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Month: July 2006

Thetford Forest

Thetford Forest

Hello!

It’s more than a month ago that I went on a trip to Thetford Forest, but I still wanted to share the photos šŸ™‚ Patama and I took our bikes on the train to Brandon (taking your bike on the train is free in the UK, really nice!), then we cycled from there to Thetford Forest. It’s very nice there! We cycled to the information centre, where we got a map of the bike trails. We did one of those, which was good fun! But my bike is not really made for off road cycling, so I got a flat tire in the end. I was able to fix it though, but a few days later I decided to exchange my racing bike for a mountain bike, much better!!

Thetford Forest Thetford Forest

Nice and clear river!

Thetford Forest Thetford Forest

It was a very warm day, so we decided to try the water šŸ™‚

Thetford Forest

Lunch break in the shade, before starting the bike trail

We even saw water snakes in a small pond next to the trail! We tried to take a shortcut back to Thetford, we almost got run over by fire trucks appearing out of nowhere. Somebody of the Forest Service asked us where we were going, and he explained us a nicer way of getting back to Thetford, avoiding the busy road. We had to follow a walking trail for a while, only we forgot to get off it at the right moment, so we almost got lost and had to go back!

In Thetford we found those ruins while cycling to the train station. They are the ruins of Thetford Priory, and quite impressive!

Thetford Forest Thetford Forest Thetford Forest

It was a really nice day and I definately want to go back to Thetford Forest again.

I’ll try to put some more photos online in the coming days. Everything is going well, my model is working so I am finally working hard ;). I am going to London for the weekend with Tanja, from Friday till Sunday. We want to visit the Museum of Natural History, the Science Museum, see a musical… I think it will be a fun weekend!! More on that later šŸ™‚

Bye!

Hanneke

I'm back!!

I'm back!!

Hello!

I have been back for a while but have simply been to busy to post anything, sorry!

I had a great time in Switzerland, the weather was wonderful (quite warm but the good thing about the mountains is that you just have to go up to get to nicer temperatures), thunderstorms almost everyday (I even took photos!), did lots of hiking, took many trains, boats, cable cars, lifts, buses… Got sunburnt but I also got bitten by spiders (??) and woke up covered in bites… they are still not completely gone. Of course I spent a lot of time in Grindelwald, but I have also discovered some new towns that I’d like to go back to, especially Luzern, it’s so beautiful! Anyway, I won’t put the photos on this blog, I am working on a site about Switzerland with the photos of this year but also last year’s photos!

Since I came back, I have moved to the new house, which is absolutely wonderful. I live there with Candice (MSc in ENV, she will stay for about a month), Nem and Tanja. I am really enjoying the house, my big room, but most of all my housemates! It’s really close to campus as well, it only takes me a few minutes by bike, I will get lazy! Good thing the sport centre is even closer than uni, mayyyyyybe I’ll finally go to the gym… I prefer swimming but the pool is closed till the end of next week.

What else… my project has changed quite a bit, we took a big decision last week to change the model we are using. I do think it’s for the best, and I am motivated to learn to use the new model and finally do some real research instead of studying computer science!! Unfortunately everyone seems to be on holiday right now, so progress is a bit slow (I have to set up accounts in different places so I need permission from people in Reading, Manchester, etc).

Last week I went down to the British Antarctic Survey, to meet with my supervisors there, but also to try on the clothes for Antarctica. Our funding pays for the clothes, and we had to try everything on. Lots of fun!! Fortunately it wasn’t as warm as it was this week. They pack everything in kit bags which will be sent along with the ship going down, sometime late August or in September I think. It’s all very exciting!!

I have loads of photos that I want to put on here, most from before I went to Switzerland. Nicole gave a goodbye party the day before I left, and there are very nice photos of that night. I also have some photos of the trip to Thetford Forest with Patama, and a lot of photos of playing Catan… Ever since I am here, I tried to find people to play with. We played occasionally, but not very often. Recently, I got some people really hooked, so now we play a LOT!! Which is good fun… I also have an online version of it, so we even play at work… shhhhhh šŸ˜‰

I will put those photos online in seperate blogs, I hope I have some time to do that tomorrow. Now just some photos of my housemates šŸ™‚

Tanja & Hanneke Nem & Tanja

My lovely housemates!

That’s all for now!

Hanneke