Playing in the snow

Playing in the snow
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Spot the waterlogged meadows in the distance!

A wee round up...

Not been enormously busy lately as I've been settling back into the groove of work - aligned with the fact that January is always a quiet month as we get paid earlier in December so that December pay has to stretch out a looonnngg way...

But I did go and see Moctezuma at the British Library a couple of weeks ago. Not sure if that link will work or not as it finishes today so they may move the page... Very good exhibition tho - in the same theme as the Hadrian one I went to - didn't paint the Spanish in a very good light - although I guess they were fairly typical of any conquering sort of nation. Also interesting to see the 'name glyphs' they used, as opposed to the 'hieroglyphs' the Egyptians used...

Also went to see Up In The Air last week - the new George Clooney movie. I didn't know much about it so was expecting a rom com. Doesn't quite fall into that category it has to be said... Enjoyed it tho - wasn't expecting the ending at all.

Snow...

This was taken from my lounge window on Wednesday - with my phone so its not amazing quality, but you can just sort of see the snow falling...

It's been a while...

Since I've blogged about the weather...

But OMG! I haven't seen anything like this - it is incredible. Started snowing on Wednesday, and since then has got freezing cold and now the snow has frozen so the pavements are just covered in sheet ice. To get to the main road I walk on the road as opposed to the pavement. And more snow is forecast.

We're not anywhere near as bad down South as people in Scotland and up north. But despite all the protestations, this country still shuts down when it snows. My trains are running but they're pretty messed up - but at least they're running I guess...

Only two premiership football games managed to be played today - nothing is immune!

All Egypt photos posted...

Now on Flickr - and for those of you also on Facebook, I've also done a 'best of' if you don't want to trawl through my albums... I'm so tired of uploading photos I can't face doing any more so won't add any more holiday ones to the blog - you'll just have to look on Flickr!

Blogging done!

Egypt now (briefly) written up and I've started to add my photos to Flickr as well. I've posted a couple below in my posts, but more on Flickr, and still many more to be loaded...

Egypt bound

I headed off to Egypt on December 19th to do Explore's Nile Felucca Sailtrek. I just fancied a change at Xmas, and it was absolutely fantastic to get away from the madness of the silly season, see some sun, and see some absolutely fantastic sites.

Its the same company I went to Jordan with, and once more I wasn't disappointed. Brilliant trip, great guide and a fascinating country.

Updates below - on the correct dates (cos I'm a bit of a pedant like that...) :-). I'm about halfway through at the moment, and once I've done the blog I'll upload my photos - I'm going as fast as I can!! But its hard to write it without sounding like a 'then we went here, then we did this...' type of narrative...

C's and D's - racing along!

Having been a tad tardy with my updates recently I am now up to albums beginning with 'E' on my iPod. So here are the C's and D's I've listened to...

C'mon Kids - The Boo Radleys
Candy Apple Grey - Husker Du
Careless Love - Madeleine Peyroux
Carried to Dust - Calexico
Cassadega - Bright Eyes
Cast of Thousands - Elbow
The Cavern: The Most Famous Club in the World - Various artists
Cease to Begin - Band of Horses
Chelsea Walls - Jeff Tweedy/Wilco
Cherry Pie - Leila Adu
Cherry Tree - The National
Chester - Josh Rouse & Kurt Wagner
Chrome Dreams II - Neil Young
Chronicle - The 20 Greatest Hits
Circles - The Autumn Defense
City Chorus - Age Pryor
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Closer - Joy Division
Cockahoop - Cerys Matthews
Colin Meloy Sings Live (Kill Rock Stars/Stage Three) - Colin Meloy
College Dropout - Kanye West
Colossal Youth - Young Marble Giants
The Colour and the Shape - Foo Fighters
Come On Feel the Lemonheads - The Lemonheads
Comfort in Sound - Feeder
Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
Consolers of the Lonely - The Raconteurs
Copperhead Road - Steve Earle
The Coral - The Coral
Costello Music - The Fratellis
Cotton Teeth - The Snake The Cross The Crown
The Crane Wife - The Decemberists
The Creek Drank the Cradle - Iron & Wine
Creekdippin' for the First Time - Mark Olson & the Creekdippers
Crocodiles - Echo & the Bunnymen
Cuts Across the Land - The Duke Spirit


Dance Hall at Louse Point - John Parish & Polly Jean Harvey
Datapanik in the Year Zero - Pere Ubu
Dead Letter Office - REM
Dean Chandler - Dean Chandler
Decade - Neil Young
December's Child - Mark Olson & the Creekdippers
Decline of British Sea Power - British Sea Power
Definitely Maybe - Oasis
Deserter's Songs - Mercury Rev
Dig Lazarus, Dig!! - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Digital Ash in a Digital Urn - Bright Eyes
Do You Like Rock Music? - British Sea Power
Document - REM
Dog House Music - Sea Sick Steve
Doolittle - The Pixies
Dr Boondigga & the Big BW - Fat Freddy's Drop
Draw - Matthew Jay
Drawn from Memory - Embrace
Drawn to the Deep End - Gene
Dream Letter - Live in London - Tim Buckley
The Dream of the Blue Turtles - Sting
Drive - Bic Runga
Dummy - Portishead
Dusty in Memphis - Dusty Springfield


A few blasts from the past in those two lists. And some perennial faves - Elbow, Gene, Embrace... I have no idea where or who I got the Pere Ubu album from - that remains a mystery to me.

Fantastic Pop Life

Continuing to make the most of my time off between Xmas and New Year, after meeting Craig for lunch at the very delicious Pacific Oriental I headed off to the Tate Modern to check out the Pop Life exhibition. Interesting to read the reviews of the restaurant - it was fine for us, although the chairs weren't that comfortable. I did notice the big screen up on the wall, but nothing was showing when we were there fortunately.

Pop Life was great. I got an audio guide, which now comes on an iTouch so I had fun using that as well. Has made me want an iTouch/iPhone even more, but being fiscally responsible, that ain't going to happen sadly. Really enjoyed the exhibition - interesting to see how the featured artists have used business and commerce - and the three R18 rooms were definitely very explicit!

Comedy Wednesday...

Comedy Wednesday involved a trip into town with Kevin to see 'Men Who Stare at Goats' which was very good. Nothing at all like the book in the sense that the story is completely made up, but they do use a lot of the source material. And somehow watching it makes the ludicrousness of it even more unbelievable...

Then it was off to see Stewart Lee (I was using a spare ticket Kevin had). Very funny! No point trying to write about any of the themes as you really did need to be there, but he was great. Also very funny was the man sat in front of us who was absolutely shrieking with laughter the whole way through. Think it is safe to assume he was enjoying it as much as we were!

Egypt updates will follow - but its a bit daunting thinking about writing it up, so I thought I would keep this up to date in the interim.

