castle - Sleepypete's Pillow

A meet up, 2 castles, 1 mountain, several trains and no boats

September 24, 2024

7:28 pm

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Hello everyone,

It’s been a little while again. Things were getting a little bit draining for a while, although that’s probably a bit down to me not having any time off since June. That’s maybe a bit too long for me. (And I might need another break to recover from the last one!)

Picture. We're looking at a small white saucer, on which is a tasty looking brownie, with a dwagon next door sporting an apron with the words "Feed Me". In front, a ribbon with "Creator North 2024" on it.

First up, heading up the motorway to Sheffield and Creator North for the Saturday. This is an event (linky) run by a little group of wonderful people, that’s LookItsTilly, Maddog, Billietrixx and the always lovely Tashnarr. I’m not going to write too much about this one this year apart from saying that I really enjoyed the day, including being adopted by Ninja Space Unicorn’s people, seeing MiyukiPanda’s new game coming along and having a lovely natter with the other people there.

It did come right at the end of my energy though, with my last break before this one being back in June. Still, it was awesome seeing everyone and because I do act as a bit of a mirror to the people around me, happy people meant I was happy too. Good to see everyone. And a mention for the lovely Curlylocksgamer too, who had been struggling lately but it’s been too to firstly see her back streaming again and second to see her pop up at Creator North and have a great time there.

After a travel day and a chill out day, I was off on the move again …

Picture. We're on the pedestrian part of a bridge, looking across a road (with several cars) towards a castle. There are 5 turrets on the castle, with battlements. The sky is a clear blue with occasional wispy cloud.

I’d abandoned thoughts of something more ambitious like an Isle of Man trip (the ferry crossing timings were NOT working out) and spotted a North Wales trip on GreatLittleBreaks. After one trip with them, I’d go back for more and check out what other options they have. The booking process was easy and there were no issues with anything that was set up. I think it was good value, although it does seem set up for at least 2 guests with a big solo supplement.

Not so much with the hotel … The Sheffield hotel was great, with an older style layout. The Conwy hotel, not so much. The people there were great and the food (fish and chips on first night) tasty but the room was set up with one of those open plan layouts, where the bathroom section isn’t really split off from the rest of the room. I.e. attack of trendy. So that would be … a shower cubicle that has frosted glass to the rest of the room and no full length door to keep the steam behind. Oh and there was a puddle outside the frosted glass short door after the shower too.

Not so good.

Picture. We're looking out over a river / harbour from an elevated position. The town is to the bottom left, with more buildings just about visible on the far side. There is a series of boats tied up alongside and at anchor in the bay. The sky is overcast.

Lovely town though and a great castle visit too.

(gotta note I’m fading a bit as I type and should probably put the dinner on!)

That’s Conwy and the castle was a good little visit. They’ve put a lot of restoration work in to Conwy Castle, with the spiral turret staircases being in very good order. A lot of these castles tend to have worn down steps which can get a bit dangerous, however Conwy’s gives good confidence that you’d be able to get up and down these stairs easily if you’re able to do so. (It’s a little sad that this is an able bodied thing, no wheelchair access, use of cane would be very awkward). And that picture was taken from one of the turrets. The castle is mostly ruined with no internal buildings but most of the towers are in good condition and you can walk around the ramparts.

Worth a visit, great castle. Although I’m still on the hunt for a castle that could be visited by some of the streamer friends who depend on walkers and wheelchairs. They love the pictures I post into discords and it’d be good to find them a castle they are able to fully enjoy if they find themselves visiting the UK.

Picture. We're looking across the shell of the inside of the castle, from the ramparts. In the foreground, is an archway bridge, behind that is a tower with 2 spires. The other side of the river banks are in the distance. Overcast skies again.

Great castle though. And I enjoyed a gentle wander through the town too. But I think I picked up bugs at Creator North and while I was thoroughly ignoring them, I crashed out hard when I got back to the hotel. (Enjoying reading and listening to streams via the hotel wifi). At least, on the second evening, the place across the artificial lagoon wasn’t in party mode (very loud music).

