Year: 2025

Windows 10 Extended Security Updates

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Screenshot which says 'You're eligible to enrol in Extended Security Updates at no extra cost'

Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 in just two days time. What this means is, if you’re using Windows 10 and don’t take action, you’ll no longer get security updates for your computer. And that would be bad – your computer is therefore at greater risk of viruses and malware.

Previously, when Microsoft ended support for Windows, if you were a home user then you were on your own. This time, Microsoft is offering the Extended Security Updates programme, and making it available to home users for the first time. I suppose this is because Windows 11 installs only exceeded Windows 10 as recently as June this year, and around 45% of Windows users still use Windows 10 despite it being 10 years old now. This includes us.

Upgrade or replace

Ideally, Microsoft wants you to upgrade to Windows 11. Many Windows 10 computers can be upgraded, but not all. If not, then, as far as Microsoft is concerned, you should be considering purchasing a new computer.

At home, we have a Lenovo Ideapad 320S which is approaching its eighth birthday. That’s pretty old for a laptop, and it’s been used heavily as it was my main work computer during lockdown. Theoretically, it might run Windows 11, if I backed everything up, wiped its SSD and did a fresh install. But Microsoft’s PC Health Check app won’t allow an in-place upgrade, as its processor (an Intel Core i3 in the 7000 series) doesn’t meet its minimum hardware requirements.

We will, eventually, replace this with a new laptop running Windows 11 – probably some time next year. But for now, this little survivor meets our needs – especially as, back in 2021, I upgraded its RAM from 4 gigabytes to 16 gigabytes.

Enrolling for Extended Security Updates

If you open Windows Update on a Windows 10 machine, you should see the option to enrol for Extended Security Updates. This gives you an additional year of security updates, to allow you time to either upgrade or buy a new computer. As mentioned, this is a new offering for home users; previously, only enterprise users ever had this option.

Enrolling for extended security updates may cost you, depending on your system settings. If, at the time you sign up, you’re already synchronising your PC settings, then you may be offered the extended security updates at no charge. This is what happened to us, as per the screenshot at the top of this blog post. Which was nice.

Alternatively, if you live in the European Economic Area (EEA), then you should also get the updates for free. Thanks to Brexit, us Brits unfortunately no longer live in the EEA.

If you’re not eligible for free updates, then Microsoft will charge you. If you use Microsoft Rewards, then you can redeem 1000 reward points instead of paying money. Alternatively, there’s a $30 charge, which works out at about £24 for the year.

What about Linux?

If you don’t want to buy a new PC, aren’t eligible for free updates and don’t want to pay, then I suppose the other option is to consider running some flavour of Linux on your existing PC. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this, but if you’re really stuck for money and have the time to learn how to use a new operating system, then sure, I guess it’s an option to consider.

Haden 4-in-1 Air Fryer Microwave review

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A photo of the Haden Air Fryer Microwave

It may surprise you to hear that we haven’t owned an air fryer until recently. They’re really popular, especially as, when compared with a regular convection oven, they can cook food faster and more cheaply. The cost of living crisis, and huge increase in energy bills, led many people towards buying these and I know lots of people who swear by them.

Anyway, we do now own an air fryer, in the form of this Haden 4-in-1 Air Fryer Microwave (sponsored link). It’s a microwave that can also act as an air fryer, a grill, and a convection oven. You can buy one from Amazon for £150, but we picked up ours from the middle aisle of our local Lidl for £120 a few weeks ago.

So why haven’t we owned an air fryer until now?

There are two key reasons why it’s taken us this long to buy an air fryer. The first is a lack of space; when we had our kitchen renovated in 2022, we ended up with less work surface space (but more usable space overall). There wasn’t really any room to keep a large air fryer out on the work surface, but nor did we want to be lifting a big air fryer out of a cupboard every time we wanted to use it. We also didn’t want to buy a small air fryer that wouldn’t serve our needs.

The second is that Christine wasn’t convinced by them. For her, Jay Rayner’s 2022 article criticising them was proof that they weren’t worth it. Also, in the kitchen renovation we had two full-size convection ovens installed, so there wasn’t much need.

This air fryer microwave gets around the space issue, by replacing one of the appliances that was already taking up space on our kitchen work surface. Our previous microwave pre-dates our relationship (which is 16 years as of tomorrow), and was only a cheap own-brand model from Tesco. It had a bit of metal missing, and as a 800 watt model, wasn’t as fast as newer microwaves on the market. Replacing it with an air fryer microwave would give us a more useful appliance, in the same space.

