I feel we didn't pick a traditional trail. S decided the starting point of the trail by ... checking which car park is free of charge. The first picture is our starting point. By the way, D did all the driving - from Thatcham to Wales, and all those in Wales. He also drove us to Bristol to drop me down at L's house

As soon as we arrived, my friends changed into heavy gears~ heavy duty boots, picked up poles, put on layers and even gaiters. I was like...I only had this pair of trail runners and only a down vest in my bag~ I have even forgotten to bring a backpack. All I had was a small water-proof bag with a single strap only. Turned out it served me well. S did has prepared me an empty backpack in case I needed.

English trails proved to be watery and muddy, and cold. Even at high grounds, the water was still not dried up. There were also a couple of big rains during our hike. Occasionally I found myself wading through streams and huge puddles. I felt it's colder than Switzerland in September

The wind was also very unforgiving, especially when we got higher. There was no way to hold an umbrella

The whole trail was technically not difficult. We were doing it in a comfortable pace so it was not exhausting at all. It's just that at places of long grass, I was not sure if I would step on solid ground. Very often I slowed down myself to make sure every step was ...right

Other than the capricious weather, the trail was scenery and totally worths the walk

Animals were not photogenic-they ran away from camera :( Oh, on the trail, there were signs reminding ppl to leash their dogs. In HK our concern would be dogs would bit ppl, but the signs say dogs would kill livestock. Tbh that's new to me

According to S, we've covered 10 miles on the 1st day, did a circle around Peny Fan, and eventually came back to the car park we parked the car. The last 100m was a uncharted trail. Eager to go back to the car park fast, S decided to descend a steep slope in the rain. I did gave S an unpleasant look when we went down that uncharted path, thinking he was putting my life in jeopardy. I think we got back to the car at 5ish. By the time we arrived in the Airbnb house in Wales, finished our shower and sat down in a restaurant, it's almost 9pm. S ordered lamb. D went for burgers and pizza. Don't ask me why I asked for a chicken fajita. I've missed to take a group picture of us all. Not cool~

Another highlight of the hike was the planning of an Orient Express. I and D found S has a special knack of annoying people. When we were struggling with the endless stairs, instead of giving out encouraging words "We are almost there!" like all normal human being would , S would say "We are almost half way!" There were three bedrooms in the Airbnb house we stayed in Wales and idk why S picked the one I wanted to stay in. When we chatted in the hike, we found we can handily gather a handful of people that S has pissed off (S has been helpful in supplying some names. I need to give him some credits), and follow the plot in Agatha Christie's "Murder on the Orient Express" and put S as the "victim". I think we still keep that plan alive hehe

But need to admit that without S the trip to PenyFan won't be possible at all. A no non-sense engineer, S got plan in his head, executed it efficiently, and had good control of time. I am not a fast hiker and am a slow eater, but S never rushed me, yet we still managed to have things accomplished as planned. S knows a lot of things and i feel every time I talk to him I learn something. When there was water to wade through, S did stood in the stream, boots totally in the water, and offered me hand to hold on so I didn't immerse my shoes into the water. May be I can hold off the "Oriental Express" plan for a while. D has quiet nature. He didn't speak much, but he got all the driving done and made sure also I was ok.

When we were on the road, we listened to the radio. BBC news has been covering the HK protest on daily basis already. It was not yet 16th Jun the day that the protest grew to 2M, but it's gaining momentum and growing at that moment

We saw rainbows and were blessed with good weather. S forgot his phone on the car. He dashed back to get it back. I and D were not sure about the trail so we stayed by the water and chatted a bit. We shared a bit about church mission trips. S came back in like an hour and led the team again.

Actually at the beginning the weather was not that good. It's been raining when we were on the way. But the worst proved to be a bunch of bikers. There was no sin in their presence, but they kept trying D's patience cuz he needed to avoid running in the them, look out for chance to take over. Most of the time there was a lot of waiting. When we thought we've finally parted the bikers, eventually our roads crossed again... and I and S were thinking of to prevent D from exploding.

We wanted to try a new trail but it didn't quite work out. I think we eventually were forced to take an old route back at almost the end of the hike. We met bad farmers - ok it's our bad that we've trespassed into their farm, but they could have allowed us to walk through and that would save us a lot of walking.

One reason why we were rushing is because I didn't want to arrive at L's house late. The boys did me a huge favor, driving me keeping me company to L's house in Bristol, instead of going home to rest early. My time in Wales has been well spent.

