The Barsley Brief

Last weekend I visited Farnham, also known to some as Nottingham forest!  This is because the Lower Bourne Woods in Farnham are a commonly used film location.  The first film to be filmed here was Gladiator starring Russell Crowe.  The opening scene from the film with the Roman army lined up against the enemy horde was filmed in these woods, since then famous films have included Children of Men, The Golden Compass, Harry Potter (can’t remember which), Wolfman, and now Ridley Scott’s 2010 Robin Hood.

In the Bourne woods the film crew are constructing a Fort / Castle, on the top of a hill overlooking a peasant village complete with vegetable patches and surrounded by wooden walls and defences.

The Castle

The image above (click for full size with any image on the page) shows the Castle that the film crew have built in Bourne woods, this is an impressive structure even close up!  It is constructed of scaffolding, covered with a wooden frame which I then believe is coated in fabric and plaster of Paris which is then painted in a brick design.  The Castle is huge, and has ramparts on the other side for reverse shots of the archers shooting over the wall.

The Ramparts

From the back the Castle looks very different, you can see the beautifully constructed ramparts from this shot which are sure to be featured as the castle comes under attack.  You can also see the scaffold construction.

The Battering Ram

There were a few clues as to what might take place here, most noticeably the battering ram!  You can just see this on the left of the above picture.

The Village

From the side of the castle this picture looks down at the village, with a series of differently sized huts with thatched roofs.  Some have vegetable gardens, one looks like an ironmongers.

The Village Gates

The final image shows the village gates, from the right of the image you can see the walls are built up on a mound of earth and sharpened stakes point horizontally at would be attackers.  The village gates are also made of logs with towers either side.  Ignore the trucks, not very period!  Then on the left another tower.

Other pictures I have show the large marquee tents where I assume they will be dressing and doing makeup.  Also there is an area where they are producing the props.  Interestingly many of the village props such as benches and tables have been burnt to a crisp in this area.  I believe this is a sign that the village will burn to the ground!

To conclude it was fantastic to visit the set (I say “visit the set” but it is a public forest).  It’s especially interesting to get a feel for the camera angles they use, for example from the rear or one side most of the castle is just naked scaffolding, (except for the ramparts previously shown.  Also looking round the village the village walls only extend a few meters at the front and much of the rest is exposed.  If I were planning an attack the rear of the castle or side of the village is completely undefended.

After seeing the set up close it will be interesting to see it in the film, I wonder if they’re looking for extras… …

As we approach the end of 2008 I felt I should post a short post to round off 2008 – The year of the Potato!

Cycling

Back in January I resolved to get fitter, to motivate me to this end I signed up to the Royal British Legion 2008 Poppy Cycle to Paris.  In January it seemed like a long time off – it wasn’t until September that the cycle started but I wuickly started training.  I soon bought a new bike a Giant OCR 4 (road / race bike) and almost every week went into Evernden Cycles to accesorse it!

I was rather slow on my bike to begin with, looking at one of my posts from February I was struggling to complete 30 miles.  That soon changed though and my furthest training was 76 miles to Farnham, in 5 1/2 hours.

Then in September I completed the Pedal to Paris, 283 miles in 4 days.

Over the year I have cycled 1526 miles acording to my speedometer.  For 2009 I am going to aim to cycle 1000 miles – a drop I know but I am not currently planning any big multiday events and want to set an achieveable goal.

House

I have completed most of the renovations and decorating on my house over 2008 and am enjoying living in it.  Currently I am stocking it with pots and pans and other necessities – I wasnt short of ideas for Christmas this year!

For 2009 I want to finish the house – although is a house ever finished!  For me this means all the little touches, light fittings, doors, skirting boards, window sills oh and a dining room floor!  Also I want to start work on the garden/

Computing

I started this website “The Barsley Brief” back in January 2008 and have written 76 posts since then.  I have enjoyed writing about my cycle to Paris but am now sometimes at a loss at what to write about.  I think I will continue into 2009 writing book reviews and my views on news and events.  A challange for me will be to move server when my current contract expires.

Though the Barsley Brief is not my only website, I became captiavted with the idea of affiliate marketing.  To explain what this is I’ll used the example of Confused.com, many people go there to get car insurance comparisons.  If you use them and then sign up for a insurance plan that they suggest they will recieve a commison from the insurance provider for selling their insurance plan.

I started out along this route with no real expectations, as I didn’t believe that it is possible for one person to make a really difference among so many large affiliate companies.  To date I have 3 completely unique affiliate marketing websites with mixed success, but not ready to retire yet.  Aim for 2009 – that they break even (pay for the web hosting £60)

Wishing you all a great 2009!

