or his web-site you won't find much here to surprise you, but having it together on paper with a linear thematic presentation did serve to glue all the thoughts together.
Highly recommended, if you can find a copy at a local library (it isn't worth the $127 that Amazon.com wants).
Highly recommended, if you can find a copy at a local library (it isn't worth the $127 that Amazon.com wants).
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Review: Neverwhere DVD
Before Neverwhere was a book, it was a TV series. I enjoyed the book enough to become curious about the TV series, so when I saw it in the Mountain View Library catalog, I checked it out. The TV series, unfortunately, is a disappointment. The acting isn't very good, the editing is crude, and the sets quite crude, and the scenarios quite contrived. At only half an hour an episode, there's not a lot of exposition that can happen, nor is there significant character development --- the hero, Richard Mayhew seems perpetually confused, no matter what happens. The ending leaves an opening for an ongoing TV series, but clearly the public had had enough of the TV series. If you enjoyed the book, avert your eyes from the TV series.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Review: Wonder Woman: Second Genesis
John Byrne was responsible for the most recent reboot of Superman in the comics. The reboot was quite well done by comic book standards, making Lex Luthor not just a mad scientist, but a shrewd businessman as well, making him truly an adversary worthy of Superman. George Perez rebooted Wonder Woman, but those who know his work mostly know him as a great artist, not necessarily a good writer.
Unfortunately, Byrne doesn't live up to his reputation in taking over the reins at Wonder Woman. The plots are simplistic, with big building destroying fights every issue, but no true revelation of what makes Wonder Woman tick. Indeed, other than a vague mission to bring peace to the world of men, there's nothing to distinguish Wonder Woman from any other hero. Perhaps some day, we'll get someone as talented as Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman to work on the Wonder Woman mythos.
Wait a minute... With Joss Whedon signed up to do Wonder Woman, we're very likely to get something good! If anyone can do female superheroes right, it would be Joss Whedon.
Correction: Tom Galloway notes that it was Marv Wolfman who came up with the idea to make Luthor a businessman, not Byrne.
Unfortunately, Byrne doesn't live up to his reputation in taking over the reins at Wonder Woman. The plots are simplistic, with big building destroying fights every issue, but no true revelation of what makes Wonder Woman tick. Indeed, other than a vague mission to bring peace to the world of men, there's nothing to distinguish Wonder Woman from any other hero. Perhaps some day, we'll get someone as talented as Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman to work on the Wonder Woman mythos.
Wait a minute... With Joss Whedon signed up to do Wonder Woman, we're very likely to get something good! If anyone can do female superheroes right, it would be Joss Whedon.
Correction: Tom Galloway notes that it was Marv Wolfman who came up with the idea to make Luthor a businessman, not Byrne.
Book Review: Anansi Boys
I've always enjoyed many of Gaiman's short stories, such as the ones collected in Smoke and Mirrors. His longer works, however, such as American Gods, left me cold. So it was a very pleasant surprise when Gaiman visited Google and read from the Anansi Boys that I found myself enjoying the reading. I wasn't in a hurry to read the book, though, since I had plenty of other books on my reading list, so I didn't get to it for a year or so.
The novel is about Fat Charlie Nancy, who was always embarrassed by his father growing up, since his father's idea of a prank on his kid was to tell the kid lies that made him do embarrassing things. When Fat Charlie's father dies, Charlie finds out from his neighbors that his father was a God of Spiders, and that he had a brother. One night, Charlie talks to a garden spider and asks him to pass a message to his brother.
Charlie's brother, Spider, who has inherited all of his father's godly powers, obligingly shows up and quickly proceeds to destroy Charlie's life in the way that only a Trickster's God can. What follows is a comedy that leads Charlie from one ridiculous situation to another, as he loses his job, his fiance, and eventually regains what should have been his birthright to begin with.
This is a light-hearted, entertaining read that was very much worth my time. Recommended.
The novel is about Fat Charlie Nancy, who was always embarrassed by his father growing up, since his father's idea of a prank on his kid was to tell the kid lies that made him do embarrassing things. When Fat Charlie's father dies, Charlie finds out from his neighbors that his father was a God of Spiders, and that he had a brother. One night, Charlie talks to a garden spider and asks him to pass a message to his brother.
Charlie's brother, Spider, who has inherited all of his father's godly powers, obligingly shows up and quickly proceeds to destroy Charlie's life in the way that only a Trickster's God can. What follows is a comedy that leads Charlie from one ridiculous situation to another, as he loses his job, his fiance, and eventually regains what should have been his birthright to begin with.
This is a light-hearted, entertaining read that was very much worth my time. Recommended.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Noam Schreiber on The Pro Growth Progressive
I reviewed the Pro Growth Progressive last year, and it looks like Noam Schreiber shares many of the same frustrations I have --- the Democratic party's job right now isn't to device more policies that allow Republicans to claim that there's no difference between the parties (and I'm beginning to think that any policy more subtle than "tax cuts for the rich" is too subtle), but to find ways to win the next election. Anything that requires compromising with Republicans is giving them too much credit --- as far as I can tell, the Republicans aren't into government to serve the people, but to rob as much as possible from the middle class (and social security) to give to the rich. (The only reason they're not robbing the poor is that there isn't any money there left to rob)
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
WSJ.com - Web Start-Ups Lure Executives At eBay, Yahoo
WSJ.com - Web Start-Ups Lure Executives At eBay, Yahoo: A midlevel software engineer who manages engineers and reports to the vice president of engineering makes a median base salary of $145,100 at a private company, compared with $153,200 at a public company, according to Radford.
This new wave of startups is definitely going to burn through cash much faster than the older wave of startups back in the mid-90s. Part of it is inflation --- it's much more expensive to live in Silicon Valley now than it used to be. The other half is that Silicon Valley engineers have become much less enamored of stock options than they were in the late 1990s, so you can't just give someone stock and ask them to take a 30% paycut anymore.
This new wave of startups is definitely going to burn through cash much faster than the older wave of startups back in the mid-90s. Part of it is inflation --- it's much more expensive to live in Silicon Valley now than it used to be. The other half is that Silicon Valley engineers have become much less enamored of stock options than they were in the late 1990s, so you can't just give someone stock and ask them to take a 30% paycut anymore.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Movie Review: Big Fish
This is a movie about two men. One, the father, loves stories, the more elaborate the better. The taller the better. No truth should go unvarnished, and no situation too magical to be told. He's the hero of all his stories, of course, and he's a fabulous guy. The other, the son, has heard all of his father's stories. But all these years later he feels like his father has told him nothing about the truth, so he doesn't know his father. He stops talking to his father until his father is on his deathbed, sick with cancer.
This is a story about stories. What do they mean to us? Why do we, as human beings, insist on fiction, which is really one big lie, piled on top of another? What does it say about our self-image? Do storytellers really reach for immortality --- does the story, told and retold pass down the essence of the story? Do we embellish our stories about ourselves? Why do we do so? Is our reality truly so drab that we have to spice up our stories with embellishments?
I love Tim Burton's style in this movie. It reminds me very much of his fable, Edwards Scissorhands. The fantastic parts of the stories are illustrated in lush bright colors, in a beautiful palette that reminds us that we're in a larger than life world. The framing story is filmed in a semi-documentary fashion. The actors are fantastic, and the editing well-done. My only beef with his work is that I think he left the running time a bit longer than necessary to make his point, and I would have ended the movie with the son picking up the phone --- the funeral wasn't really necessary.
All in all, this is a good movie worth watching. Highly recommended.
This is a story about stories. What do they mean to us? Why do we, as human beings, insist on fiction, which is really one big lie, piled on top of another? What does it say about our self-image? Do storytellers really reach for immortality --- does the story, told and retold pass down the essence of the story? Do we embellish our stories about ourselves? Why do we do so? Is our reality truly so drab that we have to spice up our stories with embellishments?
I love Tim Burton's style in this movie. It reminds me very much of his fable, Edwards Scissorhands. The fantastic parts of the stories are illustrated in lush bright colors, in a beautiful palette that reminds us that we're in a larger than life world. The framing story is filmed in a semi-documentary fashion. The actors are fantastic, and the editing well-done. My only beef with his work is that I think he left the running time a bit longer than necessary to make his point, and I would have ended the movie with the son picking up the phone --- the funeral wasn't really necessary.
All in all, this is a good movie worth watching. Highly recommended.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Review: The Two Income Trap
Note: The first chapter of The Two Income Trap is available online.
The thesis of this book is that the increasing number of bankruptcy in America isn't due to excessive consumption, but because of excessive spending on important things: houses in good school districts, health insurance, college, and pre-school. The authors assert that for women, having a child at all is a bigger predictor of eventual bankruptcy than all other factors combined.
They point out (quite rightly), that middle income households have stretched themselves to the limit by bidding excessive amounts for houses, thereby ensuring financial disaster if one of them lose their job, for instance, or one of their family has a medical emergency. 87% of bankruptcies have their root causes in either:
Their studies show that the big consumer is that of a house. By buying a big house in the suburbs rather than renting, American households participate in a bidding war for the best schools for their children in a safe location. The result is that it takes most of both incomes to provide for the family, and if a financial disaster happens there is no safety net.
Warren & Tyagi then prescribe a bunch of policy decisions: re-regulating the financial industry so that interest rates are capped, forcing banks and financial institutions to return to the 1950s standards for lending money seems to be their favorite prescription. Given how powerful the financial lobby is, I doubt that this policy will make it very far. The new bankruptcy bill passed last year, for instance, was practically written by the credit card companies.
They give no credence to the concept of universal healthcare, something I find a big pity --- 30% of bankruptcies are caused by medical emergencies. They also tepidly promote universal disability insurance as part of social security. (Note that California has already implemented this --- I've used this feature personally, so I know how useful it is) They also promote school vouchers as a means to de-couple schools from property values so parents aren't trapped by a big mortgage if they want good schools. I'm very skeptical of this proposal, since my guess is that the good schools will have their fees bid up to the same level as that of housing, so it'll all balance out.
Around where I live, there's quite a number of folks who buy houses in good school districts and then send their kids to private school, something I don't quite understand, but Asian parents do have a tendency to want to brag about how much they spend on their kids and can be extremely competitive in this regard.
Warren & Tyagi don't do much in terms of telling you what to do personally about this trap. They do advocate renting for a few additional years if you can't afford to buy right away, which is very sound advice, and to carry disability insurance if your state or your company does not provide, which is very sound advice. (Note that disability insurance is very expensive, precisely because you're more likely to need it than almost any other kind --- one in 3 Americans, for instance, will use the disability insurance feature of social security in their lifetimes --- and the elimination period for that insurance is a year!) Other than that, I guess they tell you not to get divorced.
In any case, The Two Income Trap confirms what I've guessed for awhile: buying a house isn't an investment decision in many parts of the country, it's a consumption decision. Recommended.
The thesis of this book is that the increasing number of bankruptcy in America isn't due to excessive consumption, but because of excessive spending on important things: houses in good school districts, health insurance, college, and pre-school. The authors assert that for women, having a child at all is a bigger predictor of eventual bankruptcy than all other factors combined.
They point out (quite rightly), that middle income households have stretched themselves to the limit by bidding excessive amounts for houses, thereby ensuring financial disaster if one of them lose their job, for instance, or one of their family has a medical emergency. 87% of bankruptcies have their root causes in either:
- Job Loss
- Medical problems
- Divorce or Separation
Their studies show that the big consumer is that of a house. By buying a big house in the suburbs rather than renting, American households participate in a bidding war for the best schools for their children in a safe location. The result is that it takes most of both incomes to provide for the family, and if a financial disaster happens there is no safety net.
Warren & Tyagi then prescribe a bunch of policy decisions: re-regulating the financial industry so that interest rates are capped, forcing banks and financial institutions to return to the 1950s standards for lending money seems to be their favorite prescription. Given how powerful the financial lobby is, I doubt that this policy will make it very far. The new bankruptcy bill passed last year, for instance, was practically written by the credit card companies.
They give no credence to the concept of universal healthcare, something I find a big pity --- 30% of bankruptcies are caused by medical emergencies. They also tepidly promote universal disability insurance as part of social security. (Note that California has already implemented this --- I've used this feature personally, so I know how useful it is) They also promote school vouchers as a means to de-couple schools from property values so parents aren't trapped by a big mortgage if they want good schools. I'm very skeptical of this proposal, since my guess is that the good schools will have their fees bid up to the same level as that of housing, so it'll all balance out.
Around where I live, there's quite a number of folks who buy houses in good school districts and then send their kids to private school, something I don't quite understand, but Asian parents do have a tendency to want to brag about how much they spend on their kids and can be extremely competitive in this regard.
Warren & Tyagi don't do much in terms of telling you what to do personally about this trap. They do advocate renting for a few additional years if you can't afford to buy right away, which is very sound advice, and to carry disability insurance if your state or your company does not provide, which is very sound advice. (Note that disability insurance is very expensive, precisely because you're more likely to need it than almost any other kind --- one in 3 Americans, for instance, will use the disability insurance feature of social security in their lifetimes --- and the elimination period for that insurance is a year!) Other than that, I guess they tell you not to get divorced.
