Category: News
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A Medieval Discovery at Gulval Church, Cornwall
[Update] This work has now been published with Prof. Michelle Brown in British Archaeology. Just to the left of the south porch of Gulval Church, near Penzance in Cornwall, lies a large block of granite. I first came across it on a visit to the churchyard in 2012. However, it really piqued my interest a…
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Synology DS713+ DiskStation Review
The Synology DS713+ is a great product. This review is written from the point of view of someone who owns one, and has used it for a couple of months.
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San Pedro de Atacama
Here are some fun photos taken on my phone from around San Pedro de Atacama. The town is built mainly in adobe, which is effectively a mixture of clay-rich soil, straw, and sand. This is often mixed with stones, and walls are then rendered with a clay slip to finish and protect them. Adobe isn’t…
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Adventures in Chile: The El Taito geysers
I’m typing this sitting in a pleasant 26C heat by a swimming pool. The UV meter outside the (rather excellent) archaeology museum here in San Pedro de Atacama is recommending people of pale complexions to stay out of the sun. Since I currently resemble something akin to a freckled ghost, I’m doing just that. Some…
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Adventures in Chile – Valle de la Luna
Imagine a landscape that is so barren, so alien, yet beautiful in its many forms. Shiny rock salt crystals glint and shine as the sun lowers in the sky. Small cave systems, organically shaped by water millennia ago, meander through gorges. This is Valle de la Luna, or Moon Valley, situated in the north of…
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Santiago de Chile, a summary
Santiago is a wonderful city. I would love to go back, and the longer I stayed, the more I liked it. This is not always the case for every place that I have visited, especially huge cities. So what do I like about it? Perhaps it's the slightly crumbly Colonial architecture, with its plant-ridden façades,…
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The Skies of Atacama
This first photo could well be accompanied by the Orb's “Little Fluffy Clouds” as a soundtrack. The skies here are simply incredible. This is the view over Moon Valley. As the sun sets the colours of the landscape change dramatically, framed by equally stunning skies, as the clouds change from white to red, to finally…
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Adventures in Chile: Arriving in the Atacama Desert
Today we flew from Santiago to Calama in the north of Chile to continue our adventures. I haven’t had time to finish blogging about Santiago and Valparaiso yet, so expect a few out-of-sequence posts in the next few days. Soon after arriving we went on a tour of Valle de la Luna – Moon Valley…
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Graffiti and Murals in Santiago de Chile
Parts of Santiago de Chile are rather run-down, made worse by the earthquake in 2010. Crumbling buildings and broken walls are de rigeur as they wait their turn for reconstruction or demolition. Artists have helped to add some welcome splashes, and often, riots of colour to the downtown area. Here are some photos to give…