Sunday, November 4

Outdoor skills, Fairy Folk and Spam

Not a lot of interest to add recently, hence the reduction in posts( Blogger Law #1: If there's nowt, to say say nowt)

A quick tale from today's New Forest meander. I bumped into a middle aged couple out on the heathland seeking information on the immediate area. They both seemed very active outdoor types with a history of regular walking all over the South East, Dartmoor/Brecon, and even Snowdonia.

And absolutely fascinated when I produced my keyring compass to answer one of their directional questions. 'Eeeer - how does that work they enquired'? What - the compass?

Luckily I managed to keep a straight face whilst I ran thru finding north, and explained the cardinal points of the compass, but it goes to show what basic skills can be overlooked and yet outdoor enjoyment still possible.

Still such a lack of basic knowledge is a little a worrying. It's a skill I picked up in my early teens, alongside a self taught navigation by the stars. I've never been expert at either of them. But I've never got lost either. Just mildly mislaid occasionally

Hopefully we parted with their knowledge a little better than when we met. And in turn I've been tipped off about a pagan/fairy grotto (?) spot hidden away elsewhere in the forest. Something to check out - sounds intriguing. If slightly weird.

And a side note - due to a rash of spammer comments this week, weirdly all on one old August post, comment verification has been switched on again to deter the buggers. Apologies for the extra work involved - I always have trouble with these twiddly bits myself - but hopefully a temporary measure until they give up again .

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Comments:
This blog spam is rubbish ain't it. My current bout has been going for a couple of months, and shows no sign of worsening (yeah) nor improving (boo). Problem is that it's right on the line between forcing me to look at spam filtering software. It just aint quite that bad yet having about 20 a day.
 
Hi John. Take a look at my comment on your comment on SW and all will become clear. Possibly. Much to catch up on blogwise but it's difficult when you're fending off French dogs with walking poles all day. The French countryside is full of kms upon kms of nothing - few cars, few people, little wildlife (it's the hunting season) but plenty of peace, tranquillity and sensational autumn colours - I love it. Sunblock in November? Yes, It's true. Am now avoiding overnighting in the convents en route - the little beards and moustaches are scary. Almost as scary as the dogs. If all this is a bit mad, blame it on the sun. And the 30 km a day. And the painful feet.
 
It's a nightmare eh? I have the same thing with two postings. I use Wordpress and have been considering using recaptcha

http://recaptcha.net/plugins/wordpress/

But found that at least Akismet seems to be pretty accurate at quarantining them:

http://akismet.com/personal/

Sorry John - it doesn't seem to be available easily for blogspot (but I figured it might help someone else!)
 
well it seems to be deterring the buggers so far
 
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