@mootParadox

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"Boundary Corner" is a 3*** classic at Great Wanney. I think you can safely say it's a high-value V-Diff, so I just hope the photo captures some of the burly awkwardness of the thing!! 🀣 I backed off it a couple of years ago, but with a decent sized cam (a no. 5 DMM Dragon) to protect the crux, it's actually not too bad. Amazing line and a nice belay tucked in behind that wedged boulder.

Rock climber nearing the top of a sandstone crag.
ClimbingTradClimbingNorthumberland

First climb of 2025... perfect conditions at Great Wanney. And it's not often you get to say that!! πŸ˜‚ My previous nemesis, "Boundary Corner", has finally been conquered! πŸ’ͺ😎

Shadow of a rock climbing on the top of a moorland crag. Blue skies.
ClimbingTradClimbingNorthumberland

Take one Frescobol set, one picnic table, a spare tree stake, and you have... Ta-bol Tennis! Not affected by the UK wind either, so it's actually much better for the garden. (Patent Pending!) 🀣

A wooden picnic table in a suburban garden. Using a Frescobol set, the table is set up as an improvised table tennis table.

From the rock known as "Main Panel" at Lordenshaws, a close-up to catch the shadow around some of the art. Estimated between 3500 to 6000 years old! 😲

Ancient cup and ring markings on a sandstone outcrop.
NorthumberlandPhotographycupandringrockart

I've encountered this style of painted rock "calling card" before. Do they have a purpose, or does the style of decor identify the hiker who placed it? πŸ€”

A river or sea pebble, painted with green dots and a stitching effect.
hikingcairnpaintedrock

Above Lordenshaw, near Rothbury, enjoying the views, and the rock-art. I'd say "not a cloud in the sky" but there is one, if you look carefully! πŸ˜‚

northumberlandnationalpark.org

Remote moorland hillsides under a blue sky.
Northumberlandhiking

A final shot (for now!) from yesterday's walk, near Gallow Hill, between Aydon and Corbridge. I've photographed these trees before, but the last time was on a frosty, misty day; in black and white! πŸ˜€

Countryside scene with fields, trees white clouds in a blue sky.
PhotographyNorthumberland

Aydon Castle usually opens from April onwards, and is only viewable from outside the walls at present. Half-manor, half-castle, it's in a great location... although if you dislike the smell of wild garlic, you might want to avoid the dene behind the castle! πŸ˜‚

english-heritage.org.uk/visit/

Part of a castle wall on a grassy embankment.
NorthumberlandCastlePhotography

It's been a long time living in the North East to have never visited Corbridge! Just a brief wander today - I walked down from Aydon Castle to the river.

A sunny River Tyne, at Corbridge, with the bridge in the distance.
NorthumberlandrivertynePhotography

Almost vegan... pasta with a mushroom, garlic and red onion sauce, topped off with some half-price vegan popcorn chicken that I found in Sainsbury's! πŸ˜‹ Almost... but how can you not add some Parmigiano Reggiano?! 🀣

Pasta dish with Greek flatbread.

Same location as yesterday, Cawfields Quarry, but this one taken with a real camera! πŸ˜‚

Pointy shaped rocky escarpment at the back of an old, and long-disused, flooded quarry.
NorthumberlandPhotographyLakesonya7c2

Cawfields Quarry along Hadrian's Wall. First time visiting, and there's some nice sections of wall along here. πŸ˜ŽπŸ‘Œ

Flooded quarry lake, with crags behind, and blue skies.
NorthumberlandhikingHadriansWall

And that's the third time... although occasionally getting down to the final couple of guesses too! πŸ˜‚

betweenle.com/
741 - 5/5:
πŸ†πŸ†πŸ†πŸ†πŸ†
β¬†οΈβ¬†οΈβ¬‡οΈβ¬†οΈπŸŸ© - ⬜⬜⬜ - ⬜⬜⬜ - ⬜⬜ - ⬜

betweenle

The saga of my long distance duvet covers is finally over... only took 6 weeks! 🀣 With that disclaimer (partly shipping times, partly they missed two items from the original delivery) the quality looks great, and it was cheap. To be fair, they were very quick to update me and sort it all out. Their "sale" seems to be permanent, so don't worry about that!! πŸ˜‰ Link -> dusk.com/

Dark blue waffle weave cotton duvet set, and (for info) the pillows are an artificial down. Feel pretty realistic.

A local walk that I haven't explored for a while. This is one of several small copses that seemingly mark the sites of disused colliery shafts.

Silhouetted trees in front of an orange blue sunset sky.
PhotographyNorthumberlandSunset

Nope πŸ™„ it's deceased! You can see the liquid trapped inside the plastic pcb style membrane. Can't see that ever drying out properly.