What it’s like to use

The controls are relatively straightforward – more so than our previous microwave. It defaults to microwave mode, but you can press the ‘grill’, ‘air fryer’ or ‘micro+conv’ buttons first to change the mode. In air fryer and oven mode, you select the temperature in degrees Celsius, and then the cooking time, before pressing the big start button. There are shortcut buttons to quickly add 30 seconds, a minute or five minutes. There are also presets for pizza, chicken and popcorn.

It is quite noisy, and the fan sometimes stays on after cooking – especially in air fryer mode.

As a microwave, it works well; the extra hundred watts of power reducing cooking time compared to our old microwave. Meanwhile, to use it as an air fryer, you pop a metal stand on top of the glass microwave plate with your food on. That means the food still rotates on the stand in air fryer mode, like it would in a regular microwave. In this mode, it can use up to 1500 watts of power, which is equivalent to dedicated stand-alone models.

We’ve yet to use the grill and convection oven modes, so I can’t comment on those.

Compromises

Any multi-function device is going to have some compromises, when compared with dedicated appliances. Taking our Instant Pot for example: it can slow cook, but you have to set the cooking temperature higher. This Haden air fryer microwave works well as a microwave, as mentioned above, but as an air fryer it isn’t as good as a dedicated appliance would be. The cooking times are longer; indeed, generally it needs to cook food for about the same time as in an oven. It does save a bit of time, as there’s no need to pre-heat it like you would with a regular oven, and it’s heating a smaller space and so should use less energy. But it’s not significantly faster than an oven in the way that a dedicated air fryer would be.

The other compromise is when you want to use multiple functions sequentially. For example, we air fried some sausages, and then wanted to use the microwave function to steam some broccoli to serve as part of the same meal. Unfortunately, the glass microwave plate was still really hot, and so not suitable for using with the plastic microwave steamer basket. As our old microwave wasn’t fit to pass on to a charity shop, we salvaged its glass plate before taking it to be recycled; thankfully this fits the new microwave and so we can swap the plates around if one gets too warm.

Verdict

So, should you consider a combination air fryer and microwave? If you’re pushed for space, then sure – you get what would normally be several separate appliances combined into one neat package. And at £150, it may be cheaper than buying the appliances individually, if you’re starting from scratch.

However, if you have the space for a microwave and an air fryer, and the money to spare, you’ll probably get better results from a dedicated air fryer than this combination model – especially if you plan to use it regularly. That being said, this Haden model is very much at the budget end, and others are available which may offer better results. There’s a Toshiba model (sponsored link) which includes a steamer basket and currently sells for £170 (normally £250). Panasonic’s microwaves tend to be highly rated, so you could consider their 4-in-1 model (sponsored link), but it’s currently £360. That’s three times as much as what we paid for our Haden model.

When you should (and shouldn’t) charge your electric car to 100%

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Something to bear in mind about electric cars is that their batteries will degrade slightly over time. As the batteries age, the maximum range obtainable from the batteries on a full charge will go down. How quickly this happens will depend on how you use and how you charge your car, and in this blog post, I’m going to talk about the impact of charging to 100% on your battery’s health.

In our previous diesel car, we would usually let the fuel tank run down until it was in the red zone (about 1/8 full) and then fill it up. The exceptions would be when we’re about to go on a long journey, and so we would fill up before departing to save having to stop off on the way.

With our electric car, we follow the advice of generally keeping the charge level between 20% and 80%. A quick web search finds several different articles backing this up. But we do also charge to 100% sometimes:

When you should charge to 100%

If you’re about to go on a journey where you need the range, then charging up to 100% makes sense. This is especially so if you’re charging at home, as this will be much cheaper than paying to do so at a public charger. There’s no point in only charging to 80%, if this would mean that you have to stop and charge on your journey, when a 100% charge would allow you to complete your journey without a break.

Occasional charges to 100% are probably not going to contribute significantly to your battery’s degradation.

When you shouldn’t charge to 100%

The batteries in your car tend to work best at between 20% and 80% charge. Going outside this range can stress the battery, and doing so regularly may result in them degrading faster. This is also why rapid public chargers slow down the rate of charge after your battery reaches 80%.

Therefore, if you’re not planning a long journey, then it’s best to stop charging your car at around 80%. It’s also worth noting that some cars will limit the effects of regenerative braking above 80% charge, so your driving will be less efficient until your battery drops below 80% charge. Route planning apps should estimate how much charge you will need for your journey, and whether it’s worth charging to 100%.

Also, if you’re using a public charger and don’t need a full charge, then it’s courteous to stop charging at 80% and move your car to a non-charging bay, so that someone else can use it.