In any case, The Two Income Trap confirms what I've guessed for awhile: buying a house isn't an investment decision in many parts of the country, it's a consumption decision. Recommended.
Review: A Long Way Down
Nick Hornby's last book, How to Be Good was absolutely hilarious, as was his earlier work, High Fidelity. A long way down starts at the top of Toppers House on New Year's Eve, with a quartet of people who intend to end their life by jumping down: a musician who has lost his purpose, a TV show host whose scandalous past overwhelms his present, a mother for whom her comatose son is too much of a burden for her to bear, and a teenager who's just lost her first lover.
This chance encounter causes them to back off from taking the ultimate leap that night, and the foursome agrees to meet over the next few months and find that they were not ready to commit suicide after all.
While there are a number of funny scenes in the book, Hornby does not quite manage to pull off a successful novel here --- the stories do not quite resolves, and the characters never do reach out to one another in a believable fashion. While this is an entertaining read, it is not one of his best.
This chance encounter causes them to back off from taking the ultimate leap that night, and the foursome agrees to meet over the next few months and find that they were not ready to commit suicide after all.
While there are a number of funny scenes in the book, Hornby does not quite manage to pull off a successful novel here --- the stories do not quite resolves, and the characters never do reach out to one another in a believable fashion. While this is an entertaining read, it is not one of his best.
Friday, July 28, 2006
The Landis Case: Waiting for the B sample; Pereiro reluctantly poised to take jersey; Landis takes pass on Leno
The Landis Case: Waiting for the B sample; Pereiro reluctantly poised to take jersey; Landis takes pass on Leno
It's quite possible that Landis did take testosterone to boost his performance on stage 17. Professional cycling has had so many drug scandals in recent years that nothing can disappoint me anymore.
I have to say though, that perhaps it's simply because medical science hasn't done as much for boosting brain performance as it has on performance of the body that drugs aren't a common part of the workplace. Imagine, if you will, a drug that gave you a mental boost equivalent to that of anabolic steriods. One dose, and you could do 200 hour programming projects in 2 hours (Pengtoh and I once turned a 200 hour project into a 20 hour project by doing pair programming, so another order of magnitude isn't inconceivable). Would you, as a good programmer, take it if it meant widespread recognition, promotion, and millions of dollars? What if the drug cost you a year of your life? Or two years?
Imagine this scenario: everyone in your office is taking drugs. You're barely smart enough to hang on to your job, let alone get a promotion. You know the next bright kid who takes this mental enhancement drug (even at horrendous cost to his health) will be so smart that you won't have a prayer of hanging on to your current job. Would you continue to stay drug free? Would you find another career, even if this was the one you loved?
It's questions like this that convince me that perhaps I couldn't be that judgemental about the professionals who do performance enhancing drugs.
It's quite possible that Landis did take testosterone to boost his performance on stage 17. Professional cycling has had so many drug scandals in recent years that nothing can disappoint me anymore.
I have to say though, that perhaps it's simply because medical science hasn't done as much for boosting brain performance as it has on performance of the body that drugs aren't a common part of the workplace. Imagine, if you will, a drug that gave you a mental boost equivalent to that of anabolic steriods. One dose, and you could do 200 hour programming projects in 2 hours (Pengtoh and I once turned a 200 hour project into a 20 hour project by doing pair programming, so another order of magnitude isn't inconceivable). Would you, as a good programmer, take it if it meant widespread recognition, promotion, and millions of dollars? What if the drug cost you a year of your life? Or two years?
Imagine this scenario: everyone in your office is taking drugs. You're barely smart enough to hang on to your job, let alone get a promotion. You know the next bright kid who takes this mental enhancement drug (even at horrendous cost to his health) will be so smart that you won't have a prayer of hanging on to your current job. Would you continue to stay drug free? Would you find another career, even if this was the one you loved?
It's questions like this that convince me that perhaps I couldn't be that judgemental about the professionals who do performance enhancing drugs.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Another lameness about the Mac Mini
My brother and I tried to setup skype on my Mac Mini. The software installs fine, but the stupid mike wouldn't work. After swapping microphone headsets we discovered that the Mac Mini doesn't have microphone input, so I have to either get a bluetooth headset or a USB microphone (as though I didn't have enough devices hanging off the USB ports, which are all maxed out now). My brother also complains that his MacBook Pro randomly shuts down.
I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that Apple makes cool looking products with reliability problems that just aren't practical to use. No wonder they have only a 5% market share. Lisa's $900 laptop works better than a MacBook costing $2000!
I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that Apple makes cool looking products with reliability problems that just aren't practical to use. No wonder they have only a 5% market share. Lisa's $900 laptop works better than a MacBook costing $2000!
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Morning Ride up Montebello Road and Black Mountain
Mark Logan and John Walker joined Matt Stanton and I at the base of Montebello Road. The climb was in the sun and quite warm, so by the time we reached the top (with me begging John to slow down despite his 39x26 and a backpack with a 6 pound laptop) we had drained most of our water. The view from the top was gorgeous --- a line of clouds (a low marine layer) all the way to the North East (towards Diablo and Hamilton) and the same layer all the way to the West where the ocean was. The fire road gave us glorious views of the panorama and we made it to the pavement on Page Mill where we refilled our water bottles.
The descent on Page Mill was beautiful, and right at the cloud line we saw the temperature drop a whole 10 degrees. We hit every red light from Arastedero to B43, forcing us to do interval sprints the whole way, but we made it for breakfast!
The descent on Page Mill was beautiful, and right at the cloud line we saw the temperature drop a whole 10 degrees. We hit every red light from Arastedero to B43, forcing us to do interval sprints the whole way, but we made it for breakfast!
Review: The Hallowed Hunt
If The Paladin of Souls was a disappointment, the Hallowed Hunt make up for it. In contrast to the nervous nellie that Ista was, the lead character in the Hallowed Hunt, Ingrey is a special agent to the Hallowed King, sent to followup on the murder of a Prince of the land. The case of the murder is straightforward, but Ingrey finds himself caught up with the murderess, Iijada, for she bears an animal spirit as a consequence of the murder of the prince.
What are animal spirits, how do they interact with the five Gods of Challion, and what role Ingrey plays (a role which is not made clear to Ingrey for significant periods of time), and how he comes to acknowledge his heritage and his history makes up the subject matter of the book.
Both Ingrey and Iijada are very sympathetic characters, who are intelligent people caught up in an impossible situation. Too much of the book goes into the peculiar theology of Challion, but that's forgivable --- it seems that Bujold has invested way too much in the world building not to let a bit of it peek out.
All in all, a satisfying and fun read.
What are animal spirits, how do they interact with the five Gods of Challion, and what role Ingrey plays (a role which is not made clear to Ingrey for significant periods of time), and how he comes to acknowledge his heritage and his history makes up the subject matter of the book.
Both Ingrey and Iijada are very sympathetic characters, who are intelligent people caught up in an impossible situation. Too much of the book goes into the peculiar theology of Challion, but that's forgivable --- it seems that Bujold has invested way too much in the world building not to let a bit of it peek out.
All in all, a satisfying and fun read.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Cyclists descend Hwy 84 to La Honda
In the picture: Matt Stanton, Laura Granka, Sy Na, Matt Blain, Mike Samuel, Katelyn Mann on 84 
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Luck plays a major role in success
As I've stated often before, too many people confuse luck with skill or being smart. Hal Varian (link above) and Brad Delong both provide examples where this is the case. In my career, I've seen alot of hardworking, talented people in unsuccessful companies, and untalented lazy people in successful companies. The latter always did better than the former, hence the phrase quoted to me by a stock broker, "I'd rather be lucky than good."
If you believe that luck plays a major part in our success or failure, then you'd want progressive taxation --- let the lucky subsidize the unlucky. And you'll soon learn to respect wealth come about by selling companies during a dotcom boom less than personal success that's achieved by a means less amenable to luck (e.g., finishing a marathon, or completing a long trek). If you think about man in his natural state, the last two are rarely instances of pure luck, which is why we over-emphasize monetary success in the modern world and under-estimate the importance of luck.
If you believe that luck plays a major part in our success or failure, then you'd want progressive taxation --- let the lucky subsidize the unlucky. And you'll soon learn to respect wealth come about by selling companies during a dotcom boom less than personal success that's achieved by a means less amenable to luck (e.g., finishing a marathon, or completing a long trek). If you think about man in his natural state, the last two are rarely instances of pure luck, which is why we over-emphasize monetary success in the modern world and under-estimate the importance of luck.
Review: Trinity: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman
Matt Wagner was known to me mostly through his autobiographical work, The Hero Discovered. While Wagner is a decent artist and a decent writer, it was his use of symbols and links to the Arthurian Mythos in his autobiography that attracted me to his work. So when I saw this book at the library I had to pick it up to see his interpretation of the classic DC Superheroes.
The plot revolves around Ra's Al Ghul's manipulation of Bizarro and Artemis for an invasion of Paradise Island. Intended to showcase our heroes at the beginning of their careers, this book shows Batman's first encounter with Wonder Woman. Their initial interaction is testy and perhaps overly simplified --- one wonders how Paradise Island held its secret for so long if so many villains and heroes got to visit it (and presumably get GPS coordinates). These conceits get tougher and tougher to accept as the world become more global.
And of couse, Wonder Woman penetrates Bruce Wayne's disguise in a hurry, making you wonder if Gotham City's super-villains were just darn stupid or what. This is a world where Superman putting on glasses and pretending to be late for the train three times a week for appearances is enough to prevent folks from recognizing that Clark Kent is Superman, yet Wonder Woman penetrates Batman's secret identity right away.
I did find the portrayal of Superman's interaction with Bruce Wayne very interesting. He loves his surprises, reflects Superman, as if I couldn't see the submarine following us.
All in all, a good comic, but nothing great, and certainly nothing like Wagner's prior work.
The plot revolves around Ra's Al Ghul's manipulation of Bizarro and Artemis for an invasion of Paradise Island. Intended to showcase our heroes at the beginning of their careers, this book shows Batman's first encounter with Wonder Woman. Their initial interaction is testy and perhaps overly simplified --- one wonders how Paradise Island held its secret for so long if so many villains and heroes got to visit it (and presumably get GPS coordinates). These conceits get tougher and tougher to accept as the world become more global.
And of couse, Wonder Woman penetrates Bruce Wayne's disguise in a hurry, making you wonder if Gotham City's super-villains were just darn stupid or what. This is a world where Superman putting on glasses and pretending to be late for the train three times a week for appearances is enough to prevent folks from recognizing that Clark Kent is Superman, yet Wonder Woman penetrates Batman's secret identity right away.
I did find the portrayal of Superman's interaction with Bruce Wayne very interesting. He loves his surprises, reflects Superman, as if I couldn't see the submarine following us.
All in all, a good comic, but nothing great, and certainly nothing like Wagner's prior work.
Monday, July 17, 2006
"Why Conservatives Can't Govern" by Alan Wolfe
"Why Conservatives Can't Govern" by Alan Wolfe: "not much evidence exists in America today that conservatives are prepared to move in such a direction. If anything, they seem to have reinforced and strengthened their determination to govern as incompetently and unfairly as they can. The fact that they will leave behind a public sector in roughly the same condition that strip miners leave hillsides would cause nothing but pain to yesterday's patricians, for whom ideals such as responsibility and soundness were watchwords. But today's conservatives have no problem passing on the costs of their present madness to future generations. Governing well would require them to use the bully-pulpit of office to educate and uplift their base. But since contemporary conservatives get their political energy from angry voices of rage and revenge, they will always blame others for the failures built into their ideology. That is why conservatism so rarely makes for a good governance party. As far as conservatives are concerned, it is always someone else's government, one reason they can be so indifferent to their own mismanagement."
Thanks to David Brin for the pointer.
Thanks to David Brin for the pointer.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Movie Review: Who Killed the Electric Car?
This movie succeeds as propaganda. It explores the rise of the zero-emissions mandate in California, followed by its successful dismantling by corporate lobbyists and a compliant California Air Resources Board. The truth is, though, the GM EV1 and its cohorts weren't going to be successful. If you were to buy an only car, you wouldn't buy one with a limit 100 mile range unless there was infrastructure to permit refueling (maybe battery swap stations? but the logistics behind that would have been tough).
Lest I sound like a Republican right-winger, I'll remind readers of this blog that I log about 8000 miles a year on my bicycle, 4000 for commuting alone, so I'm as rabid an environmentalist as they come. But precisely because a range of 100 miles isn't better than what I can do on a bicycle, the only reason I'd ever get in a car was because I needed to go far in a short time.
The gasoline-electric hybrid is a much better idea, and the plug-in hybrid an even better one. But the pure electric car wasn't going to happen unless battery technology got dramatically better (which it hasn't --- battery technology has been getting better linearly, not exponentially), and there was infrastructure to support it.