Picture. We're looking out over an artificial lagoon towards hills in the distance and a very yellow Moon. This is light enhanced by the phone, so it's a milky white sky and far brighter than the almost full dark of the day.

Nice place though, peaceful. That’s actually the Moon there. No stargazing on this trip because we had peak moonlight but it was nice walking most of the way around that artificial lagoon on the first evening. That picture is what came out of the phone on the day, it did a lot of light enhancing as the actual conditions were almost full dark with a very bright super moon.

Castle 2 ?

Picture. More castle, we're looking over the top of a series of cars towards the imposing tall walls of a castle citadel, below clear blue skies.

I’d booked a ticket for Snowdon Mountain Railway (might actually leave that for another post, am fading!) for 1500 on the return day, which gave me a morning/early afternoon to play with after checking out of the hotel. I’d been given the idea to visit Caernarfon castle, which was another really good recommendation.

One bit of a surprise is how good the condition of Caernarfon and Conwy Castle is. Whereas the south Wales castles are typically intentionally destroyed and demolished, the two castles I visited in the North were still mostly intact. Part of that is due to Caernarfon Castle still being in active use, it was used for the ?inauguration? ceremony for Prince Charles becoming the Prince of Wales way back when. (Is King now).

Picture. We're inside the castle, looking out over a beautifully mown grassy interior. We can see the castle walls to the left and right, with an intact tower to the left and a somewhat crumbled gate house to the right. Clear blue skies with wispy clouds and the distant towers have a pair of flags flying.

There we are, quite a bit there still, including a very fortified gatehouse (ramp to enter but broken lift). I was definitely feeling impending illness at this point and needed to reserve energy for Snowdon and the drive home so I wasn’t pushing myself at all around this castle but … Well worth a visit again. I think the towers were open and there’s a few good displays in there as well.

I think I will save Snowdon for another post (need to put food on and Pain is happening) but … a couple of great castles to visit, lovely people looking after everyone in the hotel (shame about the attack of trendy with the room design) and I needed to get away for a few days as the temptation is to just stay home, stay in, play games, listen to music.

About that …. I did pick up bugs up in Sheffield. I could feel them starting to take effect on the Tuesday driving up, plus I was hearing reports that other people there were being affected by the bugs too. I also hurt the shoulder again on the Saturday afternoon, one of those where I turn to face someone but leave the arm behind, which is where it gets crunchy. I didn’t feel it on the day (never do) but it’s been very crunchy for the last couple of days. I’ll do that, I’ll keep myself going while I need to (albeit limited at the moment) and then collapse when I don’t need to maintain that level.

Like now ! Time to put the dinner on and look at hopefully posting the Snowdon pics later this week.

Later everyone, before I go though :

Picture. We're looking at a cracked white egg, on a white sheet. Emerging from the egg is a small red dwagon. They're looking up at us with wide, adorable eyes.

There we go, totally adorable new profile pic and one of the bits of loot taken away from North Wales last week.

Up and Down week, plus castle

by Sleepypete

June 25, 2024

9:17 pm

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photography

castle, out and about

Hello everyone,

Back at work after a week off last week, including a different castle to today’s castle … Where did I leave it last time ?

Picture. We're looking in to the back of my car, with a sad looking red plushie dwagon sitting on the rear parcel shelf above the boot.

After talking about the Nurburgring not-quite 24 hour race last time, weekend before last was the Le Mans 24 hours. We got a full 24 hour race in this time ! Hurrah. Whereas the Nurburgring circuit is up in the Eiffel Mountains, the Le Mans track is in a region of France with a kinder climate for racing … Good race, actually had Racing Dwagon there too.

Picture. We're looking at a screenshot from a web browser with the selected tab showing a purple racing car stopped outside its pit garage. It's taking on fuel via a couple of mechanics on the far side of the car.

There we are. That’s Spike the racing car dragon from the AO racing team. They did good this year, getting on the podium for the LMP2 class.

