Helen's journal and online home

15/52 for the group 2021 Weekly Alphabet Challenge

This week's topic was: O is for Old

Why is it that one's hiking boots are at their most comfortable when they're old and well worn and on the point of falling apart or starting to leak? These are still OK, but I think I need to buy a new pair before too long.



In addition to taking my hiking boots out into the front garden for a photoshoot, I have nipped into town to do a quick top-up shop (why were there hardly any pizzas?), phoned my elderly friend to do the crossword together, sewn the final side seams on the last of the new face masks I've made, watched a couple of YouTube videos, downloaded and processed this photo, made some soup for lunch, ordered a new watch strap, and changed the time on the clock in the car!. Yes, I finally got around to moving the hour forward on the dashboard clock. :-)

I went out around 10 a.m. to shoot some clips for my next video. Photographer me was thinking, "Oh, wow! This storm-light is wonderful!" and then another, more sensible, me thought, "Ooo, er... Does this bode well?" I carried on, but then it started to snow/sleet. There was nowhere to shelter to wait it out so I came back. Of course now it's all glorious sunshine and fluffy white clouds, but I'm too tired now to go out again. I have quite a bit more to film so I'll do it over another couple of days. Besides, I wanted to post the photos from yesterday.

Here are the sunlit woods near the start of the walk from Ganllwyd.



There's a steep but easy to follow path that leads up to these waterfalls. The previous waterfall I posted a photo of was a "pistyll" (narrow stream of water), this is a "rhaeadr" (a broader and more tumbling waterfall). It's called Raeadr Ddu (Black Waterfall), which follows the usual Welsh naming convention, i.e. just describe what you see.



We then carried on up the path above the waterfalls and decided to take a route that led over a stile. Very soon we had to leave the path to negotiate a couple of fallen trees that must have come down in the winter storms. It was a bit scrambly, but we managed it. The path then soon joined a broad forestry track that led back to the village. However, after crossing this river over the modern bridge and not over the stepping stones, we left the forestry track and took a short cut down a green lane.



Until the forestry road was constructed, this would have been the main route up to the various houses dotted around the hillside above.



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From this point it wasn't far to the village where we'd parked the car.

This morning I went for a walk with G to somewhere new. I had done the first part before, to some very pretty waterfalls, but usually we've turned back at that point. Today we carried on and then came back to the car via some forestry tracks. It was a very nice circular walk and not too far, though there was a lot of steep uphill at the start and of course lots of steep downhill coming back.

I've processed the photos, but I'll post them tomorrow as I ran out of time today.

I did 8 out of the 10 things I had on my To-Do list for today. I was going to spend a little time on one more task, but realised I was feeling tired, so I'm calling it a day. I still have dinner to cook, of course, but for some reason I don't count that as a task. Perhaps it's because if I don't cook I don't get to eat?

Oh, and today we're having Christmas pudding. There was just one left at the back of the cupboard and though they improve with age up to a point, they don't last forever.

This morning I did the weekly Co-op shop, so anything else I do today is a bonus. We had actually hoped to meet our son and grandchildren today, but it was obvious at the weekend that the weather wouldn't be good enough so we postponed until the weather settles down. Our usual custom is to meet somewhere half way between our homes and go for a walk, but the temperature plummeted yesterday and in fact it's been snowing today. The snow didn't stick, but it's too cold for walking and outdoor socialising.

Yesterday was also cold, but sunnier. I have set myself the goal of getting fitter, so I went for a 3 miles walk on Sunday and a short 1.5 mile walk yesterday. There were lambs!

Last year in April, the people who frequent the Say Something in Welsh forum took part in the recording of a Welsh hymn. We all recorded our parts at home using our phones and emailed them to Ceri Francis who organised everything, arranged the music, edited together all the sound tracks and added photos and video.

This year she has re-edited the sound files to create an a cappella version which possibly works even better. It was a complete coincidence that I'd recorded the video clip of the waterfall last Tuesday as I didn't see her email asking if people had any more river or water photos until the day after. So now I have three waterfalls in this video and G makes an appearance as a distant figure in blue.

It's another lovely sunny morning here, but we've cancelled our plan to meet our son and grandchildren next Tuesday because on Sunday night the temperature is going to drop to around 3-4 deg C, which with wind chill will be too miserable for having a socially distanced walk and catch up chat. The plan has been postponed until the weather sorts itself out and stops randomly sending June and January weather in April. (Last week was too hot to wear a coat!)

I've already been into town and collected my prescription and bought some more vitamins, so anything else I do today is a bonus.

It's a bright and sunny morning and I've already done a lot today namely: washed up, did 15 minutes of Spanish, drove into town to do a quick top-up shop and I've chatted with my elderly friend on the phone and we've done the crossword and word puzzle together. What I've failed to do it collect my tablets from the chemists. It normally opens at 9 a.m. but of course it's Good Friday. Usually they have a sign up with their opening hours over Bank Holiday weekends, but I couldn't see one this morning. Looking on their web page doesn't help either, it just says, "(Good Friday) Hours might differ." Yes, they obviously are differing, But when will you be open?

It's not a disaster. I may go for a little walk this afternoon and pass the shop on my way, otherwise they will be open as normal tomorrow.

Next task is to work out what other tasks I have to do today...

Meanwhile, here's what we did yesterday.

Now we can drive a few miles before starting our exercise, we plant to venture out together for more walks. Yesterday morning G and I went to the Coed y Brenin and walked to the lovely waterfall, Pistyll Cain.



And here's the video version...

I did the usual Co-op shop this morning. I got going a little earlier and it was pretty quiet, which is good. Then this afternoon I went for a short walk by the river to shoot some clips for a future video. I'd started to plan it last autumn, but couldn't see the buildings on the other side of the river because of all the leaves on the trees. I made a note to try again when the leaves had fallen, but then the weather was awful and the clips never got done.

So I realised this week that if I didn't get out there promptly, the leaves would go sploinnnng! and hide the view again. I've just downloaded the clips and looked through them and they'll do. I don't see how I can get anything better because there are a lot of trees and even the gaps have twigs across them.

The weather was ridiculously hot for the time of year. It's the end of March, not June!

We hadn't been up here since July last year, but as the restrictions had been lifted a little so we could "stay local" rather than "stay at home", last Thursday I drove the few miles from home to the car park by the lakes and walked beside the lakes until I met my husband who had walked all the way from our house.

This is one of my most favourite places, so bleak and so beautiful.



I didn't get much further along the track before I met G coming the other way. We walked back to the car park together.



As of yesterday, the rules have been relaxed even further and we can go where we like in Wales, as long as we don't leave the country and venture across the border into England. However, we'll still be staying local for the moment, though we'll now be able to drive more than 5 miles before starting a walk.