In any case, this is not a bad movie --- it accomplishes what it sets out to do, which is to insinuate a conspiracy theory around the dismantling of the electric car programs. Unfortunately, any amount of deep thinking by a typical consumer would show that the conspiracies it insinuates cannot possibly be true.
Ultimately, our transportation problems would be much better solved by building a robust and comprehensive passenger rail system than by trying to tinker with the private automobile, but I guess that won't happen until gas gets to $200 a barrel and beyond.
Lest I sound like a Republican right-winger, I'll remind readers of this blog that I log about 8000 miles a year on my bicycle, 4000 for commuting alone, so I'm as rabid an environmentalist as they come. But precisely because a range of 100 miles isn't better than what I can do on a bicycle, the only reason I'd ever get in a car was because I needed to go far in a short time.
The gasoline-electric hybrid is a much better idea, and the plug-in hybrid an even better one. But the pure electric car wasn't going to happen unless battery technology got dramatically better (which it hasn't --- battery technology has been getting better linearly, not exponentially), and there was infrastructure to support it.
In any case, this is not a bad movie --- it accomplishes what it sets out to do, which is to insinuate a conspiracy theory around the dismantling of the electric car programs. Unfortunately, any amount of deep thinking by a typical consumer would show that the conspiracies it insinuates cannot possibly be true.
Ultimately, our transportation problems would be much better solved by building a robust and comprehensive passenger rail system than by trying to tinker with the private automobile, but I guess that won't happen until gas gets to $200 a barrel and beyond.
Movie Review: Aeon Flux
Beautiful woman kicks ass sums up this forgettable "science fiction" movie. The premise is weak, the characters never developed, not even through the admittedly beautfully choreographed action sequences, and the ending makes a hash out of everything that has come before (i.e., were we really fighting for no reason whatsoever) and leaves many plot points unresolved. Ultimately, beautiful eye candy but an unsatisfying movie.
Larry Summers Visits Google
Interesting titbit: Sheryl Sandberg, Google's VP of International Sales and Operations, used to be Larry Summer's Chief of Staff, when he worked for the Clinton administration.
The talk itself is the usual globalization talk you can get from anyone who's a serious thinker (Robert Reich, Brad Delong, etc). He kept it short and relatively free of long words and jargon, but it was the questions that were interesting.
Interesting quotes:
Q: There is now a shortage of men in higher education compared to women. Do you have any idea what to do about it?
A: I've learned over the years never to take the last question... It is a tribute to Google that maybe here, I shouldn't even take the first. I don't believe the shortage of men is due to social discrimination...
Q: Given the neither parties have historically enacted policies to protect citizens from the negative impact of globalization, how long do you expect there to still be support for free trade among the populance? It seems to me that support is steadily eroding for free trade.
A: Free trade is one of those things that's tough to sell. Here's an example. Let's say you're a mediocre performer in a mediocre company, but because of free trade your company's sales go through the roof and you get a promotion. Do you say, "Thank god for free trade, so I got my promotion!"? But let's say because of foreign competition your company has to shut down and you lose your job. Now you know who to blame! So we internalize our success, and externalize our failures. But the tone of your question is the right one --- in the long term, we're going to have to provide mitigation like wage insurance if there's going to be any hope at all of keeping public support for free trade.
The talk itself is the usual globalization talk you can get from anyone who's a serious thinker (Robert Reich, Brad Delong, etc). He kept it short and relatively free of long words and jargon, but it was the questions that were interesting.
Interesting quotes:
Q: There is now a shortage of men in higher education compared to women. Do you have any idea what to do about it?
A: I've learned over the years never to take the last question... It is a tribute to Google that maybe here, I shouldn't even take the first. I don't believe the shortage of men is due to social discrimination...
Q: Given the neither parties have historically enacted policies to protect citizens from the negative impact of globalization, how long do you expect there to still be support for free trade among the populance? It seems to me that support is steadily eroding for free trade.
A: Free trade is one of those things that's tough to sell. Here's an example. Let's say you're a mediocre performer in a mediocre company, but because of free trade your company's sales go through the roof and you get a promotion. Do you say, "Thank god for free trade, so I got my promotion!"? But let's say because of foreign competition your company has to shut down and you lose your job. Now you know who to blame! So we internalize our success, and externalize our failures. But the tone of your question is the right one --- in the long term, we're going to have to provide mitigation like wage insurance if there's going to be any hope at all of keeping public support for free trade.
Movie Review: American Splendor
I'm not a big fan of Robert Crump, or the underground comic book scene in general, so I came to this movie as a complete outsider. As I watched the movie to figure out what the appeal of Harvey Pekar was, I realized that he was essentially the first person to turn the comic book medium into an expression of himself, i.e., he wrote the first comic book blog. Eternally surly, angry, and not very likeable, he nevertheless manages to say profound things and survive cancer in his own way.
Pekar himself appears in this extremely self-aware movie (Pekar is shown in a movie studio narrating the voice-overs in the movie), which makes Pekar's general unlikeability very palatable --- here is someone who's a prick, but knows he's one, and somehow that makes it OK. This is not the greatest movie I've seen, but I'm glad I gave it a shot --- it surprised me how good it is.
I bet I'll have a hard time reading American Splendor, though.
Pekar himself appears in this extremely self-aware movie (Pekar is shown in a movie studio narrating the voice-overs in the movie), which makes Pekar's general unlikeability very palatable --- here is someone who's a prick, but knows he's one, and somehow that makes it OK. This is not the greatest movie I've seen, but I'm glad I gave it a shot --- it surprised me how good it is.
I bet I'll have a hard time reading American Splendor, though.
Book Review: The Paladin of Souls
The sequel to The Curse of Chalion, this book deals with the Dowager Ista, a minor character in that book who was deemed insane by her family and care-takers. Having decided that she'd had enough of being hemmed in, she decides to take off on a pilgrimmage, selecting a motley group of associates and followers. On the way, she encounters demons and an invading body of warriors. She then unravels the mystery of a border keep, finds her true love, and repels the invasion all in the space of days, while recovering her sanity and self confidence.
Ista isn't nearly as interesting a character as Cazaril, and none of the other major characters in the previous novel make an appearance here. The writing is good, but the book isn't nearly as tightly plotted. As a study in a character returning from depression and loss, Ista has too many Deus Ex Machina working in her favor for me to think her a particularly strong person. Nevertheless, the book was compelling and not a complete waste of time. It's not nearly as good as its predecessor, however.
Ista isn't nearly as interesting a character as Cazaril, and none of the other major characters in the previous novel make an appearance here. The writing is good, but the book isn't nearly as tightly plotted. As a study in a character returning from depression and loss, Ista has too many Deus Ex Machina working in her favor for me to think her a particularly strong person. Nevertheless, the book was compelling and not a complete waste of time. It's not nearly as good as its predecessor, however.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Book Review: The Undercover Economist
This is a great book, and it actually lives up to its subtitle:Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, Why the Poor Are Poor--And Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car! Tim Harford explains a lot of phenomenon through the tools and lenses provided by modern Economics, and covers the main ideas behind the phenomena very well. He has an excellent but brief explanation of adverse selection, for instance, and why it makes it difficult for a fully private health insurance system to work well. Unlike many other authors who leave it at that, he explores a solution (Singapore's) that appears to work well and shows how successful you can be if you are willing to set aside ideology and adopt an engineering approach towards economic problems. (Not that Singapore's solution can be successful in the U.S. politically, but the ideas are worth considering at the very least)
If you don't know much about economics, this is a great book to read. In the process of pondering the phenomena Harford covers (and he covers them much better than any New York Times journalist ever will), you will learn a lot of economics. If you are an economics junkie like me, you're going to enjoy this book, even more so than Freakonomics. It truly is well-written, entertaining, and accurate. I have no fault to find with this book.
If you don't know much about economics, this is a great book to read. In the process of pondering the phenomena Harford covers (and he covers them much better than any New York Times journalist ever will), you will learn a lot of economics. If you are an economics junkie like me, you're going to enjoy this book, even more so than Freakonomics. It truly is well-written, entertaining, and accurate. I have no fault to find with this book.
Book Review: The Developers
Ellen Spertus came across this book and gave it to me since I was in a slow period, and she claimed that the book was too cynical for her. Since I'm a cynical kind of person, I thought I'd be the perfect target audience for this book.
To my chagrin, I found that the problem wasn't cynicism, but perhaps one of generation gap. I think I must have missed all the cultural references in this book, not being born in this country nor a big watcher of television. But I'm a programmer, right? So the stuff about development should be interesting to me, right?
Unfortunately, the application in question was a city-search type application with lots of UI, and boring bulletin board, chat, and personals application for a small town. It's not even a challenge for undergraduates to build, so it's hard for me to suspend my disbelief and think that an interesting startup could be built around it. The characters themselves were unappealing: most of them seem incredibly obsessed with dating and their sex life. I guess I can believe that in a dot com startup (though I've been at two dot com startups, and it certainly wasn't the case that there was a ton of dating at work) that's staffed mostly with fresh graduates. Then again, the startups I've worked at in Silicon Valley tended to be staffed with experienced people for whom work was their main obsession.
Ultimately, I cannot recommend this book unless you're a hip young developer of the sort depicted in the book. Then again, since I've never been one of those either, even if you were a hip young developer of the sort depicted in the book, my guess is that you wouldn't take book recommendations from an old fogey like me.
To my chagrin, I found that the problem wasn't cynicism, but perhaps one of generation gap. I think I must have missed all the cultural references in this book, not being born in this country nor a big watcher of television. But I'm a programmer, right? So the stuff about development should be interesting to me, right?
Unfortunately, the application in question was a city-search type application with lots of UI, and boring bulletin board, chat, and personals application for a small town. It's not even a challenge for undergraduates to build, so it's hard for me to suspend my disbelief and think that an interesting startup could be built around it. The characters themselves were unappealing: most of them seem incredibly obsessed with dating and their sex life. I guess I can believe that in a dot com startup (though I've been at two dot com startups, and it certainly wasn't the case that there was a ton of dating at work) that's staffed mostly with fresh graduates. Then again, the startups I've worked at in Silicon Valley tended to be staffed with experienced people for whom work was their main obsession.
Ultimately, I cannot recommend this book unless you're a hip young developer of the sort depicted in the book. Then again, since I've never been one of those either, even if you were a hip young developer of the sort depicted in the book, my guess is that you wouldn't take book recommendations from an old fogey like me.
Book Review: The Curse of Chalion
Lois McMaster Bujold, of course, is the author of the Miles Vorkosigan series, a character-driven science fiction series about a dimunitive but incredibly bright member of the Barraya clan. Her Vorkosigan series are definitely brain candy of the type that you can't possibly put down even if you wanted to.
Here, Bujold ventures into the realm of fantasy writing and her character-driven approach is even more appropriate her than it is for science fiction.
Cazaril is a broken man: a former military general who was betrayed and sold into slavery, he barely escaped with his life and walked back to the province where he was raised to ask for a position, any position. He does not seek revenge for his betrayal; he is just hoping to stay clear of court politics. To his chagrin, he is given the job of tutoring the young princess Iselle, who is hot-headed and righteous. When the princess is recalled to the capital along with her brother the heir apparent, Cazaril is drawn back to the politics he was trying to avoid, and finds himself embroiled in affairs of state that turn out to be far darker and sinister than the mere betrayal of his trust.
The novel is a great page-turner after the first section, as history, theology, and the motivations of all the characters are teased and weaved together tightly. Then as the big reveal (what is the Curse of Chalion) happens, the reader is challenged to see if he can unravel the plot before it becomes obvious. To my satisfaction, the apparent red herring turns out to be an essential clue, and though the ending is somewhat obvious, it was not a giveaway. (There was a gratituous happy ending that was obvious to anyone --- Bujold obviously loves Cazaril, that much is obvious)
The criticisms: the lead character is just a bit too perfect. A tutor who used to be a page, a fighting man, and a military general who now has no ambitions of his own, Cazaril is just a little too self-sacrificing to be truly believable. The classic scene comes when he bargains with the leader of a foreign land --- when offered gifts and bribes, he turns them all away, saying that he's got a tumor in his stomach and is going to die anyway, so the bribes are worth nothing to him.
Nevetheless, a good read, one of the best of the year.
Here, Bujold ventures into the realm of fantasy writing and her character-driven approach is even more appropriate her than it is for science fiction.
Cazaril is a broken man: a former military general who was betrayed and sold into slavery, he barely escaped with his life and walked back to the province where he was raised to ask for a position, any position. He does not seek revenge for his betrayal; he is just hoping to stay clear of court politics. To his chagrin, he is given the job of tutoring the young princess Iselle, who is hot-headed and righteous. When the princess is recalled to the capital along with her brother the heir apparent, Cazaril is drawn back to the politics he was trying to avoid, and finds himself embroiled in affairs of state that turn out to be far darker and sinister than the mere betrayal of his trust.
