Into Damp Air – Part 1

I’ve always loved Snowdonia and I’ve been meaning to share this beautiful region with my friends for a long time. After a couple of false starts, we finally set a date; on the 24th of September, we would climb Snowdon.

The journey to North Wales was an adventure in itself. The A14 always seems to choose Friday afternoons to throw Cambridgeshire’s roads into total chaos, and the 23rd was no exception. A lorry accident had left oil on the road and a section of the A14 was closed indefinitely. Our route of choice was now impassable and our back-up road quickly ground to a halt as it filled up with A14 evacuees.

We spent the rest of the afternoon consulting various maps and travel bulletins, slowly traversing the county until we finally made it to the A1 at Buckden. Along the way we enjoyed some good (and not so good) radio stations and even bumped into one of the other Snowdonia-bound cars in the middle of nowhere.

We arrived at the Cwellyn Arms at almost 10pm. This pub owned the bunkhouse where we would be staying during our adventure, and the staff we kind enough to serve us a hot and tasty dinner well after the kitchen would usually be closed.

Once we were full, most of us found our way to the bunkhouse and settled into our bunkbeds for a good night’s sleep. A few sturdy souls stayed behind at the pub to greet the final carload of adventurers (and sample a bit more of the real ale). We were all determined to sleep as well as we could, knowing that the next day was going to be long and challenging…

SmukFest: My New Favourite Festival

We’ve been back for over a week, but we’ve been so busy with unpacking, tidying, washing and generally enjoying not living in a tent that I’m only just getting round to writing about my experience at SmukFest, Denmark’s most beautiful festival, also known as Skanderborg Festival.

My previous experiences of festivals is quite limited to say the least; Roskilde 2010 was my first ever festival and it was a bit of a baptism of fire – 100,000 people, mostly teenagers, packed into litter strewn and urine-soaked campsites – yuck! Roskilde’s saving grace was an excellent line up including Muse and Prince. I think I would only go back if someone really amazing was playing, and I’d definitely never camp there again.

By contrast, SmukFest was a breath of fresh air; 50,000 people of a full range of ages from tiny babies through to people in their 60s. The festival itself took place inside a gorgeous beech forest that had been transformed with fun bars, tasty food stalls and four distinct stages. The camping area was comparitively clean and we had easy access to loos and showers (once we’d traipsed through the muddy bog that surrounded our tent – the weather wasn’t always beautiful).

The music at Skanderborg was great, but I was equally impressed by the friendliness of our fellow festival-goers. Spend a couple of minutes in one area and it wouldn’t be long before someone would strike up a conversation; I really felt comfortable around these people, and I don’t often feel at home in large crowds.

So, the music… We were thoroughly entertained from the Wednesday through to Sunday night, but some acts really stood out. They were Skunk Anansie, Savage Rose, Bernhoft and Tom Jones.

When Skunk Anansie were first on the scene I was too young to go to any of their gigs, so I was very pleased when I heard they’d be playing at SmukFest. They definitely didn’t disappoint; Skin doesn’t appear to have aged a day since the late 90s and she still has that frightening energy that saw her leaping into the crowd and indulging in plenty of crowd surfing. Their set was electric and you could tell they were really enjoying themselves.

Savage Rose were led by their passionate leading lady who danced her way through an energetic and cmotional set. When I first heard their music I had no idea that this was a group who had been around for so long, and I certainly wasn’t expecting Annisette to be as old as she is – she definitely acts much younger on stage.

Discovering Bernhoft was a real stroke of luck, as we only headed towards his stage to pass a bit of time before our lunch. We arrived just before his set began while the stage wasn’t too crowded; by the end of the set the whole area was packed. No wonder really, seeing as his performance was brilliant – incredible music and loads of crowd interaction. His recorded music is great, but to get a real taste for him you have to see him live or at least watch one of his YouTube videos. Hopefully we’ll be able to see him in Denmark in November.

Tom Jones was the last act we saw at the festival, and he is still a fantastic performer. From his patter with the crowd, to his cheeky dance moves, to his still-powerful voice, he kept the huge crowd entertained in spite of the downpour. We were right at the front of the crowd and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

I might take a year off from festivals in 2012 to let my poor feet dry out, but I would love to go back to SmukFest and I’ll keep a close eye on future line ups.

Shredded Feat

Now that the house is tidy (well, a bit tidier), I’ve been focusing on tidying myself up. I’ve never been overweight, but I could definitely do with sharpening some of my soft edges. I’ve been dabbling with Davina McCall DVDs for a while and they’re good fun, but they aren’t particularly intensive, especially not after you’ve done them a few times. I was looking for the next challenge, something that would really stretch me and get results.