Whereas the Nurburgring race has a multitude of classes, Le Mans under World Endurance Championship rules has 3 … Fastest are the hypercars, which look like Spike above but a little bigger and with more power. That’s an LMP2 car above, or Le Mans Prototype class 2 which have open rules for the body and aerodynamics but a fixed engine and gearbox powertrain. We also see the GT3 cars racing here, which meant following the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan again. They did pretty well, staying up with the leading group and finishing 5th in class. I think they may have had a great chance for a podium here but I think they were suffering from one of the LMP2s attempting to demolish their car before nightfall on the Saturday.

I didn’t stay awake for the full thing this time, abandoning the screen for a nap after things got dark. Which was probably a wise decision because they were running for about 4 hours behind the safety car due to heavy rain. Not much to see there.

Castle ?

That’s me going back in time a bit to the start of June and me paying a visit to Chepstow Castle. Quite a bit surviving of this one as well. The upper levels of the gatehouse there were closed off but I was able to explore the ramparts and see what was left of the rest of the castle.

(Side note – I’ve developed extreme soreness and stiffness in my shoulders after a WoW session earlier and may have to bomb out of post quickly … let’s see how much I manage)

Pictures. This is a collection of 4 displays of the castle from just a rectangular building on the left, with further walls and towers being added on as we go from left to right.

That’s how Chepstow castle had evolved in its early years from the original Keep on the left, to the more extensive grounds on the right. There’s a decent amount to see at this castle and a collection of informative educational displays there too, so it’s well worth a visit to check it out. I’m not going to put the full info here but from left to right there we see :

1067-1087 (old!) The Original Great Tower standing on its own.

What’s not really shown too well there is the river to the right of the castle, forming natural defences for that side. Joining those was the Great Tower Surround, with curtain walls and a gate house surrounding a fairly extensive courtyard.

1189-1245 saw William Marshal and sons expand the castle further, with a bit more land grabbed plus defensive towers.

1270-1306 saw further expansion to the far end, enclosing a little bit more private area.

That’s all to protect the town, with Chepstow being close to the mouth of the Severn Estuary on the border between England and Wales. Just had a curious thought there … nowadays, we have two Bridges that make the crossing between England and Wales there quite trivial. It’s a couple of minutes driving to cross the newer bridge. When these castles were built, there were no bridges that long and it would have been 1 or 2 miles (depending on where you’d cross) by boat to go from England to Wales.

Picture. We're looking out over a wide very brown looking river. In the distance, a far bank that is dominated by trees. There is a white painted bridge with stone pillars crossing the river. To the right, we see the walls of the castle extending down to a vertical rock that goes down to the river.

That’s from quite high up in the castle. As well as having that excellent natural barrier with the river, there are commanding views as well.

Good little wander at the start of the month. (May have been combined with stocking up on snacks too)

Picture. We're on the stone ramparts of the castle, with the walkway heading off on the left side towards a stone tower. To the right, an expanse of green countryside with a little bit of town visible around the trees. The sky is covered with light white cloud.

Great views too. I have to admit, when I went out there I wasn’t prepared for the day being a bit warmer than anticipated. I may have ended up getting a bit cooked due to forgetting to take a water bottle. So perhaps not quite as much wander as there might have been.

(I’m running out of steam and need to retreat into book, Batkitto streaming and not moving my arms much – ouchie!)

Other stuff as well as castle trip ? I’ve been struggling with a skin break out for about a month now. I was just about ok at Comic Con still but things were declining after that. I’m pretty sure it’s stabilised now and is recovering but as always with this thing, it always takes far longer to recover than it took to erupt. And I’m part of the problem there because I’ll set back the healing by attacking the damaged areas.

Warcraft has been happening … it’s been good being back in the game again, with my time so far being spent doing the quest running with 4 characters so far doing different stories. More on that in a later post probably.

I think I’ve done a little more damage to the car as well … the low tyre pressure light came on and I think that might be due to an altercation with a kerb in a car park. It’s the correct tyre. Only a slow leak but … gotta watch those kerbs cos they bite.

