Walkers' Crossword

Posted by Rosie Perham in the Bury St Edmunds Ramblers Facebook group..

"Sorry I’m unable to go out and about, so cannot contribute in that way, but thought all the crossworders (cruciverbalists?!) amongst you might like to have a go at this one which I compiled for a local LDWA group magazine a few years ago."

Not too difficult, I was down to my last 2 clues in about 4 1/2 minutes, but my last one in, 11A took a while to come.

Still to come...

I placed an order for this today....

"CopperGarden®" still "essence plus" – column still 2 liters

   This copper column still with a 2 litre boiler distinguishes itself especially by its versatility. You can use this still with or without the column. Due to the stand which is fitted to the still  you can easily tilt the still sideways with a quick movement of the hand. That is very practical for emptying and cleaning – but also when you want to use the still as an alembic without the column, you can quickly swivel the column sideways. The head fits on the column of the CopperGarden® stills – and on the boilers. A distinctive feature which makes this still an extremely versatile model.  
   The still consists of the approx. 2 liter capacity, high-quality hard soldered boiler, and the top-mounted column with a further 2 liter volume. In addition, there is the elaborately, exactly fitted, hand-forged head, and the two-part screwable lyne arm and swan neck, as well as the generously sized worm condenser with cool water intake and drain. The stand, which is mounted on the boiler, is made of black lacquered wrought iron, and serves to hold the column tightly to the boiler during distillation.
 Examples for use:
      1. If you fill the column with fermented pomace and then fill the boiler with water, you can obtain an excellent grappa.
      2. Or you can fill the boiler with water and the column with plants of your choice - the result is an aroma oil extracted gently by steam distillation.
      3. You can also ferment with turbo yeast and fill the mash into the boiler. If you then fill the column with stainless steel or glass beads you can increase the vapour pressure as you want and refine your distillate. By using this method you obtain a high percentage neutral alcohol.
     4. If you fill the alcohol into the boiler again and fill the column with, for example, raspberries you will acquire an excellent raspberry-flavored spirit. Juniper plus some other spices gives a strong gin, from anise you can get ouzo, etc. There are no limits on your imagination, just give it a try – there are many aromas and mixtures to discover …
There are thousands of possibilities - whatever makes you happy! This still is our recommendation for all serious hobby users.

Sounds good! I look forward to it arriving. [Update 2 Apr: It's on its way!].

Beer Jigsaw

I got this as a Christmas present from Laura. We started it last night and I got a bit of a surprise when I came down to the kitchen this morning...

Dawn and Sarah had finished it off overnight! Now how many of those beers have I tasted? At least half of them, I think.

Oatmeal Stout Brewing

Don't know when we'll be able to go the pub again. So time to make some more beer. I got given a Beautiful Brews kit for Oatmeal Stout for Christmas. This is what it should turn out like...

"This is a smooth, rich, creamy Oatmeal Stout with a dark, complex character but a very smooth and slightly dry roast coffee flavour finish. Strength is around 6% abv. Makes 1 Gallon (4.5 Liter)."

I will, of course, need to empty a few bottles before this needs bottling, but that shouldn't be a problem. Here is my penultimate bottle of my Diablo beer from last May opened for lunch today. Everyone else wanted some too!

I wish I had more than just one bottle left - it was very tasty.

So here is the brewing process in action...

The box...

...contained a package of the grains, hops, sanitiser and brewing yeast.

You can see the mix of barley malts and oats in the pack.

Here is my mash.

It was kept warm with a towel for an hour...

...before "Mashing out".

The mash is sieved to create the wort, which is then passed through the grain a couple of times before washing through with the sparging water.

My wort was impressively dark.

The grain after sparging.

My wort is now ready for the boil after the addition of the hops.

And here it is the fermenter, where it will stay to ferment for the next 2 weeks.

So far so good! And the kitchen smells like a brewery.

Great Barton Walk

The weather was still nice and sunny, but the wind was cold. I only went 1/4 mile before I decided to return home and get my coat - it was too cold for just a T-shirt in that wind.

I took a map with me today as I would be walking a couple of paths I hadn't walked before. This was my route.

Here are a few photos.

Today after the Cattishall crossing at the end I turned left rather than right towards the church.

Unlike our Christmas walk in 2018,  I carried on north past Barton Stud.

This path between fields was rather nice, but it was a bit exposed and the wind was too strong for my hat to stay on.