Ballooning and more sightseeing

My last full day started early with a hot air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings. Although due to the wind it was actually a hot air balloon ride over the Valley of the Nobles. I'd been a bit nervous about it, especially as my travel insurance didn't cover me for it, but the price of the ticket included insurance so I was brave.

First time I'd ever done it and was great - so peaceful when the burner wasn't going. And the views were stupendous. It is so clear where the irrigation from the Nile stops and the desert just starts. Such an amazing landscape.

Then it was off to the Valley of the Kings - of which there are no photos as you aren't allowed to even take your cameras into the site, let alone into any of the tombs. My one regret is that I didn't go into King Tut's tomb - you needed a separate ticket, and our guide was pretty dismissive about it. In retrospect I should have just gone for it. Next time! These tombs were incredible though - to see the paintings and the hieroglyphs in full colour was stunning. And by now, we were starting to recognise quite a few of the symbols so we almost felt like we could read bits of them! Well sort of...

The last temple area visited was Deir el-Bahri. Which was also the site of the Luxor massacre back in 1997. I think by then I had reached temple saturation - it was really hot, we were tired, and it was starting to feel like yet another temple. Quite scary though when you realise that there really isn't anywhere to hide there if someone was to start shooting. Very sobering.

But it was a relief to get back to the hotel, have lunch and a beer and then devote myself to an afternoon practicing my bartering skills in the souk :-). A lovely wind down to what was a fantastic holiday...

Sunrise, Boxing Day

Sunrise, Boxing Day
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Boxing Day - Karnak Temple

On Boxing Day we had to sadly leave our felucca's and head off to Luxor - doubly sad for some of us as it meant we were rapidly approaching the end of our trip :-(.

In the afternoon we headed off to Karnak Temple which I absolutely loved. This was one of the real highlights for me as the area was just so huge, and there was so much to see and take in. For those readers who have been to London and remember 'Cleopatra's Needle' on the Thames - that was taken from Karnak and I saw the spot where it should have been...

Also fascinating was seeing graffiti being pointed out 3-4 metres above us, and being told that when it was written that was where the sand had come up to... And to still be able to see the colours of some of the painting that was down thousands of years ago - it was just phenomenal. Hard to describe really - but I thought it was amazing.

We took caleshes (horse drawn carriages) from the hotel to Karnak - entertaining ride as some of the drivers had a pretty loose approach to obeying the traffic signals!

Scenic scrabble, Christmas eve

Scenic scrabble, Christmas eve
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Doesn't get much better than this...

Felucca's moored up, Christmas eve

Felucca's moored up, Christmas eve
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Cruising on the felucca

The next three days were spent sailing down the Nile on a felucca. Brilliant. Although a bit colder than we were expecting at times - certainly wasn't like sunbathing on the gulet in Turkey!

But it was fantastic - each day spent tacking from side to side across the Nile, or using the current when there was no wind. At night we'd pitch up, dig the loo (well Mohammed the guide would...), and Ali and Islam would cook our dinner.

Our felucca was the 'dining one' which meant that everyone came and visited three times a day to get fed, so we didn't need to make any effort to see people. It also meant that we lived amongst their spillage and crumbs, but it was a small price to pay :-).

These three days were so chilled out - lying around reading, chatting, risking a beer if we knew a loo stop was coming up - I loved it. Christmas eve we had a bit of a 'party' - open fire, few drinks, bit of singing and dancing (the felucca guys looked very bored everytime we churned out yet another dirgish xmas carol!), but christmas day itself was just another day on the boat. Loved the lack of xmas - it felt a million miles away. We did stop off at Edfu Temple on Xmas day - second largest in Egypt next to Karnak and also a stop for the gin palaces that also cruise up and down the Nile. The kids were pretty full on - constantly trying to sell something or asking for pens.

Great Temple of Ramses II

Great Temple of Ramses II
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Abu Simbel

This was a crazy early start - we had to get up at 2.30 for a 3am departure to meet the armed convoy to leave at 4.15am... I could have flown for £70 but I decided to save the money and just got the coach. Once we were up it wasn't too bad...

Abu Simbel was absolutely amazing. Everyone I know who had been to Egypt had said it was a must see, and that is true. I wasn't disappointed - the first sight of them is incredible. Part of Ramses II's legacy, they were fascinating. His wives included below his knees, the fact that they were built so that the sun highlights the figures inside on two days each year (very Indiana Jones!), and the detail inside just all added to how magical they were. Then when you consider that they were moved when the Aswan Dam was built so they weren't submerged is also staggering. If you look carefully inside you can see the seams where they rebuilt it, but otherwise you would have no idea that it wasn't in its original spot.

Spices for sale

Spices for sale
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Aswan and Philae Temple

Once we'd checked in at the hotel in Aswan we headed off to Philae Temple.

Moved so it wasn't drowned in the creation of the Aswan Dam, this temple was lovely. Quite a Greek feel, as they added to it and such a beautiful setting. Our guide told us the story behind Osiris and Isis by giving us all different characters in the story - made it a bit more real, and we continued the characters for the rest of the week :-). I was disappointed at Abu Simbel to be given the role of Nefertiti (queen of upper and lower Egypt), as opposed to Nefertari... (queen of all the lands).

We had the rest of the day free after Philae. A few of us ventured out to purchase our own 'falafel sandwich' for lunch. We ate in a cafe that we all agreed we wouldn't have eaten in in the UK (not the cleanest place!), and once we'd established that we didn't want salad in our falafel (can make you ill - salad is washed in the local water which is best to avoid), we ended up with falafel with chips in it - but it was tasty and we were starving! Then I wandered around the souk with a friend from the group and soon established that I am no good at bartering - but did end with some nice cushion covers!

In the evening we took a boat across the Nile to visit a Nubian village where the lifestyle is still very traditional, and where we then went for a traditional Nubian meal. I found it odd being invited to look around people's houses, so didn't enjoy it that much - although the trip on the boat was great.

Proof

And again...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

I really was there...

Boat in the Solar Barque museum

Boat in the Solar Barque museum
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Pyramids...

Pyramids...
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

This one says (shows) it all really...

Me and the pyramids

Me and the pyramids
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Proof I was there - proudly wearing my NZ t-shirt!

A busy first day!

Sat Dec 19th was spent travelling to Cairo - about a 5 hour flight from London, and we arrived late. By the time we'd got from the airport to the hotel and checked in etc, it was pretty much time for bed.

Sunday was a late start (as it turned out) of 9am. First part of the morning was spent doing the usual tour admin, then it was off to see the pyramids at Giza. It was completely surreal - to have been in London one day, to then be looking at the pyramids the next day. And as Cairo has expanded, they really aren't far out of town at all - town on one side, then desert on the other. We were too late to go into the Great Pyramid of Cheops, but I did go into the slightly smaller one of Chephren - down and up a steep path, bent double (not to be recommended for those with a bad back!). Nothing to see inside, but it was one of those things that had to be done!