The novel is a great page-turner after the first section, as history, theology, and the motivations of all the characters are teased and weaved together tightly. Then as the big reveal (what is the Curse of Chalion) happens, the reader is challenged to see if he can unravel the plot before it becomes obvious. To my satisfaction, the apparent red herring turns out to be an essential clue, and though the ending is somewhat obvious, it was not a giveaway. (There was a gratituous happy ending that was obvious to anyone --- Bujold obviously loves Cazaril, that much is obvious)
The criticisms: the lead character is just a bit too perfect. A tutor who used to be a page, a fighting man, and a military general who now has no ambitions of his own, Cazaril is just a little too self-sacrificing to be truly believable. The classic scene comes when he bargains with the leader of a foreign land --- when offered gifts and bribes, he turns them all away, saying that he's got a tumor in his stomach and is going to die anyway, so the bribes are worth nothing to him.
Nevetheless, a good read, one of the best of the year.
Katelyn approaching the On Orbit intersection
Katelyn bought her bike from Terry Shaw last Saturday, so she had to see how it climbed today.
At the Intersection Bohlman Road and On Orbit
This ride was 42 miles and about 4450' of climbing. Brian said, "It's expanded my horizon on what steep means."
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Pharyngula: Noted without comment
Why I no longer read the New York Times. Scarlet probably still thinks I'm arrogant for thinking the Journalism or English majors have no place trying to interpret the complex world we live in for the intelligensia (the others don't read newspapers), but that someone who wrote this gets a promotion makes a mockery out of science:
I don't consider myself a creationist. I don't have any interest in sharing my personal views on how the canyon was carved, mostly because I've spent almost no time pondering my personal views -- it takes all my energy as a reporter and writer to understand and explain my subjects' views fairly and thoroughly.
I don't consider myself a creationist. I don't have any interest in sharing my personal views on how the canyon was carved, mostly because I've spent almost no time pondering my personal views -- it takes all my energy as a reporter and writer to understand and explain my subjects' views fairly and thoroughly.
Monday, July 03, 2006
Mt Tam Hike July 2nd
I returned to Mt. Tam on July 2nd with Matt Stanton to hike Steep Ravine and Matt Davis. We took the descent on Steep Ravine at a slow pace, since I was still feeling the effect of the long ride the day before. The vegetation looked a bit sorry, and the water was definitely at a low. The view to Stintson Beach was gorgeous, though, once we were out of the woods, and the clearing made the beach visible and pretty.
We got to the beach, however, and the temperature dropped 10 degrees, and it was too cold to stay and eat more than a power bar, so we made our way to the Matt Davis trail and started climbing it. Something over took us, and we started cranking up our pace and over-taking everyone we saw. Soon enough, we burst out of the woods into the open space with the clouds below us. We walked along the hillside, ignoring the Coastal trail turn-off, and soon found ourselves on top of the knoll overlooking San Francisco. A group of 4 on a double-date were having lunch there. I pointed out most of the interesting features to Matt, and we headed down the knoll to the West to see the lone tree and to see if we could see Point Bonitas Lighthouse (we couldn't).
We then headed back to the car, arriving there at 12:30pm, meaning that we had hiked 7.3 miles in 3 hours, despite a leisurely stop. The walk across England's made me a weaker cyclist, but I can definitely still walk.
We got to the beach, however, and the temperature dropped 10 degrees, and it was too cold to stay and eat more than a power bar, so we made our way to the Matt Davis trail and started climbing it. Something over took us, and we started cranking up our pace and over-taking everyone we saw. Soon enough, we burst out of the woods into the open space with the clouds below us. We walked along the hillside, ignoring the Coastal trail turn-off, and soon found ourselves on top of the knoll overlooking San Francisco. A group of 4 on a double-date were having lunch there. I pointed out most of the interesting features to Matt, and we headed down the knoll to the West to see the lone tree and to see if we could see Point Bonitas Lighthouse (we couldn't).
We then headed back to the car, arriving there at 12:30pm, meaning that we had hiked 7.3 miles in 3 hours, despite a leisurely stop. The walk across England's made me a weaker cyclist, but I can definitely still walk.
Superman Returns
I went to Superman Returns because of Bryan Singer, who proved that he could make comic books into good movies in both X-Men 1 and 2. What I got was a good movie, but disappointing considering what I had expected. The plot was shallow, and the interaction between characters more than a little stiff. There was a lot of homage to the first Superman movie, so much so that I think it hurt the movie quite a bit.
The high point was Kevin Spacey as Luthor, and the lovely special effects that provided lots of beautiful stills for the movie. The look is definitely intriguing and the images linger long after you've seen the movie. Lisa thought Brandon Routh was very cute, maybe even cuter than Christopher Reeve. I thought Kate Bosworth looked better in the publicity stills than in the movies.
Maybe we can get Sam Raimi to make the next Superman movie.
The high point was Kevin Spacey as Luthor, and the lovely special effects that provided lots of beautiful stills for the movie. The look is definitely intriguing and the images linger long after you've seen the movie. Lisa thought Brandon Routh was very cute, maybe even cuter than Christopher Reeve. I thought Kate Bosworth looked better in the publicity stills than in the movies.
Maybe we can get Sam Raimi to make the next Superman movie.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Princeton University - Link between income and happiness is mainly an illusion
Despite the weak relationship between income and global life satisfaction or experienced happiness, many people are highly motivated to increase their income," the study said. "In some cases, this focusing illusion may lead to a misallocation of time, from accepting lengthy commutes (which are among the worst moments of the day) to sacrificing time spent socializing (which are among the best moments of the day).
This study shows what I've always suspected: that Americans have been doped into accepting ridiculous work conditions (60-80 hour weeks) in exchange for a marginally higher income than the rest of the industrialized countries, all of whom get at least 5 weeks a year to spend with their friends and family. Even with the meager vacation time they get, Americans don't usually take them. I've had former colleagues brag that they took their sabbatical and started a job at another company so they got 2 salaries at once for 5 or 6 weeks.
I remember at a gathering of friends who asked me how much I would think I'd need to not worry about work again. I answered with a figure well in excess of what most Americans would see in their lifetime, but my friends expressed amazement that I would be satisfied with so little! Granted these were Google old-timers who would turn out to be incredibly wealthy, but all it showed me was that no matter how much money you have, all that does is to raise your standards and tell you that you don't have enough.
But happiness can't be bought, and this study definitely illustrates that the impact of extra money on happiness is highly exaggerated.
This study shows what I've always suspected: that Americans have been doped into accepting ridiculous work conditions (60-80 hour weeks) in exchange for a marginally higher income than the rest of the industrialized countries, all of whom get at least 5 weeks a year to spend with their friends and family. Even with the meager vacation time they get, Americans don't usually take them. I've had former colleagues brag that they took their sabbatical and started a job at another company so they got 2 salaries at once for 5 or 6 weeks.
I remember at a gathering of friends who asked me how much I would think I'd need to not worry about work again. I answered with a figure well in excess of what most Americans would see in their lifetime, but my friends expressed amazement that I would be satisfied with so little! Granted these were Google old-timers who would turn out to be incredibly wealthy, but all it showed me was that no matter how much money you have, all that does is to raise your standards and tell you that you don't have enough.
But happiness can't be bought, and this study definitely illustrates that the impact of extra money on happiness is highly exaggerated.
The Lonely American Just Got a Bit Lonelier - New York Times
I find this story simply sad. To a large extent it rings true because American friendships tend to be shallow. It's hard to call someone a friend if they won't reply to your e-mail, or simply don't have time to go cycling, sailing, or even simply shoot the breeze. All of which makes me all the more grateful to the close friends and confidants that I have.
The real problem, however, is in the public realm. People who have no friends or close confidants are much less likely to be willing to invest in public infrastructure, in social security, in public education (why educate other people's kids?) or see the world in a broader realm outside that of their limited social circles. This breakdown of social circles cannot help but become a tragedy.
A recent study by sociologists at Duke and the University of Arizona found that, on average, most adults only have two people they can talk to about the most important subjects in their lives — serious health problems, for example, or issues like who will care for their children should they die. And about one-quarter have no close confidants at all.
The real problem, however, is in the public realm. People who have no friends or close confidants are much less likely to be willing to invest in public infrastructure, in social security, in public education (why educate other people's kids?) or see the world in a broader realm outside that of their limited social circles. This breakdown of social circles cannot help but become a tragedy.
A recent study by sociologists at Duke and the University of Arizona found that, on average, most adults only have two people they can talk to about the most important subjects in their lives — serious health problems, for example, or issues like who will care for their children should they die. And about one-quarter have no close confidants at all.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Mt. Tam Ride
74 miles, 6840' of climb, with Roberto, Marius, Brian Wickman and Dana Levine. Lovely views of the fog on the coast and in the inland valleys, and pleasant temperatures, but no pictures!
We met at 8:30 at the Tamalpais High School Parking lot. Dana asked if I had a first aid kit in the car, since he had crashed into a seagull while riding over to meet us! After he cleaned up and I moved the car so it wouldn't be at risk of being towed, we started off. This was my first ride with Marius Eriksen, and it soon became apparently why other riders held him in awe. He sped away on the flats and up the hills quickly. When we got to Panaromic, we turned left and then descended Panaromic to Highway 1 in the fog.
I saw Dana fish-tail in front of me, which was a signal to pare back on my descent (not fast by anybody's standards). Brian later told me that he fish-tailed behind me as well, so evidently there was a spot of oil on that section of the road that I was just lucky to miss. Highway 1 curves around Muir Woods, normally providing a lovely ocean view that was enshrouded in fog.
A few climbs later, I was climbing alone, having given up on chasing any of the faster riders. When we stopped at the bottom of Panaromic Highway Roberto asked if I could look at his bike, since he felt like it wasn't as fast as it normally was. I looked at both front and rear wheels, and they were true and in good condition, so I couldn't help him. We tweaked Dana's front deraileur, which had been pushed out of alignment with his crash, and then began climbing Panaromic. I started climbing next to Roberto, and to verify that his bike was truly OK, we pedaled to about the same speed and started coasting, and when we slowed down at the same rate, concluded that his bike was no more broken than mine was.
We climbed through the fog, but after a few switchbacks Roberto concluded that it was in fact, something wrong with the way he felt today, so he announced that he would just ride back to the car and wait. He was indeed uncharacteristically slow on both the climbs and the flats, so when we regrouped at the Pan Toll Ranger Station I gave him my car keys and he rode back. We had burst through the fog while under the shade of the Redwood Trees along Pan Toll, and now rode strongly above the clouds. The temperature had warmed to about 80 degrees once we were above the fog, and below us we could see a spread of cloud cover spreading through the trees all the way to the horizon. It was a magical view, and I regretted not having a camera, mine being on loan to my mom who was travelling through China.
Past Ridgecrest drive, we continued to the summit, where the road wound around the mountain enough to show us that San Francisco and the Bay too, was enshrouded in fog, with only the top of Coit Tower peeking out through the fog. I was again, last up the mountain, and got there to see Mt. Diablo across the Bay, with its massive base in fog.
We made a rapid descent to Ridgecrest and headed North towards Fairfax Bolinas road. This is my favorite part of the ride, where you feel like you're riding on top of the world, clouds below you. Large groups of cyclists were coming at us the other way, so there was a club ride going on, but I did not stop to inquire as to what the ride was.
The descent on Fairfax Bolinas road was rough and bumpy, with just enough traffic to keep us from taking any risks around the blind corners. Once we linked up again with Highway 1, we headed North, over a series of sharp rolling hills, down the back of which we managed 38-40mph into Olema. We pacelined our way into Point Reyes Station, where we shared a pizza at the cafe.
Past Point Reyes Station, we turned right onto Point Reyes Petaluma Road, a long flat road along gentle terrain. I found a good position behind Marius and we all hung on as best as we could and begged him to ease up a bit on the gentle inclines so we could all stay together. Past the reservoir, we turned right onto Nicasio Valley Road, where we stopped at the Old Ranchiera turnoff to relieve ourselves and take a break. Soon after that, Nicasio Valley Road entered a shaded climb whose descent would drop us onto Sir Francis Drake. Ignoring the wide road, we took San Geronimo Valley road to by pass the traffic until the pass into Fairfax. We rode the pass into Fairfax separately, agreeing to meet at the turn off to the bike path.
I survived a rude driver and the fast descent into Fairfax, and then gathered with Dana and Marius to wait for Brian. He showed up a few minutes later, having fallen due to his chain dropping off as he shifted at the top of the hill. Fortunately, the traffic was in front of him, so other than a few scrapes he was OK. We then wound our way through San Anselmo and Larkspur through bike paths and backroads before making it to Mill Valley, where we split up, Marius and I heading back to the car while Dana and Brian riding home to San Francisco. We got back to the car at 3:45pm. Brian would get an excess of 105 miles and 10,000' of climbing by the time he got home.
