Fifteen years ago I regularly visited Mersea Island with my eldest son while taking the RYA Yachmaster course. Our teacher was Jim McNaughton of the Mersea Island Yacht Club. I don’t think Jim liked us. He passed us grudgingly, certainly making us work harder than his Mersea Island chums in class.

I think my Master Mariner qualifications were testing for him. The “rights of way” subject was a tricky discussion! But I liked him and I still hold fond memories of his anecdotes.

My father lived on Mersea Island for a short time during WW2. His mother worked in a Colchester department store and cycled each day. That’s an impressive 20 mile round trip and with a full days work in-between. It must have been a trek, especially in the winter setting off in the dark and not getting home before dark too. With no lights avoiding ditches and the Strood itself must have been tricky. Still, I remember my Granny always had a smile and was a plucky woman who never complained.

This is a 12 mile walk that can get muddy in parts, especially along the bank of the Strood, therefore take care if it has rained. Ample pubs, clubs and cafés so no need to pack a lunch.

I changed route avoiding the busy roads by turning right instead of left on the B1025 (at the end of the Strood section) and then using the public footpaths to cut through to Blue Row.

mersea route 1024x460 Mersea Island, Essex, Circular Walk

Mersea Island Route

Distance: 12 Miles
Elevation Range: 0 to 70 feet
Weather Check: Colchester, Essex
Map: Click here and once loaded select “Leisure” map
Route Card: Mersea Island, Essex, Circular Walk
Download the Walkers Route Card Template for Word 2010
Local Website: www.mersea-island.com

 

SDC13330 150x150 Southwold Reydon Sandlings Walk Figure of Eight Circular WalkSouthwold Pier has a performing water-clock, a café, tourist shops, slot machines and a room full of peculiar machinery such as a rent-a-dog walking machine.

From the Pier I walked south and turned into Ferry Road and along and unmade road beside the Blyth where you can get boat trips, fish and chips, and shell-fish.

The countryside is not thrilling and still slippery and muddy from the rain a few days ago. The town and seaside make up for it and there are plenty of pubs and café’s around, each a convenient stumbling distance from each other.

Southwold reminds me of Fowey in Cornwall. Anyone who has visited both will wonder how I come to that conclusion. Fowey is on a steep hill and Southwold, apart from a mini cliff is flat, Fowey has no beaches (apart from Readymoney cove but that doesn’t count) and Southwold has them everywhere, Fowey’s nearest lighthouse, Gribben Head, is several miles away and Southwold has one parked in the heart of the town, the differences go on.

The similarity is the atmosphere. Friendly people, the sound of gulls and the smell of fish. They are both insular too, the only people who visit them come because they want to, and that’s why I think they are similar.

route25 Southwold Reydon Sandlings Walk Figure of Eight Circular Walk

Distance: 8½ Miles
Elevation Range: 0 to 50 feet
Weather Check: Southwold, Suffolk
Map: Click here and once loaded select “Leisure” map
Route Card: Southwold Reydon Sandlings Walk Figure-of-Eight Circular Walk Route Card
Download the Walkers Route Card Template for Word 2010
Local Website: http://www.southwoldpier.co.uk/

 

SDC13243 300x225 The difference between walking north easterly and a south westerly windThis picture shows a confusing environment. I was walking North Easterly with the sun on my back when to the right of me I saw these trees. My mind played tricks as I considered the wind that caused them to lean.

The sun reveals the true direction, yet a group of trees leaning in the same direction suggests they point north-east.

I lost touch with reality as I considered south-westerly wind and walking north-easterly. How could they possibly be referring to the same direction?

Then it occurred to me direction the trees leaned was irrelevant and probably the result of a local anomaly. You can see to the left a small bank, part of a disused railway, perhaps that causes the wind to switch direction.

English language and Grammar
I realised I was confusing an adjective with a noun. I was walking in a north-easterly direction and south-westerly wind blows from the south-west.

The confusion caused by the English language, not navigation. Now all I have to do is figure out where to use capitals.

 

Clare is a small Suffolk town that continues to support local shops which makes it a practical visit as well as pleasant. Parking was free on my visit but suspect this may change as the tourist season begins and for this reason being a walker or hiker will stand you in good stead as there is plenty of free out-of-town parking within easy walking distance.