Pretty city where Wallace & Gromit was born

L opened her home to me during my stay in Bristol. I usu took half-an-hour bus ride from her home to Bristol down town to see around. On Wed and Thu, L took days off from work to walk me around in Bristol. Without her as a guide, I would not discover yummy food, appreciate Banksy's work, check out the hood close to the Clifton suspension bridge, and learn more about Bristol.

Fri was L's birthday. Days before, I gave E a heads up she needed to pen sth in my bday card to her mom. On Thu, L's mom swang by. She and I and E stayed in E's room upstairs, writing cards and wrapping bday present for L, as if L would know nothing about what's going on upstairs. The house was not sound proof and L at downstairs, apparently, picked up all our conversations.

I was really chill at Bristol. Before 730pm I usu retreated to home. Some nights I watched women's world cup game - I watched almost all 13 goals the USA scored against Thailand. Many nights, L prepared me lovely homely dinner, which I don't get in HK. L is always busy taking care of and spending time with E, but we still managed to have some small chats to catch up a bit with our lives. L recalled we started writing to each other when she was at E's age now. I still find L's handwriting not too different from the time when she was small. When I walked around in Bristol, I recalled some pictures in the postcards L mailed to me years ago.

One night we played school with E. I was named Owlicorn and to my surprise I was not naughty so I didn't need to sit on the floor. E made me dance with her to the song "This is Me". She demanded a perfect setting and whenever there was interruption we started all over again. At the end I think we've danced that like 9 times, and I felt slightly dizzy after that, but it was a good fun

It's just good to spend time with L. I wonder how many friendship can last that long. Here wish another 30 more years to go!

SS Great Britain tells great stories - of the trans-Altantic ship itself, of Isamburd Kingdom Brunel, and of his other engineering works

Brunel was inspired from success of others (in small scale). He derived new designs and incorporated them into the building of SS Great Britain. Two unprecedented designs were used

(1) use iron instead of wood for the hull building. The change makes the ship lighter but stronger, hence burns less coal. It also opens up more space to carry more cargoes/passengers
(2) change from paddle wheels to screw propeller

The museum tells about the constant struggle between investors and engineers' quest for trying out new designs. The evolution of design was fascinating

* (info source)"In balanced rudders... the rudder stock is at such a position such that 40% of the rudder area is forward of the stock and the remaining is aft of it." "The centre of gravity of the rudder will lie somewhere close to 40% of its chord length from its forward end. If the axis of the rudder is placed near to this location, the torque required to rotate the rudder will be much lesser than what is required to move it, had the axis been placed at the forward end of the rudder. So, the energy requirement of the steering gear equipment is reduced, therefore lowering the fuel consumption of the ship"

Brunel was voted as the 2nd greatest Briton (after Churchill). Visitors would be impressed by the breakthrough and success of SS Great Britain. It's interesting to come across sth that suggests SS Great Britain was not as marvellous as one has thought:

E&T article on July 10, 2019

"This edition tells the story of how Isambard Kingdom Brunel, voted second-greatest Briton of all time, floated into the unreliable clutches of the first iron-built ship.

Engineers don't always get the credit they deserve, but if there's one who does it's Isambard Kingdom Brunel, voted second-greatest Briton of all time in a BBC poll in 2002 (after Churchill). However, as with all celebrities, he also tends to get a lot of the credit others deserve, and some perhaps that no-one does.

Take the SS Great Britain – undoubtedly one of the engineering marvels of the 19th century and the first iron-built ship with a screw propeller. Commissioned by the Great Western Steamship Company from Brunel and the less-well-remembered Thomas Guppy, Christopher Claxton and William Patterson, she was originally going to be a wooden vessel like her predecessor, the Great Western.

It was by complete chance that the Great Britain was built in iron. In the winter of 1838, John Laird sailed the largest iron-hulled ship in the world, the Rainbow, into Bristol harbour, piquing Brunel's interest. Iron was a new material for shipbuilding, but had several advantages. It was both lighter and cheaper than wood, was impervious to shipworm and rot and, most importantly, immensely strong. Wood also presented one great problem as you simply couldn’t build a ship much above 90m in length due to 'hogging' – the flexing of the hull as it moved across the waves. With iron, that limit disappeared, and transatlantic liners became a possibility.

Brunel dispatched his lesser-known colleagues Claxton and Patterson to take a trip to Antwerp on the Rainbow and report back. When they returned they were so impressed that the plans for a wooden hull were scrapped in favour of an iron one. Not only that, the lure of making ever bigger iron ships encouraged them to increase the size to 3,400 tonnes, over 1,000 tonnes more than any other ship in existence at the time.