I also went into the Solar Barque Museum - amazing. A cedar wood boat from the time which may have been used to convey the mummy of the Pharoah across the Nile to the valley temple. The barque's were then buried around the pyramid to provide transport for the Pharoah to the next world. This boat was discovered in 1954 and recreated - but the wood is original.

After the Pyramids it was down the hill to check out the Sphinx. Again it was the surreal thing of actually being there and seeing it. Its a bit smaller than I was expecting - and I couldn't help but think of the Asterix and Obelix story where Obelix knocks the nose off... :-).

After a quick stop at a Papyrus institute and a 'falafel sandwich' (first of many!) we headed off to the Eygptian Museum. This was fascinating as it houses most of the treasures from King Tut's tomb. Just mind blowing stuff what was in there - and he wasn't even a particularly important Pharoah. Makes you wonder what someone like Ramses II had in his tomb - he ruled for 66 years. But the museum itself felt very dark and dusty and old fashioned. One of the arguments for the British Museum not returning the Rosetta Stone is that Egypt doesn't have anywhere appropriate to store it, and having visited that museum I can see the argument. They won't get it back until they open their new museum I don't think.

From the museum we caught an overnight train from Cairo down to Aswan - first class sleeper! But not exactly Orient Express first class :-).

Party-tastic!!

Been to two great parties this week. The first one was Mhairi's leaving EY party - organised by me and Alecia. Our theme for this was NZ - and we couldn't have done it without Tracey as she sent over a box of NZ themed bits and pieces which just made the evening - check out the photos on Flickr!

Second was Mhairi's leaving London party- the theme was to come as your favourite Londoner, London place, London thing... I went as Margo from The Good Life (fitting as I live in Surbiton). It was another great evening - two fab send offs for a fab friend. Life in EY/London is going to feel very strange without Mhairi around... :-(

Simon and me

Simon and me
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

A bit later in the evening...

Mhairi and me

Mhairi and me
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Spot the t-shirt - tying in nicely with the theme!

Me & Mhairi dancing

Me & Mhairi dancing
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Later on in the evening... my hair band has been replaced by a santa hat...

Grotty cold

So for the last week and a half I've been suffering with a grotty cold - but it does appear to have finally gone... So a bit belated, but I have now updated with the end of the Loop.

Sigh - a great achievement - and great fun as well!

Lots of social things coming up in the next few weeks as Mhairi gets ready to leave. And I'm finally going to catch up with Maya as well. So get ready for some slightly inebriated photos no doubt from her leaving parties :-)

All before heading off to Egypt for a holiday over Xmas - can't wait!

And so it ends... 160 miles later

Saturday was the last London Loop day - and somewhat fittingly it was just the four original walkers who were walking. Come full circle - so to speak!

We'd been worried during the week as yet again the weather was bad, then I was struck with a cold. I took a day off on Thursday, worked Friday, cancelled a Friday night out as I knew I wouldn't be able to both go out and walk on Saturday, and then we all had a crack of dawn start to get to Harold Wood to begin the final 13 miles...

It was actually a much nicer walk than we had been expecting. Aside from one unpleasant road stretch, most of it was good. A bit whiffy at times as we walked past the landfill (where most of London's rubbish ends up). And we ended up on a long stretch along the Thames - from where we could see Erith - where we had started walking back on 14 September 2008.

For our final walk we didn't see any scary dogs, or crazy horses - but did meet some racing greyhounds - include one called Ardbeg Kate who I was going to put a bet on, but was too poorly the next day. (Ardbeg is my fave whisky - it seemed like a sign!). We also walked past concrete barges that were used during the D-Day landings - just hanging around in the mud now - and the Tilda rice factory. No doubt we've all eaten rice that had been through there!

But it was cold! Winter has now turned up here, so it was definitely the coldest walk we'd done for a while. There was even an ok pub at the end so we had a bottle of bubbles to celebrate our achievement at the end :-).

Next up for Nicola, Jackie and me is the Capital Ring...

Sculpture in the mud

Sculpture in the mud
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Cold walkers - with the start at Erith visible across the river

Cold walkers - with the start at Erith visible across the river
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Champagne at the end in Purfleet

Champagne at the end in Purfleet
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

More loopy Loop

Another two sections completed (20 and 21). Only one more walking day left and we're done...

This walk was a bit of a worry - England has been lashed by wind and rain all week, but amazingly we had very little rain, and what we did have came at the end. Yet again we've managed to walk on a decent weather day. In fact for an hour or so before lunch it was positively lovely - very warm and sunny.

But crazy sections! The instructions did not match the map at all, and the little loop signs also seemed to bear no resemblance to either the map or the instructions at all. Needless to say we got lost, but Mhairi and Nicola managed to navigate us back to where we should be. All very odd - and somewhat frustrating. Luckily it wasn't raining - I think we probably all would have had sense of humour failures had we been trying to work it out in the rain!

But we did stumble upon a random collection of wooden sculptures which seemed to have an animal/nature theme. No explanation as to who had made them, or why they had been made, but they were really clever. And in the afternoon, to make a change from big scary dogs, we were 'chased' by a posse of horses. Who galloped (and I mean galloped!) from one side of the field to the other as soon as they saw us. All very odd, and just slightly un-nerving - I quite like horses, but not when there are lots of them bearing down on us at speed!

It will be quite odd when this is all over and done with...

Wooden sculpture

Wooden sculpture
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

This one had a sort of Praying Mantis theme going on - Lindsey would have loved it!

New Loop sign!

New Loop sign!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Hadn't seen a Loop sign like this one before!

Where's my gig mojo?

Went to see The Decemberists - who I love.

And they were really good - they played their album Hazards of Love first, then the second half of the set was more like a 'best of'. Although sadly they didn't play my fave song. They were very slick, and very entertaining. Lots of audience banter and participation which normally I like. But I just couldn't love it as much as I should have done. Felt grumpy throughout, and cross at people pushing past me, and spilling beer on me all the time. Although I may have been influenced by the kids next to me who were singing along so loudly I was finding it hard to hear the actual band... But despite that - if any NZ readers are going to the Big Day Out I would definitely recommend that you make sure you catch them.

But I haven't been to a gig which has blown me away for ages - I'm scared!!

Next up is Fat Freddy's Drop - maybe they'll fix it...

Speaking in Tongues

Mhairi and I went to see Speaking in Tongues - both very excited as it had both John Simm and Kerry Fox in it.

Sadly it didn't quite live up to our expectations. He was fab (of course), but overall the story just felt a bit laboured and obvious. It was pretty easy to see what was coming, and we didn't warm to any of the characters either. But we did get 'upgraded' at the theatre and ended up in much better seats. Thats never happened to me before!