Charles

Once again I set off at an insanely early time, 5:15am for my Saturday cycle.  I planned to go 70 miles to Farnham Surrey.  This would be a particularly hilly route but would be good experience and hopefully worse than any days on the actual cycle to Paris.

Even though I had carefully planned my route and uploaded it onto my GPS I instantly started up the wrong street, I knew I was headed to Tunbridge wells, just forgot which route I had mapped.  It was still dark, but fortunately I soon found that my Garmin Edge 205 GPS had a back light, so it was plain sailing from there on to follow the route.  For the first 30 min’s it was dark so I took it slow as with recent rain some of the road surfaces are quite slippery.  Also it takes 5 miles or so to get loosened up and into a rhythm.

From Tunbridge Wells, I took the back roads into Langton Green, Fordcombe and then on through the lanes to Edenbridge, it amazed me (although it was pretty early in the morning) that after doing 20 miles to Edenbridge I still hadn’t been overtaken by another vehicle and wouldn’t be for another 5 miles.

From Edenbridge I continued to Lingfield, Blindley Heath and Outwood.  I think it was around here I was eating my first Powerbar – Banana flavour, (too early in the morning for chocolate flavour!) .  Reading the ingredients I wasn’t surprised to see that there were no Bananas in it!

Over the M23 and into Salford, here I had a tricky junction on the A23 which I briefly joined but was surprised and pleased that my GPS correctly guided me round it.  I continued on thinking how well the route was programmed.  I couldn’t have been more wrong!  I use a website called mapmyride to create all of my rides, I like this over other websites, because you just select way points and it follows the roads to get from A to B to C etc.  However I soon learnt the problem, It doesn’t distinguish between private and public roads.  I first noticed this (Yes it happened more than once!) outside Salfords, I checked my map, I had 10 mile line maps so I could see a way either side.  But couldn’t see a way round, so I thought its not as if I am in a car, I’ll give it a go.  I ended up going through a farm but came out the other side with no problems.

Within a mile it happened again Arrgh!  This time it the road turned into a track and didn’t even follow the mapped route.  I ended up with my bike on my back climbing over stiles along footpaths!  But got through ok, the great thing with the Garmin is you can zoom out so I knew which direction to take.  Looking back there would have been an easy diversion round but I didn’t know that at the time.

I continued pleased to be back on the road through the lanes to the A24.  After crossing this I knew things would start to get tough.  Especially when you see a sign welcoming you to the Surrey Hills!  I continued following the GPS up a steep hill, climbing 200ft in a short space of time.  Only to get to the peak and find those two words again “Private Road”!  There was no going through this one as it lead to a house, so frustrating though as the main road was just on the other side of his house!  I sped back down the hill and checked the map for a work around.  Again I was so please to have a map which spanned 10 miles each side cos I needed it!  I ended up going six miles off route down the A24 (Not Fun), onto the A29 and cutting up to Coldharbour.  This was the highest point of the journey some 770ft above sea level.  Though I did enjoy the next down hill section!

From there I was feeling a bit worn out after the hill climbing and annoyed with the diversions.  I was determined to not have any more problems so I paid special attention to signposts and checked I was always headed a signed route.  As it happened the rest of the journey was fine.  I continued through to Ewhurst, and then Cranleigh where I stopped for coffee.  Only a quick stop mind and headed on to Loxhill, around here I saw 2 other cyclists and chatted and cycled with them for a few minutes.  It was galling to see them disappear into the distance but then I had done 60 miles and they hadn’t.  Milford was the next village / town where I stopped to buy some Powerade, cherry flavour, it was Vile!  But kept my legs moving round!

Then it was on following the B3001all the way into Farnham where I met up with a uni friend and enjoyed a BBQ and a sit down!  Before catching the train back.

The stats

Miles 76.40,

Total time 5 hrs 32 mins

Average pace 4 mins 20 secs per mile

Average Speed 13.8 miles,

Max speed 37.7 mph

Total calories burnt 5756!

Total Ascent 7037 ft

It was a good ride, but incredibly draining.  I learnt a lot from it, for example I don’t drink enough fluids when I am out on the bike.  When you start feeling thirsty it’s too late, you should keep drinking from the start and throughout.

I have improved my hill techniques, I still find some incredibly challenging, but now I drop down to the small front cog and aim to keep my cadence high to get up hills.

Also I think I pushed myself too much at the start.

Finally I learnt to triple check my route!!!

The sponsored cycle to Paris is no longer weeks away more like days!

Please sponsor me here

Finally if anyone reading this has experience in websites, can they suggest a image host?  I want to display images of my routes, but the maps have become so large you can’t make out the route using the maximum size on flickr!