Picture. We're inside the castle looking towards a sunlit window. The walls are stone brick, with lovely arches above.

Last one. That’s one from the larder area of the castle and I’ve picked this one out due to how the camera has done with it. The R50 is being a lovely camera from just being able to be super lazy with setting up the pictures with it. I’ve been remembering things like rule of 3 (the 9 box grid for spacing) and trying to get myself into good places for taking the picture. But the camera is doing the rest with flawless detailed pictures on automatic all the way.

The pictures here (except sad dwagon!) are all reduced from the native 6000×4000 to 2000×1333 but the detail is still all there and I’m really happy with how the R50 is pulling all that detail into the pictures. And it’s on snapshot style picture taking too where I’m not doing things like bracing the camera at all.

I’ll leave it there so I can grab a snack, some more water (it be warm!), pay the lovely Batkitto the full attention this lovely Scottish lady streamer deserves while disappearing into book. I’m in book 3 of The Belt series (not the Expanse) which is a curious space scifi set of books. I’m curious as to where they will go.

Later everyone.

A dwagon is allowed on the loose with a camera

by Sleepypete

March 5, 2024

8:12 pm

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camera, castle, picture

Hello everyone,

I bought a thing …

Pictures. We're looking at 4 pictures together. Top left, the red plushie dwagon is sitting on top of a box with my front door behind. It's almost as wide as the door. Top right, dwagon is sitting inside the box on top of a backpack and smaller box with an R. Bottom left, Dwagon is sitting on top of the box. It says "Canon Eos R50". Bottom right, dwagon is on the box surrounded by camera bits and the short manual.

Yep. Went for it with the camera. It’s the Canon R50 mirrorless camera in the package that comes with a backpack, 32GB memory card, extra battery and a 18-45mm lens. I ordered on the Friday afternoon and it arrived with me on the Tuesday afternoon.

Quick aside – I’m struggling a bit with the physical and mental health at the moment … I’ll be ok, just getting older on the physical side and I think I needed to go back on the multivitamins to help me out mentally. It’s almost certainly why I haven’t been posting as much as I’d like lately. Just so tired and mentally blasted.

So … mid last year, Doctor Sleepy was looking for an answer to tiredness. So Doctor Sleepy started taking Vitamin C/D supplements as well as the multivitamins and Magnesium (for cramp). However, I was getting increasingly savage cramps. When the cruise happened, I deliberately didn’t take the multivits and was just on the Mag and Vit C/D. And the cramps were almost gone. So I’ve been off the multivits since. I think that’s been starving me of some of the brain chemicals … And it’s been manifesting into snapping off at stuff that really shouldn’t get to me.

Like having a fraud check imposed on the buying of the camera. Yeah, I flared over that. I should probably be seeing an actual qualified Doctor about the mineral imbalances that I still have, instead of trying to go by Doctor Google and Doctor Sleepy. Cos I’m a techie and engineering geek, not a body or brain geek.

The TLDR though is that the online Canon store did a cracking job getting the camera to me in very quick time and they dealt very professionally and courteously with the email comms with my angry email about the fraud check. Would totally go back to them again and not just because they gave the best deal this time. (Disclosure note – I bought all this stuff and went back to Canon because while the Ixus has limits, it’s a great little camera)

Camera ?

There we are. I’ll hopefully get chances to do some comparisons of all 3 cameras I have available to me now. In that pic, we can see the R50 pointing at us. That’s it without a lens attached. The Ixus 265 is behind and to the right. It suffers for stabilisation and low light but they pack incredible zoom capability into the tiny pocket package. And there’s my Pixel 4 sitting in front.