Still glad I went - first time I'd been to the theatre for a while, but a shame it wasn't as good as we were expecting.

Bird man...

Went to see Andrew Bird at the Union Chapel with Mhairi. Its a fantastic venue - this time I learnt there is an upstairs! And once again I had ice-cream at a gig :-).

He was good - but didn't blow me away so much. Think Mhairi enjoyed him a bit more than me. His music is great, but I think I'd prefer him with his band. He was solo this time, and was using a lot of backing tracks and I think that just doesn't really do it for me. I also thought he was tripping on something for the first couple of songs, but I think that was him just settling into his groove...

Not sure I'd go see him again - still love his CDs tho.

Chilling over a Sunday lunch...

Simon had us round for Sunday lunch while he was hosting the currently homeless Mhairi. Again, another fantastic meal. Brie (or camembert) for starters, with slow roasted pork for the main, followed by chocolate mousse (made by Mhairi) for pudding - with some lovely dessert wine as well.

A wonderful afternoon of eating, drinking and putting the world to rights - what its all about!

Sunday lunch @ Simon's

Sunday lunch @ Simon's
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

About to tuck in to the starter...

L to R: Sylvia, Jackie, Nicola, Mhairi, Owen and Simon

View out over Lea Valley Reservoirs

View out over Lea Valley Reservoirs
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

London Loop, Section 18 Enfield Lock to Chingford

The Loop is almost complete....

Another two sections (18 and 19) of the London Loop completed today - after this there are only two more Loop days left (although five sections) as we rush to get it completed before Mhairi's exit from the UK.

Some lovely views on these sections - which was nice as the start at Enfield Lock was pretty horrible. We've been through some beautiful parts of London doing this, but some of them don't half start at dodgy places!

Day tripping to Chirk

Part of the 'lets do as much as possible with Mhairi' ethos that is going around at the moment led to me, Mhairi and Nicola do a day trip to Chirk (in Wales...)

I had read quite a lot about the Wrexham & Shropshire railway, and was keen to try it. And as Mhairi likes going on trains we thought it would be a fine thing to do. And it was! The day started off well as we decided we would go for the full cooked brekkie. Delivered to our table (unheard of on other trains!), we had a fantastic breakfast of juice, hot drink, bacon, two sausages (very good ones as Nicola pointed out), tomato, black pudding (which I donated to Nicola), mushrooms, scrambled eggs and hash brown. All cooked to order as well!

It took about four hours to get to Chirk - odd for me as I went through several stations close to Wem, including Shrewsbury. Back in very familiar territory! Once we got to Chirk we headed straight for Chirk Castle. Which was a wee hike - about a mile up a road covered in sheep dung... But the colours were lovely - although we were getting a bit fed up by the time we finally got to the entrance. Nicola was in dire need of a reviving cup of tea... As it was Halloween it was crawling with kids in fancy dress (and as kids were allowed in free it really was crawling with them!). So after a pick-me-up drink we checked out the castle and its grounds. Quite imposing from the outside, but the inside wasn't so great. Definitely not one of the better ones I've been to. But the grounds were lovely - great topiary, and views out over the Wrekin. We finished that part of the day with a lovely National Trust tea and cake.

After that we went and checked out the Chirk Aqueduct. Very cool! It sits half in England and half in Wales, and it really is quite imposing. The rail bridge was built higher than the aqueduct to reinforce the superiority of the rail network... We also walked through the Darkie Tunnel - which must be named as it is pitch black inside! Mhairi lit the way with her mobile while Nicola and I followed somewhat nervously behind - it was great! 1200ft so it took a wee while!

Then it was back onto the train for the trip back to London. Dinner with wine was an indian curry with pate as a starter - again delivered to our table, and really nice food. Twas a great day out - check out the photos on Flickr!

Emerging from the darkness

Emerging from the darkness
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Chirk castle with topiary

Chirk castle with topiary
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Ball, canal and rail bridge

Ball, canal and rail bridge
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Lovely autumnal Kew

Sunday was a lovely afternoon of strolling around Kew catching up with Chris and James and admiring the gorgeous autumn colours - so lovely!

I think peak time would have been a couple of weeks ago though - a few trees had obviously just passed their best, but there were still enough to look lovely.

More photos on Flickr...

Autumnal colours

Autumnal colours
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Autumn colours with the fountain

Autumn colours with the fountain
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Great blog

I discovered this blog the other day - a great one for all my librarian readers!!

http://awfullibrarybooks.wordpress.com/

Definitely worth checking out :-)

Movie magic...

Been to two movies in the last week - pretty good effort for me! First up was District 9 which I thought was great. Although very hard to watch - the documentary style of it made it seem much more real. And the subject matter was pretty disturbing as well. Particularly given that it was set in South Africa...

Second up was (500) Days of Summer - which was ok. Bits of it I loved - some very clever ideas. For anyone who has seen it, I particularly enjoyed the 'Expectation' vs 'Reality' party scene. Been there done that many times! But the chemistry between the two leads wasn't great which let it down a bit.

Looping along...

So Saturday we did section 17 of the London Loop - rapidly heading towards the end of it! Only three more walks to finish the rest of the sections - all before Mhairi leaves.

Lovely walk - the colours at the moment are gorgeous. Very autumnal, and this one was really quite rural. Small group tho - Nicola missed her first walk due to flu (but I know she'll make it up!), and Sarah had to walk. But we had a nice stroll and a nice pub lunch - not quite as nice as the lunch at Chris's pub, but still pretty good!

Walkers on an autumnal path

Walkers on an autumnal path
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Autumnal colours

Autumnal colours
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Tripping around Turkey - complete

So my updates are complete - now I need to start getting my photos up on Flickr... that might take a while too!

Well I am now back from the most wonderful trip to Turkey... Updates below (but I might not get it all updated tonight). Once I've done my blog I'll upload my many photos to Flickr. But any people out in the ether who are also on Facebook can see some of them already from my profile there.

I really liked Turkey - will definitely be taking a trip back there...

Overall highlights:

• The helpfulness and friendliness of the Turkish people. It really was so lovely - and made travelling around so much easier
• The food - I loved the food...
• Swimming - beautiful coast line and beautiful sea (although not terribly interesting snorkelling it has to be said)
  

And so to Olympos...

After very reluctantly getting off the boat, we headed off on another bus to make our way to Olympos. This trip just seemed to take forever - but I think we were both struggling with the shock of coming from the fab-ness of the boat to having to deal with transport and stuff again. Anyhow - by the time we got to Olympos (about 5.5 hours) we were knackered.

But oh - what bliss Olympos was! We stayed at Saban Pension and it was fantastic. The most chilled out, relaxed place I've stayed at. So again - not much to say really - we spent 3 very lazy days on the beach, and chilling out before/after dinner in the courtyard. The food was fantastic, the swimming was good, the posh sun loungers were lovely - nothing to complain about at all! Strolling through the ruins of Olympos to get to the beach...

