Apologies I’ve been a bit quiet of late, the trials and tribulations of a startup business. I can’t make this eve, but I’ll try to get along to future meetups.
That sounds interesting - what are you up to, Jenny? Anything we can help with? 
Not just at the moment, my English corpus is crunching away and will do so for several weeks more, while I have a Kickstarter project for an electronic kit that’s under way.
I will however be wanting to talk to you when I start building a Welsh corpus. 
Ooh, that looks fascinating! Good luck with it all 
Do you know about the work towards a Welsh National Corpus they’re trying to get going down in Swansea?
What’s your Kickstarter link? Maybe we could plug that in the next email? @Deborah-SSi
I’m aware of the work at Swansea, also that at Bangor. It’s really encouraging to see work happening in this field, a language that is evolving is one that is healthy, and Welsh corpora will allow that evolution to be measured.
My Kickstarter campaign is for an RF board for the Raspberry Pi. It’s aimed at radio amateurs and electronics enthusiasts. I hope it wouldn’t be too off-topic for SSiW users.
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It’s a little off-topic, but I think we can usually plug stuff that’s being done by Welsh learners
Desperately trying to think of a Welsh angle and failing 
Other than that the Raspberry Pi is made in Wales of course. I wonder if the Pi foundation would do a board proclaiming that to the world on its silkscreen layer if enough Welsh schools asked for it.
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A last minute reminder about the Oxford group ramble (=gwibfa?) tomorrow (Saturday 4th) starting from Goring & Streatley (see details in 16th June posting above)
Gweld ti yno. the forecast is much better than the last one (which we survived with a smile).
Cheers J.P.
As it happens, when i checked the train times i would arrive in Goring fifty minutes early which didn’t matter at all, i was quite happy along the station road looking in the hedge for critters which i found in abundance.
I took a guess that J.W. would arrive on the 11;45, and he did, i obviously blend into the background as he walked past me towards the station exit, but when he heard “bora da mr Williams, ti’n iawn heddiw” he stopped and turned, yes we had met and were soon on our way into the village, across the long wooden bridge over the Thames and into a cafe.
Sandwich and tea is just the perfect way to start any meeting, then it was the climb uphill onto the downs, this was a fairly long uphill, luckily not to steep as the day was definitely hot. At the top we turned right and were soon in some lovely woodland, the shade and solitude were splendid, why are so few people on these paths.
Oh, well we will have to take our chance, didn’t see anyone and i guess it’s part of some game, when we emerged from the woodland it was into great parkland over looking a valley of varied trees.
Here we took a break and sat to enjoy the view, while amongst other things i wondered what the welsh for cumulus is (i know cloud) as maybe introducing some weather terminology would be good on the whats outside thread. So if anyone knows a source of welsh weather terminology i would be grateful.
When we moved on it was gradually downhill , so easy, i tried to photograph some Red kites high in the sky which of course look like spots on the photo’s (little did we know what would appear later).
I can only assure people it was as pretty as any painting as down and down we went until eventually reaching a river side pub, more drinks (of the cold variety) sitting beside the Thames, this welsh practice sure is pleasant, when we set of the path was right beside the river so a few boats, fishermen and no doubt because it was hot, swimmers were to be seen.
Including great crested grebe.
After a while i’m not sure if J.W. noticed my head tilting with straining ears but it became obvious he was hearing the same as me, the (cyw) chick of something big calling. It took a while of staring at a distant row of trees before i spotted the source. There was a ditch in the way preventing me getting any closer but luckily the zoom on the camera served me well.
Yes the chick of a red kite (barcud goch), looking big enough to soon be taking it’s first flight.
So already it’s about as good as a day can get, we carry on along the river bank seeing some damsel flies (mursenod) and so kept finding new things to talk about, when we reappeared beside streetly church we new the circuit was complete.
All that remained to do was walk back across the long bridge to Goring and, ooh another cafe, better stop for a pot of tea each. (well, it’s thirsty work this walking and talking), we eventually headed for the station, some people don’t like long waits for a train but such events happen, but not today, when we reached the station a train going in J.W’s direction pulled in and he had to sprint so as not to miss it, while i had a whole six minutes to wait.
It just remains to thank J.W. for planning and leading the route faultlessly and for his company, i think we agree we need more vocabulary to keep conversation going but the only way forward is to keep going, tan tro nesaf.
Cheers J.P.
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And many thanks to you JP for so much interesting and useful information in both Welsh and Saesneg about what’s outside!
Hwyl fawr, John
PS And apologies for walking straight past when I got off the train!
Well, after last weekend’s ramble very nicely chronicled by JP above, time to start thinking about possibilities for the next one. Would any of you like to suggest a date? Being the holiday season, people are likely to be away at different tines (including me), so finding a convenient date might be a problem, but we can give it a try. I’ve got a few ideas about where we might go, but other suggestions would be very welcome.
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As alternative suggestions for the next ramble have been a bit slow in coming so far, here some of mine -
With public transport to starting point
- Starting from The Trout Inn at Wolvercote (bus from central Oxford) – Thames path to Eynsham and back via Wytham Wood
- Starting from Oxford’s Thornhill Park & Ride - Shotover Country Park
- Starting from Tackley Station (Oxford-Banbury line) – canal towpath to Kidlington (frequent buses to Oxford)
- Starting from Islip Station (Oxford-Bicester line – rail replacement bus) – along River Cherwell back to Oxford
Car-sharing etc probably needed - Beckley to Otmoor RSPB reserve
- Circular walk Burford to Swinbrook & return to Burford alongside River Evenlode
- A visit to a BBOWT nature reserve
For dates, Saturday 18th or 25th July would be OK for me or, depending on the day, possibly even a weekday in the next couple of weeks but if I couldn’t make it on a day when there are enough other people to chat to each other in Cymraeg (i.e. more than one!), I’d be happy give more details about the suggestions above if needed
Hwyl fawr, John
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Thanks for the time you are putting into this J.W.
This first four suggestions sound like a good list to work through.
a BBOWT nature reserve i could do if people were happy to get train to Thatcham station,
Canal path, around the reed beds to lake and cafe, then different route back to canal path for
return to station.
I won’t be available on the two July dates.
Cheers J.P.
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As we still have to settle on a date for the next Oxford group ramble would anybody like to suggest possible dates later this month and/or early September? As to where, there are a few suggestions in my previous post but more suggestions are always useful
What about either 22nd or 29th August for the Thames Path to Eynsham route??
Yes, 22nd or 29th would be good for me as well
sounds good to me, that is i should be able to make those dates.
Cheers J.P.
Have you settled on a date? I could pop it in this week’s email - Dee
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Diolch Dee - I’m away at the moment,so sorry I wasn’t quick enough responding to make it into this week’s email.
Let’s settle on Sat 22nd Aug meeting at 1200 at The Trout in Wolvercote - I’ll try and post details later, for those who need it, of how to get there
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