Is battery degradation a big problem?

Battery degradation is something that owners of electric cars should be somewhat aware of, but I also think that it’s less of an issue than some make it out to be. We didn’t buy our Nissan Leaf new – it was three and a half years old, and with around 33,000 miles on the clock. Its battery capacity isn’t quite as much as it would have been fresh from the factory, but we’re talking about a reduction of maybe four miles, which is less than 2%. If you extrapolate that, then by the time the car is around 10 years old, the battery degradation may reach 5-6%. But that still means that the battery can hold almost as much charge as new.

Obviously, we’ll do what we can to try and preserve the battery’s capacity for as long as possible, although there will be the occasional 100% charge when necessary.

Converting a Tasmota smart plug to ESPHome

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A photo of a Coosa smart plug, originally running Tuya firmware, and a USB to UART converter. This now runs ESPHome firmware.

Back in June, I flashed some old Tuya Wi-Fi smart plugs with Tasmota firmware. I’ve now re-flashed one of them with ESPHome, an alternative firmware by the Open Home Foundation who are the same people as Home Assistant. In this blog post, I’m going to outline:

  • Why the change from Tasmota to ESPHome
  • How to build a YAML file for ESPHome
  • The flashing process

This is a longer blog post, so if you want to skip the explanations for each section of the YAML file and just want to go ahead and do this yourself, you can download my pre-made YAML file from GitHub, and then follow these instructions.

Why the change from Tasmota to ESPHome

If you’re starting out with custom firmware for your existing devices, then I would still recommend Tasmota. It’s much easier to set up, as you install it first, and then configure it. There’s also a much more extensive repository of supported devices, so you shouldn’t need to do much manual tinkering once Tasmota is installed.

ESPHome, by contrast, requires you to configure it first, and then install it. Furthermore, rather than offering a web interface for configuring your devices, instead you have to do this in a YAML file. And then you have to compile the firmware specifically for your device and upload it.

That being said, ESPHome is much more powerful. You can build automations into it that run on the device itself, rather than through, say, Home Assistant. And as each firmware binary is compiled for each device, it’s much smaller, which allows for easier updates. On some Tasmota devices, you have to install a ‘minimal’ version of the firmware before you can upgrade. By contrast, with ESPHome, your device should be able to update directly to new firmware versions.

As you would expect, ESPHome integrates better with Home Assistant. Indeed, one reason for me changing to ESPHome is that the Tasmota integration takes a while to start up and is one of those slowing Home Assistant down. Firmware updates are also offered through Home Assistant, so you don’t need something like TasmoAdmin to manage firmware updates for multiple Tasmota devices.

Building the YAML file

I’m going to go through each section of the YAML file, to explain what it does, and why it’s necessary. Some of these are specific to the plugs that I’m using, and may not transfer to other devices.

Firstly, with Tasmota still running, open the Configuration screen and choose Template. This will give you a list of the GPIO pins, and what they currently do in Tasmota. You’ll need to note these, so that you can tell ESPHome what pins to use. On mine, these were the ones in use:

  • GPIO4 – LED
  • GPIO5 – Relay
  • GPIO13 – Button

The LED is the light on the smart plug, the relay is what controls whether the power is on or not, and the button is the physical button on the smart plug that controls the relay. Whilst the relay is the most important, to preserve the device’s full functionality, we need to tell ESPHome about all of them.

The ESPHome section

Here’s the first bit of the YAML file:

esphome:
  name: $name
  friendly_name: $friendly_name

esp8266:
  board: esp01_1m

If you use the wizard in the ESPHome Device Builder, then these will have been created for you and filled out with whatever name you’ve chosen. The second block tells ESPHome that the device has an ESP8266 chip, and it’s a generic board. This was the default selection and seemed to work fine for me.

Logging, API, OTA, Wi-Fi

Next, we have the following:

# Enable logging
logger:

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:
  encryption:
    key: $key

ota:
  - platform: esphome
    password: $password

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_ssid
  password: !secret wifi_password

  # Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
  ap:
    ssid: "esphome-smartplug"
    password: $fallbackpassword

captive_portal:

The logger means that the device will keep logs. It’s up to you whether you keep this in, but as I was coming up with this myself, I decided it would be best to help debugging.

Because I’ll be using this smart plug with Home Assistant, we need to include the ‘api:‘ section. Again, the ESPHome device builder should have filled out an API key here.

The ‘ota:‘ section allows for ‘over the air’ updates. This means that your device can update to new versions of ESPHome without needing to be plugged in to a device, either over USB or a UART connection.

