er?

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:15 pm

So the human race needs to co-operate to save the planet as a viable environent for advanced (if we can be called that) life.

We're all going to burn.

Practise random kindness and senseless acts of beauty. It's all we've got.

Welcome to the introduction.:-3

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:22 pm

Hello CH..................

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:26 pm

Why thank you! What a beautiful flower. I shall plant it in my garden at once, dark, rain and randy foxes notwithstanding.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:30 pm

:yh_flower

Omni_Skittles · Post by **Omni_Skittles** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:41 pm

welcome to the garden? lol that was random...

Hope6 · Post by **Hope6** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 10:49 pm

welcome, I hope you find it as interesting as I have so far.

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:38 am

Hope, Omni Skittles, Good Morning and thanks for your kind responses. Never terribly good at intros, but felt I had to say something so highlighted an issue I feel is important. Also somewhat nervous about giving out personal info when I know no-one and am new to the site.

However, with the confidence several hours' membership has given me, here's some more personal info:

Six foot tall, blue eyes. Mousy blond. I live in Kingston-upon-Thames with my wonderful half Jamaican lodger, his lovely Chilean wife and her lad aged 12. I'm 44 and sort of retired (claim no benefits), divorced and semi-single.

Every now and again I leave my house and start walking. Furthest I've got is Cornwall. Currently have the post-winter beer belly and am waiting anxiously for the weather to improve so I can walk it off. Hoping to do Tryfan, Glyder Fach and Glyder Fawr with friends in April - Welsh mountains are like Kylie Minogue: small, but perfectly formed. Because they are close to the sea you get the full value of their 1000metre height, and being on the same latitude as Labrador if you underestimate them they can kill you. Wouldn't risk them with inexperienced friends before late March at the earliest.

Wanted to find a "chat room" where the conversation could be about anything and would be international in its membership. Spend time on the BBC 606 site for my Rugby chat under the name Cowshot. We'll see how it goes.

Galbally · Post by **Galbally** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:47 am

Welcome sir, you certainly have a interesting wit, I look forward to hearing some more random observations about the topography of small northern European countries, and various people who you know through ad hoc economic relationships. :wah:

Post by **spot** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:07 am

Good God, we have the very last tramp in all England. It will be a pleasure to become acquainted with you.

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:15 am

Galbally: Good Morning to you! I suppose I could add that my Mum was from Eire and I have family in the North, one of whom pulled on the green shirt at Lansdowne Road! (No prizes for guessing my "second" team in the 6N

) Rode my motorbike round Ireland a few years back - an interesting experience for a lone Englishman with a fairly posh accent! No longer have the bike - decided I'd rather live - in fact no longer run a vehicle at all, for planetary reasons. Can just about get away with it on the edge of London.

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:20 am

Spot: I'll have you know that I wash at least once a week. Whether I need to or not.

Tramp, indeed! Grrr.

Post by **spot** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:59 am

The country needs people who stick to the old ways, that's my opinion. Maybe there should be Arts Council grants for it.

Cars are a bane and a shocking slower-up of traffic especially when parked, I'd have them banned for private use from within the city limits if it were me. I got rid of the last of mine five years back. Dreadfully antisocial devices.

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:13 am

Spot: Well done you, for giving up the car. Bit surprised though: Public Transport round here is pretty good, but outside the M25 it's not, generally speaking. Don't know where Brigstowe is...do you have a horse?

Post by **spot** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:20 am

Sorry - lots of old history to me having Bristol spelled that way on this site, to do with Bristol not really being quite in Wales. No horse, though there's a Mews out the back and the coach house is still in one piece and I can just hear the zoo when the wind's blowing from the south. Bristol buses are fine, Bristol's small enough to walk anywhere in an hour (well, except Kingswood, and who wants to go to Kingswood?), all it really needs is cars banning so there's room on the roads for the buses to get places faster. To do which they need to stop charging passengers, the driver's there to drive not to operate a till. And there need to be ten times as many.

chrisb84uk · Post by **chrisb84uk** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:32 am

Welcome to FG! :-6

Imladris · Post by **Imladris** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:37 am

Welcome to FG Clodhopper! You remind me so much of a friend who now lives in Sheffield, I can almost hear his voice!! In fact, if you lived there I would have sworn that you were him!!!

I think I'm going to like you

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:12 pm

Clodhopper;784415 wrote: Hope, Omni Skittles, Good Morning and thanks for your kind responses. Never terribly good at intros, but felt I had to say something so highlighted an issue I feel is important. Also somewhat nervous about giving out personal info when I know no-one and am new to the site.

