Thai Cycling (again) : 1

The giant Monkey Pod.

So, about time I had another adventure of some kind eh?  Well, here I am cycling about in Thailand again, what can I say, it may not be the original of things I've ever done, but I do like this country, it is both civilised and cheap, the roads are good and I can be pretty confident that wherever I end up of an evening I will find a decent hotel and some tasty food with a few beers to wash it down with.

It does help that I already have a bicycle in this country, still parked where I left it a month or so ago in Chiang Mai, but I'm not going to start riding from there.  Rather, I take the train down to Bangkok, with the bike in the guard's van, and then ride a little way through the capital - easy enough early in the morning before the traffic builds up.  I'm heading for Kanchanaburi, so I need to get to Thonburi station, and I am expecting to have to wait there for several hours before the 13:35 train leaves.  But in fact there is a train waiting at the station, this one isn't publicised on the internet but it is perfectly serviceable, and gets me and my bike there in a couple of hours or so.

Wat Tam Gaeow - that is, Crystal Cave Temple.

Nice to be back in Kanchan after three years or so - even so, some of the bar owners here remember me!  Some development has happened, generally of a good kind, new bars and restaurants, and for instance the giant Monkey Pod Tree a little way out of town has acquired a charming garden and walkway to surround it.  I check out various cave temples, including Wat Baan Tam, which has the usual long staircase leading up to the temple proper, but in this case they've built a giant Dragon through whose belly the staircase passes, surrounded by murals detailing the history of the area, very cool.

Insane looping water slide.

A fine relaxing time is generally had, I of course revisit the local water park where once more, I am pretty much the only customer.  This time, being able to read Thai, I can report that the three hundred and sixty degree loop water slide claims to accelerate you to fully sixty kilometres per hour - 'sadly' it is still not operating...  I do notice that for all my ability to read the language, speaking it here is not too easy - the local dialect seems to be substantially different to what I have learned, sometimes I figure out that they are simply dropping a syllable I'd expect to be present, but often I can't figure out a word people are saying.  Hopefully things will improve as I move north.

In the belly of the dragon!

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Snowboarding in Italy : 2

With the Thai team coach.

Still trying with the snowboarding thing... after my ill-advised attempt to do a red I return to the small blue run, where I do at least have the pleasure of meeting some Thai people - the Thai youth olympic ski team and their coaches no less, doing some last minute training.  They are I think a little surprised to find an English guy here who can speak Thai (a bit)... good luck to them in the competition, given Thailand is entirely without snow the country doesn't have much of a winter sports pedigree!  Still they are going faster than I am, although I do think I'm progressing, actual linking of turns is happening now, so, on the last day here it seems like a plan to drive over and meet up with Dan and family again at another part of the area, Antagnod, where my cancelled hotel was in fact.

There is another small blue here which I do OK on, then they lead me up to the top of a longer blue, this should be good practice, well the top half of it is at least.  But then, the lower half turns out to be an utter nightmare, a long, narrow, flat section which I'm practically unable to get through... I'm simply not able to control the board while moving at low speed in a straight line, and turning at low speed is hard, I keep falling over.  Worse, even if I do manage one turn the result is inevitably that I am heading towards the side of the run, a snow bank on one side and a drop on the other, in theory this requires another quick turn to correct but I can't do that, so I just fall over again.  And of course there are several sections where the snow is so flat I can't move forward at all, so I have to unstrap the stupid plank from my feet and walk... after finally getting through this ordeal I head straight to a nearby bar to revive my spirits with beer.

Well, I'm not giving up, we abandon Antagnod, and drive through Champoluc to another nearby village, Frachey, where we get an excellent lunch at least.  There is a blue here for me to get my snowboard mojo back on, and then for my last run of the week I try another red, and this time it goes surprisingly well.  There are some moguls at the top, and I find I'm able to plow through them on the board pretty easily, then quite a lot of decent turn linking happens, and I even get on OK with a relatively flat and narrow bit at the bottom.  I think that a little bit more slope helps, it is simply easier to do the fast turns if I'm moving a bit, but also I do really think I am finally starting to get the hang of this... of course now it is time to go home!  Well, after a convivial evening involving sneaking into the rather posh sauna and spa bit of Dan's hotel, and then a fine meal of course.