In the ‘wifi:‘ section, this includes references to the ESPHome Device Builder’s secrets file which should have your Wi-Fi network SSID and password. If the smart plug can’t connect using these details, then, as a fallback, it’ll create its own access point. This is where we also need the ‘captive_portal:‘ section, which allows the user to select a Wi-fi network if the one we’ve pre-programmed can’t be found.

Web server

Next, we have this section:

web_server:
  port: 80

This is optional, but it creates a Tasmota-like web app that you can connect to. This will allow you to press the button on the smart plug, view the logs, and upload firmware. We don’t need it, but it partially replicates the functionality of the previous Tasmota firmware, and helps with debugging.

Binary sensor

This is the section that enables the hardware button on the smart plug to work:

binary_sensor:
  - platform: gpio
    pin:
      number: GPIO13
      mode: INPUT_PULLUP
      inverted: True
    use_interrupt: True
    name: "Power Button"
    id: "smartplug_button"
    on_press:
      - switch.toggle: "smartplug_relay"
    disabled_by_default: True

We’re telling ESPHome that the button is attached to GPIO pin 13, and, when the button is pressed, to toggle the relay on or off. I’ve also added the ‘disabled_by_default: True‘ line so that it doesn’t show in Home Assistant.

Switch

Now, we need to configure the relay, and make it available to Home Assistant:

switch:
  - platform: gpio
    name: "Switch"
    id: "smartplug_relay"
    pin: GPIO5
    on_turn_on:
      - output.turn_on: led
    on_turn_off:
      - output.turn_off: led
    restore_mode: RESTORE_DEFAULT_ON

So, we’re telling Home Assistant that the relay is connected to GPIO pin 5. We’re also telling it to turn on the LED when the relay is turned on, and off again when it’s turned off. The ‘restore_mode: RESTORE_DEFAULT_ON‘ tells ESPHome what to do when the device boots up, perhaps after a power cut. I’ve set it to try to restore the status that it had before, but if it can’t, to turn the relay on.

LED

Here’s our final block, to tell ESPHome that there’s an LED

output:
  - platform: gpio
    pin: GPIO4
    inverted: true
    id: led

Again, we tell ESPHome that it’s connected to GPIO pin 4. The YAML code in the Switch section tells ESPHome when to turn the LED on or off.

So, now we have a YAML configuration file. This should be added as a new device in the ESPHome Device Builder.

The flashing process

The good news is that switching from Tasmota to ESPHome is easier than from the original Tuya firmware. You probably won’t have to get out a UART converter and cables, unless you accidentally brick your device. Instead, you just need to follow these instructions, which involve manually downloading the firmware binary, and then uploading it to Tasmota. When the device restarts, it’ll be running ESPHome instead.

Regenerative braking in electric cars

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My Nissan Leaf dashboard showing that it has regenerated enough energy through regenerative braking to add three miles to the range

One of the benefits of most electric cars (and many hybrid cars) is regenerative braking – recovering the energy created from braking to charge the battery. It’s something that most petrol and diesel cars can’t do, and it allows electric cars to extend their range slightly.

Regenerative braking is something that electric trains have done for many years (indeed most electric passenger trains in the UK have regenerative braking), but it’s something that is probably new to car owners.

The first law of thermodynamics

If you’ve studied physics, you may be familiar with the first law of thermodynamics. This law dictates that energy can’t be destroyed and it can only be changed from one form to another. When you press the brake pedal to slow your car down, the energy from the brake force has to go somewhere.

On a internal combustion engine (ICE) car powered by petrol or diesel, your car will slow down by the friction created when your brake pads are pressed against your brake discs. The energy is therefore wasted as heat, and braking gradually wears your brake pads down over time.

Electric cars brake slightly differently. They still have brake discs and brake pads, but when you want to brake, the electric motor can work in reverse. The resultant kinetic energy can then be converted into electrical energy that is fed back into the battery, rather than being wasted as heat. From what I understand, this is done using magnets; if you think back to GCSE Science, you’ll remember that a magnet, combined with motion, produces electricity.

Additional range

That additional energy flowing back into the battery can therefore extend the range that your car can achieve on a full charge. We’ve actually noticed the charge level go up whilst driving downhill. An example is when we’re heading home from Manchester; to reach Sowerby Bridge, we exit the M62 at its summit point which is 372 metres above sea level, and descend around 300 metres. Typically, the charge goes up around 2% over the 8 miles from the M62 to Sowerby Bridge.

One thing to note is that your battery needs some capacity to accept the extra charge from regenerative braking. Therefore, if your car is 100% charged, there won’t be any regenerative charge. On our car, regenerative braking is limited above 80% charge.