One night we went up to the Chimaera which was seriously cool. Even coming from the volcanic NZ, I've never seen anything like this. Very odd to see flames coming straight out of the ground - and watching people blow them out and then just have them spontaneously re-ignite. Very very cool!

Before Lunch

We did the 3 night cruise with Before Lunch - who were great. They were recommended by Lonely Planet, but Mhairi had also found an article which gave them a good write up as well. There are so many boats and companies, but I was really happy with Before Lunch.

Not much to say about this really - it literally was 4 days cruising around, swimming when we were anchored, reading, sunning, drinking when we weren't. The food was amazing, and we were really lucky with our group as well - everyone got on really well - the ages ranged from 29 - 73! Our captain (Ahmet) wasn't in to the busy spots at all, so he did a great job of taking us places that didn't have hundreds of other boats parked up which was nice.

When we went to St Nicholas' Island, while we were off exploring it, he moved the boat to the other side of the bay as there were too many around us :-).

Highlights included:

• Swimming off the boat. The water was so warm and so clear
• Having nothing to do, but lie around. Fantastic
• The trading boats that would come up and sell ice-creams or Gozleme (pancakes - often with banana and chocolate - yum!)
• The food - double yum!
  

Didn't like the sandflies tho - don't know what they did to me, but I really reacted to their bites. They weren't itchy, but I would swell up for about 24 hours after being bitten. So I particularly liked the two bites I got on either side of my head... (although I think only I noticed the lumps!)

The village of Kayakoy

Kayakoy was amazing. Very odd to be in a village that had just been deserted - and what a crazy idea it was. Lets move the Turkish Christians to Greece and the Greek Muslims to Turkey... funnily enough that whole thing just didn't work out so well.

But it was really quite atmospheric, and as we went up at dusk it was pretty empty which added to the spookiness of it.

After strolling around the village we went to the Levissi Garden for a meal which was fantastic. A wine cellar with 12,000 bottles of wine, so we started with a bit of wine tasting, then got a guided tour of the house the restaurant was in, then we both had the most amazing lamb meals. It was so lovely!

Fethiye

Friday was another bus down to Fethiye - where we were scheduled to get on our boat cruise on Saturday.

Trip down was ok - more free juice, water and cake on the bus so that was all very pleasant :-). Our instructions from where we were staying were very explicit about which company to get our transfer to their place with, so it was a tad stressful at the Otogar as another man seemed very keen for us to go with him. However Mhairi held firm and we went with the right company.

Met a slightly odd woman on the minibus who was very keen to hang out with us, but obviously wasn't keen on what we wanted to do. I think she was hoping we were going swimming, but Mhairi had already researched Kayakoy and we were keen to do that. However she wasn't happy with the accommodation so ended up leaving and we 'lost' her. We thought it was fine - although I was a bit unhappy the next morning at brekkie to be told that if I wanted coffee I would have to pay for it!

After a brief dip in their small pool, we headed off into Fethiye to take a look at our boat, get some money for the trip and then head up to Kayakoy.

Ephesus sights

We finally re-emerged from our room about 11am and went downstairs - where the man behind the counter said 'You must be Megan'. This followed Ramazan at TJ's Tours who had also said 'Hello Megan' when we walked in there after getting off the bus! Almost felt famous :-).

Adem was also very helpful and friendly. He is married to a NZ woman from Hamilton - he proudly showed us their wedding photo in an old issue of NZ Woman's Weekly from a few years ago! We met her later on, and their gorgeous wee toddler. He gave us the tour of the hotel, pointing out the carpet shop at the back which is run by his brother (who also owns Jimmy's Place). If I'd been going to buy a carpet I probably would have got it from him - they looked lovely. But unfortunately we were there before payday and I just couldn't afford one. When Mhairi said she was from Timaru he immediately responded that he had sold a carpet to someone from Oamaru. And had also been swimming in Lake Taupo...

We ambled around Selcuk for a bit, had some lunch then went out to Ephesus. It was really hot and very striking. Although (and this is probably blasphemy to any classics fans out there) - once you've been to a few of these sites, they do start to be a bit the same... The Forum in Rome, Agrigento in Sicily, Pompeii (different but the same...). Although I was rather taken with the library - felt very pleased that the most outstanding facade left was of the library!

Dinner was at a restaurant called 'The Old House' - I had lamb chops (I still can't go past them) but I should have had what Mhairi had which was The Old House Kebab as that was delish! My lamb chops weren't the best... But it was a lovely wee courtyard restaurant so despite my dish envy it was very nice!

Travelling overnight

Following the tour we hung around for a few hours until we hopped on the overnight bus from Eceabat to Selcuk - our next destination... There were 3 other travellers on it as well (as in NZ/Australian rather than Turkish people!) so that was good.

Long trip though - we left at 9.30pm and got to Selcuk around 6am. Bit of a situation when we got on as there was a woman in one of our seats. She spoke a lot to us, but as it was all in Turkish we couldn't understand what she was saying. All very confusing, but she ended up getting off at Canakkale - we got on the bus, which drove on to a ferry and then ended up in Canakkale. That whole process seemed to take about 1.5 hours. It was a long night...

We had arranged for our hostel to meet us from the bus and it turned out we were all staying at the same place - but no one came to meet us. At one point we thought a man was coming to collect us, but he wasn't. However he worked in some tourist role, spoke very good English so walked us to our hostel and woke them up so we could go in! All at about 6.30 am! Then we crawled into bed for a few hours to sleep off the bus trip!

Gallipoli

The original plan had been to do a snorkelling tour in the morning and then do the tour of the battlefields in the afternoon, but for some reason the snorkelling was cancelled. We aren't sure if that was just because there was only two of us, or because the water was a bit rough (it still looked a bit choppy in the afternoon as we did the tour)... It was pretty disappointing, but having seen the water later we figured that maybe it was for the best.

We did the tour through our hostel, and TJ was a fantastic guide. He really knew his stuff, and obviously has a real interest in the topic. He had a folder of different source material which we referred to at different times, and a couple of times asked for volunteers to read out letters etc which were written at the time (both Mhairi and I did our bit). That made a lot of it seem more 'real' as well. It was a very moving and sad afternoon - it just makes you realise the waste of life that it really well. Seeing row after row of graves in so many different cemeteries (and we didn't go to all of them) told the story so clearly. We also went to the Turkish cemetery as well which was a nice balance to the day.

At the start of the tour we went through the Kabatepe War Museum - amazing to see bullets smashed together - they had hit each other in the air, there were so many being fired. We also saw the remnants of some of the original trenches (photos to come) - they have recreated some, but you can still see the channels from the original ones. At the point were the fronts were only separated by a few hundred yards. Just absolutely crazy.