However, with the confidence several hours' membership has given me, here's some more personal info:

Six foot tall, blue eyes. Mousy blond. I live in Kingston-upon-Thames with my wonderful half Jamaican lodger, his lovely Chilean wife and her lad aged 12. I'm 44 and sort of retired (claim no benefits), divorced and semi-single.

Every now and again I leave my house and start walking. Furthest I've got is Cornwall. Currently have the post-winter beer belly and am waiting anxiously for the weather to improve so I can walk it off. Hoping to do Tryfan, Glyder Fach and Glyder Fawr with friends in April - Welsh mountains are like Kylie Minogue: small, but perfectly formed. Because they are close to the sea you get the full value of their 1000metre height, and being on the same latitude as Labrador if you underestimate them they can kill you. Wouldn't risk them with inexperienced friends before late March at the earliest.

Wanted to find a "chat room" where the conversation could be about anything and would be international in its membership. Spend time on the BBC 606 site for my Rugby chat under the name Cowshot. We'll see how it goes.

Welcome. Head north, everybody knows it's better up there. Forget the lake district it's full of southerners complaining about kendal mint cake not being like a proper cake at all. keep going bear left at glasgow and head for the highlands. though I confess I haven't actually done any hillwalking in wales.

Kathy Ellen · Post by **Kathy Ellen** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:23 pm

Well Hello to Clodhopper:-6

You are very welcomed at the FG, and I hope you have loads of fun. You certainly sound like a little pistol there....:-6 We need some spice and spark back in the garden.

Nice that your mom is from Ireland....my family's from Donegal:-4

Along puts the welcome mat out with a nice easy, rocking chair, and it's my job to put out snacks and tuck everyone in at night. Don't mind me if I walk quietly by with my lantern...just checking up on the neighborhood.

Help yourself to some Jamesons and snacks.....

G#Gill · Post by **G#Gill** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:26 pm

Welcome to Forum Garden Clodhopper !

My mum used to say, when we were children, "Get your clodhoppers off the furniture !". Of course we knew exactly what she meant :wah:

I just wish I could walk like that, particularly as I love Scotland, and we intend to move to Skye, as soon as we've got our house sorted and sold. My sister already lives up there, and works in Portree. It is such a magical place, with so many lovely places to walk. :-6

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:40 pm

Everyone: Gosh. Will have to come back and answer individually when I can either see or have just re-read your posts.

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:18 pm

:guitarist Yaay. Found where the other messages are while I'm answering. Phew.

G#Gill: Was she a midlander, your Mum? I suspect that's where I picked up the word.

Have walked on Skye and is beautiful. You'll love it. Walked round the base of the Black Cuillins, which are special mountains because they have a very high iron content and send compasses crazy: I've walked forward 100 metres in a straight line and watched the compass needle swing through 90 degrees! If the fog comes down (which it does in moments on that Atlantic coast) and you are up on the ridge it can be very dangerous. grins. I tend to avoid the dangerous stuff.

Kathy Ellen: Hiya. Mum was brought up in Sligo, and I've ridden past Ben Bulben's sharp edge, but Donegal is one bit of Ireland I've never visited. (:o a serious omission I know) I had to scoot from the Dingle Peninsula to Ballymena to meet family and then went down the East coast like a bullet to catch the ferry from Rosslare.

gmc: Have walked a little in Scotland, mostly as a lad with my father. Didn't walk much when I was at St Andrews, but the inexperienced friends I mentioned would like to do Ben Nevis by a non standard route. I've been in Glen Nevis many years ago, but never climbed the Ben, so I'm quite keen if/when we all have our fitness up a few levels. Thinking of a route over Carn Mor Dearg I've read good things about. It's the midges the size of terriers that scare me.

Imladris: chuckle. There's not really much I can say to that! Good theatre in Sheffield. Hi there.

Chris84uk: Hiya.

spot: Your boys are looking hopeful for the Slam, but I reckon the Irish are really out to spoil your party and can't call the result. Really looking forward to the game.

Kathy Ellen · Post by **Kathy Ellen** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:30 pm

Well Clodhopper,

My friend Mary who is from Sligo told me a story that when she was younger and acting crazy that her mother always told her that if she and her brothers would not behave themselves then she will throw them "over the hills of Donegal."

byw, I loved the Great Southern Hotel in Sligo:-6

Chookie · Post by **Chookie** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:45 pm

CH, you said "Didn't walk much when I was at St Andrews," was thuis because, like most students, you lacked the interest/ability/motivation to move anywhere without the impetus given by alcohol?

St Andrews suffered myself too..............

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:40 pm

Chookie: Chuckle. I may have had a pint or two, but mostly because I was doing different things at Uni: like climbing the Castle walls after a heavy session in the pub opposite whose name I forget, arriving at the top and thinking, somewhat unsteadily, "Now I have to get DOWN again...:-3" managed it somehow. My parents were keen walkers and fortunately I enjoyed it too but by the time I arrived at St Andrews it wasn't a top priority for my time. Was heavily involved in Fencing, though. Sabre.