Having been wet recently mud was a regular feature and as a result a stick was useful for testing depth and sharing weight along muddy banks. Coppice trees and loose sticks along the route provide the necessary equipment so do not worry if you do not own professional equipment (I do not carry a stick, I carry enough extra weight already).

As you can see from the map if you park in Stoke By Clare you can easily split this walk in two. If 12 miles is too much then just do half. I parked outside the Lion Pub which made a good place for lunch.

clare castle walk map 1024x619 Circular walk from Stoke by Clare, Clare Castle, through Ovington and Boyton End

Distance: 12½ Miles
Elevation Range: 138 to 278 feet
Weather Check: Clare, Suffolk
Map: Click here and once loaded select “Leisure” map
Route Card: Circular walk from Stoke-by-Clare, Clare Castle, through Ovington and Boyton End
Local Website: www.clare-uk.com
Download the Walkers Route Card Template for Word 2010

 

I would not like to have been in Eye Castle during a siege. Better to be the besiegers than the besieged. If they refused to surrender a fire built around the base would soon persuade the inhabitants to open the gates. Not a 13th century planning success, although emptying the bins couldn’t be easier.

eye castle 50 Medium 1024x555 A circular walk around Eye Castle to Yaxley, Thornham Parva and Occold, Suffolk

If you are a chicken or bantam fancier then enjoy this short video as it shows a few clips of chickens (I can’t believe I am writing this). The first a handful of “Kentucky Fried”, the next a bunch of bantams hanging out with a goose and finally a fun parade of vulpine entertainment.

Get the Flash Player to see this content.

Distance: 10½ Miles
Elevation Range: 85 to 182 feet
Weather Check: Eye, Suffolk
Map: Click here and once loaded select “Leisure” map
Route Card: Eye Castle to Yaxley, Thornham Parva and Occold, Suffolk Circular Walk
Download the Walkers Route Card Template for Word 2010

 

There is a small free car park beside Station Farm at the beginning of the walk. The disused railway makes firm footing in the wet but if you follow this route when wet be ready for log-hopping along the way. The northern part of the walk is the most likely to bog down but at least at that point in the walk there is easy access to alternative routes on roads.

raydon1 1024x497 Raydon Railway Great Woodlands Circular Walk

Distance: 7½ Miles
Elevation Range: 60 to 120 feet
Weather Check: Hadleigh, Suffolk
Map: Click here and once loaded select “Leisure” map
Route Card: Raydon Railway Great Woodlands Circular Walk
Download the Walkers Route Card Template for Word 2010

 

I recently changed the layout and the column resize effected the display of images and Picasa galleries. To overcome these issues I used the MySQL REPLACE command which made changing embedded HTML a breeze.

If you do not know how to run SQL statements against your database it is probably better that you do not try this as it may lead to serious damage to your blog, it may even destroy all your work so take care.

Start by taking a full backup of your database. Then take a copy of the wp_posts table so should disaster happen recovery will be simple and fast.

UPDATE wp_posts
SET post_content =
REPLACE(
	post_content,
	'width="800" height="533"',	
	'width="650" height="432"'
)

In the above example I wanted to replace all entries with a width of 800, height of 533 with 650 and 432 respectively. The entire database updates when this SQL statement runs. As a precaution consider making another copy of the table to test the SQL statement first.

 

12.9° C by mid morning, if it wasn’t for bare trees it would be difficult to distinguish from an early summer morning. This walk took me from Foxhall to Nacton, directly past my sons old School Orwell Park and to the river bank shoreline in Nacton, a popular place with walkers, runners and twitchers. Nacton shoreline is the River Orwellian equivalent of Piccadilly Circus on bank holidays, not even the mud was keeping people from enjoying the mild weather.


More photos

If you don’t like walking in mud then avoid this walk when wet. Even dry hot sunny days there will be muddy areas around the creeks and streams. Avoid the mud by walking on the high ground. woodnrope 300x234 Foxhall to the Nacton River Orwell Shoreline Circular WalkMy advice would be if you see the deep holes created by cattle full of water then turn back and use the road for that part of the walk.

Alternatively if you are the kind of person who takes string with you on a walk you will find plenty of old wood to strap to your boots to over the tough parts.