Overall, depending on the types of roads, regenerative braking tends to add between 5 and 10% more range, which equates to between 7 and 14 miles. As well as allowing you to drive further on a full charge, it also saves a bit of money.

Reduced brake wear

Because you’re using the car’s electric motor to slow down, you should also find that your car’s brake pads and brake discs suffer less wear and tear. Again, this will save you money, as the discs and pads won’t need replacing as often as they would in an ICE car. It also reduces your car’s emissions; not only do electric cars not have any tailpipe emissions, but the particulate emissions from your brakes is also reduced compared to an equivalent ICE car.

How much regenerative braking your car will do, will depend on its mode. On our Nissan Leaf, in standard and eco driving modes, it will do a moderate amount of regenerative braking. But if we pop it into e-pedal mode, which is its one-pedal driving feature, the motor brakes more aggressively to regenerate more energy. We tend to keep it in e-pedal mode almost all of the time, although it’s of less use on motorways, for example.

Regenerative braking is a nice bonus feature of electric cars, and helps them be more efficient. It also adds to their lower maintenance costs, through lower brake wear. It’s certainly something to consider when weighing up whether to buy an electric or hybrid car.

Bowland Wild Boar and Animal Park

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A photo of some wild boar at the Bowland Wild Boar Park

We’re finally at the end of the list of the things we did over the summer. And yes, I’m aware that it is now October and the weather is distinctly un-summery. On the August Bank Holiday Monday, we went to the Bowland Wild Boar and Animal Park, which is in the Forest of Bowland Natural Landscape in North Lancashire.

The Bowland Wild Boar Park is an open farm, and one of many across the UK that doubles as a visitor attraction. However, as the name suggests, it’s also home to a herd of wild boar, who have a large paddock to roam around in. Indeed, the photo at the top of this post was about the best shot as I could manage on the day. Besides the wild boar, there are also emus, goats, llamas, alpacas, peacocks, geese, hens, owls, deer, pigs, donkeys, ducks, and the ubiquitous meerkats.

It’s quite a large site, with the animals having plenty of space. You can also buy bags of animal feed, to give to (some of) the animals, and there’s a playground, café and ice cream shop. If you’re able to stay for a whole day, then there are walks around the site that you can go on, but we mainly stayed around where the animals were. On the day we visited, there was an excellent food truck visiting, so I can’t comment on the food at the café.

Geese and goats at the Bowland Wild Boar Park

Accessibility

If this all sounds great, just be aware that the park has limited opening outside of the summer peak, so don’t head off there this weekend. It’s open throughout the forthcoming October half term, with Halloween themed activities (Saturday 25th October to Sunday 2nd November), but not until then. After that, you’ll need to check the web site as it’s often only open at weekends or for special events. I gather that the site doesn’t have mains electricity, and so it’s reliant on a couple of massive free-standing solar panel arrays and generators.

The site is on a slope, and there’s a lot of uneven ground. However, you can rent a rugged mobility scooter in advance if needed.

We drove there, taking a rather scenic route across the top of the Calder Valley avoiding Todmorden, and then through some of the more well-to-do villages near Clitheroe. If you don’t have a car, then there are hourly buses from Clitheroe (which is the nearest railway station with trains from Manchester and Bolton) that take you to the village of Chipping, where it is then a 3-4 mile walk. Maybe bring a bike.

Unblogged September

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A depiction of the Cheshire cat on the roof of Trinity Leeds

Considering that I still haven’t written about everything we did in July and August (there’s one more blog post to follow on Thursday), then surely there’s lots more to come from what we did in September. Right?

Well, we did do quite a few things this month, but not all of them merited blogging about on their own. Diamond Geezer normally writes a summary of unblogged things each month (here’s his from August) and whilst I won’t be writing a day-by-day summary, here are some of the things we did:

Trips to Manchester

I went to Manchester twice this month. The first was for a birthday meal for Christine, and also a shopping trip. We naturally went to Afflecks, which is an indoor market focussed on alternative lifestyles and has many small businesses selling clothes, jewellery and music. It’s in an old department store which closed in the 1970s after being taken over by Debenhams (who already had a larger store nearby). It’s operated in its current format since 1982, and is a very quirky place.

My second trip was for work, attending a training session about international qualifications delivered by UK ENIC. That was held at the University of Manchester.

Trip to Leeds

We also had a shopping trip to Leeds, which also doubled up as a second birthday meal for Christine, this time with my parents. This was at Bibi’s Italianissimo, which is a huge art deco restaurant near the station. Bibi’s has been in Leeds for years and retains a reasonably good reputation for food and hospitality – especially for families.