Was your time spent in the Union?

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 5:14 am

posted by clidhopper

gmc: Have walked a little in Scotland, mostly as a lad with my father. Didn't walk much when I was at St Andrews, but the inexperienced friends I mentioned would like to do Ben Nevis by a non standard route. I've been in Glen Nevis many years ago, but never climbed the Ben, so I'm quite keen if/when we all have our fitness up a few levels. Thinking of a route over Carn Mor Dearg I've read good things about. It's the midges the size of terriers that scare me. #

Been up it five times and have only seen the top once, on one occasion I was lucky the weather cleared enough so I could see I was out on a cornice in enough time to stop me stepping off it.

http://www.incallander.co.uk/walks/ben-nevis.htm

Haven't been up that route although I fancy doing it this year, along with the mamores. been mountain biking a lot recently.

Now the tourist route is a big footpath leading to the top, there is a visitor centre and cafes at the bottom and it's mobbed in the summer so carn mor dearg is appealing to avoid the crowd. You can always nip up the tourist path to suss out the fitness level.

Good camp site, hostel B & B etc lot more geared up for tourists than it used to be. You can spend the evening watching the mountain bikers cartwheeling off a

Midges aren't a problem away from the trees as the wind keeps them away. They are especially attracted to english people which probably won't help you at all. Alternatively staying near someone shouting, swearing and waving their arms is a good idea as they seem to attract most of them to their vicinity. Dogs lure them away from you as well. My wife is english and we have a dog so midges are a minor irritation.

Don't wear shorts or short sleeves. You can always tell the scots hillwalkers as they are the ones not in shorts even on a hot day.

Good train service to the fort.

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 5:35 am

gmc: Thank you. All useful info. I don't suffer especially badly from midges, but I have a nice, succulent Townie friend who is a midge magnet, so we'll just stake him out as bait and bring his dessicated remains back south for resuscitation.

qsducks · Post by **qsducks** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 8:32 am

You would have no problem in my neck of the woods - cabs, buses, subway, bike paths, etc. Too many cars on the road and people complain about gas prices. Ride the rails, it's cheaper! And in Philadelphia, PA you can walk all over the place especially in the center of town. There's every store you need.

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 8:59 am

Clodhopper;784261 wrote: So the human race needs to co-operate to save the planet as a viable environent for advanced (if we can be called that) life.

We're all going to burn.

Practise random kindness and senseless acts of beauty. It's all we've got.

Welcome to the introduction.:-3

I lost that somewhere.

Its still there but its covered with dust.

sunny104 · Post by **sunny104** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 9:02 am

Welcome! :-6

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 9:07 am

sunny104;787804 wrote: Welcome! :-6

Hi Sunshine !!!

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 3:25 am

qsducks: Don't really know much about him, but old Mr Penn sounds an interesting chap. Thanks for the welcome.

sunny104: Hello. :-6

Nomad: I read your post forward, then backward, and then I stood on my head and read it upside down, but I still couldn't work out what you meant.

I am a bear of very little brain. Hello.

Chezzie · Post by **Chezzie** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 4:26 am

Good Morning Clods and welcome to the Garden

Boy, you sound like a breathe of minty fresh air with a whiff of hops lol

I live in North Wales Clods and so understand completely your love of our fantastic hills and scenery....

We went to Pembrokshire and Fishguard last year and the views were breathtaking... One thing id like to do this year with my kids is take a walk up Snowdon, not done it in a long while...

We live about 6-8 miles from Moel Famau and Moel Arthur which is a lovely hill and country park.

Have fun in the garden Clods:-6:-6:-6

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 8:18 am

Hi Chezzie,

Always had a soft spot for Snowdonia, and indeed Y Wyddfa :-4. If I may, though, I'd suggest Cader is a better mountain for kids. The tourist routes up Snowdon tend to be a bit crowded in summer and are a bit of a slog. I went over Crib Goch last time, and even that was a bit of a procession.

Both mountains have excellent cliffs if the kids start misbehaving, though!

Chookie · Post by **Chookie** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 2:32 pm

Clodhopper;785158 wrote: Was your time spent in the Union?

Not really, mostly I infested the the one across from the Hope Street Kirk (less theologians or "Black craws" as we nativish persons called them).

I fenced a bit after I left but wasn't much good.

My son, on the other hand is a Scottish Internationalist in both Foil and Epee.

Clodhopper · Post by **Clodhopper** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 6:23 am

Chookie: Good for him. I got onto the edges of that sort of thing, but lack the killer instinct when it really comes down to it.