It hasn’t been a terribly action-packed week – no events were hosted or attended. We had a short, sharp, torrential downpour after almost a month of drought – the garden is thankful!
We’ve been – as per usual – doing lots of walking, but we’ve also been gearing up (see what I did there?) for the cycling. That is to say, we’ve been watching it… not physically doing it!
Walking
This week, I stumbled across the official OS benchmark online archive. I was surprised to see how many of them there are to be found in a little Welsh village like the one where we live!
…benchmarks were fixed points which were used to calculate a height above the mean sea level. Benchmarks have been around for a long time, much longer than our trig pillars. While the first systematic network of levelling lines and associated benchmarks was initiated in 1840, some benchmarks in our archive date back to 1831.
There were over 500,000 benchmarks created, but this number is reducing as roads change and buildings are demolished. Ordnance Survey
Of course, I had to go out in search of them. Alas, I could only find one out of the supposed nine that I walked past! Perhaps mid-summer isn’t the best time to embark on my bench mark discovery quest. The roadsides and hedgerows are completely overgrown – I’ll try again after the winter dieback. Also, I fear that many old stone walls that the bench marks have been chiselled into have collapsed or have been demolished.
More walking
StepsApp is a new (to me) walking app that I’ve been trying out on my phone. Unlike Strava, I don’t have to remember to turn it on and off again. As long as I have my phone on my person, it tracks my movements all day, not just when I’m out on a walk or hike… and the app doesn’t even need to be open to work.
I’ve set myself a goal of 10k steps per day to keep me motivated to move. On a Monday morning, it alerts me to how well I did during the previous week.
Cycling
The Tour de France starts at the beginning of next month; 3 weeks of world-class cyclists vying for the most prestigious jerseys in the sport – the white, the green, the polka dot and the yellow (the Maillot Jaune).
We got into the spirit early by watching the newly-released series, Tour de France Unchained, available on Netflix. The 8 episodes give a brilliant fly-on-the-wall insight into the various teams and riders. The ups, the downs, the friendships, the rivalries, the wins and the losses. If you’re into cycling – this series is a must.