Roberto was waiting for us when we got to the car (fortunately, he had brought a book with him). We would find out later that he had been dehydrated prior to the ride.
We met at 8:30 at the Tamalpais High School Parking lot. Dana asked if I had a first aid kit in the car, since he had crashed into a seagull while riding over to meet us! After he cleaned up and I moved the car so it wouldn't be at risk of being towed, we started off. This was my first ride with Marius Eriksen, and it soon became apparently why other riders held him in awe. He sped away on the flats and up the hills quickly. When we got to Panaromic, we turned left and then descended Panaromic to Highway 1 in the fog.
I saw Dana fish-tail in front of me, which was a signal to pare back on my descent (not fast by anybody's standards). Brian later told me that he fish-tailed behind me as well, so evidently there was a spot of oil on that section of the road that I was just lucky to miss. Highway 1 curves around Muir Woods, normally providing a lovely ocean view that was enshrouded in fog.
A few climbs later, I was climbing alone, having given up on chasing any of the faster riders. When we stopped at the bottom of Panaromic Highway Roberto asked if I could look at his bike, since he felt like it wasn't as fast as it normally was. I looked at both front and rear wheels, and they were true and in good condition, so I couldn't help him. We tweaked Dana's front deraileur, which had been pushed out of alignment with his crash, and then began climbing Panaromic. I started climbing next to Roberto, and to verify that his bike was truly OK, we pedaled to about the same speed and started coasting, and when we slowed down at the same rate, concluded that his bike was no more broken than mine was.
We climbed through the fog, but after a few switchbacks Roberto concluded that it was in fact, something wrong with the way he felt today, so he announced that he would just ride back to the car and wait. He was indeed uncharacteristically slow on both the climbs and the flats, so when we regrouped at the Pan Toll Ranger Station I gave him my car keys and he rode back. We had burst through the fog while under the shade of the Redwood Trees along Pan Toll, and now rode strongly above the clouds. The temperature had warmed to about 80 degrees once we were above the fog, and below us we could see a spread of cloud cover spreading through the trees all the way to the horizon. It was a magical view, and I regretted not having a camera, mine being on loan to my mom who was travelling through China.
Past Ridgecrest drive, we continued to the summit, where the road wound around the mountain enough to show us that San Francisco and the Bay too, was enshrouded in fog, with only the top of Coit Tower peeking out through the fog. I was again, last up the mountain, and got there to see Mt. Diablo across the Bay, with its massive base in fog.
We made a rapid descent to Ridgecrest and headed North towards Fairfax Bolinas road. This is my favorite part of the ride, where you feel like you're riding on top of the world, clouds below you. Large groups of cyclists were coming at us the other way, so there was a club ride going on, but I did not stop to inquire as to what the ride was.
The descent on Fairfax Bolinas road was rough and bumpy, with just enough traffic to keep us from taking any risks around the blind corners. Once we linked up again with Highway 1, we headed North, over a series of sharp rolling hills, down the back of which we managed 38-40mph into Olema. We pacelined our way into Point Reyes Station, where we shared a pizza at the cafe.
Past Point Reyes Station, we turned right onto Point Reyes Petaluma Road, a long flat road along gentle terrain. I found a good position behind Marius and we all hung on as best as we could and begged him to ease up a bit on the gentle inclines so we could all stay together. Past the reservoir, we turned right onto Nicasio Valley Road, where we stopped at the Old Ranchiera turnoff to relieve ourselves and take a break. Soon after that, Nicasio Valley Road entered a shaded climb whose descent would drop us onto Sir Francis Drake. Ignoring the wide road, we took San Geronimo Valley road to by pass the traffic until the pass into Fairfax. We rode the pass into Fairfax separately, agreeing to meet at the turn off to the bike path.
I survived a rude driver and the fast descent into Fairfax, and then gathered with Dana and Marius to wait for Brian. He showed up a few minutes later, having fallen due to his chain dropping off as he shifted at the top of the hill. Fortunately, the traffic was in front of him, so other than a few scrapes he was OK. We then wound our way through San Anselmo and Larkspur through bike paths and backroads before making it to Mill Valley, where we split up, Marius and I heading back to the car while Dana and Brian riding home to San Francisco. We got back to the car at 3:45pm. Brian would get an excess of 105 miles and 10,000' of climbing by the time he got home.
Roberto was waiting for us when we got to the car (fortunately, he had brought a book with him). We would find out later that he had been dehydrated prior to the ride.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Manchester Public Urinal
This got rolled out in front of our eyes as we were headed to the shopping area. Would you use this? What would the equivalent version for women look like?
Manchester Mounted Police
It's so unfair. Not just a bike response unit, but real mounted police too! And he wasn't a loner for tourists (Manchester not being really much of a tourist town), but had 2 or 3 compatriots!
Cycle Response Unit
Perhaps it should not be surprising that a country where 30% of trips are done by bicycle (this was in Manchester, England) would have a cycle response unit for emergency response in the pedestrain only part of town. She was wearing an NHS logo, so this was the official government unit. Her panniers has room for most first aid gear, as well as an AEB.I'm still kicking myself for being in too much of a hurry to stop and interview her.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Packhorse versus SherpaVan
For those who have questions about Packhorse versus SherpaVan, as far as we could tell both services were equivalent in price and service. For the first 2/3rds of the walk, the SherpaVan usually beat the Packhorse in the delivery of the lugguage. The last 2 days of the walk, the Packhorse van was faster (we actually arrived before the lugguage on the last 2 days of the walk).
Packhorse advertises that you can ride the van for free with your lugguage if you can't walk the day. SherpaVan doesn't. However, our experience was that SherpaVan would happily take you along with the lugguage without a fee as well, so in practice this is not a distinguishing feature worth choosing one service or another over. Lisa can vouch for the fact that the two services enjoy a friendly rivalry and both companies work hard for your business.
We went with SherpaVan mostly because their web-site for accomodations booking is fantastic. (I've left comments with regards to various B&Bs there) Note that they have two accomodation services. You can prepay your accomodations, or you can have them book it and pay as you go. In retrospect, I should have opted for the former to hedge against the dollar taking a dive (which it did) before I arrived in England.
Packhorse advertises that you can ride the van for free with your lugguage if you can't walk the day. SherpaVan doesn't. However, our experience was that SherpaVan would happily take you along with the lugguage without a fee as well, so in practice this is not a distinguishing feature worth choosing one service or another over. Lisa can vouch for the fact that the two services enjoy a friendly rivalry and both companies work hard for your business.
We went with SherpaVan mostly because their web-site for accomodations booking is fantastic. (I've left comments with regards to various B&Bs there) Note that they have two accomodation services. You can prepay your accomodations, or you can have them book it and pay as you go. In retrospect, I should have opted for the former to hedge against the dollar taking a dive (which it did) before I arrived in England.
Patterdale Rest Day
We woke up and had a lazy, late breakfast before packing our bags and limping out down to Glenridding, which was where Ullswater was. The lake and its environments was almost certainly the inspiration for Wordsworth's most well-known poem, Daffodils. The reason we scheduled a rest day on this otherwise tiny town was that the lake had plenty to do! You could ride on the Steamers, rent a rowboat, or as we did, rent a sailing dinghy.
It had been about 5 years since I last sailed a dinghy, in South Africa, also with Lisa as the crew. But once we got on the boat and got going, it was as though I had never forgotten how. It was a windy day with lovely sunshine, and we had a lot of fun exploring the huge lake along with its little islands. The wind was even strong enough that we had to hike out and lean against the wind, along with all the thrills that that entailed. I had hoped that I would be able to rent a sailboat like this on the trip, but didn't not dare to imagine that the conditions would be so ideal.
Two hours of sailing cost us 40 pounds, a hefty sum, but on the other hand, life is measured by the experiences you have, and the experience was worth vastly more than that.
We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the shops of Glenridding, where Lisa did a bit of souvernir shopping, and I bought a compass. (A tip, the visitor center has much cheaper compasses than the outdoor store!) The compass would be a good buy, since I ended up using it a lot for the rest of the trip.
We had an early dinner at a bar in Glenridding, and then walked leisurely back to the Greenbank Farm in the beautiful sunset.
It had been about 5 years since I last sailed a dinghy, in South Africa, also with Lisa as the crew. But once we got on the boat and got going, it was as though I had never forgotten how. It was a windy day with lovely sunshine, and we had a lot of fun exploring the huge lake along with its little islands. The wind was even strong enough that we had to hike out and lean against the wind, along with all the thrills that that entailed. I had hoped that I would be able to rent a sailboat like this on the trip, but didn't not dare to imagine that the conditions would be so ideal.
Two hours of sailing cost us 40 pounds, a hefty sum, but on the other hand, life is measured by the experiences you have, and the experience was worth vastly more than that.
We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the shops of Glenridding, where Lisa did a bit of souvernir shopping, and I bought a compass. (A tip, the visitor center has much cheaper compasses than the outdoor store!) The compass would be a good buy, since I ended up using it a lot for the rest of the trip.
We had an early dinner at a bar in Glenridding, and then walked leisurely back to the Greenbank Farm in the beautiful sunset.
Grasmere Rest Day
We woke up to our first rest day knowing that we had to do laundry. We walked down to town and found that a bus arrived right as we did, so we got onto the open top double-decker bus. We arrived in Ambleside after a lovely experience of enjoying the wind in our hair (though a number of tree branches had a lovely habit of hitting the windshield of the bus with a loud THWACK!) to find that the laundromat was closed on Thursdays! The tourist information center told us there was a laundromat at Windermere that was open all week.
There were plenty of outdoor shops and bookstores, however, so we bought a trail map, a can of wax for my boots, and gaitors for each of us. Interestingly enough, once we bought them, we only had one occasion where there was a need to even have them, but that's the price you pay for good weather.
The trip to Windermere did not take too long, and we found the laundromat with little trouble, but had to buy laundry tablets. We took the opportunity to have lunch, and replenish our cash supplies at the ATM. We also visited the local library to use the internet connection.
On the way back from Windermere, we stopped off at the Dove Cottage, which was where Wordsworth spent his most productive years. The visit was educational and the self-guided audio tour of the museum very much worth visiting. (Plus, they give a discount to bus riders if you save the ticket and show it to them!) We ended the day at the Jumble Room with a fine dinner to fuel the next day's journey up to Helvellyn.
There were plenty of outdoor shops and bookstores, however, so we bought a trail map, a can of wax for my boots, and gaitors for each of us. Interestingly enough, once we bought them, we only had one occasion where there was a need to even have them, but that's the price you pay for good weather.
The trip to Windermere did not take too long, and we found the laundromat with little trouble, but had to buy laundry tablets. We took the opportunity to have lunch, and replenish our cash supplies at the ATM. We also visited the local library to use the internet connection.
On the way back from Windermere, we stopped off at the Dove Cottage, which was where Wordsworth spent his most productive years. The visit was educational and the self-guided audio tour of the museum very much worth visiting. (Plus, they give a discount to bus riders if you save the ticket and show it to them!) We ended the day at the Jumble Room with a fine dinner to fuel the next day's journey up to Helvellyn.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Coast to Coast nominated 2nd best walk in the World
It is indeed a very good walk. Challenging both in physical (walking) and mental (route finding, planning, and navigation) aspects. Being my first long walk, I can't compare it to others of similar stature (note that the Milford Sound walk that won first place is only a 4 day walk!). All I can say is that we chose this walk because:
- Lugguage service is available. It's not available on any of America's thru-hikes, for instance, or in America's National Parks.
- The luxury accomodations en-route makes the daily walk easier to bear. We stayed at many fabulous places and met many friendly people.
- It's in an English speaking country. The comraderie of the people you meet will encourage you, and give you friendly faces to see all through your journey. The fact that everyone speaks English means that you'll have meaningful, deep conversations should you desire it.
- It does provide a lovely cross-section of the country. At the end of the trip, our impressions were of beautiful mountains, lovely lakes, quiet forests, farmlands, fields, and lonely wind-swept moors that were truly wind-swept and lonely. It was a shock to come back to Manchester and discover that England had people, not just sheep and cows.
- Unpredictable weather. We hit lovely weather, so we're not complaining, though I did get caught in a downpour.
- Trails overlaid with loose stones. It made for lots of sore feet.
- Expensive. It cost us about $4000 in total to do the trip (including plane tickets), making it by far the most expensive trip I've ever done.
- Lack of navigational aids. This is truly a trip to test your ability to navigate (or use a GPS).
Confusing places in Stedman's book
Here are the places I got lost or confused because I was using the Stedman's 1st edition trail guide. There are two other guidebooks that I know of, Terry Marsh's and Paul Hannon's . I've seen Terry Marhs's, which has color maps interior, but didn't get a chance to evaluate it. Paul Hannon's book came highly recommended by someone who was doing the trip for the second time, so it is worth buying a copy and comparing. Overall, I found the Stedman book very well marked and quite usable, and it's the only book I have, so don't ask me about the others.