I think I earned a beer or two this week.

This was an interesting week then.  It's definitely worthwhile for me to be able to properly join in with the family, with all of us on boards.  I'm still unconvinced this is in any way better than skiing... there are some good things about it I guess, I certainly get the impression that going through deep snow, be it fresh powder on the piste or off-piste action, is easier and more fun on a board.  The business of jumping about and trying to break your legs in the snow parks is probably easier on a board too, you won't have your legs trying to go separate ways while you are in the air, and also you are already used to going 'backwards' so the most basic 'turn about in the air jump' is probably a bit easier to grasp.  Not sure I'm going to be trying any of that mind you.  But anyway... mostly fun, would do again, a bit of a shame about all that driving though.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Snowboarding in Italy : 1

The baby slope on which I spent my first day.

Wow, long time no blog entry, I am so lazy.  Well, I can't say I have done anything very exciting this Autumn, some time back in Tenerife and then in Thailand again.  Still, something a bit different now - yes, more snow sports, but this time I am trying something new, learning to snowboard in fact!  It seemed like a thing to do, my brother and all his family 'board, and I have grown a bit tired of waiting for them on my skis while they faff about with bindings and so forth.  So, can you teach an old dog new tricks?  We shall see...

The circumstances aren't exactly perfect for this - we've come at New Year, to the Aosta Valley in Italy, Dan has a hotel in Champoluc but sadly my nearby hotel cancelled on me, and the best replacement I could find was the other side of a mountain, or something like eighty minutes by road.  We do have a hire car but the long drive on mountain roads to meet up on the first morning isn't ideal preparation for my initial attempt at snowboarding.  Dan has very kindly offered to coach me on the nursery slopes, obviously I respond by getting somewhat frustrated with the stupid plank strapped to my feet and yelling at him.  Yes, I can appreciate that one of my feet (the left one apparently) is the 'front', but can't you just call it my left foot?  I can manage to slide down the hill well enough, but the thing doesn't feel at all under control and I'm really not sure about turning.  Maybe I will improve over the course of the week?

With the board.

Well, the next morning I do indeed start to get the idea of turning, maybe enough to try a blue slope?  This proves doable although I do fall over a lot... at least this is my 'local' area, Staffal, so only a twenty minute drive, and it is accessible from Champoluc via various runs and lifts so Dan and family are able to join me for lunch.  Food is good here at least, we are in Italy after all, we consume much pasta and pizza.  In the evening I find a bar which again does pizza, but on several nights they provide me with so many plates of tasty little snacks that I don't bother to order anything - except several beers anyway.

I grow bored with the single blue run I've been doing, but this resort is really not learner-friendly, there is a longer blue higher up which I manage OK, but the only way up from it is a chairlift leading to a really tricky steep, narrow bit that I don't enjoy at all, so I decide to head back down.  I have a choice of returning on the gondola or taking a red, well, how hard can the red be?  Not a great idea it turns out, particularly as I take a wrong turn and end up on a very steep bit, which I have to slowly come down on the edge of my board, and then a combination of board and bottom!  I do very few turns, still don't really have the hang of this at all... I have a pretty nasty fall too, travelling at quite a speed I flip over and smack onto my front, my goggles in a jacket pocket take much of the force and transfer it to my ribs, ouch.  Nothing to do but get up and keep going of course.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Glyndwr's Way : 2

Certainly a pretty part of the world, this.