The Great Britain's other innovation came about more by luck than judgment. In the spring of 1840, another revolutionary ship appeared in Bristol harbour, the sleek steam schooner SS Archimedes. She was unique in that she was powered not by the traditional paddle-wheels, but by a permanently submerged screw propeller at the stern. This made her lighter and her engines smaller. She was also much less bulky without the huge, easily damaged paddlewheel boxes.

Brunel was fascinated and the builder and inventor of the screw, Francis Pettit Smith, flattered by the great man's interest, agreed to lend him the ship for several months. Brunel set to work trying different screw geometries. Eventually he settled on a four-bladed design, also suggested by Smith.

Brunel borrowed that idea for the SS Great Britain, too. The paddlewheels for the ship were already half finished when he told directors of the company he wanted to change the design again, and, waving goodbye to their wallets, they agreed to the changes. By now, Brunel's 'ideas' were getting expensive. The ship was nine months behind schedule and her total cost was £117,000, 40 per cent over budget, even before adding the £53,000 worth of specialised plans.

However, it had been worth it. As we all learn at school, the SS Great Britain was the first 'modern' ship. She was a huge success. Or was she?

The truth about her service was a little more nuanced. Having floated out in Bristol, she was due to be towed to London for fitting out, but the London docks failed to carry out the promised modifications to take such a large vessel. Eventually, the Bristol Dock Board agreed to make the changes there, but they took a year to complete, during which time the ship just sat rusting. Finally, in December 1844 Great Britain was floated out, only to jam in the lock gate.

She was five years overdue by the time she made her first crossing to New York, where the very first issue of Scientific American noted rather sniffily that she'd be better off with paddlewheels. One problem was her unexceptional speed. Brunel had replaced Smith's screw at the last minute with his own design, and it was only after some uncomfortable crossings, in which propeller blades and masts were lost, that he reverted to his competitor’s design.

Once again, investors coughed up the money for the refit and, after her second season, she was again laid up for repairs. In her third season, she ran aground on the north-east coast of Ireland, where she remained stuck fast for a year before being floated off at a cost of £34,000. By now the investors had had enough and she was sold for just £25,000. From that point on, however, it was all plain sailing."

(From Wikipedia)

"The Churchill War Rooms is a museum in London and one of the five branches of the Imperial War Museum. The museum comprises the Cabinet War Rooms, a historic underground complex that housed a British government command centre throughout the Second World War, and the Churchill Museum, a biographical museum exploring the life of British statesman Winston Churchill."

"During its operational life two of the Cabinet War Rooms were of particular importance. Once operational, the facility's Map Room was in constant use and manned around the clock by officers of the Royal Navy, British army and Royal Air Force."

WWII stories are always fascinating. I think a navy high officer was charged with designing the facilities inside the war room. His submarine experience came in handy, as the basement is no different to a confined space like that of a submarine.

People working in the war room led a secretive life - they were forbidden from telling others where they worked or what they were working on

The constant update of the map, telling movement in all fronts, must be a very tough 24/7 work. But only with a world map that you can get the overview of the whole war. The flow of information is so paramount. The trans-atlantic telecom line amazed me, so as the latest technology being implemented in the war room. I can't Google to confirm, but I remember the audio guide mentioned of the following latest technology: phone with encryption, tube to allow transfer of information capsule, and air conditioning

One change I appreciate in London is that I don't need to buy Oyster card anymore for the tube - I can swipe my contactless credit card to pay for my tube trip now. But I knew that only after I've purchased my Oyster card~

British Museum is always a good place to kill time. This time I looked in particular at the craftmanship of items from the age of Abraham, which is around 2000 BC. Abraham has lived in an advanced city called Ur. I've also tried to find portrait of the Pharoah, who denied Moses' request to let the Israelites go. The skill the people back then possessed amazed me

It's been quite a while since the last time I saw Tara and Chris. Ben has grown into such a big boy. He was talking a lot and showing off a lot of things he knows! He even said I should spend a weekend at their home. Maya was eager to speak too but she still yet to learn how to articulte~

It was even a longer while since Michele and Stuart have left HK. I waited until the kids have all gone to bed to visit and have dinner with them. We talked a lot of things, some on politics. Time flied so fast that by the time I checked the clock it was already way after 1030pm. I felt so bad I kept them awake for so long. I can't remember how did the conversation eventually lead to Stuart pulling out a book of Robert Caro. The book's titled "Working". Robert recalled how he left the job of a journalist to embark on writing on Robert Moses, and later Lyndon Johnson. The book has also accounts on how Robert Caro managed to get all the essential details in order to paint a complete picture for his readers.