- Dent Hill (Map 5, pg. 76). The tree felling on Dent Hill has really messed up the directions in the first edition of the book. There's a left turn near the top, and the marked stone fences are now wire fences. The solution is to just keep going up until you see the cairn at the top!
- Raven Crag (Map 6, pg. 77) The clear cutting also affected this area. Make sure you read the trail map very carefully. Fortunately, this area seems to have enough recreational walkers and hikers that you can just ask a local for directions.
- Loft Beck (Map 12, pg. 85). This is not a confusion in the book. This is a marker to tell you to follow the book and ignore anybody else's advice! I tried to follow someone else's advice and would have been better off staying with the book right here.
- Kidsty Pike (Map 27, pg. 113). We lost the track past Kidsty Pike. So did Peter & Margaret. This is one of those places where a GPS would have been handy. In any case, just head down towards the reservoir and you will be OK. Ignore ALL signs to "High Street!" Have a trail map and compass handy here.
- Shap Abbey (Map 32, pg. 118). Head UP the hill on the Tarmac. (The book does not provide arrows pointing uphill here like it should have)
- Blades (Map 51d, pg. 152) We got lost here as well. My guess is that the right thing to do here would be to walk to the closest tarmac road and just follow it along. Ignore all the stupid footpath signs that will give you more ups and downs than you want and give you panic attacks.
- Colburn (Map 63, pg. 168) We got lost at Hagg Farm, which is unmarked. I have no idea what the correct way to negotiate this is. In any case, we ended up all the way in Walkerville. GPS would be helpful here.
- Urra Moor (Map 78, pg. 187) Every marker on this map I just walked past without noticing!
- Bloworth Crossing (Map 79, pg. 188) The path narrows and then widens again. You are at this point walking on the dismantled Rosedale Railway track, which is black! Stay on the black stuff going East past the two "gates" (which are green), and do not deviate onto the crossing dirt road. I did not get lost here but two others did. The Cleveland Way also deviates at this point and you should not follow it.
- Sleights Moor to Little Beck (Map 89, pg. 203) This is the only true bug (as opposed to ommission or unclear directions) in the book. After crossing A169, turn left (North) and go a few hundred yards to get to a gate (not a stile!) that turns right onto a dirt track under the electricity cables that will lead you to Little Beck. The track is well signed, just follow it.
Egton Bridge to Robin Hood's Bay
The day started at 6:00am for us, packing, eating breakfast, and preparing for Lisa's longest day of the trip. Being experienced packers by now, we were on the road by 7:30am. The flat walk to Grosmont was easy and straightforward, and we arrived by 8:15, before the trains were moving, so we were denied the same spectacle we could have seen by going to the movie screens.
As the crow flies, from Grosmont to Robin Hood's Bay is only 8 miles or so. But Wainwright (who was clearly my kind of guy) was determined to put as much additional elevation gain as possible on the last day of the trip as a farewell present to those who came after him, so the route meanders South first to pick up the steep climbs and then Little Beck Woods before double-backing and heading North East. Those who are tired of all the climbing can choose to do what the Friedmans were to do today, which is to take the flat Bridleway to Whitby and then pick up the Cleveland Way down to Robin Hood's Bay.
The road past Grosmont was signed for a 33% grade, and in fact it really was steep --- for the first time on the trip, Lisa needed both hiking sticks. Fortunately, it was foggy and cool, so we made good time, stopping only for pictures of the sign. After a good mile or so, the road flattened out near the cattle guard and we followed the sign across the parking lot onto Sleights Moor.
At the end of Sleights Moor, however, on A169, we found a bug in the Henry Stedman book: instead of turning left after crossing the road, the book indicated a right turn. After a bit of futile walking back and forth, I checked it against the Harvey Map and found the correct directions. A couple that we had met in Patterdale who were done with the trip yesterday and were driving home also stopped and confirmed my assessment of the situation.
Once we were on our way, we made reasonable time and reached LittleBeck a little after 10:15am. We were later to find out the Peter and Margaret had left about 10 minutes before we did. LittleBeck woods is a climb, but it's gentle and beautiful, so we did not mind visiting such wonders as the Hermitage, Falling Foss (which was flowing quite well despite 2 weeks of dry weather!). We emerged about an hour and a half later into the car park at the top end where we had lunch and I got my last sting from the stinging nettles.
After lunch, we followed the road to the turn-off to Sneatow Low Moor, which was very dry and an easy traverse in the now sunny day. It was here that we got our first views of the North Sea in the distance, though the digital camera failed to capture the delight we felt when we saw it. Our pace quickened and soon we were over the stile and onto B1416, a tiny road which led off into the Graystone Hills.
Here the book's directions and the trails failed us, as the Moors are criss-crossed by both human and sheep trails, all of which peter'd out after the second signpost. I did my best guess with compass and map (under pressure, as we could now see Whitby on the coast), and we soon hit a fence, but it was quite obviously the wrong fence. We decided to follow the fence North and East, following more sheep trails, and after a few adventures hopping over very boggy sections that had not dried out, found the correct stile and were back onto the coast to coast trail.
The walk through Low Hawsker and High Hawsker was a long slog, and Lisa needed a break, so we stopped at the Woodland Tearoom for a cup of tea and to finish what was left of our food from the morning. Following that, a descent past the Caravans and we finally saw the North Sea! At this point, we ran into Peter and Margaret, who were glad to take pictures of us. The walk along the cliffs were breath-taking and very much reminiscent of our first day of walking so long ago at St. Bees. We took it easy to savor every moment, but even so, arrived quickly at Robin Hood's Bay at 4:00pm.
Robin Hood's Bay is exactly the kind of village that inspired Miyazaki's view of Europe in Kiki's Delivery Service or Howl's Moving Castle. The houses are stacked and jumbled up all the way down the cliffs, and afar all you see is a chain of chimneys down to the Bay. It was a picture perfect ending to the walk.
There, we checked into our Bed and Breakfast, walked down to the Bay Hotel, and had our picture taken at the end. We were not alone, however, as we soon found our compatriots and had a great drink, signing the guest book at Wainwright's Bar, and then a filling dinner.
As the crow flies, from Grosmont to Robin Hood's Bay is only 8 miles or so. But Wainwright (who was clearly my kind of guy) was determined to put as much additional elevation gain as possible on the last day of the trip as a farewell present to those who came after him, so the route meanders South first to pick up the steep climbs and then Little Beck Woods before double-backing and heading North East. Those who are tired of all the climbing can choose to do what the Friedmans were to do today, which is to take the flat Bridleway to Whitby and then pick up the Cleveland Way down to Robin Hood's Bay.
The road past Grosmont was signed for a 33% grade, and in fact it really was steep --- for the first time on the trip, Lisa needed both hiking sticks. Fortunately, it was foggy and cool, so we made good time, stopping only for pictures of the sign. After a good mile or so, the road flattened out near the cattle guard and we followed the sign across the parking lot onto Sleights Moor.
At the end of Sleights Moor, however, on A169, we found a bug in the Henry Stedman book: instead of turning left after crossing the road, the book indicated a right turn. After a bit of futile walking back and forth, I checked it against the Harvey Map and found the correct directions. A couple that we had met in Patterdale who were done with the trip yesterday and were driving home also stopped and confirmed my assessment of the situation.
Once we were on our way, we made reasonable time and reached LittleBeck a little after 10:15am. We were later to find out the Peter and Margaret had left about 10 minutes before we did. LittleBeck woods is a climb, but it's gentle and beautiful, so we did not mind visiting such wonders as the Hermitage, Falling Foss (which was flowing quite well despite 2 weeks of dry weather!). We emerged about an hour and a half later into the car park at the top end where we had lunch and I got my last sting from the stinging nettles.
After lunch, we followed the road to the turn-off to Sneatow Low Moor, which was very dry and an easy traverse in the now sunny day. It was here that we got our first views of the North Sea in the distance, though the digital camera failed to capture the delight we felt when we saw it. Our pace quickened and soon we were over the stile and onto B1416, a tiny road which led off into the Graystone Hills.
Here the book's directions and the trails failed us, as the Moors are criss-crossed by both human and sheep trails, all of which peter'd out after the second signpost. I did my best guess with compass and map (under pressure, as we could now see Whitby on the coast), and we soon hit a fence, but it was quite obviously the wrong fence. We decided to follow the fence North and East, following more sheep trails, and after a few adventures hopping over very boggy sections that had not dried out, found the correct stile and were back onto the coast to coast trail.
The walk through Low Hawsker and High Hawsker was a long slog, and Lisa needed a break, so we stopped at the Woodland Tearoom for a cup of tea and to finish what was left of our food from the morning. Following that, a descent past the Caravans and we finally saw the North Sea! At this point, we ran into Peter and Margaret, who were glad to take pictures of us. The walk along the cliffs were breath-taking and very much reminiscent of our first day of walking so long ago at St. Bees. We took it easy to savor every moment, but even so, arrived quickly at Robin Hood's Bay at 4:00pm.
Robin Hood's Bay is exactly the kind of village that inspired Miyazaki's view of Europe in Kiki's Delivery Service or Howl's Moving Castle. The houses are stacked and jumbled up all the way down the cliffs, and afar all you see is a chain of chimneys down to the Bay. It was a picture perfect ending to the walk.
There, we checked into our Bed and Breakfast, walked down to the Bay Hotel, and had our picture taken at the end. We were not alone, however, as we soon found our compatriots and had a great drink, signing the guest book at Wainwright's Bar, and then a filling dinner.
Blakey Ridge to Egton Bridge
As we were about to leave this morning, Peter told me that he had walked all the way back to the Rosedale junction this morning, starting at 3am. He said he couldn't sleep the night before, and resolved to complete the loop. It took him 4 hours, and it would turn today into a 30 mile day for him.
The day started with a significant bit of road walking. After not less than 5 minutes, Ray showed up and joined us. He explained that he too had gotten lost at the Rosedale junction yesterday, and followed the Cleveland Way instead of along the old dismantled Rosedale railroad track. That cost him 4 hours, and he only made it to the Lion Inn after 8. I had made a note of the departure from the Cleveway Way the day before, but even so was also confused at the junction, so there but for the fortunate happenstance of meeting other walkers would have also gotten lost.
We walked along the road atop the ridge, and slowly meandered around. Along the way, we saw the light change and grant us lovely highlights of the Lion Inn and the High Blakey House from whence we came. Once off the road, we got beautiful views of Fryupdale, a lovely valley with a strange name, a fryup being a cooked English breakfast. Peter and Margaret, having a long day today, went ahead, while Lisa, Ray and I walked slowly together.
The day was pretty flat until we got to Glaisdale, whose roads descended steeply into town. Ray left us to visit the pub, while Lisa and I pressed into the woods near Beggar's Bridge and into Egton Bridge. There, we found the Horseshoe Inn and discovered that we had beaten our lugguage into town for the first time. After checking in, we met Peter and Margaret and crossed the stepping stones in town with them.
The lady running the Inn, however, was very accomodating and did laundry for us, and left us a breakfast setting for the next day's 17 mile walk into Robin Hood's Bay. Knowing what I know now, however, I would have opted to push even further ahead into Grosmont, which has a bit more to do and save a bit of walking the next day. I was strangely untired from the previous day's efforts, so it would have been entirely feasible.
The day started with a significant bit of road walking. After not less than 5 minutes, Ray showed up and joined us. He explained that he too had gotten lost at the Rosedale junction yesterday, and followed the Cleveland Way instead of along the old dismantled Rosedale railroad track. That cost him 4 hours, and he only made it to the Lion Inn after 8. I had made a note of the departure from the Cleveway Way the day before, but even so was also confused at the junction, so there but for the fortunate happenstance of meeting other walkers would have also gotten lost.
We walked along the road atop the ridge, and slowly meandered around. Along the way, we saw the light change and grant us lovely highlights of the Lion Inn and the High Blakey House from whence we came. Once off the road, we got beautiful views of Fryupdale, a lovely valley with a strange name, a fryup being a cooked English breakfast. Peter and Margaret, having a long day today, went ahead, while Lisa, Ray and I walked slowly together.
The day was pretty flat until we got to Glaisdale, whose roads descended steeply into town. Ray left us to visit the pub, while Lisa and I pressed into the woods near Beggar's Bridge and into Egton Bridge. There, we found the Horseshoe Inn and discovered that we had beaten our lugguage into town for the first time. After checking in, we met Peter and Margaret and crossed the stepping stones in town with them.
The lady running the Inn, however, was very accomodating and did laundry for us, and left us a breakfast setting for the next day's 17 mile walk into Robin Hood's Bay. Knowing what I know now, however, I would have opted to push even further ahead into Grosmont, which has a bit more to do and save a bit of walking the next day. I was strangely untired from the previous day's efforts, so it would have been entirely feasible.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Orton to Kirby Stephen
We started by walking over to see the stone circle by Knott Lane, which turned out to be not nearly as interesting as I'd hoped it would be. The stones were not very tall, even though they were broad, and clearly the work of men with intention to build the circle. But I estimate that three or four strong men could have done the work if they were so motivated, or perhaps less if they had horses and harnesses. Since nobody knows what the stone circle is there for, we went on and walked into Tarn Moor.
