How Well Do You Know Your Country Parks?

UK national parks that are unknown

We all think about the Lake District, which I spent a week walking in with my father in 1980. It’s strange thinking about it now as it was the only holiday I took with just my father. It is a manly activity of walking up and down trails and mountains. Maybe some of them weren’t, but when you grow up amongst the rolling hills of Oxfordshire, everything different to that is a mountain.

I’ll mention 4 parks I’ve not visited and one I have.

Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons)

A mysterious area of mountains, waterfalls and hidden lakes. The only place I found that was a hidden lake was when walking in Snowdonia. On the edge of the Brecon’s is the Brecon Mountain Railway, 4 miles north of Merthyr Tydfil. A former mining area north of Cardiff. It is a pretty and picturesque drive in itself. The day I visited the BMR was a windy early-season trip. The 5-mile line hugs a high valley with scenery to match. When you’ve done some driving, just sitting on a slow train and taking in the view is heavenly.

Northumberland

The land of far horizons was where Romans once roamed wild and lonely hills.

My journey was travelling to and from Scotland on the A1. On one such trip, I visited Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island. I researched and heard crossing the causeway by car between certain times was possible. Luckily, I had enough time to visit what seemed to me to be a desolate place. It was far from the madding crowd in all respects. Few trees, and windswept. What a place to locate a castle. I don’t remember much about the castle; I just knew that I couldn’t hang around for too long.

Cairngorms

The Scottish land of picturesque mountains in a park. It contains a series of plateaus that are consistently over 1000 metres. On the eastern side is Balmoral Castle, the royal summer retreat—a favourite of Victoria and several monarchs.

There are several lochs. One, Loch Etchachan, is the UK’s highest lake at 900 metres.

On an Intercity, a super long weekend trip around Scotland by train, Aviemore, plus a ride on the preserved railway to Boat of Garten, was a must. Many whisky distilleries can be found on the edge of the Cairngorms, which have many fresh streams. I tried many drams of varying ages and quality. They were warming on a cold day, no doubt, but not on my shopping list. Later, I was told that 100-year-old bottles are mostly sold in the US.

North Yorkshire

An area I’d like to visit further contains famous heathers and landscapes to match. One of the best ways to view it is on the North Yorkshire Railway. On the coast, Whitby is dominated by hills and a high bridge that once carried a coastal railway. Plus, it is where Dracula is meant to have first appeared.

My mother is from Yorkshire. After visiting York, we went to Castle Howard, one of the grandest mansions I’ve visited. The paintings, frescos, and architecture were designed to impress. It was also the location for the film Brideshead Revisited, a chilling and dull story of wealthy people who didn’t really know what to do with their spare time.

Exmoor

It is a place in North Devon with many valleys and freshwater streams. Looking at a map, much of its area seems only accessible on foot. A good map and a sense of direction are needed. A popular area is Lynton and Lymouth. One is on the hill, and the other is at the mouth of the Lyn River. It’s a nice walk with good shoes, but a wander or a hike upstream is pleasant on a warm day. The sound of fast-running water over rocks is relaxing. The Valley of the Rocks is also a dramatic collection of rocks overlooking the sea. You can park nearby. It’s a hold onto your hats on a breezy day. Sometimes, you can observe basking sharks. From a discreet distance, of course.

There is also a cricket club, which is regarded as a unique place to play the game.

Airbus Optimate

Currently, this is a tech truck which is testing new technologies for its aircraft fleet.

The one urgent thing for them and aircraft manufacturers is that commercial aviation is set for growth.

It is estimated that the jetliner fleet will have to double in size to meet future demand.

This challenges airports by putting them under more significant pressure. First, aircraft congestion, and second, a shortage of pilots will add to pilots' workload in the air, particularly on the ground.

How will pilots be able to navigate safely around busier airports with double the aircraft movements? Today, pilots must know intimately each airport, which runway they’ll be using, the gate they are departing from or going to, and how to navigate the taxiways in between.

The answer is automated taxi technology. The first step is to test potential technology solutions at an actual airport. Thus, Airbus has created a truck packed with what you’d expect to see in a cockpit.

With aircraft being such large objects, safety and distance between aircraft is paramount.

Automation has successfully been implemented in other situations, such as trains. In the old days, train positions were controlled from signal boxes. The signal men communicated with other signal boxes using bell codes and allowed only one train in a section of track at a time.

Now, this is done electronically without signal boxes, with the trains able to report their exact positions. Thus, more trains running at faster speeds can be achieved in smaller spaces.

The Airbus truck is still testing different technologies, the best of which will be installed in an A350 1000 test aircraft. Ultimately, the aim is to create a fully automated gate-to-gate system. Initially, the focus will be on the taxi phase.

The magic of nighttime travel

I never thought I’d write such a thing. Apparently, after-midnight releases a different part of you than your daytime version.

This is a fascinating subject, as I have experienced various versions of nighttime travel.

??????????? The obvious one is long-haul flights. In 1991, I first visited Australia. A 23-hour flight from London via Singapore to Sydney. 14 hours to Singapore was significantly longer than anything I had previously experienced. It seemed an absolute age. Then, after a 90-minute or so break, it was another 8 hours to Sydney. When I fly, I make a point of getting a window seat. I was aware of nighttime at various times on the journey, but despite being 30,000 feet up, it wasn't easy to appreciate it. Extreme tiredness is due mainly to the excitement of taking this first long-haul trip.

My first genuine connection with nighttime was due to my first job after school.

I joined a fledgling computer industry that involved shift work. I worked a four-week rotation of days, early, late and nights.

This was the days before I learnt to drive and had to cycle everywhere. The journey was roughly five miles, which included a steep hill about halfway, and this was usually a place I would stop for a few moments in either direction.

Being close to fields and woodlands, it wasn't unusual to hear owls tooting on a calm and clear night at 10/11 pm. It was somewhat spooky and reassuring, as if someone was always looking at you. At 5/6 am, it was the dawn chorus.

Depending on the time of year determines what you hear. Sometimes, it felt like the birds were quite close. Watching the stars could be fascinating. In the early mornings, there could be an intensity about them, which was and is intoxicating considering the distance the light from these solar systems. All this was only possible because very few cars were owned in the 1970s.

Back in Sydney, my relatives lived in an outer suburb. When it was hot at nighttime, and we couldn’t sleep, some of us would lie in the pool and stare at the stars. Besides being interrupted by planes approaching Kingsford Smith airport, viewing the celestial display as it slowly moved across the sky was very relaxing.

Today, I still enjoy early mornings and nighttime displays.

Making time for the work that matters

They say that behaviour and habits are important

So, can you influence your own time by structuring it inside your calendar?

Have a look at the suggestions below.

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1) Edit your existing meetings by declining non-essential meetings and grouping the rest to free up focus time.

2) Schedule ‘not available’ time by blocking off time for personal tasks like lunch or appointments

3) Schedule ‘open collaboration’ time by allocating 10-20% of the week for collaborative work

4) Schedule ‘focus’ time by blocking 30-40% of the week for deep thinking tasks

5) Schedule ‘respond to messages’ time by setting specific times for handling messages to avoid constant notifications.

What do you think? Or is this overcooking it?