Oh, I went to pick up on one Wednesday. It makes you so jealous that there is so much space in London and you don't need to pay for that. Even though the ground was super uneven (and I picked this day to break my new cleats~), I've had fun

The upside of having an engineer friend is that he knows I would be interested in the Museum of Computing!

S advised me to take a train to Swindon instead of Thatcham to meet him. Thank S that saved me a lot of money. After picking me up at the train station, S took me to the Museum. It started with honoring the trailblazers who introduced the idea of computing (more than just doing math) TBH I was thrilled to see there were women among them.

A lot of space has been dedicated to video game development. There were also machines from the old days with which visitors play games of that age. S reasoned video games are ways to attract more traffic to the museum. If they have more space, I wish they can incorporate more history of different computing devices, or their peripherals.

The pictures I've taken haven't done an honest job in reflecting the whole of the museum.

There was one thing that caught my attention: BBC Micro. I remember BBC is behind micro:bit. Somehow I feel BBC has a hand on raspberry pi too (but no solid evidence yet) What is a broadcasting company to do with microcontrollers and computing?

Some Googling led me to the BBC Computer Literarcy Project. The whole introduction of the project can be found here. I am quite blown away by the fact the nation saw the revolution that could be ushered in by computing when personal computing started to take off in the late 1970s, the urgency the nation felt to raise awareness and the nation's competitiveness, and the same sense of mission shared by a broadcasting company (well ok, it's national, but still) for the good of the whole country (or Kingdom, whatsoever).

The approach was so holistic. There were TV programmes on how computing could impact society and business, and then a TV series on Computer programme was produced. Hardware was manufacturered and distributed/sold. Course material providers and schools were highly involved. TV and radio were used.

About the BBC Computer Literacy Project:

"The 1980s saw a revolution in computing. At the beginning, low cost 'micros' were a novelty; by the end they were almost everywhere.
In 1978/1979 the UK seemed woefully unprepared for the 'new technology'. In business and industry, the silicon chip was changing ways of working, threatening many jobs and making the UK uncompetitive.
By 1980 both government and the BBC saw the need for a public awareness and education campaign. The result was the BBC's ambitious Computer Literacy Project. It coincided with the explosion of personal computing. The project chronicled an important period in the history of computing as well as contributing to it."

And similar project has been launched before to raise literally literacy among adults (hey reading/get yourself well-informed is so important!)

"The project drew on the experience of the Adult Literacy Project a few years earlier which had provided reading courses for 2 million people across the UK, stimulated by the TV series On the Move, featuring Bob Hoskins."

Sunday started relaxingly. Church started at 10:30am. Thatcham Baptist Church is quite a cosy family church. It was a Father's day service so S was expecting a bar of chocolate - church has a tradition of giving chocolate to all males in the service. Turned out no chocolate was given out this day

Instead Jelly Babies were given out, but only to children who had self discipline of not eating them immediately. So S was not qualified and he got nothing. I never know in one British candy there is Christian message. I think it works only with Bassett's Jelly Babies

Bassett's Jelly Babies have different colours and different moulds:
Black - Middle of the chest is a heart; there is bad things in our lives that separate us from God
Green - it's crying; God is upset that we are distant from Him
Red - it has a letter B on its belly. B is for blood. It represents Jesus has shed His blood for us, so that we can be brought close to God again
Pink - it is supposed to be a little baby. It represents be born again - when we put our faith in God, we can have a new life
Yellow - it has a necklace. It represents the treasure/inheritance we can receive when we are called God's children
Orange - it's holding a bag. Are you ready to follow God?

The sermon was on Mark, ch 5, the healing of a bleeding woman and raising a girl from dead. I wish the pastor would include in his message why Jesus called out the bleeding woman. I do believe that Jesus wanted to make known to all that the woman was clean now. In the past she's been classified as outcast but now the community should welcome her back. In the service a song was sung and it's something about God who fathers us. I wish I can find the song again.

After church we went to one Tony Carvery and lunched with D & K. We've all ordered Carvery meal - a buffet of roasted meat. Then we spent the afternoon playing disc golf. I think K got a disc into water. Being always resourceful, S found a branch to hook the disc out of water. And he got one extra disc from the water too.

By the time we finished disc golf, I think it's already 7pm. S drove me back, took my luggage, and drove me to London where my hotel was. My flight next day was super early so I booked a hotel close to Heathrow airport. The ride from Thatcham to London was surprisingly short - it took only one hour. I am very grateful for S - he has really taken great care of me in that weekend, planned a lot of fun activities, spare a room in his house to accommodate me, and drove me everywhere, including the last leg from Thatcham to London. BBC news that night still had coverage on the HK protest. I went back to HK to a city that has its freedom being slowly and slowly compromised