That’s from the first out and about and it’s taken from a camp site that will hopefully offer good views of both Severn Bridges. I hadn’t used or investigated the camera much but it was good to be out and about. I’d been suffering from an increasingly painful back at work (I think one of the chairs violently disagrees with me) and heading out over the bridge to find a little place called the Black Rock Picnic Site. (Link) There used to be a service station that offered incredible views of the Bridge (and was accessible) but the prime location got bought by a company that locked off the access … and have since moved out. Looks like it might be accessible again in 2026. (Handy Linky)

Anyway, that’s from the R50 on a tripod. It was steadily drizzling, so I didn’t want to venture out too much into the open with the new shiny … so the tripod was a bit too far back meaning the camera’s focused on the foliage instead of the bridge. Next time :-D. The little Ixus was able to zoom all the way into the vertical spars of the bridge and focus into the cables.

Picture. We're looking out into a dark and (not so) stormy night. We're looking towards an avenue with lights down each side. There is dark green grass down the middle and to the side. The foreground is steps with wooden fencing.

First attempt at a night time shot. Not sure what’s happening on the left there with the lighting. Maybe something was being sprayed. It was a bit of a fight making the camera take the shot, I think it was demanding a flash. I do like the definition there though, this was with the camera braced on a fence. I wasn’t going to stick around to figure out what was happening with the lights on the left, by this time I was massively tired (first day back on the multivits) and while my back had freed up a bit, it was still Angry. I’d gone partly into survival mode by this point (and annoyed at pizza shop guy attempting to clear up uneaten pizza while trying to rush me out of the Hut) and needed to get home.

Picture. We're looking at a pair of towers, forming the gatehouse entrance to a ruined castle. On the right, a bridge crosses a deep moat. In front of us is a fence with a display board.

Friday saw me getting out and about again. First up, Cardiff to have a quick look around. I’ll likely acquire a longer lens for the R50, especially for the cricket in the summer. I’d like to see what it can do there and I’ll have the tripod along as well. I might pick up something from the Cardiff camera shop, as it’s really handy to be able to check the sizes of stuff before you buy them. However, it’s also really handy to be able to check the prices of what you’re looking at.

There’s a saying “if you need to ask the price, you can’t afford it”. I prefer to go by “if you’re not showing me the price, you’re planning to rip me off”. I could look up the price online … but that’s not the same as actually displaying it. Anyway, Cardiff let me look in the model shop (where I got put off a bit by them talking disparagingly about “over educated student types”, Sleepy will remember that) and the snack shop. More on that later. I didn’t have too much time in Cardiff though because I wanted to try and look at the castle before it was too late in the day …

Picture. We're looking at the inside area of the castle. We can see the two towers of the gate house in the centre of the shot, with castle walls stretching to left and right. There is ruined stonework outlining the castle buildings, the rest has gone to very lush green grass.

There we are. This is Whitecastle, in the depths of Wales near the border with England. Nice little castle … not much left of it though. I managed to completely blow someone’s mind by saying that this castle was rebuilt in 1260. Here’s the wiki link. There isn’t much left of this castle and to be honest, the nearby Raglan castle has much more to see and is in better condition. I didn’t stay here too long, you’ll probably see how lush the grass is there. The ground around here has been treated to a Lot of water from the sky and wasn’t in great condition. I could see a slip and fall and lots of mud in the immediate future of my jeans :-D.

So I moved on and had too much fun on the roads on the way back, letting the car make very nice brum brum noises on the tight and twisty roads. I may have to do that more often. Setting the satnav for “short” instead of “quick” makes it avoid the motorways which are just set cruise control to Snore. Tight and twisty roads with no one else on them are more fun.

Snacks ?

Picture. Our "feed me" dwagon is sitting atop one of 6 packets of sweets. They're all stacked on my chair.

Snacks ! That’s the haul from Wally’s Delicatessen in one of the Cardiff arcades. Good place, nice people, great snacks. And a tasty haul of (back row) candy mice, pineapple chunks and cola bottles plus (front row) fudge, fruit jellies and chocolate coin things.

Time to hit post though and get tonight’s dinner in the oven. Nite all 😀

PS The lens cap survived 3 days before I lost it … I realised before leaving the castle though and spotted it, lying on the path where it had been dropped. Will have to figure something out there.