I head back east from Machynlleth - I almost got to the coast, in fact I may just about have seen the sea in the distance.  I seem to be getting into slightly more inhabited parts, by which I mean, some of the valleys contain tiny villages, often even with a small shop.  Had I known these were there I could have planned to resupply, but it seems this is a part of the world that internet mapping sites are still unaware of...

Pretty though, and the weather just about holds up, it rains a little most days, and quite a lot at night, but decent walking weather really, all good fun, and I am even enjoying the luxury of proper campsites each evening now.  The first of these is essentially a farm in the middle of nowhere, but after that I get actual pubs with beer, wouldn't be much of a walking trip without these things.

Some of the many random bits of cloth and crochet decor in Meiford.

I continue towards the English border, not too far now, the terrain growing flatter and increasingly forested, I walk on gravel logging tracks much of the time.  Still not seeing many walkers - at one campsite I'm told they do get a lot of people doing it - as much as one or two every month!  Hmm.  People also tell me this is a tough walk, can't say it seems so to me.  Certainly not a terribly long one, I finish the thing in a little less than eight easy days, arriving in Welshpool in plenty of time to get my train.  In fact the train is cancelled, oh well, time for a bit of shopping and a beer before the next one.

Well, this was a good walk anyway, certainly recommended to anybody wanting to get away from it all!  I think the wild camping could be avoided if you were willing to fork out B&B prices, though personally I quite like being by myself in a wood for a night or two.  Do be prepared to get wet though - I think I was quite lucky with the weather, but even so I had a fair bit of bog to walk through.

I succeeded again!

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Glyndwr's Way : 1

Ruined Bryntail Lead Mine, with the Clywedog Dam on the River Severn behind.

Still in the UK, in what passes for summer in these benighted islands, it seems like a good idea to do another of the National Trails.  I settle on Glyndwr's Way, in mid Wales, finishing in Welshpool this will be handy for a festival I'm going to in nearby Shrewsbury.  I can't say this is a part of the world I'm that familiar with, so, nice to see somewhere new.

Starting from Knighton in Herefordshire, the route heads west through lovely countryside, rolling hills and valleys, and easy enough going, the trail seems to mostly be accessible to horses so not too steep.  I do meet one horse rider, and just a few walkers, several say I am the only hiker they've seen, this is not a busy trail.  Often there is no sign of a walked path across the sheep-filled fields, but there are plenty of signs, with that and my GPS I stay on track.

A representative shot of me, with Welsh countryside, light rain and sheep.

This doesn't seem a very well populated part of the world either...  Not exactly wilderness, above a certain height the fields give way to moorland, still with plenty of sheep, but most of this country is farmland, with little in the way of towns or villages.  I do enjoy a beer and burger in Llanidloes, no campsite though, in fact I camp wild my first four nights in Wales.  At least on the fourth night I have a couple of cans of beer from the second place on the Way with actual shops, Machynlleth.  More or less half way along the route, this is where Welsh hero Owain Glyndwr, for whom the Way is named, held his parliament as he briefly ruled an independent Wales at the turn of the fifteenth century.

Site of Owain Glydwr's parliament in Machynlleth.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Munro Madness : 6

Munros this section :

Cairn Bannoch

Broad Cairn

Tolmount

Tom Buidhe

Cairn of Claise

Carn an Tuirc

Glas Maol

Creag Leacach

Carn Aosda

The Cairnwell

Carn a' Gheoidh

An Socach (Glen Ey)

Carn Bhac

Beinn Iutharn Mhor

Carn an Righ

Glas Tulaichean

Carn nan Gabhar (Beinn a' Ghlo)

Braigh Coire Chruinn-Bhalgain (Beinn a' Ghlo)

Carn Liath (Beinn a' Ghlo)

Beinn Dearg

Carn an Fhidhleir

An Sgarsoch

Carn a' Chlamain

Tom Buidhe.

