Conferencing Cardiff

This year's ARA conference actually came to Wales' capital city - although didn't get out of the hotel much - saw more of the Cardiff Hilton than Cardiff itself!



Did cross the road for the Welcome Reception which we hosted in one of the National Museum Cardiff galleries (not so much free drink, but some very fancy canapes, and beautiful surroundings).

Conference itself was very good - some really excellent speakers this year.  Good to catch up with old friends, and the gala night ceilidh was great fun.


It was a long journey home though - as we were away for three nights, we'd travelled by train (5 hours + as opposed to the 3 hour car journey) - and after three days of conference was more than glad to get back to Aber.

Marrow Mountain

The courgettes got a little out of hand again this year - we were well into marrow territory by the time this little lot got picked:

Over the course of three days made: marrow curd (better than it sounds, bit like lemon curd but with a slightly more 'grainy' texture); marrow and potato soup; ratatouille; marrow and pesto soup; and marrow pickle - still had some left mind you!

On My Bike . . .

Finally took the plunge and ordered myself an electric bike the other day - had been thinking about it for a while - the idea being that it would give me sufficient extra oomph to halfway keep up with Martin on the hills.

My new 'Batribike Diamond' turned up in a box (some assembly required - luckily Martin knows his bikes).  Took it on a test ride and it certainly helped me keep going up the hills (still have to keep pedalling).



Couple of minor issues - the rim tape on the inside of the wheels wasn't up to the job, and the first few times I went out kept getting spoke punctures on the back wheel (which is a real pain on an electric bike - not easy to remove the wheel to change the inner tube).


A reel of electricians tape later and the problem appears to have been solved - which means I'll have to get on my bike from now on . . .

Harvest by Night

This summer, instead of the usual cows, we've had some kind of crop growing in the field next door - and tonight was harvest time:

The local farmers have certainly been busy over the last few days, getting in the harvest while the weather is good, but it was particularly fascinating to watch the machines working away in the dark (although they did have some very good lights on board!).

Bird-Cam Highlights . . .

The last few months have captured some interesting fly-bys - how many can you identify?

On the Boardwalk

Sunny August afternoon and Martin took himself out to Ynys-hir (via the back roads) on his bike, while I followed in the car (with bike rack) a little later. Met him in the car park as planned (despite some dodgy tracks, and a close encounter with a farm dog), and we headed out for a walk round the 'boardwalk' trail.




Lovely walk, with some interesting sculptures dotted around the landscape, including the dragonfly above, and this larger than life snake in the grass . . .  much more to see, but time was getting on.  Want to come back soon to get out to the more remote hides.

Summer Sunshine

June started sunny, and the temperature finally began to pick up as well - the rest of the month was a little more mixed mind you:

July saw the sunshine return (although we missed some of the best of it, while away in Norway) - on the whole though a great improvement on 2012 at least!