On Saturday the 13th, the group I am doing snowden with, climbed the malvern hill from end to end and back again which is about 20 miles round trip.  We managed to do it in just over four and a half hours, which is not bad I think?  Quite a good endurance test as it is one of those up and down walks where every crest has another hill in the distance and there seems no end to it.

I have a few more pains in muscles, mainly from not looking where I was going at one point and stepping off into a cliff drop.  All is well though and I am sort of looking forward to the big one next weekend.  Youy can still sponsor me at this address.

https://www.charitiestrust.org/members_data/event/frankpeaks/index.html

From Thursday to Saturday last week, I stayed in Breacon with my family, my good friend Nigel and his two sons, and Ted and Alice Waldron.  Ted had kindly offered to give me a few pointers for the Snowden 15 Peaks Challenge by taking me on a 20km hill walk.

We had a great time camping, real open fires at night, lovely farm with ponds and ducks.  The newest member of the family, BEN the dog had great fun.

Just got back from a Scout Camp and training exercise.  Walked from Brierley Hill to Kinver on Friday night and set up camp just as it was getting dark.  Had a great Night out under the stars with Nigel, Ian and the scouts.

Next day, packed up and hiked to the camp near Kidderminster Safari Park, going zig zag routs cross country to build up the miles.  I think we did about 16 miles on this walk.  It was tough going at times as the path would suddenly change from stiles and rough pathways, to barb wire, electric fences and 6ft nettles where the farmer had forgotten about the public footpath rules so his animals could graze and his spuds could grow I guess.

Got a few injuries when an old rusted through fence collapsed on me, after I had helped a few others over.  Several puncture wounds (barbed wire) later and with aching ribs from the landing, I am OK, but a little wiser and less trusting of ancient gates.

Today the scouts came back by bike to the HQ at Blakedown and I came back with Justine and the boys who picked me up to give them a chance to meet all the scouts.

Great weekend so CHEERS guys, really a great bunch of friendly and helpful kids, and leaders.

You can still sponsor my SNOWDEN WALK, details below…

https://www.charitiestrust.org/members_data/event/frankpeaks/index.html

Announcements due to be made tomorrow will see help given to construction companies and developers to help them gain the funds required to finish building new homes that are currently in stasis.  Alistair Darling is also said to be due to announce a continuation of the Stamp Duty break for homes costing less than £175,000.  This will be extended by several months to keep it going until the end of this year.  This will form parts of a one billion pound lifeline package to help the property market in Wednesdays budget figures.

Low cost housing and council dwellings will also get a building boost as part of the deal.  However, there is no way of knowing yet if these are new items for the budget or just re-working the old money announced in previous speeches.

Since we launched the new web site for WWW.FRANKPAGES.NET, several people have asked me about our statement that all our small items, like mobile phones, Bluetooth devises and cameras etc., are charged from solar power.  I thought I should take a moment to say how we do this.

It is quite easy and reasonably cheap to set up a solar array in your office.  We use two different solar systems. 

We are lucky that the office windows face South, and that we are on the second floor.  This means we get a lot of sun and can afford to block one of our windows completely with a large solar panel.  This is quite a modern efficient panel which is plugged into a 12 volt car battery.  The system is turned on when ever the sun comes out and switched off when it gets dark.  This saves a small amount of energy which would otherwise be wasted lighting up LED bulbs.

The battery slowly trickle charges every day and means we can store the energy from the sun for when we need it.  Once the energy is in there, you can simply add an inverter which changes the 12v supply to a low wattage 240v supply, which is powerful enough to charge things like a mobile, and it has a standard 3 pin plug socket which is great for most types of charger.

The second system is called Freeloader, a small gadget with a battery built in and two small removable solar panels, this allows us to charge our mobiles and some other devises even when we are on the move.  They sit on the windowsill and gather power from the sun.  It does take a few days to fully charge this small gadget from solar power, but it’s compact design and portability makes it worth the effort.

Solar panels are not yet brilliantly efficient.  They are getting better and cheaper all the time though and I think they have already reached a point where (if you wait for the sales at electrical shops like Maplins. or camping suppliers) you can easily pay back your initial out lay in a short time.

I think we have spent about £120 so far on kit, but if you think that we have charged all our small items on the system for about a year now.  And used the system to power our lighting etc., on camping holidays, rather than paying for campsite hook-up power.  Then we are doing quite well.

Buzz Aldrin GI Joe

We all remember Neil Armstrong, and my personal favourite Buzz Aldrin, but who can remember the name of the guy they left in the orbital car park, while they went for a walk on the moon?  His name was Michael Collins, but don’t worry, time seems to have chosen to make his name hard to remember.  Another name you will soon forget is that of the Billionaire Charles Simonyi who is treating himself to another brief/close encounter with space.  Following his first trip for a fee of $25 million, he has accepted a generous offer to pay $10 million more at a cost of $35 million for his second trip.  He must have enjoyed the first one?

Simonyi was one of the people who helped Microsoft reach their technological success and will now become the first none astronaut to make two trips into space.  The 60 year old will go up on Thursday for a two week trip to the International Space Station, accompanied by two Russian professional astronauts who are beginning a six month mission. John Glenn (former US astronaut) was the oldest man ever to go to space when he took a return flight at the age of 77.

You would think that there were better ways of spending $60 million, and it also worries me that we are all paying our bit towards the space race, while a few nations and individuals seem to be having a laugh.  At a time when money is short this just seems wrong from every angle.  I am quite literally in love with the space travel history and future but I am sure I would not be immoral enough to take such a trip, even if I could afford to.

Simonyi has promised his 28 year old Swedish wife he will make this his last trip, she is apparently encouraging him to go…  He must REALLY love space!

OK this is a New Zealand thing, but they have a point.

I am very lucky to work from home, however I do walk my three boys to school every day.  We walk about a mile there and a mile back, me doing the journey twice.  I can’t say they don’t moan, but two of them have given up moaning after several years…

I do think that if you live close enough to walk to work (or school), then why not?  It makes so much sense to not have to drive if you don’t have to drive, or park, or find the money for petrol and parking etc.  It is also good for mind and body to get out and have some exercise.  The boys get a treat after school and most days they deserve it, and stay fit and healthy by walking and doing other activities, but the walking is a guaranteed half hour of activity, morning and night.

Apart from all the fumes we breath in from the other parents sitting stationary in traffic that is.

So walk to work today and support the http://www.livingstreets.org.nz/walk2work/ campaign, and your local planet.