There were maps for Tarn Moor spaced at irregular intervals along the obvious trails, and with the help of my compass we made it over Sunbriggin Tarn. At this point, the weather had heated up, and we deployed our umbrellas for the first time as sunshade, something that would make us the subject of conversation for many a walker for the rest of our trip.
The long road walk wasn't very interesting, but soon enough, we came to the 3rd cattle guard, and turned off the road to walk through some farmland. Having gotten off the road, we quickly found a place to roll out our ground sheet and eat the one packed lunch we bought for both of us. The heat was unrelenting, however, so we ate as quickly as possible and moved on. After a steep descent alongside a farm, we got to Smardale Bridge and went up the steep incline afterwards, where there was supposed to be the Giant's Graves, another pre-historic monument that I missed. A few farms, a road, and then a railroad tunnel which in normal English weather would have been completely muddy but was indeed quite dry, and we were in Kirby Stephen.
A question about the Redmayne House at the first people we met yielded excellent directions. We arrived at the house, which looked rather ramshackle on the outside, but when we were brought in were delighted to find bright airy rooms with enormous bathrooms and lovely furnishings.
Laundry, grocery shopping, cash extraction from the nearest ATM later, we were found an excellent Fish and Chips place that served incredibly fresh fish. Satisfied, we went back to the Redmayne House and had a footbath before going to bed.
There were maps for Tarn Moor spaced at irregular intervals along the obvious trails, and with the help of my compass we made it over Sunbriggin Tarn. At this point, the weather had heated up, and we deployed our umbrellas for the first time as sunshade, something that would make us the subject of conversation for many a walker for the rest of our trip.
The long road walk wasn't very interesting, but soon enough, we came to the 3rd cattle guard, and turned off the road to walk through some farmland. Having gotten off the road, we quickly found a place to roll out our ground sheet and eat the one packed lunch we bought for both of us. The heat was unrelenting, however, so we ate as quickly as possible and moved on. After a steep descent alongside a farm, we got to Smardale Bridge and went up the steep incline afterwards, where there was supposed to be the Giant's Graves, another pre-historic monument that I missed. A few farms, a road, and then a railroad tunnel which in normal English weather would have been completely muddy but was indeed quite dry, and we were in Kirby Stephen.
A question about the Redmayne House at the first people we met yielded excellent directions. We arrived at the house, which looked rather ramshackle on the outside, but when we were brought in were delighted to find bright airy rooms with enormous bathrooms and lovely furnishings.
Laundry, grocery shopping, cash extraction from the nearest ATM later, we were found an excellent Fish and Chips place that served incredibly fresh fish. Satisfied, we went back to the Redmayne House and had a footbath before going to bed.
Tales of the Slayers
A comic book written mostly by the creator (Joss Whedon) and various writers (Jane Espenson, Doug Petrie, and David Fury) and even an actress (Amber Benson) from the TV show, about various different slayers across history and the lives they chose to lead or were forced to lead.
One of the interesting highlights is Whedon's story, not because it is anything special, but because it also highlights the fact that Whedon is probably not a Christian. If you look at the entire Buffy series in retrospect, you'll see that the show deliberately shys away from any discussion of the theological, even though you might consider that this would be the most important facet of being a slayer. (After all, why do crosses and holy water work against vampires?) Instead, Whedon chose to focus on the arcane books and research as presented by Giles the librarian (played by Anthony Stewart Head), who comes across as non-Christian as anybody could be.
In any case, it must have provided a major dilemna for Whedon, and it's a testament to his talent that I watched the entire show without realizing the central problem he tiptoed around. (Note that he happily gave the name "Faith" to a slayer who went awry) In any case, Whedon's story in this book depicts a Slayer who believed in God, who was then abandoned by God at her time of need. It's an entertaining read, and given that I paid 3 pound sterling for the book, worth the money.
One of the interesting highlights is Whedon's story, not because it is anything special, but because it also highlights the fact that Whedon is probably not a Christian. If you look at the entire Buffy series in retrospect, you'll see that the show deliberately shys away from any discussion of the theological, even though you might consider that this would be the most important facet of being a slayer. (After all, why do crosses and holy water work against vampires?) Instead, Whedon chose to focus on the arcane books and research as presented by Giles the librarian (played by Anthony Stewart Head), who comes across as non-Christian as anybody could be.
In any case, it must have provided a major dilemna for Whedon, and it's a testament to his talent that I watched the entire show without realizing the central problem he tiptoed around. (Note that he happily gave the name "Faith" to a slayer who went awry) In any case, Whedon's story in this book depicts a Slayer who believed in God, who was then abandoned by God at her time of need. It's an entertaining read, and given that I paid 3 pound sterling for the book, worth the money.
Pictures from today's Ride
Despite the heat, Matt & I managed 53 miles and 1370m (4500ft) of climb, up Moody, Page Mill, down West Alpine, and back up over Old La Honda road and 84. Check out the pictures (click on the title) --- fog in the valley in Silicon Valley made for a dreamy morning.
Shap to Orton
This was meant to be a recovery day after the massively difficult previous day. In the morning, Margaret asked us if we would like her to do our laundry. We were happy to do so, and left her our laundry before leaving. A footpath right behind her house led us past a farm and then a public footpath to the overhead pedestrain bridge over M6. Once there, we followed along some paths and then walked across a quarry road to skirt the walled village of Oddendale.
There was supposedly a stone circle in the area, but it wasn't obvious how to find it, and we passed it by while wandering through the Moor. The day was overcast, and we moved along slowly, since we were still weary from the day before, and the terrain was not exactly flat --- the Moors roll up and down, and while the going was not exactly strenous, it wasn't smooth, either.
After a few false sightings, we found Robin Hood's Grave, a cairn that didn't seem to be anybody's grave, let alone Robin Hood's. We were later informed that there are about 8 of his graves scattered all over England, so it was a good thing that all we did was to take pictures and moved on.
The highlight of the day's walk was the stroll from Brodfell farm into the village of Orton (it looked like a pretty big village to me, but the denizens insisted that it was one). We passed through delightful fields, across multiple gates and was accompannied by a babbling brook. Once in Orton, we discovered that we had arrived before the Kennedy's chocolate factory had closed. We had tea and chocolate cake there, and bought a couple of day's worth of chocolate for the next days' walks.
We arrived while the Mostyn House B&B owner was out, but we didn't have to wait too long before she returned, and we had a good shower and helped check in the other guests, Eric & Katie Bryant from Colorado, and Andy & Bey Friedman from Canada.
Margaret delivered the laundry to the house while we were showering, and we had a good and restful rest of the evening and night.
There was supposedly a stone circle in the area, but it wasn't obvious how to find it, and we passed it by while wandering through the Moor. The day was overcast, and we moved along slowly, since we were still weary from the day before, and the terrain was not exactly flat --- the Moors roll up and down, and while the going was not exactly strenous, it wasn't smooth, either.
After a few false sightings, we found Robin Hood's Grave, a cairn that didn't seem to be anybody's grave, let alone Robin Hood's. We were later informed that there are about 8 of his graves scattered all over England, so it was a good thing that all we did was to take pictures and moved on.
The highlight of the day's walk was the stroll from Brodfell farm into the village of Orton (it looked like a pretty big village to me, but the denizens insisted that it was one). We passed through delightful fields, across multiple gates and was accompannied by a babbling brook. Once in Orton, we discovered that we had arrived before the Kennedy's chocolate factory had closed. We had tea and chocolate cake there, and bought a couple of day's worth of chocolate for the next days' walks.
We arrived while the Mostyn House B&B owner was out, but we didn't have to wait too long before she returned, and we had a good shower and helped check in the other guests, Eric & Katie Bryant from Colorado, and Andy & Bey Friedman from Canada.
Margaret delivered the laundry to the house while we were showering, and we had a good and restful rest of the evening and night.
Grasmere to Patterdale
We started off after breakfast to walk the highest point (for us) on the coast to coast, Helvellyn and Striding Edge. The walk up to Grisdale Tarn happened while it was still cool, and we ran into a British couple on the way there, who gave us an explanation of what the various terms were:
We walked up Dollywagon trail, passing workers who were there to spread stones on the trail to prevent more erosion. Near the top, however, we walked past the start of Striding Edge without noticing. Fortunately, we stopped to eat, and were soon corrected.
For the last couple of days, we'd been warn that Striding Edge was a difficult and scary traverse along the ridge. The descent certainly required a fair amount of scrambling, but once on Striding Edge proper, Lisa simply walked along the ridge easily. It didn't seem that hard at all. We were later to learn, however, that a person had fallen off Striding Edge and sustained severe injuries.
From Striding Edge, we walked to the hole in the wall and descended steeply along Birkhouse Moor and then to a tarmac road where directions once again confused us, but we fortunately were able to ask someone and made it down to the bottom of the valley with no problems. There, I called the Greenbank Farm which gave us directions, which we followed. The Farm was quite a distance from where the trail bottomed out, so we hobbled along, once again footsore from our exertions, but the knowledge of a rest day ahead helped us.
We arrived at the Greenbank Farm, where Peter and a dozen dogs greeted us. Peter told us that he actually owned all the Farmland all the way up to Helvellyn and we had walked past his sheep on the way down. After a shower, he was gracious enough to give us a ride down to the restaurant in Glenriding, where his daughter worked. She gave us a ride home after a much needed meal and we slept well that evening.
- fell: between a mountain and a hill
- tarn: mountain lake
- beck: mountain stream
We walked up Dollywagon trail, passing workers who were there to spread stones on the trail to prevent more erosion. Near the top, however, we walked past the start of Striding Edge without noticing. Fortunately, we stopped to eat, and were soon corrected.
For the last couple of days, we'd been warn that Striding Edge was a difficult and scary traverse along the ridge. The descent certainly required a fair amount of scrambling, but once on Striding Edge proper, Lisa simply walked along the ridge easily. It didn't seem that hard at all. We were later to learn, however, that a person had fallen off Striding Edge and sustained severe injuries.
From Striding Edge, we walked to the hole in the wall and descended steeply along Birkhouse Moor and then to a tarmac road where directions once again confused us, but we fortunately were able to ask someone and made it down to the bottom of the valley with no problems. There, I called the Greenbank Farm which gave us directions, which we followed. The Farm was quite a distance from where the trail bottomed out, so we hobbled along, once again footsore from our exertions, but the knowledge of a rest day ahead helped us.
We arrived at the Greenbank Farm, where Peter and a dozen dogs greeted us. Peter told us that he actually owned all the Farmland all the way up to Helvellyn and we had walked past his sheep on the way down. After a shower, he was gracious enough to give us a ride down to the restaurant in Glenriding, where his daughter worked. She gave us a ride home after a much needed meal and we slept well that evening.
John Bogle interview podcast
What an inspiring man! He brags about making much less than the chairman/CEO of Fidelity. He talks matter-of-factly about how he started the first index fund (and the Vanguard group, which is an astonishingly high performance company), and where the industry is going. I very much hope that his company continues to keep the faith and fight the good fight. I'm going to read his book as soon as possible.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Tips for the Trip
Dos:
- split the long 20 mile days into shorter days. The walks are tougher than you think, not because of the elevation gain or even the steepness, but because the trails have been deliberately strewn with rocks and stones to prevent trail erosion, which throws off your balance and makes you footsore.
- Take rest days, especially if you’re planning any of the high options. We wouldn’t have been as willing to do the high options if we hadn’t had rest days scheduled after them. Richmond has enough to do that an additional rest day there would be welcome, but be aware: Richmond has no laundry facilities! In particular, if this is your first long distance walk, schedule a rest day early in Grasmere or Kirby Stephen so you have the chance to buy additional equipment should you need it!
- Bring GPS, compass, and a trail map (and know how to use them --- it does take special effort to input waypoints for the GPS if you’re going to use it to navigate, so leave plenty of time before the trip to do this). The Ordance Survey #33 + #34s are supposed to be the best, but are now out of print, so an internet search might be necessary.
- Bring gaiters in case it gets muddy.
- Raingear is a must. Umbrellas are particularly useful since if you encounter a spell of hot weather (like we did), they serve as sunshade, and you’ll be the envy of other walkers.
- Train for the trip.
- Have an extra pair of socks in your backpack.
- Have a cell phone handy. (Note that Keld actually has a payphone and cell phones don’t work there, so you’re probably likely to want to have some pocket change as well)
- do the entire trip in one go by the book unless you’ve got experience with other long distance walks and are confident that it’s what you want to do. We met others who wished they’d scheduled rest days, or extra days in particularly interesting areas.
- Buy bag lunches. We tried them, and it’s way too much food. One bag lunch for two people would be sufficient. You definitely don’t get as hungry or as desirous of food hiking as you do cycling.