I don’t know if you’ve heard of Jillian Michaels, I hadn’t before I searched for a new workout DVD on Amazon. Jillian is the trainer from America’s Biggest loser and she is pretty scary- just what I was looking for. I chose ’30-day Shred’ as my new DVD, hoping that I would be committed enough to workout every day for 30 days without wimping out or finding an excuse not to do it.

The workout has 3 levels of difficulty; you start at level 1, do that routine daily for 10 days and then move onto level 2, through to level 3. The system is designed to gradually build up strength and stamina, but the routines are only 20 minutes long and you really are pushed to exhaustion at every level. My first level 1 routine left me very red in the face with aching legs and heavy arms.

One of my favourite aspects of the 30-day Shred is how it works a lot of different muscle groups, so that toning is balanced all over the body. I feel like I am slowly but surely getting stronger and I can already feel and see a noticeable difference in my legs and arms. I’m hoping that my tummy, back and shoulders will catch up soon!

I’m two days into level 2 and I’m pleasantly surprised with myself for getting this far. My next challenge is to keep this up while I’m on holiday. Hopefully I’ll be able to find a quiet spot at SmukFest to workout without looking too silly – there had better be nice hot showers…

From Cleaning to Dreaming

Recently I wrote about getting into Chore Wars with my partner, and it’s going pretty well. The first couple of weeks were a bit one-sided, but now I find myself racing him to complete mundane tasks like emptying the bin and washing the dishes. He’s beaten me to a few ‘adventures’ this week and it was driving me mad until I realised that this is exactly what I was hoping for – an equal share of the housework! We’ll see if we can keep it going in the long-term.

In the meantime, I’ve been thinking about the wider implications of applying XP to real-world tasks. There are so many things that I mean to do in my day-to-day life that I wimp out of due to laziness or worries; things like doing a work out, going dancing or writing this blog. I always make excuses for myself to make it seem like I’m doing the right thing, instead of just admitting that I’m letting myself down.

So how do I remedy this character trait? Maybe I just need an extra push to motivate myself, so why not try making it into a game? I’m thinking about making some new Chore Wars adventures for myself, with a brand new character – me. When I complete an adventure, I won’t just be gaining XP, I’ll be gaining valuable life experience, exercise and fun. Now all I have to do is get myself motivated enough to set it up.

The Cleaning Adventure

I’ve recently been reading ‘Reality is Broken‘ by renowned game developer, Jane McGonigal. The book discusses how games can be used to make a difference to our real lives.

One example that Jane describes is Chore Wars. This simple game has been around for a couple of years now and its basic premise is to transform cleaning your home into an RPG adventure, with XP rewards, character classes and enemies to fight as you battle your way through the hoovering and dusting.

Now, I’m a little bit lazy when it comes to housework and I’m intrigued by any sort of incentive that might make cleaning more rewarding and even fun. Chore Wars comes with a great feature – competition. When it comes to my personality traits, my laziness – sizeable though it may be – is dwarfed by my competitive nature. Chore Wars has the potential to turn my grumpiness at feeling like I do more than my fair share of the housework into triumph at being a more successful chore warrior than my other half.

The tricky part is triggering my partner’s competitive nature. Will he be inspired to clean the kitchen for XP and glory? Ask me again in a couple of weeks…

Frustrations of a Foot Passenger

I love to travel and I want to make the most of any free weekends that occasionally come up. Unfortunately, when it comes to travelling to France or Belgium I’m starting to feel like a second-class citizen. Why? I don’t have a car.

In this wonderful age of Eurostar and cheap flights, you’d think that being without a car wouldn’t be an issue, but every time I look into a weekend trip to somewhere like Lille or Bruges I am disappointed.

Unless you book pretty far in advance, the Eurostar is expensive and I’m just not organised enough to book short breaks two or three months before I want to travel. Flying is also out of the question, because Stansted doesn’t offer any useful or affordable flights to Brussels. Coaches are extremely slow and arrive/depart at times that don’t appear to be convenient for anyone, especially not their poor drivers.

So how about a good old ferry? Since the sad demise of Hoverspeed and Seafrance no longer accepting foot passengers (cyclists get very cheap tickets though!), P&O have had a monopoly on foot passenger travel between Dover and Calais. They reflect this with high prices – close to £120 return for two people, even though cars with up to 9 passengers can travel for about £70 return. P&O also offer ferries from Hull to Zeebrugge, but they involve cabins, extra charges for meals and very slow journey times. They’re also pricy, at around £260 return for two people.

It’s very frustrating. All I want is a fun weekend in a city I love, is that really too much to ask?

It looks like I have two options: 1. cycle to France and 2. be more organised…

Does anyone have any snazzy cycling shorts I could borrow?