What was interesting to us was the fact that the Turkish people were so friendly and welcoming to us everywhere we went, and there were often NZ or Australian flags up in the different places we stayed, but we were the forces fighting them. I guess the respect the two sides developed for each other still remains. What was also interesting (but not from a good point of view) was when TJ explained why they had to move the commemoration ceremony from the cemetery at ANZAC Cove - due to the high number of backpackers turning up, getting hammered and damaging the headstones at the cemetery. Unbelievable.

It was an excellent tour.

London - Istanbul - Eceabat

My flight left at 6.30am - which necessitated an EXTREMELY early start. My taxi picked me up at about 3.45 am I think - absolutely horrendous hour to be getting up! What was most amazing was getting to Gatwick duty free around 4.30 am, and most of the shops were open. Quite a bizarre experience...

Once I got to Istanbul I managed to find the coach which went into Taksim Square where I had arranged to meet Mhairi. This wasn't as straightforward as it sounds as there wasn't much information at the airport. I went up to a couple of wrong buses first of all before finding the right one. After that it was nice and straightforward tho!

Managed to find Mhairi ok (by the red Metro sign and by the ambulances - very good instructions from her!), and we hopped into a taxi to head to the Otogar (bus station). Istanbul has the craziest bus station I've ever seen - over 160 bus stands, and it really was organised chaos. There are loads of different bus companies (and I mean loads), and it is a matter of finding which one goes to where you want to go. Our taxi driver circled all of them (I don't think he understood our pronunciation of Eceabat which is were we wanted to go!), until finally we just told him to stop and hopped out. We were helped by an older man, who again obviously didn't understand our pronunciation as he took us to the office for buses to Cappadocia. At that office Mhairi showed the man behind the desk the guide book and pointed to Eceabat, whereupon he had a conversation with our original helper in Turkish, who then grabbed both our bags and hared off across the bus station to the Canakkle office. Which fortunately was the right office (we would have got there eventually ourselves as that is where Mhairi thought we needed to be heading towards).

Tickets purchased ok, so then we waited for about 1/2 hour until the bus left. Absolutely crazy - buses (both coach, mini-bus and van size) pulling in and out, people strolling around in front of them paying absolutely no attention to what might be pulling in behind them. Very hard to describe! Eventually our bus pulled in and having established it was the right one we were off.

Very different from NZ buses! In addition to the driver, we also had a 'Captain' - whose role seemed to be to just walk up and down and check we were all ok, and a 'Host' - his job was to pass out the FREE water, juice and cakes that we got! Plus the lemon cologne for our hands as well. It was great! And it was a nice new bus as well so it wasn't too bad a trip.

It was about 5 hours down to Eceabat - slightly concerning as we got closer as it occurred to us that none of the places we pulled into seemed to have place names so we weren't sure how we would know we were there. But it was all fine - but we did make sure the 'Host' knew we were getting off at Eceabat! From the bus it was a hop step and a jump to TJ's Tours and Hostel where we were staying. After a full 12 hours of travelling for me I was very pleased to finally get off the the bus!

How famous am i??

I'm speechless... I remember Finbarr taking the photo. Most amazing thing is that I never saw this - a friend of mine spotted me and emailed me about it. The Times no less!

And finding out about it on Mum's birthday no less. Fantastic

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6814256.ece

I'm up two spots....

According to the latest ONS survey of names, Megan has gone up two places from last year - I am now officially the 15th most popular girls name in the UK.

I know I would have blogged about that last year as well but I can't find the posting.

I have to admit, I do find myself turning around on the street when I hear my name, and without fail it is addressed to some wee'un who is about 5 years old...

Maya is 69th (up 9 spots), Lucy is 14th (just pips me - grrr - but she's dropped down 3 from last year). No entry for Leigh or Tracey sorry... :-)

Thomas comes in at 3rd (he's down 1 from last year), Alex at 47th (up 11 spaces!), Sam at 79th (down 2).

Interesting to see Reuben make an appearance as well - up 72 places. I have two friends in NZ with sons called Reuben so maybe it is moving this way...

More Looping

Another two sections of the London Loop completed - this time from Moor Park to Elstree. 12.1 miles so not a bad distance, and given the different walking speeds in the group we didn't finish at too bad a time.

We are now right up in North London so for most of us it is a schlep back across London to get home, but for Mhairi (our resident of North London) she is starting to enjoy not having too bad a trip home - she's had a long time of waiting for us to get to her part of town!

We had a lovely picnic spot on this walk, with great views out over London. Amazing to see the planes landing at Heathrow on the other side of London and think that it was only a few walks ago that we were walking under the flight path. Really did make me think that we are actually completing a circuit of London!

Despite knowing that the first section of this walk was badly signposted, I still managed to get us a bit lost - annoying when it was a long walk anyhow. And when we didn't need the signposts, there were loads of them! Or two at once pointing in different directions...

Grassland

Grassland
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

This was really quite pretty - but a bit scary to see autumnal colours appearing...

Sitting on the dam edge

Sitting on the dam edge
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

'B's - lots of 'Best of's

I finished listening to my 'B' albums the other day. The line up this time was...

Back in Black - AC/DC
The Back Room - The Editors
Bandwagonesque - Teenage Fanclub
Based on a True Story - Fat Freddy's Drop
Beautysleep - Tanya Donnelly
Because of the Times - Kings of Leon
Before and After Science - Brian Eno
Begin to Hope - Regina Spektor
Being There - Wilco
Best of Blur - Blur
Best of Bowie - David Bowie
Best of James - James
Best of Neil Diamond - Neil Diamon
Best of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Best of Talking Heads - Talking Heads
Best of The Doors - The Doors
Best Yet - Greg Johnson
Big Up! - Dean Fraser
Bird Beats & Flowers - Hem & Autumn Defense
Birds - Bic Runga
Blankets - Tracker
Bloc Party EP - Bloc Party
Bluffers Guide to the Flight Deck - Flotation Toy Warning
Body Blow - Headless Chickens
Bossanova - The Pixies
Boy in Waiting EP - Starsailor
Boyracer ep - The Brunettes
Boys & Girls in America - The Hold Steady
Boys Don't Cry - The Cure
Brand New - The Stereo Bus
The Bravery - The Bravery
Bright Yellow Bright Orange - The Go-Betweens
British Ballads - Anthony Reynolds
Brother's Keeper - The Neville Brothers
Bryter Layter - Nick Drake
Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Soundtrack
By the Way - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Not many standouts in this list for me, although fun listening to some stuff I hadn't listened to for years. The Pixies and Brian Eno particularly. Think The Bravery will be coming off - and I can confirm that two albums of David Bowie is too much...

Despite my best intentions...