- Expect signposts and mile markers. Especially in the National Parks, as they don’t exist.
- Schedule B&Bs off the trail unless you’ve got a very good reason for them.
On British National Parks
Unlike U.S. National Parks, the British National Parks are not government or public property --- they are a collection of land under private ownership that has been designated as National Parks, so are under certain building restrictions. Hence, most of the land you’re walking through is public property where walkers have been granted rights of way either by common law or by agreement.
To keep the rural feel, British National Parks do not have proper signposts or destination markers on their footpaths. (This is a silly policy, if you ask me, but it’s their National Park) I didn’t think a GPS was necessary before I left, and I did manage with just a map and compass, but I now think that was foolhardy. If the weather had been worse, we could have easily gotten really lost. You still need to be a good navigator with map and compass (and I’m a reasonable one, despite being years out of practice), but if the fog comes down you’re not going to be able to orient yourself with landmarks.
To keep the rural feel, British National Parks do not have proper signposts or destination markers on their footpaths. (This is a silly policy, if you ask me, but it’s their National Park) I didn’t think a GPS was necessary before I left, and I did manage with just a map and compass, but I now think that was foolhardy. If the weather had been worse, we could have easily gotten really lost. You still need to be a good navigator with map and compass (and I’m a reasonable one, despite being years out of practice), but if the fog comes down you’re not going to be able to orient yourself with landmarks.
Interesting B&B notes (Coast to Coast)
- For an early start from Osthmotherly: stay at the Mill House
- Brookfield Guest House (Shap)
- Old Brewery (Richmond)
- Mill House (Ostmotherly)
- Horse-shoe Inn (Egton Bridge)
- Kirkby Stephen
- Windemere (from Grasmere)
- Ambleside (from Grasmere, closed on Thursdays)
- Ennerdale View B&B (Actually a 1.5 mile walk in Kirkland)
- Tan Hill Inn
- Mill House (ask for a WEP key)
- Old Brewery
- Old School (Danby Wiske)
- Britannia Hotel (Manchester)
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Quicken for Macintosh is an Unacceptable Product
I'm a veteran Quicken user, so you'd think that I'd take to the Mac version of Quicken like a duck to water. The reality is, however, that it's an unacceptable product. First of all, it refuses to accept imports from the Windows version of Quicken, making migration darn near impossible. Secondly, when starting from scratch, it downloads past transactions from my banks but refuses to look at the current balance, so it ends up with ridiculous negative balances because it doesn't realize that the account did start with money years ago when it was first created.
The summary: Quicken for Mac is serviceable if you're a fresh graduate with no transaction history worth caring about or if you're willing to give up that transaction history and set everything up manually with no history. For veterans of other products, it is terrible, and is basically another reason for me to boot into Windows XP on my Mac.
Now where's Microsoft with a competitive product when we need them?
The summary: Quicken for Mac is serviceable if you're a fresh graduate with no transaction history worth caring about or if you're willing to give up that transaction history and set everything up manually with no history. For veterans of other products, it is terrible, and is basically another reason for me to boot into Windows XP on my Mac.
Now where's Microsoft with a competitive product when we need them?
Coast to Coast Index
This is just a place holder page (a permanent location, if you will), for all the coast-to-coast related text posts. Luckily for me, Google debut Picasa Web Albums just in time for me to host the pictures from the Coast to Coast.
[Update: The trip report is now largely complete, pending revisions to some of the shorter entries]
- St. Bees to Ennerdale Bridge
- Ennerdale Bridge to Stonethwaite
- Stonethwaite to Grasmere
- Grasmere Rest Day
- Grasmere to Patterdale
- Patterdale Rest Day
- Patterdale to Shap
- Shap to Orton
- Orton to Kirkby Stephen
- Kirby Stephen to Keld
- Keld to Reeth
- Reeth to Richmond
- Richmond to Danby Wiske
- Danby Wiske to Osmotherley
- Osmotherley to Blakey Ridge
- Blakey Ridge to Egton Bridge
- Egton Bridge to Robin Hood's Bay
- Conclusion
- Equipment Recommendations
- B&B Notes
- On British National Parks
- Tips for the Trip
- Addendums to the Stedman Coast to Coast Trail Guide
- Packhorse Versus SherpaVan
- Photos
[Update: The trip report is now largely complete, pending revisions to some of the shorter entries]
I'm back!
Went for 42 miles of riding today, and it's such a relief going at 15mph instead of 3mph! And having painless descents... Unfortunately, any fitness I gained by walking didn't transfer to cycling, as I found myself slower on the bike as a result of not having been on the bike for 3 weeks. To top that off, I also felt pain in my left ankle --- looks like I injured it a bit during the walk. Hopefully, the recovery is quick!
Now to get my slide film developed and to deal with bills...
Now to get my slide film developed and to deal with bills...
Equipment Recommendations
Here's a list of equipment that worked particularly well. Not to say that the other equipment we brought didn’t work, but we were particularly grateful for those.
- Pants with zip-off legs. Very good for reducing amount of clothing we had to carry while being versatile in all sorts of weather conditions. Of the ones I owned, the Ex-Officio ones were outstanding, and I used them every time I wanted to do a very long walk, and they’ve served quite well.
- Mont-bell and Go-lite Dome Trekking Umbrellas
- DuoFold Synthetic T-shirts. At $7 a T-shirt, the long sleeves are warm when it’s cold, cool when it’s hot with wicking fabric, and quick drying. Quite a steal from Campmor.com.
- Camelbaks
- Sennheiser PX 100-II Supra-Aural Mini Headphones - Black
—these really proved themselves capable of surviving the abuse and rigors of a cross-country hike! Triply recommended.
- REI Peak Ultra-lite Trekking Poles. I hesistated on spending $100 on a pair of these (Lisa & I used one each, but they're only sold in pairs), but I shouldn't have. They do have the tendency to slip a bit under heavy use, but it's a small price to pay for the weight.
Osmotherley to Blakey Ridge
Gillian offered me breakfast at 6:00am, since I wanted an early start—another reason to select the Mill House if you’re in that area and want an early start—as far as I know, she’s the only one who will do so!
Gillian dropped me off right at the foot of the path to the Swainstye farm, which she told me would take me to the booster station at the top of the hill. I’m glad she knew where to take me, because I was expecting a dirt road, but it was instead very nice pavement. The walk up was quick in the cool morning air, but the cloudy sky was definitely a hint that this was not going to be another, hot dry day.
At the Booster station, I picked up the Cleveland way, marked with the sign of an acorn. I walked along the forest, and then out into a moor. A light drizzle started to come down right after I put on sunscreen in a fit of optimism, but the trail immediately dived into a forest trail, so I did not bother putting up the umbrella since the forest canopy was thick enough to prevent any rain from actually touching me. I put on my ipod and plugged away.
The trail went up and down, but I made good time and soon hit Lord Stone Manor at 10:00am, much earlier than anticipated, and had not used much of my water. I took the opportunity to fill up, since this was the last chance to fill up for the rest of the walk. There., I met Ray, and offered to walk together with him, but he demurred, saying that he couldn’t keep up with me with that my lightweight setup today.
I went on ahead then, pushing my way up the hills. It was warmer now, but with the wind blowing at a pretty good clip. I started to feel driven by twin demons of rain and wind. Add sun to it and I felt compelled to move as quickly as possible, eating and drinking on the move, stopping only to change socks or take something out of the pack.
Soon enough, I hit the Wainstones past Clay Bank top, the last climb of the day. I saw no obvious way up Wainstones, and ended up following a path around it which resulted in some scrambling, but reached the top with no ado. Then the long walk on Urra Moor. The book said it would take 45 minutes, but at about an hour, I still hadn’t seen any of the landmarks described in the book. Getting worried, the trail narrowed and I approached something of an obstacle across the path.
Fortunately, there was a couple sitting on an embankment having lunch, so I asked where I was. The man hopped up and told me that I wanted the railroad track, which I was at (the Rosedale Junction), not any of the turn-offs that was prominent there. This turned out to be a fortituous stop, since everyone behind me would take an incorrect turn at this point. And no wonder, since when I asked him to point out where I was on the map, I was a full page away from where I thought I was!
I walked along the boring path, stopping to change socks at this point, and ate three bars in rapid succession. I then ran into a guy with a Land Rover who agreed to take a picture for me. I then met some walkers who were doing the coast to coast East to West, and they told me I was two hours away from the Lion Inn. Indeed, at 2:30 I spotted the Lion Inn. The sky started to cloud over and rain drops started falling, prompting me to open my umbrella. I strolled along, not too worried and pretty comfortable under my umbrella, but then the wind grew strong and the raindrops grew heavier. I quickened my pace, and soon reached the bottom of the turn-off to Blakey Ridge, which was unsigned.
Lightning and Thunder were now evident around me, and I stared at the Blakey Moor sign for a half second before deciding that if there was any time to run now was it. I leapt up along the trial, trying to dodge the puddles that had just formed, but in vain—the water was now coming down in sheets. The umbrella was holding up, but with the deluge of water I was getting soaked anyway! By the time I got to the Inn, I was quite a sight, and made an impressive entrance into the Inn—umbrella dripping in my left hand, hiking stick in my right, also dripping, clothes drenched from hat to shoes. If I had thought about it, I would have struck a pose like Sarah Michelle Gellar at the end of the Buffy episode, since all that liquid dripping off my stuff would have evoked that image, “Anne.” Lisa was there at the Inn having tea right at the entrance and was relieved to see me, drenched as I was.
Gillian dropped me off right at the foot of the path to the Swainstye farm, which she told me would take me to the booster station at the top of the hill. I’m glad she knew where to take me, because I was expecting a dirt road, but it was instead very nice pavement. The walk up was quick in the cool morning air, but the cloudy sky was definitely a hint that this was not going to be another, hot dry day.
At the Booster station, I picked up the Cleveland way, marked with the sign of an acorn. I walked along the forest, and then out into a moor. A light drizzle started to come down right after I put on sunscreen in a fit of optimism, but the trail immediately dived into a forest trail, so I did not bother putting up the umbrella since the forest canopy was thick enough to prevent any rain from actually touching me. I put on my ipod and plugged away.
The trail went up and down, but I made good time and soon hit Lord Stone Manor at 10:00am, much earlier than anticipated, and had not used much of my water. I took the opportunity to fill up, since this was the last chance to fill up for the rest of the walk. There., I met Ray, and offered to walk together with him, but he demurred, saying that he couldn’t keep up with me with that my lightweight setup today.
I went on ahead then, pushing my way up the hills. It was warmer now, but with the wind blowing at a pretty good clip. I started to feel driven by twin demons of rain and wind. Add sun to it and I felt compelled to move as quickly as possible, eating and drinking on the move, stopping only to change socks or take something out of the pack.
Soon enough, I hit the Wainstones past Clay Bank top, the last climb of the day. I saw no obvious way up Wainstones, and ended up following a path around it which resulted in some scrambling, but reached the top with no ado. Then the long walk on Urra Moor. The book said it would take 45 minutes, but at about an hour, I still hadn’t seen any of the landmarks described in the book. Getting worried, the trail narrowed and I approached something of an obstacle across the path.
Fortunately, there was a couple sitting on an embankment having lunch, so I asked where I was. The man hopped up and told me that I wanted the railroad track, which I was at (the Rosedale Junction), not any of the turn-offs that was prominent there. This turned out to be a fortituous stop, since everyone behind me would take an incorrect turn at this point. And no wonder, since when I asked him to point out where I was on the map, I was a full page away from where I thought I was!
I walked along the boring path, stopping to change socks at this point, and ate three bars in rapid succession. I then ran into a guy with a Land Rover who agreed to take a picture for me. I then met some walkers who were doing the coast to coast East to West, and they told me I was two hours away from the Lion Inn. Indeed, at 2:30 I spotted the Lion Inn. The sky started to cloud over and rain drops started falling, prompting me to open my umbrella. I strolled along, not too worried and pretty comfortable under my umbrella, but then the wind grew strong and the raindrops grew heavier. I quickened my pace, and soon reached the bottom of the turn-off to Blakey Ridge, which was unsigned.
Lightning and Thunder were now evident around me, and I stared at the Blakey Moor sign for a half second before deciding that if there was any time to run now was it. I leapt up along the trial, trying to dodge the puddles that had just formed, but in vain—the water was now coming down in sheets. The umbrella was holding up, but with the deluge of water I was getting soaked anyway! By the time I got to the Inn, I was quite a sight, and made an impressive entrance into the Inn—umbrella dripping in my left hand, hiking stick in my right, also dripping, clothes drenched from hat to shoes. If I had thought about it, I would have struck a pose like Sarah Michelle Gellar at the end of the Buffy episode, since all that liquid dripping off my stuff would have evoked that image, “Anne.” Lisa was there at the Inn having tea right at the entrance and was relieved to see me, drenched as I was.
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