I had a view of Timworth Church in the distance.

After a stretch along the verge of the B1106, I reached Great Barton.

There are some lovely houses in the village.

I thought this sign was funny.

The cottage at the end of the path through the village has some magnolia flowers about to come out.

Across the road, at the end of Church Lane, were some nice daffodils...

...and these pretty little flowers.

The sun was getting low as I headed back to the railway crossing...

...where I let a family of 4 on bikes cross in front of me.

Well that was a decent walk in the sun of just over 8 miles, although there was maybe a bit too much road walking, and I was home in good time to cook the evening meal again.

You can see more of my photos here on Flickr and more details of my route here on MapMyWalk.

QC Blogging Day

Times Quick Cryptic No 1579 by Hurley

I took quite a bit longer than usual to complete this QC finishing in just under 7 minutes, but we've had quite a few head-scratchers already over the last 2 weeks, haven't we?  I had a few hold-ups with this, such as failing for ages to see the answer to the anagram at 3D, remembering the word for the hairstyle at 14D, and bunging in the wrong answer at first for 20A. But there are plenty of straightforward clues to get you going, making this a fair challenge, I think. I liked the pun at 1A, the 4-part charade at 17A, the misdirection at 4D and, especially,  the topical instructions on how to do our enforced home-schooling at 17A and 17D. Thank-you Hurley. Lovely job, as they say round here. How did everyone else get on?

( Read all about it... )

P.S.  Clue of the week for me is from yesterday's Times Cryptic:

A second gathering assembled unethically(8)

Answer: AMORALLY.


Individual walk for me again later.

Great Barton Church and Thurston Walk

Son now we are restricted to walking from home. Not to worry. There are lots of nice walks around here. Today I chose to go across the Cattishall railway crossing and up to Great Barton Church then along to Thurston via Green Lane, around the edge of the village and back via the monstrous footbridge over the railway.

This was my route.

My tracker misbehaved slightly in the last mile or so, but the route is obvious enough.

It was another sunny day and there were lots of people out walking, cycling and running. Here are a few of my photos.

After I crossed the railway, I was surprised by the number of people on the path walking and cycling.

But I'd left them all behind by the time I got to Great Barton Church.

As you can see, it was walking in the late afternoon again, but I had had to clean the house first while Dawn had her rota day at school supervising the 6 children who were in.... not many. [The last Ofsted report in 2018 said there were 1737 pupils on the school roll.]

As I continued along the green lane, I passed the mysterious footpath sign that points at a hedge that we had noticed last February (see here).

I had a look the other side of the hedge. Not much sign of a footpath here!

I found some cowslips fully open. Very pretty.

By Shinham Bridge cottages..

...the aubretia is cascading along the verge.

I didn't actually go into Thurston, but skirted the edge.

Then it was back home via the railway footbridge and cycle path. So many runners and bike riders! I kept my distance feeling nervous about the runners panting as they passed. I'm going to have to find quieter paths if I'm going to avoid everyone completely.
 
You can see more of my photos here on Flickr and more details of my route here on MapMyWalk.

Where was I today?

Just a short walk today and no route to show. So I will just include a couple of photos. See if you can guess where I was.

If you want to know the answer and see a few more photos, see my album here on Flickr.

Rushbrooke and Nowton Walk

It was a lovely sunny afternoon. Time for an individual walk. I decided I would head for the underpass under the A14 and then onwards to Nowton Park via Rushbrooke.

This was my route. I saw one or two family groups out, but I hardly met anyone and managed to keep a safe distance from everyone I passed.

Here are a few photos from along the way.

I found these plants at the roadside. They doesn't look like they belong. A reverse image search suggests they might be Crown Imperial Fritillaries. Anyone know any better?

This tree blossom was by a house in Elderstub Lane.

Rushbrooke Church...

..has a lovely willow tree next to it.

Some trees are still bare.

The cottages in Rushbrooke village.

As I headed for Nowton I passed under the old railway line here.

Alas, the daffodils are beginning to fade.

But these white ones at the far end of the car park are still looking good.

It was after 5 now, so rush hour. What rush hour?

The A14 roundabout by Sainsbury's.

One last bit of cheerfulness as I headed home. These muscari are lovely.

In all I did about 9 1/2 miles and was back in good time to cook the tea.

See more details of my walk here on MapMyWalk and more of my photos here Flickr.