We also went into the Corn Exchange, which is similar in some respects to Afflecks in Manchester as it’s also home to many smaller shops – a couple of which are also in Afflecks. Architecturally, the Corn Exchange is far more interesting, being as it is circular with a huge glass domed roof over the central atrium inside. It’s unsurprisingly Grade I listed.

Back to school

Our nine-year-old is back at school, and started year five – their penultimate year at primary school. Next year, we’ll need to start looking at secondary schools.

Getting cold

This time of year is when we see how long we can hold out before turning the heating on. Which turned out to be Tuesday 16th September, after a run of cold days. It warmed up again afterwards, and so the thermostat didn’t come on until it turned cold again last weekend. Normally, the heating stays on until early May.

Speaking of heating, I’ve had major issues with my Nest thermostat recently with it refusing to work with either the Google Home app or Home Assistant. Ultimately, I had to completely remove it from both, and then re-add it, to get it working again. Which is a faff because the Nest integration in Home Assistant is one of the most difficult to set up, and it’s actually gotten worse since last time as you now have to create a Pub/Sub topic too. I’m pleased that it’s working again, but you can tell Google are phasing out their Nest thermostats in Europe. It will certainly get replaced with a different system, as and when we’re ready to replace our gas boiler with a heat pump.

Playlist of the month: Symphonic Metal

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Screenshot of the symphonic metal playlist

This month’s playlist is all about symphonic metal, a subgenre which combines metal with classical music. That might be the use of classical music, or classically-trained singers who sing in a more operatic style.

Symphonic metal happens to be one of my favourite styles of music; music by Within Temptation has showed up in several of the previous monthly playlists. Christine and I have seen them live twice; we’ve also seen Delain live twice, although one of those was where Delain were supporting Within Temptation.

I first got into symphonic metal when I met Hari, my ex-girlfriend, as she was already into bands like Nightwish and owned a couple of their albums. Though we split up over sixteen years ago, I’ve continued to enjoy this genre of music and Christine likes it too. Anyway, on with the playlist – as always, you can listen along on Spotify.

  • “Faster” by Within Temptation. This was the first single from Within Temptation’s fifth studio album, The Unforgiving, and is their most played song on Spotify. And with good reason – it’s one of my favourites and shows off lead singer Sharon den Adel’s huge vocal range.
  • “Bring Me To Life (Synthesis)” by Evanescence. I’ve specifically chosen this newer version from Evanescence’s 2017 album Synthesis, rather than their debut single, as it’s a better fit for the genre with what sounds like a full orchestra backing the band. It also doesn’t have Paul McCoy’s vocals that were in the 2003 single version (also featured on the soundtrack to the early Marvel film Daredevil); these were not included in the original demo (also on Spotify) and were added at the insistence of the record label.
  • “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” by Xandria. It’s a gender-flipped symphonic metal cover version of the epic Meat Loaf song, and yes, it’s of a similar length too. I really like this version.
  • “Victims of Contingency” by Epica. Epica really go all in for orchestral accompaniments for their songs, and this is a really good example. It’s definitely metal, with a growly male voice during the verses, but with lead singer Simone Simmons singing the chorus.
  • “Nemo” by Nightwish. Nemo was taken from Nightwish’s 2004 album Once, which was their final album featuring their original lead singer Tarja Turunen (who has since pursued a solo career). Again, this is big with the orchestral accompaniment, especially after the key change towards the end.
  • “We Are The Others” by Delain. This song was the second single from Delain’s third album, and is a tribute to Sophie Lancaster. It’s a song about feeling like an outcast, and the importance of becoming friends with other outcasts.
  • “Hunger” by Amaranthe. Amaranthe are towards the commercial end of symphonic metal, with relatively tight songs that are more friendly to radio play. They’re also quite prolific, having released seven albums since this, their first single, came out in 2011.
  • “Magic Forest” by Amberian Dawn. This song has a bit of an 80s feel to it. I’ve listened to a few of Amberian Dawn’s songs, including their ABBA cover, but this is my favourite.
  • “Hunting High and Low” by Metalite. This is also a cover, of a song by Stratovarius, but I prefer this version. They’re relatively new, compared to many of the bands on here – this was released as recently as 2020.
  • “Edge of Your Sword” by LEAH. Unlike the others on this list, LEAH isn’t a band but a solo music project by Leah McHenry. She releases all her songs independently of a major label, and this is my favourite of hers.

