Newbridge ride

I wanted to check out new bicycles so I hitched a lift to Newbridge with Jon and Sarah and returned by bike (no I did not buy one yet). I took the opportunity to visit some haunts on the way back, but only had my hTC so the pictures are not very good quality. My hTC Desire did record the following track, however. The locations include some of those mentioned in my post Enchanted.

Track created by Oruxmaps, viewed in Google Earth

Location A: Rosetown Rath

Having mentioned this enchanted place in a previous post I thought I would check it out, so I climbed into the rath itself. It is probably private property but I figured the owner might not mind. There is a track leading into it which just ends abruptly (top photo) otherwise it is just covered in dense vegetation - not much to see.

Location B: Carnalways Cross

This is my son's 5-way (or 6-way) junction, see his comment.  The gate into the estate was open so I ventured a short way in to take the next picture. I could just see the big house but it is hard to locate in the picture.  And the next picture is the church.

Harristown House is just left of the trees

Location C: Railway bridge over Liffey

I've been meaning to check this one out for some while. On Google Earth it was clear that a bridge still exists but I was not ready for such a substantial stone bridge in such good repair! The line apparently ran from Naas to Tullow and the track was taken up 1962 - not so very long ago! So sad that the track has not been converted to a trail or, even better, a bicycle track.

Naas - Tullow railway crossing over Liffey

The apertures are at an angle - not 90 degrees

Room for a single track only

Smaller bridge just north of the river

Extract of 25" map courtesy OSI
(dated around the turn of the century)

Location D: Stoneybrook

Stoneybrook church

Inside the church

The setting - on a mound?

Stoneybrook cottage

Location E: By the Liffey

The road here runs along what is probably a terminal moraine - there was a sand pit on the left: when it was filled in they filled in this ruined cottage too. The river runs some fifty feet below on the right.

The river Liffey is below and out of sight

The covered cottage and my trusty steed

And so, home again and rather cold  - so a hot bath and a hot mug of tea.

Statistics: 

Bike computer

14.52 miles, 27mph max, 12.1 mph avg
1:12:15

Oruxmaps track
273m max height
16.3 miles (some was walking / running)
01:59 duration
9.8mph avg (moving)

An ancient recipe

I invented this recipe in my early childhood. It is one of my better inventions. Are you ready to be amazed?

The most important ingredient

The second ingredient, a rectangular trifle sponge

You will need a sharp knife to...

cut a thin lid off the sponge

and a sharp spoon

to excavate a large void in the thicker, lower part -
the more material you can remove, the better.

Here's one I did earlier

Reverently consider the Golden Syrup

Fill the spoon to overflowing with this wonderful
 substance and pour carefully into the void

This picture is self explanatory

The first spoonful is almost done

But wait, more is required...

Spoon-full number two

We want the filling to be generous

Too much, and it gets hard to eat

Make sure you leave enough on the spoon which
can now be consumed as a foretaste

Ready for final assembly. Observant readers will
notice the waste material - this can be eaten
but I suggest you bin it

Pop the top on and, hey presto, bon apetite

The proof of the pudding

is in the eating

It does not disappoint

Soon there will be only memories, but good ones

So now you have it. You can make your own - it really is not that difficult. Those of my readers in the USA please note that corn syrup will simply not do as a substitute for Lyle's Golden Syrup. There is absolutely no comparison. For variations on the recipe, try smothering with clotted cream. Another variation is to omit the trifle sponge. This will reduce cost without affecting the taste overmuch. Enjoy!

Christmas Day

Sarah's indomitable mincemeat pies

Brunch at 1015 at my daughter's so my constitutional run had to be before this. I ran along what we call Goat man's lane via Johnstown, turning right onto the Wicklow Gap to Holywood road, up over the hill, then right again, over a fence into and returning via Holywood woods, then joining the Tulfarris loop, making a detour down to the lake to wash the mud off the dog. These Irish back roads are a bit hard under barefoot: the forest tracks are surprisingly easier going.

11 miles

Christmas is all about eating and we did all of that. What better than mincemeat pies and ginger wine? Christmas is all about family: apart from my older daughter mine has been cast to the uttermost parts of the world. The rest of the community is almost family, but I still felt a bit isolated without Ali.

Messy Church

Staying with my sister I got my first experience of messy church. It is a kind of modern-day Sunday school but involved the parents as well. It was a tightly organised two hours of games, songs, a skit and a short talk followed by a full Christmas meal, with about 80 people who would not normally come to church. No charge is made. That's quite a challenge for an older congregation of about 30 to pull off! There was no evangelistic "pressure", just a reaching out in love to those in the neighbourhood. I liked it.

How did they cater for so many (those in the church ate afterwards from the more than adequate "12 baskets" left over)? The kitchen has a commercial style cooker (6 rings) and dish washer but no other special equipment. The kitchen team was headed by a woman who needs a wheelchair most of the time and her energetic husband: this couple have an extended family to look after too - and yet the food was excellent - amazing! Cool wall murals too.

The Hobbit

The Hobbit

This evening I enjoyed The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in 3D HFR. But it did not completely satisfy.

Previously I had heard a review which said it was too life like, kinda like I have heard Mars bars criticised for being too sweet. My problem was that it was not lifelike enough. Partly because it is sheer fantasy in which the goodies are laughingly nigh impregnable. I do not think Tolkien meant the book to be funny. Partly because the medium, albeit cutting edge 3D, 48 frames per second with amazing special effects, is nowhere near as good as what I see with my eyes every day of my life.

This is the second 3D film I have seen. After due consideration I have to say that enjoyed the first, Cameron's fantastic Avatar, somewhat more. Because I could seriously imagine being there and could identify with the hero. Because it heralded a new age of 3D realism just as 2001 A Space Odyssey was a first of its kind in epic Sci-Fi and therefore it will go down as a place saver in history.

Barefoot Shooters Hill

New Eltham to Woolwich run

My sister lives in Green Lane, New Eltham. I had planned to reach Shooters Hill from here via Avery Hill park, but once there I figured that the Thames was not that far away so...

There are so many green areas in London - with good planning you might manage grass most of the time. My route followed parts of the Green Chain Walk but as it was not well signposted I lost it from time to time.

Nice to reach the river, run along to the Woolwich free ferry and watch a crossing before turning back. There is such a wonderful feeling of freedom in locomotion without dependence on any mechanical aid. To pass through the Royal Arsenal Gatehouse market like a spirit, evoking strange looks from stall keepers. Most Londoners look the other way if you try to catch their gaze but one guy remarked "lost your shoes?".  And what more euphoric feeling than descending from Shooters Hill through the wet grass of Oxleas Meadow?

Statistics: distance 20km (12.6 miles), maximum elevation 128m, minimum elevation 2m.

From Shooters Hill looking North

Looking West from where I met the river

Strange metal men at Royal Arsenal

Human cast

Woolwich Free Ferry

Royal Arsenal Gatehouse Market

The water tower on Shooters Hill

Looking South over Oxleas Meadow from Shooters Hill