I get busy and then I get tired and then I don't update my blog... Sigh. Anyhow, here is my latest round up :-)

Mhairi strolling up to the top of the Downs

Mhairi strolling up to the top of the Downs
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Revisiting an old walk...

On Saturday Mhairi and I did the 'Pulborough to Amberley' walk that I had done with Julia and Craig a couple of years ago.

This time nettle alley was not quite so bad and we braved the field with the possible bull in it (in fact we think there was one in there, but he was quite happy chewing away with his cows so we were quite safe). We also didn't need to fight our way through the bracken either... Another nice stretch to the top of the Downs - its always good to get back there!

Hot hot Wilco

I may have seen Wilco a lot, but not as many times as Kevin! We worked out he is probably getting to about 15 times...

Anyhow, he had a spare ticket for one of their London shows and I really like them so I snapped it up. Uber hot and sweaty venue however - Troxy. I lasted about 40 minutes near the front before I started to feel decidedly odd - so I beat a hasty retreat further back where I thought I was safe.

But no - my head started going again. So dash for the loo where I sat for a while with my head between my legs until I felt better. Back into the crowd, before I got REALLY bad - back to the back of the venue where I sat down for a few songs and then hung around at the back of the crowd trying to see Wilco while drinking some water.

Almost fainting at a gig is a new one for me - almost doing it 3 times makes it an absolute record!

Leaving another gig early...

That was Animal Collective - who I do really like. Unfortunately the tickets were for the night of the 20th.

I knew trying to go after a day at the cricket was a mistake, but Kevin and Fin wouldn't be swayed. I think we lasted about 40 minutes until we all decided we had to go home!

So two gigs left early in one week - unheard of!

The Ashes 2009

So again I had managed to secure tickets for the first day of the last Ashes test at the Oval - Kevin and I went last time with Craig, Sarah and Nola back in 2005. Having re-read that post I think the crowd this time was definitely quieter than it was in 2005...

After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing (Craig mismanaging his diary, Owen being poorly), the final line up was me, Finbarr (came over from Ireland for it), Kevin and Craig. We had a great day - no rain, England won the toss, and so we settled in for a day of spectating - with just a wee bit of beer as well...

Saturday I went round to Kevin's to watch the afternoon session (he has Sky and I don't), and I was back there on Sunday to watch England take the little urn again :-). I really would not have been suprised had Australia managed to pull it off - and England took the wickets very sporadically so I was never that comfortable that it would happen, but finally it did.

I was very pleased - although I did feel for Ricky Ponting. The holy grail for England is now to retain it when they go to Australia... that would be a real sporting feat!

Some photos below, but also more on Flickr.

Craig and me

Craig and me
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Craig modelling my new sun hat

Craig, me and Kevin

Craig, me and Kevin
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Happy in the sun :-)

Beer!

Beer!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

We did watch the cricket as well...

Grizzly Bear

No, not of the animal variety... Kevin had a spare ticket to this Grizzly Bear gig, and as I really like one of their songs I decided to go along.

They were good - but not really a band that you stand and listen to. Apparently they are a "muso's" band. Anyhow, once they had played the one song I knew I was ready to go and as Kevin was tired we left early.

Good, but didn't blow me away. Think their cds would be good tho.

Two great books

I've just finished two very good books - can thoroughly recommend The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I loved it - but it made me cry. I've been thinking a lot about Mum recently and this book just hit me. But it was worth it - just glad I finished it at home rather than on public transport!

Then I read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell. I've read all of her books and I thought this one was almost as good as her first. Quite shocking in many ways, but still very enjoyable.

So get reading!!

A walk of two halves...

Two more sections of the London Loop completed... the first half was lovely - lots of it alongside the Grand Union Canal - easy walking, nice sunny Sunday morning, good pace. Second half was completely different - overgrown with stinging nettles (Mhairi and I were walking in a corn field at one point to avoid them as we both had long shorts on), and a very indistinct path which was also well overgrown with brambles and other prickly plants. So it was a real battle and my shins are very scratched and nettle stung.

More grist to my mill about walking on a Sunday - it just never goes right. Something always goes amiss... Plus I had to set my alarm for 7am, which on a Sunday is just plain WRONG.

Grand Union canal and walkers

Grand Union canal and walkers
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Quarry lake

Quarry lake
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Me at Thursley Common

Me at Thursley Common
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Thursley Common - regrowth after fire in 2006

Thursley Common - regrowth after fire in 2006
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

A rare Sunday walk...

Headed out with Julia for a rare walk on a Sunday - the last time we walked on a Sunday I fell over and Craig had forgotten to put his walking shoes on... This one started in a similarly inauspicious fashion...

We got to Clapham Junction to catch our train - only one an hour so we were both there very early. Which was a tad unfortunate given that our train was late, so we had to hang around for what felt like a long long time... But it did turn up and we were en-route!

Milford to Haselmere - It was just over 10 miles but we ended up shortening it slightly as Julia's achilles heel was playing up. But it was a good walk nonetheless. In Surrey (ie down the train line from Surbs), and the Surrey walks are normally a bit uninspiring - but this was lovely.

We had a great lunch at The Three Horseshoes pub - benefit of walking on a Sunday is that the pubs do roasts :-). Lovely lamb with mint sauce for me, and beef with Yorkshire pud for Julia. Interesting wee pub - it was closed down for years and then the villagers clubbed together and bought it. Lovely garden and great food! We also wandered through Thursley Common which was burnt in 2006. It is now recovering and was really rather stunning - I'm not sure the photos I took do it justice.

We then ended up walking around the rim of the Devil's Punch Bowl - which was where this walk ended. Great day out tho - and the sun came out for the first time in ages!

The "A's" have it

So mid-week I did finally finish the 'A's of my ipod. So here is what I've been listening to...

A.M - Wilco
Abbey Road - The Beatles
About A Boy - Badly Drawn Boy
Absolution - Muse
Accelerate - R.E.M
Achtung Baby - U2
Across the Road - Harding
Addicted to Company (Pt 1) - Paddy Casey
Age of the Understatement - The Last Shadow Puppets
Aha Shake Heartbreak - Kings of Leon
Alas I Cannot Swim - Laura Marling
All Change - Cast
All I Intended to Be - Emmylou Harris
All That You Can't Leave Behind - U2
All the Plans - Starsailor
All We Could Do Was Sing - Port O'Brien
Alligator - The National
Almost Killed Me - The Hold Steady
Alone With Everybody - Richard Ashcroft
Alright, Still - Lily Allen
American III: Solitary Man - Johnny Cash
American IV: The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash
American Recordings - Johnny Cash
Angels of Destruction! - Marah
Antics - Interpol
Antidotes - Foals
Arcade Fire - The Arcade Fire
Armchair Apocrypha - Andrew Bird
As I Am - Alicia Keys
Ash Wednesday - Elvis Perkins
Asleep In The Back - Elbow
Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
Astronomy for Dogs - Aliens
At Dawn - My Morning Jacket (Bonus disc 2 of 2)
At Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash
Automatic for the People - R.E.M
Autumn Defense - The Autumn Defense
Aw C'Mon - Lambchop

So what stood out? Port O'Brien, Aliens and Paddy Casey - will be going back to them. Rediscovering Interpol and The National - particularly The National. I'd forgotten how good they were! Cast - boring. Think they'll be coming off... Lots of Johnny Cash... Kings of Leon, The Hold Steady and My Morning Jacket were also good listens - and good to rediscover.