Bolton Abbey

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A view of Bolton Abbey overlooking the River Wharfe

Bolton Abbey is yet another of those ‘I can’t believe I haven’t written about this before’ places that we went to again last month. But, apparently, I’ve never written a blog post about a visit, even though I’ve been loads of times over the years.

The Bolton Abbey estate is one of the ‘seats’ of the Dukes of Devonshire, along with Chatsworth (see 2016 blog post although we’ve visited again more recently) in Derbyshire and Lismore Castle in Ireland – none of which are in Devonshire. The 11th Duke of Devonshire, Andrew Cavendish, transferred ownership of the Bolton Abbey estate to a charitable trust who operate it to this day.

As the name suggests, the main feature of the estate is an abbey, now known as Bolton Priory. Part of the church is still in use today, but the rest of it is a ruin, following the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII. I’m beginning to understand why we spend so long learning about the Tudors in our history lessons at school. The priory was built next to a crossing point of the River Wharfe, and the estate essentially covers the river valley.

Our last visit was in the summer of 2020, during the pandemic, and over the years I’ve been on some hikes with the University hiking club,

The Strid

I’m going to let you watch this Tom Scott video about The Strid. Upstream from the abbey, the River Wharfe hits a section of harder rock, and is forced into a narrow, fast-flowing channel, known as The Strid. It’s regarded as being one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world, as whilst it may look sedate from above, there are fast-flowing currents below the surface. And we’re not entirely sure how deep it is – there may be hidden caverns down there.

Due to the exceptionally dry year that we’ve had, there was less water flowing through The Strid when we visited. But there are big warning signs around, advising that people have lost their lives after having fallen in. We had a look at it from a safe distance.

The Stepping Stones and the beach

Back down towards the priory, there are a set of stepping stones across the river. It’s particularly wide and shallow here, and possible to wade across in summer. There have been stepping stones here since the abbey’s heyday, although they’re often replaced due to damage. There are 62 stones in total, and our nine-year-old raced across whilst I nervously followed behind. Nowadays, there’s a bridge alongside, and so Christine took the easy route.

Next to the stepping stones is a beach – a sandy area inside one of the river’s meanders. This is popular, especially on sunny days, as an inland alternative to the seaside. Our nine-year-old had a nice paddle.

On the eastern bank of the river was the Welly Walk, which I understand is only here for this year and closes in November. It’s essentially a series of play areas over a one mile walk. It can get muddy, and the path isn’t suitable for wheelchairs or pushchairs, but it’s a fun challenge for kids.

Accessibility

The map given to you on arrival shows the more accessible paths around the estate, but there are some relatively steep ramps even on the more accessible routes. Some paths have steps, and almost all are gravel with some uneven surfaces.

There’s plenty of parking on site, across four car parks. Payment is £15 per car for a whole day on arrival, or £12.50 if pre-booked at least a day before. You don’t need to pay to enter the site, so if you’re able to arrive by some other method, you won’t need to pay anything.

That said, public transport options are limited. There are buses on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and Dalesbus services at weekends. Due to a narrow arch on the road through the valley, these tend to be small buses. Bolton Abbey railway station is about a mile away, but it’s on the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway which doesn’t have a mainline connection.

Route planning apps for electric cars

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A screenshot showing various route planning apps, including Google Maps, Apple Maps, ZapMap, Electroverse, PlugShare and ABRP

Since I first got my own car (10 years ago), we’ve used Google Maps for directions. I’ve never bothered with a stand-alone satnav, and our Nissan Leaf is the first car that we’ve owned to have one built-in.

With our electric Nissan Leaf, Google Maps is still our go-to app for route planning and directions, but there are some other apps that I’ve considered. Here’s an overview of them.

Google Maps

Starting with Google Maps. Its support for electric vehicles is okay; you can tell it that your car is an electric vehicle, and it’ll offer the most energy-efficient routes as well as the fastest. Remember, electric and hybrid cars have regenerative braking; in a petrol or diesel car, a shorter but slower route may only use a little less fuel, but a lot less energy in an electric car. On one recent journey, a slower but more direct route took five minutes longer, but used 29% less charge and meant that would get there and back without having to recharge en route.

You can also tell Google Maps what plugs your car supports. Our Nissan Leaf, for example, can charge from a 3-pin plug, a Type 2 AC charger and CHAdeMO DC chargers. Then, when you switch your car from being petrol/diesel to electric, it’ll no longer offer to show you directions to petrol stations, but to public electric car chargers instead.

Google Maps will show public chargers from the majority of major operators, and their occupancy. However, compared to some of the other apps mentioned here, it won’t show all chargers.