I enjoy another day off in Braemar, this time I buy a ticket to enter the newer of the two castles, fascinating place still fully furnished in fifties aristocratic style.  I have another tough section coming up, some twenty Munros - including one I missed during planning - and a hundred and twenty kilometres in four days...  In the event I make remarkably short work of the first day, powering over six, count 'em Munros before 5pm.  A nice, if breezy day too, makes for fun walking, and I do feel a certain sense of achievement too.  I am a lean, mountain climbing machine, oh yes.   Definitely earned the burgers I've brought from Braemar - what?  Of course they can be cooked on a camp stove.

Glas Maol.

I begin the next day by climbing Glas Maol, which brings back memories - this was my first ever Munro, I came here during, hard to believe though it may seem, a golfing holiday.  After a few days I was quite heartily sick of golf, so climbing a big hill was a great improvement!  This time I follow it up with four more, all close to the Glen Shee ski centre, which is handily open for lunch.  More familiar hills too, did them on a proper walking holiday a few, well, many years back - well, no harm going up them again.  The next day is very hard, another five Munros, this time I think over five thousand feet of ascent in total, it takes over twelve hours and I am pretty shattered by the end.  Then one more day to get to Blair Atholl, only three Munros, but it rains all day, this does not help. My thighs chafe in my wet trousers - think I can see why they wear kilts around here - it is not much fun.  At least on reaching Blair Atholl, I find it has pizza, in an odd place, a pub in a marquee, a venue for beer festivals and live music it seems, but not tonight.

Beinn Dearg.

No time for a day off, but I am reaching the end of the trip, just two days to go.  I walk out of Blair Atholl past Blair Castle, there are lots of private road signs, typical of Scotland.  Three Munros today, it is hard work, a lot of trackless hacking through bog, I keep going, quite tired now, but the end is in sight, indeed this is my last night camped out on the hill.  And the last day is easy enough, just a single Munro, bringing the count to seventy-seven I think, go me.  Back to Blair Atholl where I have definitely earned a burger plus a beer or five... shame about the 7am train the next morning but what can you do.

Carn a' Chlamain.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

Munro Madness : 5

Munros this section :

Mount Keen

Driesh

Mayar

Cac Carn Beag

Carn a' Choire Bhoideach

Carn an t-Sagairt Mor

Mount Keen.

Braemar is a good place for a day off - so good, I'll be back for another in a few days time.  There are two castles, the ancient ruins of Kindrochit, and the imposing seventeenth century Braemar Castle.  And cheap beer in the Invercauld Arms, all good.  I have an easy section now - compared to the last one at least.  I'm heading east towards the isolated Munro, Mount Keen, so my first day has no climbing at all, in fact it's a familiar route past Balmoral, I came this way on my walk from Inverness to Aberdeen a few years back.  This time on reaching Ballater I check out its second curry house - also good!

Mayar.

From Ballater I have a simple enough day, over thirty kilometres but good paths and just a single Munro, lonely Mount Keen - there's a fine panoramic view from the top.  Turns out there is another stiff climb, over a thousand feet out of Glen Lee, then I find a camp spot in a high valley far from anywhere.  Two more Munros the next day, the evocatively named neighbouring peaks Driesh and Mayar, ascending the first of these the path on my map seems not to exist in reality, instead there is just a scarily steep slope that I am very glad to reach the top of.  Plenty of other climbs too, out of deep glens, this section is not as easy as I had hoped, still I am getting through it.  At least I seem to have stopped breaking things, touch wood.

Cac Carn Beag.

My return to Braemar is surprisingly easy, given there are three Munros, including the peak of Lochnagar, or Cac Carn Beag as it is properly called.  A bit of a treat for me up there too, I'm just passing the lesser summit, Cac Carn Mhor, when the Red Arrows  fly by in formation, very cool.  I think I've built some muscles, as I power up the climbs and reach camp before 5pm, all good.  Maybe I was hurrying a bit as the weather has turned again, back to howling arctic wind.  Or maybe I just wanted to get back to the pub...


Photos to go with this post can be found here and here.