Obligatory 'About' page

Hello, I'm Katy :) Welcome to my little corner of the internet.

I'm in my mid 30s and live in Gloucestershire with my partner and two slightly spoilt dogs.

By day, I write software - most of my experience is in back end web development, as well as server administration.  I have a soft spot for open source, and have been running Linux as my main (only) operating system since 2004.  I also own more Raspberry Pis than I know what to do with. Yes, I realise this makes me a bit of a geek!

However, I've learnt the hard way that spending all day every day staring at a computer screen isn't good for me.  Without getting into too much detail - depression, anxiety and stress are no fun.

This site mostly reflects my other passion in life - the Great Outdoors.  Something I've been passionate about for almost my entire life.  I was a Scout when I was younger and have many happy (muddy, wet) memories from camps and hikes.

Currently, the list of activities looks a bit like this:

  • Cycling - Possibly my favourite at the moment.  I have a road bike and a hardtail mountain bike.
  • Kayaking - I started doing this properly when I was studying for my MSc. It used to be bordering on obsession, but now I don't get out as much because I spend my time doing other things instead!
  • Walking - the 'easy'/obvious one, hah.  I did most of the Wye Valley Walk a few years ago.  I also like bagging trigpoints.
  • Running - this one is definitely a love/hate relationship! As of end 2017 I've done 23 parkruns and three 10k races (plus two ridiculous mud runs which were mostly walking)
  • Climbing - on/off (mostly off, boo) since I was 14.  Haven't been recently due to lack of time/climbing buddies.
  • Skiing - A relatively new addition to the 'expensive hobby' list
  • Tennis

Doing a million things doesn't really leave time to get 'good' at any one of them, but that's fine by me