So much for the "right to repair"... this Logitech keyboard had 6 microscopic, but admittedly just visible screws, 2 more that were cunningly hidden under adhesive rubber feet, and (and this is the one that caught me out!) 1 more inside the battery compartment hidden underneath a QR code sticker. Seriously?!! πŸ™„ All this assumes you have a decent toolkit, and something to safely pry it apart... I hope it actually dries out ok after all this!! πŸ˜‚

Parts of a keyboard, slightly dismantled, after having milk poured into it. It's no use crying over spilled milk... especially since teardrops would just make the problem worse!

My first visit to The Nick along Forest Drive. Perfect day to dust off the MTB and see how my legs hold up! 🀣 At 457m (that's 1500 feet to weirdos) it's the highest point along the Forest Drive. Its open-ended design is oriented from Kielder to Byrness.

Large wooden twisted tunnel type of sculpture in a wild moorland and forest backdrop. It's like a pentagonal corridor, with seating inside, and each block of pentagons is rotated to create the twist effect.
kielderNorthumberlandMTBGravel

Interesting usage of the word "popular"... πŸ˜‰

Headline reads,

I wouldn't use Chrome at all if I could avoid it, but are they for real?! I knew about uBlock of course, but Selenium... or does nobody bother testing their apps any more? Maybe I'm just being very old fashioned!! 🀣

Message from Chrome saying that Selenium and uBlock have been turned off.
ChromeEnshitification

My destination today was St Giles "Hearse House" in Chollerton, one of ’s few surviving examples. Restored by local fundraising, it now houses a small exhibition on its history and the local area. Typically found beside a church, these buildings were once home to the hearse carriage and horses. A fascinating visit, even more so when an old lady invited me to look around her garden… which contained a disused railway platform! 😲

Small stone building beside a church.
NorthumberlandPhotographyChurch

"Don't Knock on the Door!" 😬

Spotted this derelict barn door along the River Tyne Trail, south of Chollerton. The colour was pretty striking against a building slowly being reclaimed by nature.

Faded and cracked red wooden door into a derelict barn.
NorthumberlandRiverTyneTrailPhotographydoor

This stone-step stile was looking a bit overgrown... I really wasn't sure how I'd manage to get past! 🀣

A stone-step stile looking mossy and overgrown. The steps have become redundant, since the wall now ends adjacent to the steps, and the perfectly straight footpath simply bypasses the entire affair.
NorthumberlandTyneTrailfootpath

Invested in a pair of double-walled hand-blown latte glasses to continue my "coffee in a glass" experimentation. β˜•πŸ˜‹ The mouth of the glass is wider than my others, plus there's the insulating effect of the air gap.

Flat-white or latte style concoction in a double-walled tumbler style glass, reading on an espresso machine cup warmer.
flatwhitecoffee

Some of my old school uniform labels, I dread to think exactly how old!! 🀣 I'm also wondering how many items of clothing must some of my peers have possessed to require so many labels? The school was mixed day/boarding, so maybe boarders had to label far more stuff... πŸ€”

Bag of school uniform labels, old fashioned, but I'm not going to say exactly how old in years!

I'd planned to process this in colour. There was a light mist and the sky had an almost tobacco colour where the sun was breaking through. But a test in monochrome changed my mind! This is from a bridleway above in the Tyne Valley. I'd walked down from Aydon Castle. An afternoon wander with no particular plan. πŸ˜€

A pair of wintry trees silhouetted against a moody sky.
CorbridgePhotographyblackandwhitephotographyblackandwhiteNorthumberland

I don't think I've ever tried making coffee in a glass before. Not exactly my best pour either πŸ˜‚ and not helped by the narrow glass, but I think seeing this cross-section view could be useful for practice... it tasted fine! β˜•

Flat white or latte type concoction poured into a clear glass, resting on an espresso machine cup warmer.
flatwhitelattecoffee

Experimenting with motion blur. There seems to be a fine balance between capturing a sense of motion, and a washed out ghostly blur. I tried setting the timer for a 10 second delay, half-second shutter, and I'm either playing something... or perhaps I'm preparing to selectively wipe some dust off a G# diminished 7th!! 🀣

Hands with motion blur, apparently playing a piano, rendered in a grainy black and white.
PhotographyblackandwhitePiano

D#

Diagonal view along a piano keyboard, with D-sharp in focus, and looking down.
PhotographyPiano

With a touch of nostalgic regret, I decided to trade-in my current camera gear against a Sony . I'm down to just one prime lens now (not a bad discipline in itself) and the full combo weighs less than my Sigma 24-70 ART lens, one of the items I traded. It was an awesome setup, but I'd used it twice in the last year! Like my ZVE10 (also now traded!) this one can happily live on my rucksack strap. So, a quick test photo seemed in order!! πŸ“·πŸ˜‚

A flat-white on the cup warmer of an espresso machine. Moderately respectable heart shaped pattern in the milk!
a7ciiflatwhitePhotography

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