Distance: 12 Miles
Elevation Range: 0 to 120 feet
Weather Check: Bucklesham, Suffolk
Map: Click here and once loaded select “Leisure” map
Route Card: Foxhall to the Nacton River Orwell Shoreline Circular Walk
Download the Walkers Route Card Template for Word 2010

 

winter solstice pivato Perihelion: The northern hemisphere is closer to the sun in winter

Winter Solstice Northern Hemisphere

In the early 70′s I went to Belmont School near Abinger Hammer, Surrey. Major Irwin took us for history, geography and for those of us with parents abroad took us orienteering on weekends while others went home. On one trip he explained Earth was closer to the sun during the winter solstice for the northern hemisphere.

Over the years I lost the detail in his explanation (that lesson took place more than 40 years ago) and each time we reach the winter solstice I berate myself for not looking up the facts and reacquainting myself with the magical story of how nature balances life with seasons.

Today, Tristan Gooley posted The Cloud Compass on his blog which includes a brief explanation of Perihelion (the closest point) and Aphelion (the furthest point). These words triggered the missing details from Major Irwin’s explanation so now I have something to search for in Wikipedia.

Major Irwin did not go in to detail, I was 10, but I do remember on a freezing cold morning doubting we could actually be closer to the sun than in summer. The following abridged text from Wikipedia explains Apsis.

An apsis, plural apsides, is the point of greatest or least distance of a body from one of the foci of its elliptical orbit. In modern celestial mechanics this focus is also the center of attraction, which is usually the center of mass of the system. Historically, in geocentric systems, apsides were measured from the center of the Earth.

The point of closest approach (the point at which two bodies are the closest) is called the periapsis or pericentre, peri, around, and kentron. The point of farthest excursion is called the apoapsis, apocentre or apapsis (the latter term, although etymologically more correct, is much less used). A straight line drawn through the periapsis and apoapsis is the line of apsides. This is the major axis of the ellipse, the line through the longest part of the ellipse.

 

batch render 300x195 How to batch render and stretch in Sony Vegas 11 Pro

Selecting batch render in Sony Vegas Pro

If you have prepared regions in a video which you wish to output as individual files Sony Vegas Pro has a simple script called “Batch Render” that will do the dirty work for you. However it won’t stretch to fill video for you and if this is a requirement then you need to change the script.

Research reveals Vegas Pro versions before 9 would handle stretching to avoid letterboxing too. However the default installation no longer does. This is how you do it:-

  1. Locate the script directory (usually C:\Program Files\Sony\Vegas Pro 11.0\Script Menu)
  2. Make a copy of “Batch Render.cs” and call it “Batch Render Stretch.cs”
  3. Open the new file in a text editor and find the two lines that begin “args.OutputFile =”. You will find them around line 97 and 106.
  4. Create a new line below them and add “args.StretchToFill = true;” (without the quotes (see below)
  5. Save your changes, refresh the script listing in Vegas and use the new script to render files as before but use this new script instead
  6. After your changes the code should look something like this:-

    if (RenderMode.Regions == renderMode) {
    	int regionIndex = 0;
    	foreach (Sony.Vegas.Region region in myVegas.Project.Regions) {
    		String regionFilename = String.Format("{0}[{1}]{2}",
    				filename,
    				regionIndex.ToString(),
    				renderItem.Extension);
    		RenderArgs args = new RenderArgs();
    		args.OutputFile = regionFilename;
    		args.StretchToFill = true;  // <------------ Add this line
    		args.RenderTemplate = renderItem.Template;
    		args.Start = region.Position;
    		args.Length = region.Length;
    		renders.Add(args);
    		regionIndex++;
    	}
    } else {
    	filename += renderItem.Extension;
    	RenderArgs args = new RenderArgs();
    	args.OutputFile = filename;
    	args.StretchToFill = true;  // <------------ Add this line
    	args.RenderTemplate = renderItem.Template;
    	args.UseSelection = (renderMode == RenderMode.Selection);
    	renders.Add(args);
    }

    If programming’s not your thing you can download a copy of the script ready-made by clicking here.

    If you’re interested in programming Vegas this is a good starter video:

© 2011 Martyn Walker | Software Architect | Hiker And Hacker Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha