Snowdon: a first ascent

A weekend in Snowdonia with my neice Tamsin.

Tamsin and I walked up Snowdon in April, her first ascent of a mountain and my first ascent of Snowdon. We  drove across Wales the previous afternoon and stayed in a fine B&B in a farmhouse  on the edge of the park. 

As we drove up to the start we saw beautiful lakes with morning sunshine reflecting off  them. The car park was manned by volunteers who checked that we had warm clothes and waterproofs. Our ascent starting in sunshine and we admired the landscape and the evidence of old erosion.  The tiny train taking passengers up the mountain ran parallel to our walk. We had coffee at the Half way hut and enjoyed the beauty of the landscape opening up ahead of us. There were some steep sections, then we reached the train station and the numbers of walkers increased hugely. We had a longer haul walking up along the cold north face where snow lingered in the crevices and Tamsin was keen to be photographed on snow. The Snowdon summit (1085m) is at a convergence of 5 different paths up of varying difficulty. We took the Llanberis path.  Being at the top was awesome with beautiful views of the treeless mountain tops, several big lakes, valleys with trees and farmsteads and the sea in the distance.  Tamsin celebrated our summit by doing a breakdance routine twice because I failed to video the first one satisfactorily. Others were drinking champagne and everyone took a selfie. It was fun being part of a large crowd celebrating being at the top. I was surprised that on a cold April day we had to queue to reach the summit. The top was bitterly cold with a wind chill of -4 and flakes of snow swirled around.

 The descent was chilly, the banks of snow beside the railway looked like scene from a Russian novel.  Then it rained and we both became very cold and I just focused on the cup of hot chocolate that would warm me at the Half Way Hut.  The rain then cleared and we had a good descent to the lake at the start of the walk. The walk took 7 hours. I was very disappointed that we could not get a hot drink at the start of the walk.  It was a fine walk. I was surprised by the numbers of people at the top. Tamsin was surprised by the range of weathers that we experienced and this validated the volunteers checking that we were properly equipped before we set out. She had huge energy and on the descent I was plodding away whilst she skipped around.  We drove back to our BB rested briefly, then headed out to Criccieth where we had an excellent supper with fish and leeks.

On Sunday we drove through the park. The trees and rocks are beautiful in the spring light with the green leaves about to come out. Bedgellert is an attractive village when the sun shines with small grey stone cottages and larger hotels for the walkers and a helpful visitors centre where they have 100 visitors per day. We had coffee in Betyscoed a beautiful large village with many stone house that have a very northern feel and we watched a man taking a cautious but reckless dive into the chilly water! At the arts centre a young woman was creating large bubbles from a pair of sticks dipped into detergent, Tamsin played with the toy enjoying the simple pleasure of seeing bubbles form and move in the air. The girl told us that they visit the Calais camp regularly to let the refugees play with the bubbles and have a carefree moment.  We had a long drive back to Abergavenny first through the mountains of North wales, the old slate mines of Blaenau festinnog  are still dramatic rocks. Mid wales comprises a huge area of farms and pleasant but remote countryside and seemed never-ending. We had a v late lunch at the ecology centre and ascended the mountain side there in a water driven pump lift.  I shall return there another time to check out the centre more thoroughly.  I was surprised at how long it took to drive across Wales, the roads are small but empty.

This was great weekend, I enjoyed introducing Tamsin to the mountains and loved the rocks and scenery in Snowdon. 

Good the beauty of the snowdonia park

Bad the chill factor

Surprising the numbers of people at the summit.

Experienced Musicians and Enthusiastic film-makers: Harmoniemusik and BFI scholarship films

On Feb 19 I heard the talented wind quintet Harmoniemusik play in Queen Square; on Feb 20 I saw five films made by teenagers on a BFI scholarship course. The two events were a fine contrast with the musicians being experienced and confident and the teens enthusiastic and able to tackle difficult subjects with insight and enthusiasm.

The concert was given by my friends the Harmoniemusik wind band and Sarah Devonald plays the oboe for them. This year the winter concert was in the Greek church of St George the martyr, Queen Square. The interesting programme had a wide range of music including Hungarian dances by Farkas, a trio by Bruch, Suite Bourgeoise (Arnold) Rossini’s quartet and Roussel’s divertissement. I felt that I was listening to six people who knew each other well and brought out the best in each other’s performance. They each introduced each piece to the audience with enthusiasm, keen that we should all share their enjoyment. They have now been playing together for 25 years. I am proud to have on that journey as an audience member. The winter concert is followed by a party in Alec Forshaw’s Georgian house in Great Ormond St and I always meet interesting people there. This year I met a Hungarian artist and her German scientist husband.

The next morning was a contrast. Tamsin Rose-Palmer (Amber’s daughter) had been on a BFI documentary film academy. Forty 17-19 year-olds stayed in Debden under the guidance of BFI tutors and made documentaries in teams. They also had master classes from experts and in Simon Chinn’s class they held his Oscar statuette (or directing Sugarman) and took selfies. The week ended with a private screening of the films at Rich Mix cinema. Tamsin was in a team making a film called “Vacant” about homeless people and interviewed John Stephenson (Founder Big Issue) and put forward a clear argument that vacant houses should be opened up to ease the homeless problem. They also interviewed a hostel manager and a young Kurdish refugee showing his route into homelessness. The other films were also impressive, one on people working in care homes had beautiful close up photos of old people in care, another told the life of a punk street artist who works by lying on a bed of nails in in Trafalgar square, another was about gender identity and had interviews with two young trans people in Islington. The final film was called “25” and was about 17 year-old twins who had been born at 25 weeks; one with cerebral palsy, one able bodied and explored their different abilities and the intense relationship that bound them. All these were just 10 min pieces but all done to an impressively high standard. As Tamsin’s relative I experienced the pride and partisanship of being a parent.

Later on I reflected that this had been a fine 24 hours with two contrasting experiences, the experienced confident group and the young energetic group. I felt proud to be part of both events. A Jewish friend tells me that there is a word for this pride “ nachas”
http://www.harmoniemusik.org.uk/

Amsterdam in Tulip time and a stay at the Hilton

Visiting Amsterdam in April as an ECCMID speaker I stayed in the iconic Hilton Hotel, I walked round South Amsterdam and enjoyed the new Rijksmuseum hanging.

I was invited speaker at this year ESCMID conference which had relocated from Istanbul to Amsterdam because of security fears. I was sorry not to go to Istanbul but happy to go to Amsterdam again and reconnect with friends there.

I stayed in “The Hilton” a fine 1930’s building with a huge, elegant, clean lined atrium. I had a room with a nice view over the canal and Amsterdam. The room had modern furniture and dark red walls.   John and Yoko’s “love-in for peace” in the 1972 put this Hilton on the map. Their suite has been preserved as a suite for renting. I was woken in the morning by a woodpecker drumming away outside my window. South Amsterdam was designed as an area with house and communities and I had a fine walk down to the conference centre past interesting family houses in estates and with courtyards.  In contrast the conference centre was a 21 st century with a modern corporate feel and one could be anywhere in the world.

I lectured on leprosy in a session that included talks on scabies from an Australian and leishmanisis.  In the afternoon I listened to talks about migrant health and TB.

Later I met my friend Iain who moved to Amsterdam over 20 years ago and since then by visiting him I have become closer to my Dutch roots. Over an excellent Basque meal I updated him on the current state of the Labour party.

On Sunday morning I was up early and into the Rijksmuseum as soon as it opened. The museum has been rehung very well with an overview of Dutch art century by century but with all the Dutch Golden Age work hung together. I had a lovely hour enjoying seeing the Rembrandts and Vermeers; the Night Watch is beautifully hung at the end of a long hall, there were rooms with Rembrandt’s earlier work. I loved the Rembrandt self portraits and the one of his son Titus when I saw it 40 yrs ago. There were 3 Vermeers (“The Milkmaid”, “Reading the letter”, “Delft houses”), again a delight to see again. I wandered the galleries enjoying the Dutch landscapes and the snow scenes. I could easily have stayed another couple of hours browsing the collection. I'll make it a priority for another visit. I also honoured my Dutch roots by buying Dutch food, muisjes and chocolates and ginger cake (gember koek) in an Albert Heijn store. 

At the conference I heard our HTD SpRs present their posters. I chatted with Stewart Cole about leprosy politics and heard a paper on endemic leishmaniasis in Italy. They were surprised to hear that we were seeing cases in London from the Mediterranean. I took the train to Schiphol with Sarah Logan and enjoyed Belgian beers in the very trendy modernist Stedilijk cafe at Schiphol.