The Linux Beer Hike in Wales
Talybont-on-Tux
Pretty little villages with unpronounceable names, cozy pubs, a beautiful countryside with canals, rivers, waterfalls, sheep, and hills – welcome to the annual Linux Beer Hike in Talybont-on-Usk, Wales.
The Linux Bier Wanderung
LBW is a week-long event that takes place in a different European country each summer, drawing together open source and free software enthusiasts and friends from more than a dozen different countries. It is an entirely volunteer-run event funded from a combination of donations among the attendees toward the cost of the hall, Internet access, and other expenses.
It's one of my favorite weeks of the year, and I've been to most of the 16 Linux Beer Hikes (a.k.a. Linux Bier Wanderung [1]). This year's event took place from 20 to 26 July. About 40 hikers and hackers from various countries met up in Talybont-on-Usk [2], a small village in Southern Wales in the heart of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The weather gods were smiling upon us, and it was almost a bit too sunny to conquer the mountains, but we managed anyway and climbed a few of them, including Corn Du (873m, 2,864ft) and Pen y Fan (886m, 2,907ft).
Long-time LBW attendees pack several liters of water, GPS devices, and a first-aid kit with blister treatment, especially when a "short stroll to the next village" is announced. What had been advertised as a quick walk and lunch, turned out to be a day-long 18km hike with two pubs and one rescued sheep on the way. I usually learn something new and useful during the LBW. This year I found out that duct tape around the toes is a really good idea if you run out of Band-Aids – although a somewhat sticky experience!
Lessons Learned
Talking about useful skills – Hilary and Les Williams of the Talybont-on-Usk conversation group taught the geeks some basics of the Welsh language.
The LBW folks not only studied how to pronounce the village and pub names and order beer and food, but also learned the words for "computer" (cyfrifiadur) and "penguin" (pengwin). I'm still laughing about the translation for "microwave" (popty ping) and "jellyfish" (pysgod wibbly wobbly), and I'm trying to come up with a scenario where I can use the phrases without sounding like I'm muttering "my hovercraft is full of eels." Thanks, Hilary and Les, we had lots of fun!
During the week, we heard several technical talks, including a presentation on computer forensics, unexpected Android, easy GUI development, and 4G/LTE.
A workshop on "how to make fire without petrol or matches" introduced methods of lighting fires – for example, with flint and steel and by rubbing sticks together. We didn't set anything important on fire, except for the BBQ that was going on for the rest of the evening. More than one geek probably considered using the dying fire to send out smoke signals to family and friends because the cell phone reception in the village was a bit poor.
Running Up That Hill
A huge success was the international potluck. People brought or made food or drinks representative of their home countries. Again, I was impressed with the cooking skills of the participants. Home-made chutneys, a proper curry, beef bourguignon, steamed suet pudding, and many other delicious dishes were served. This year, several people brought a few bottles from their local breweries for the beer tasting. The pub quiz contained several brain-teasers, and not everyone was able to recognize all programming languages, acronyms, or game music.
It was a fantastic week – kudos to the organizers, attendees, the nice people of Talybont-on-Usk, and especially the Star Inn [3], who gave us a warm welcome and were always happy to feed a bunch of hungry hikers. I'm looking forward to LBW 2015!
Infos
- Linux Bier Wanderung: http://www.linuxbierwanderung.net/
- Talybont-on-Usk: http://talybontonusk.com/
- Star Inn: http://www.starinntalybont.co.uk/
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Fedora Asahi 40 Remix Available for Macs with Apple Silicon
If you've been anticipating KDE's Plasma 6 for your Apple Silicon-powered Mac, then you're in luck.
-
Red Hat Adds New Deployment Option for Enterprise Linux Platforms
Red Hat has re-imagined enterprise Linux for an AI future with Image Mode.
-
OSJH and LPI Release 2024 Open Source Pros Job Survey Results
See what open source professionals look for in a new role.
-
Proton 9.0-1 Released to Improve Gaming with Steam
The latest release of Proton 9 adds several improvements and fixes an issue that has been problematic for Linux users.
-
So Long Neofetch and Thanks for the Info
Today is a day that every Linux user who enjoys bragging about their system(s) will mourn, as Neofetch has come to an end.
-
Ubuntu 24.04 Comes with a “Flaw"
If you're thinking you might want to upgrade from your current Ubuntu release to the latest, there's something you might want to consider before doing so.
-
Canonical Releases Ubuntu 24.04
After a brief pause because of the XZ vulnerability, Ubuntu 24.04 is now available for install.
-
Linux Servers Targeted by Akira Ransomware
A group of bad actors who have already extorted $42 million have their sights set on the Linux platform.
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils Linux Laptop Featuring AMD Ryzen CPU
This latest release is the first laptop to include the new CPU from Ryzen and Linux preinstalled.
-
XZ Gets the All-Clear
The back door xz vulnerability has been officially reverted for Fedora 40 and versions 38 and 39 were never affected.