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Monday, October 22, 2007
Exploring the way to Tubingen:
Although I have very much enjoyed walking in the beautiful forested areas in Filderstadt, it's difficult not to get bored and depressed without some kind of purpose. Last time I was here, I was chatting with one of the guys here about how nice the forest trails were. He mentioned that he thought that the trails extended as far as Tubingen. On another occasion, when I was here, the guys took me to Tubingen, to see some sights. I found Tubingen to be a very nice old city. It took us ~40 mins by car to get there. I have been entertaining the thought of bicycling or walking to Tubingen on the trails since.
I have been scouting out the route, and I believe that, on foot, the distance is somewhere in the 35 KM range and that it would likely take around 6 hours. On a weekend, it might be nice to walk there, stay the night, and walk back to Filderstadt on the Sunday. Yesterday, I walked from Filderstadt, to the point I circled in the middle, which is almost half-way. Since I also walked back, this is almost the total distance of walking to Tubingen, and it took 5 hours. The difficulty is in choosing the correct trails, as there are many, and the signs are a bit confusing to me. I think that I might need one more out-and-back walk to make sure I take the correct route to head south, then I'm ready for the full walk. I will need to plan a hotel stay, and commit to the full distance, as it would be exceedingly difficult to walk much greater than half-way, then turn around and walk back.
If I were to drive, I would likely be crossing this huge bridge. It is near Neuenhaus on the map above.
This stand of Spruce trees was probably in the range of 80 ft tall, but since they were up high on a steep hillside, their tops were probably almost 200 feet above me.
The trail has many nice places to sit, and some springs with cold, clear water rushing out into old looking, moss-covered, hewn stone basins.
Although I have very much enjoyed walking in the beautiful forested areas in Filderstadt, it's difficult not to get bored and depressed without some kind of purpose. Last time I was here, I was chatting with one of the guys here about how nice the forest trails were. He mentioned that he thought that the trails extended as far as Tubingen. On another occasion, when I was here, the guys took me to Tubingen, to see some sights. I found Tubingen to be a very nice old city. It took us ~40 mins by car to get there. I have been entertaining the thought of bicycling or walking to Tubingen on the trails since.
I have been scouting out the route, and I believe that, on foot, the distance is somewhere in the 35 KM range and that it would likely take around 6 hours. On a weekend, it might be nice to walk there, stay the night, and walk back to Filderstadt on the Sunday. Yesterday, I walked from Filderstadt, to the point I circled in the middle, which is almost half-way. Since I also walked back, this is almost the total distance of walking to Tubingen, and it took 5 hours. The difficulty is in choosing the correct trails, as there are many, and the signs are a bit confusing to me. I think that I might need one more out-and-back walk to make sure I take the correct route to head south, then I'm ready for the full walk. I will need to plan a hotel stay, and commit to the full distance, as it would be exceedingly difficult to walk much greater than half-way, then turn around and walk back.
If I were to drive, I would likely be crossing this huge bridge. It is near Neuenhaus on the map above.
This stand of Spruce trees was probably in the range of 80 ft tall, but since they were up high on a steep hillside, their tops were probably almost 200 feet above me.
The trail has many nice places to sit, and some springs with cold, clear water rushing out into old looking, moss-covered, hewn stone basins.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Timber Framing course at Lee Valley
I took a one-day Timber Framing course at Lee Valley a few weeks ago, in between my trips to Germany and England. I became interested in Timber Frame construction in 2002, but had since dismissed it as something that I would likely never get to take part in. The course has now led me to believe otherwise. The instructor, Mike Symons, a professional timber framer, was fantastic, and under his guidance I got to cut part of several common timber frame joints. We build a section of a wall something like 9' high by 10' wide, which will be part of a shed. The mortice/tennon and knee-brace connections below are somewhat like what we did.
The image is captured from Google Sketchup. If anyone reading this wants the file, I got it from a Sketchup file archive. Do a search for Level1Joinery.skp.
I can't stop thinking about what kind of project I can build. Even before my workshop is complete, I'm thinking about building a 12' x 16' garden shed.
The idea of putting an addition on the house has been with me since we moved in, and I think that Timber Frame might be really nice. I've started working on some shed plans using Sketchup, and thinking that building the exact frame that I would attach to the house, except smaller, would be a cool idea to practice. Below is a frame I designed on the plane to Germany, purely from memory, after re-reading Steve K. Chappell's "A Timber Framer's Workshop:" last week.
This is a frame I got from Sketchup repository. Search for radkey.skp. It's somewhat similar, so I think that I'm pretty close to the mark.
I took a one-day Timber Framing course at Lee Valley a few weeks ago, in between my trips to Germany and England. I became interested in Timber Frame construction in 2002, but had since dismissed it as something that I would likely never get to take part in. The course has now led me to believe otherwise. The instructor, Mike Symons, a professional timber framer, was fantastic, and under his guidance I got to cut part of several common timber frame joints. We build a section of a wall something like 9' high by 10' wide, which will be part of a shed. The mortice/tennon and knee-brace connections below are somewhat like what we did.
The image is captured from Google Sketchup. If anyone reading this wants the file, I got it from a Sketchup file archive. Do a search for Level1Joinery.skp.I can't stop thinking about what kind of project I can build. Even before my workshop is complete, I'm thinking about building a 12' x 16' garden shed.
The idea of putting an addition on the house has been with me since we moved in, and I think that Timber Frame might be really nice. I've started working on some shed plans using Sketchup, and thinking that building the exact frame that I would attach to the house, except smaller, would be a cool idea to practice. Below is a frame I designed on the plane to Germany, purely from memory, after re-reading Steve K. Chappell's "A Timber Framer's Workshop:" last week.
This is a frame I got from Sketchup repository. Search for radkey.skp. It's somewhat similar, so I think that I'm pretty close to the mark.
Travel Summary: August to October 2007
Life has been very busy since last post. Below is a summary of all of the trips I've done since last post, and I'm not entirely sure that I even remembered all of them. Some nasty experiences, but also some tremendous ones as well. I actually took the time to assign a point scheme to each trip, with '+' numbers for good things and '-' for bad. Ironically, it actually totaled up to exactly zero!
Life has been very busy since last post. Below is a summary of all of the trips I've done since last post, and I'm not entirely sure that I even remembered all of them. Some nasty experiences, but also some tremendous ones as well. I actually took the time to assign a point scheme to each trip, with '+' numbers for good things and '-' for bad. Ironically, it actually totaled up to exactly zero!
1 week
- trouble with US customs, almost didn’t make flight
- met customer in person which I had previously had a long-standing relationship with and had never actually shook hands with
1 week
- flight canceled on way back due to problem with the main cabin door, spent 12 hours at airport waiting and stress about what to do
1 week
- fantastic trip; went hiking in
- went to
1 week
- hiking every evening in the forest
1 week
- M1 was closed; got off plane at Heathrow at 6:30 AM; didn’t make it to hotel until dinner
- got to meet Mum and Paul for dinner, as they just happened to be vacationing there while I was visiting
- ate at the same Indian restaurant every night; you can’t improve upon perfection
- here I stand
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