If you have a really new electric car with Google Maps built-in, then it’ll know your car’s current charge and be able to add charging stops for long journeys. Our Nissan Leaf doesn’t – we can just use Google Maps through CarPlay or Android Auto. As such, it won’t automatically suggest charging stops on longer journeys.

Apple Maps

Note: I’m writing this about Apple Maps in iOS 18, which was current at the time of writing

I’m sure that Apple Maps works great, if you live in California. I don’t, and since Apple launched it 13 years ago in iOS 6, it’s been a disappointment. If you do live in California, or a supported country, then there are EV features available to you. But it appears that the UK either isn’t a supported country, or it just doesn’t work with my Nissan Leaf. Either way, for me, there are no special features available in Apple Maps.

I can’t even tell Apple Maps that I drive an electric vehicle, and so it still bubbles up petrol stations which are of limited use to me now. You can search for ‘charging point’ and get directions to charging points, but it can’t easily incorporate these into a route. It also recommended a charging point to me which didn’t actually exist.

ZapMap

ZapMap has probably the best list of UK electric car chargers. As well as listing all of those on the main charging networks, including availability, users can also add chargers themselves. These are often ‘destination chargers’ at places where you can visit, which may be offered for free and are not part of a larger network.

The app is ad-supported, and won’t work with CarPlay or Android Auto unless you pay for ZapMap Premium. This currently costs £5 per month, or £35 for a full year if paid in advance (£30 if you sign up before the end of the month). As well as hiding the ads, you get a free ZapMap RFID charging card (normally £10) and a 5% discount if you pay for certain public chargers through the ZapMap app. As I only use public chargers occasionally, I may consider the £5 per month option when needed, and then cancel.

The free app lets you plan a limited number of routes, which can then be sent to either Apple or Google Maps for navigation.

Octopus Electroverse

Electroverse is the public charging app from Octopus Energy. It doesn’t list as many chargers as ZapMap, as it focusses just on those on the major networks. However, it offers things like route planning, CarPlay and an RFID card for free, unlike ZapMap, and there are no adverts. It also looks nicer.

It’s worth noting that, by default, it’ll only show public chargers that are compatible with the Electroverse app and RFID card. This means that public chargers from Pod Point initially don’t appear, for example. You can turn this off if you want to prioritise seeing a wider range of chargers.

The route planning is quite good. You can tell it what car you drive, your start and end points, and how much charge you expect to start with. It’ll then calculate a route that includes stops at compatible chargers, and it’ll tell you how much you need to charge at each stop and how long it’ll take. You can then send the route to Google or Apple Maps. Note that in CarPlay mode, handoff is only to Apple Maps and not Google Maps, so bare that in mind.

PlugShare

PlugShare is another site that allows user contributions of public charger places. Unlike ZapMap, which is UK focussed, PlugShare is global. Its list of chargers is extensive, and even includes chargers which are ‘under construction’. I checked a couple of these locally, and found that, whilst there was planning permission in place for these, construction work hadn’t started. I think this is where Apple Maps may be getting its data from, but without the knowledge that they’re under construction.

It supports route planning, but this seems to be limited to showing public chargers on a given route. Unlike Electroverse, it didn’t tell me how much to charge up by and how long to stop for, and wouldn’t send the details to a mapping app. It supports CarPlay though.

ABRP – A Better Route Planner

A Better Route Planner is worth considering. It’s a full replacement for Apple Maps or Google Maps, and is designed for electric cars. Like with Electroverse, you can select your car and the starting charge, and it’ll plan routes to include car chargers.

CarPlay is limited to ABRP Premium, which also allows you to factor in weather conditions when driving, and to prefer chargers where there are toilets or children’s play areas. And, like Google Maps, ABRP Premium incorporates traffic data. It can also connect to live battery data in more cars, albeit in a somewhat roundabout way. For my Nissan Leaf, it needs an OBD2 adaptor and the Leaf Spy Pro app (£20) set up. ABRP Premium costs €5 per month, or €50 per year.

Combining the apps

At the moment, I’m using a combination of all three:

  • Google Maps for general navigation
  • Electroverse for calculating charge levels on a route, or incorporating charge points into a route plan
  • ZapMap for finding charger locations

It would be nice if Google Maps included charge levels in its route planner on cars that don’t have it built-in; that would minimise my need to use other apps. Still, by planning my routes in Electroverse and sending them to Google Maps, I can achieve most of the features of ABRP without their premium subscription. Once I’ve picked up an OBD2 adaptor that’s fully compatible with Leaf Spy, I may give ABRP another try though.