The 'B's started off with 'Back in Black' by AC/DC - brilliant! But more of that when I'm done with the Bs...

Wakehurst Place

Wakehurst Place
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

The walled garden, Wakehurst Place

The walled garden, Wakehurst Place
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Kew with a difference - Wakehurst Place

Nicola and I did a wee trip out to Wakehurst Place - taking advantage of my Kew membership and her National Trust membership - free entry for the both of us!

It was a lovely garden - very different from Kew. If only because there aren't millions of planes flying low over as they come in to land at Heathrow! But much less busy, and definitely a bit more 'wild' in places. We had a lovely couple of hours strolling around, followed by an extremely delicious coffee and cake - it has to be done after a bit of garden admiring!

It is also the home of the Millennium Seed Bank which we had a wee wander through. Obviously not looking at the real seeds, but they had a nice atrium with some quite good displays on the importance of seeds. I'd definitely like to get back there - its just not quite as convienient for me as Kew - you need a car...

More photos on Flickr (as always...)

Two movies...

So this week I've been to two movies - first time I've been in ages, and then two come along at once!

First of all I finally went to see Star Trek - ages after most of my friends, but I got there eventually. And I loved it - thought it was really well done. Spok and Kirk were both VERY good, and as a long time watcher of Star Trek I came away happy. And looking forward to future movies.

Today I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - which I also really enjoyed. I was particularly excited to see Surbiton station play a role in the first few scenes. And I picked it as Surbiton before they showed the station name! I know my 'hood...

I've read a couple of reviews of the film since I got back, and I think had I read the book recently I may have been disappointed with the film as it has obviously missed a lot of stuff out. I did think the battle scene at the end was a bit different, and there was a crucial detail in that which they didn't include in the film - not sure why. But I did enjoy it - lots of Snape who is one of my fave characters - although if you go, I hope you haven't read the book recently!

What a walk it was in the Peak District

Cor - currently recovering from an epic day of walking yesterday in the Peak District. I was meant to be rollerblading today, but I had to pull out. I barely had the energy and inclination to walk to the supermarket and back!

I think it is fair to say that Craig and I learnt many lessons - I just wishing learning the lessons wasn't so exhausting!

• Don't ever not stop for lunch because 'we'll be back in the village in an hour and we can get lunch then...'. That old chestnut 'famous last words' comes into play...

• Don't step into peaty bogs - especially don't do it twice. Like quicksand (I imagine), it ain't that easy to get out of.

• Don't assume that because a trail is marked on an OS map that it will look like a well defined path in real life.

• Do use your common sense at times - you may have a whizzy gizmo gadget, but when you see people walking in the distance, and also a cairn, that is a pretty good clue that there will be a path over there...

Craig had suggested going up to the Peak District for a night a few weeks ago. Camp one night, walk on Friday and a big one on Saturday then back down to London on Sat night. He had a new GPS gizmo he wanted to test, and I’ve always wanted to go to the Peak District (try and meet my Mr Darcy!) so I was very keen. Turned out to be just us as everyone else was busy – they missed a real treat!

Read on for epic adventures in the Peak District... And lots more photos on Flickr as well!

Craig holding the 'gizmo'

Craig holding the 'gizmo'
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Sheep on the moon landscape

Sheep on the moon landscape
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Me amongst the rock formations

Me amongst the rock formations
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

A loop around Edale...

Craig had mapped out a route which was circular around Edale. We took in Mam Tor - but were there way too early to see all of the paragliders who were there when we drove home that evening.

We then took in Kinder Scout which was fantastic and then around to Kinder Fall. It was a fantastic walk - stunning scenery, and it took in so many different landscapes. Rolling peak hills, then a fantastic moon like landscape with incredible rock formations all around. Enroute to Kinder Scout I stepped into a bog (just as Craig told me not to). Straight in, up to my knee and it was stuck fast. Craig tried pulling me out but my leg wasn't moving... At one point I was worried my boot would come off! In the end I gave up and sat down on the boggy edge and pulled my leg out that way. Thank heavens for gaiters and quick drying walking trou!

We were fine up to Kinder Falls. Then it all went a bit pearshaped... The path we were looking for (as it turned out), wasn't a well defined path, but needed to be followed with a compass bearing. Which would have been fine, except we hadn't realised that, so kept finding the path and losing it again (which we couldn't understand why), then it started to rain on and off, and we spent about 1 and 3/4 hours cris-crossing the peaty bog, going up and down boggy bits, trying to work out how to get where we knew we needed to be. Its fair to say we both got VERY stressed at times, but finally we did work it out. However this was all done on no lunch (see top post) and after setting off walking at about 8.10am, we got back to the village of Edale at 4.15pm. It was a very long, very hard day of walking, but it was great. Oh - except for the bit when I fell in the bog again... this time, both legs in, up to my knees.... Can't say it was any more fun the second time.

After another meal at the Nag's Head we then had to drive back to London - well Craig did. We were both knackered - it was a very long day!

Our tents

Our tents
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

It began on Friday...

I set off from work on Friday at midday to go and meet Craig at his work. The plan was we would get to Edale, put up our tents (I borrowed mine from Simon’s sister), and then go for a short walk before having dinner in the pub. Ah – the best laid plans…

It was all fine until we got past Junction 25 on the M1. At that point we realised we weren’t slow because of the road works but because there had been an accident between Junction 26 and 27. Too late for us…. About 1.5 hours later (but it felt like much longer), we got to the exit at 26 and headed off. Traffic was still pretty slow though, and a 4 hour trip turned into 7.5 hours. We got to the campsite just after 7pm… It was my first experience of being stuck in traffic like that – I’ve always been lucky and been driving past it in the other direction. Can’t say that I would recommend it.

We got the tents up fairly quickly at the Fieldhead campsite (Craig has used his, but aside from a short demo I hadn’t put mine up properly before) then we headed off to the pub for dinner. It was a two pub town – we ate at the The Nags Head which was fairly standard fare. It is also officially the start of the Pennine Way. We probably would have stayed there but a big group in the other room started singing… What was cute for a couple of songs just turned plain annoying after about 6 or 7 numbers. So we headed off to the Ramblers Inn for another pint and a whisky before bed. Also very underwhelmed with that pub as well - despite its name it was pretty mediocre.