Month: July 2024

Chatelherault – 31 July 2024

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Today I drove over to Motherwell to pick up my brother and we drove to Chatelherault.

Chatelherault was the shooting lodge of the Duke of Hamilton in past times. Today it’s mainly used for corporate events and weddings. We were going to neither.

After a coffee we walked down to the Duke’s Bridge which takes you over the Avon Water 80ft (25m) below. From there we walked on to the Cadzow Oaks, a group of trees which date back to the 1400s, growing in earthworks that are reckoned to have been there since the 12th century. The whole area is really beautiful and worth a walk if you are ever in the area. If you imagine Tolkien’s Ents, that’s what the Cadzow Oaks bring to mind.

After soaking up some of the history of the area we retraced our steps past the now crumbling Cadzow Castle with little remaining of its former glory. Then we recrossed the bridge and had lunch in the cafe which was almost empty for a change. A few photos of the views round the ‘Big House’ and it was time to get back.

I dropped Alex off at his house and drove home. It was a hot day and I had the air-con on full, but when I stopped at lights just off the motorway, I turned the air-con off and the engine stopped too with a message telling me I’d saved 0.2kg of carbon! It hasn’t done that for well over a year!! Maybe the long drive up from Dent last weekend has recharged its tiny battery.

Dinner was a lovely Chicken Milanese made by Scamp, then we were off to dance class where it showed that we hadn’t done any practise for about two weeks. We really must get some practise in before next week or we’ll get chucked out.

PoD today was a little heart padlock hanging from the handrail of the Duke’s Bridge and a test to see if the camera was performing the autofocusing and it appears to have passed the test. Next thing to do is to try to get its big brother to do so too.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending to go for coffee with Isobel and I’m hoping to do some backing up and preparation for the first photos of August.

Editing blogs – 30 July 2024

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Scamp was out this morning to have a blether and a coffee with her sister.

I stayed at home to edit and publish a week’s blog posts. They were shorter than normal posts, but I still had to go through the rigmarole of writing it in Day One (that’s what I’m doing now). Then logging in to my webspace and dumping the text in the correct place, before I sourced the photo that went with the text and posted it in the right place. After that I’d only another seven or eight to do. It gets a bit tedious, but it’s not all doom and gloom. I can look back a year and see what I was talking about then. I can search the blog for bits and pieces of my life that I’ve forgotten about. Occasionally I do feel I should just chuck it in, but as Scamp keeps reminding me, I’d regret it. But there should be an easier way to synchronise the writing with the posting.

I had just finished the last posting when Scamp returned from her extended blether with June. Both of them had lots to say and stories to tell, and you know what gossips, sisters are.

After lunch we drove to The Fort for Scamp to return a pair of sandals that looked good, felt good but not really good enough to splash the cash on. Luckily she’d only worn them inside.

Later in the afternoon I took the A7 with a macro lens and the Tamron zoom for a walk in St Mo’s. The Tamron got a bit of use, but the handy wee 50mm macro won the day, capturing not only the PoD of a snail snuggled into the leaves of an unknown plant, but also a closeup of a wee black fly that Google Images could not agree on the name for.

I watered the garden and the bloke next door’s too. We take turn about at watering the front gardens. Everything looked and felt dry. Such a strange thing about Scotland. Scamp may water the back garden tomorrow.

I’m hoping to meet my brother tomorrow and then we’ll drive over to Chatelherault for a walk and a blether.

 

Getting things done – 29 July 2024

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Another bright morning and the grass, front and back was needing cut. My job was moving the flower pots, about ten of them, out onto the path while Scamp did the actual cutting, then moving them back again. I helped with cleaning the mower once the difficult stuff was done, but Scamp has her own method for this and it’s not a good idea to try to do it any other way.

Lunch was next, and it was so memorable, I haven’t a clue what it was! Oh yes, it was a piece ’n’ ham that came all the way from Sedbergh.

I walked over to St Mo’s again in the hope that there would be some activity round the ponds, but there was none and I came home almost empty handed, although I did find a wee purple vetch flower willing to pose for me and it became PoD.

I actually spent most of the afternoon writing up a week’s blog posts ready for posting tomorrow. It was a bit of a slog, but it’s almost done now.

An early bed because my two weeks long struggle with The Ministry of Time is over. I finished it tonight. An interesting concept, but too much padding. I’m not sure I’d recommend it to anyone.

Tomorrow Scamp is meeting June for coffee and a blether and I’m intending to post the blog.

Back in the old routine – 28 July 2024

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This morning we did the Tesco run. After lunch I went for a walk in St Mo’s and it felt like we’d never been away. PoD was a damselfly with a bit of sparkle in its wings.

Dinner was Bacon, Cabbage and Potatoes. One of those fallback meals which remind you that you’re home.

Spoke to Jamie later in the day and found we didn’t have much to say. Everything was alright at their end an it was the same at our end. Just like it says at the top of this blog.

Back in the old routine.

Driving Home – 27 July 2024

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An early rise on our last day in Dent. Strange whine coming, it seemed, from somewhere in the roof. Decided I wouldn’t get back to sleep, so washed, dressed and had breakfast. From then it was loading bag after bag into the Blue car and then, Tetris style, packing things in where they would fit.

Drove toward Sedbergh and from there up, up and up over the hills through driving rain and eventually on to the M6 going north. Turned off again at Tebay for petrol. I almost had to take out a bank loan for that petrol. £1.68 for a litre of fuel is extortion and I needed quite a lot of those litres.

Back on the road we had some of the worst downpours I’ve been in. Almost everyone was down to 50mph on a 70mph road for a few miles before we cleared it. From there it was just an easy morning drive north. We drove through another downpour just before we turned off at Annandale services for a coffee, something to eat and a rest. I took the wrong turning from the services and was heading south again! My excuse is that I didn’t want to go home, I wanted the peace and quiet of Dent! The downside of the five mile detour to turn north again was that we had to pass that slow moving downpour twice more. Once coming off the M6 southbound and once going back north again. Eejit! From there it was easy. Just cruising at 68mph all the way to the M73 and home about 12.30pm. Emptied the car and started putting things away and being amazed at how high the grass had grown in a week.

Watched the qualifying for the Belgian GP but with very little interest in the race, because my head was still in Dent. The same thing happened three years ago when we returned from Valleyview, also in Cumbria. Maybe it’s Cumbria itself that has hooks in me!

PoD was some Honesty seedheads backlit, showing off the seeds.

Hoping for a restful day tomorrow. Hope the rest of the group are feeling better after a night’s sleep.

The beginning of the end – 26 July 2024

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The beginning of the end of the holiday. Jamie, Simonne and Vixen went for one last walk in the hills while Hazel and Neil filled in the visitors book for the house.

We had Prawn & Pea Risotto for lunch made by Scamp then did a Team Photo at the round table outside.

Hazel and Neil were the first to leave to go and pick up their cat from the cattery.

Jamie and Simonne were next with and excited Vixen in her crate in the back of the car.

Goodbyes were said to all with the promise of a meeting up with each later in the year. Then the house was quiet and it was only Scamp and I who were left.

We’d walked round the village again today in the opposite direction from the last time, just to see things differently.

I went for a walk later up the hill beside the house and that’s where PoD came from. Beautiful light on the hills.

Memories:

  • Empty house
  • Checking the house
  • Packing
  • Team Photo
  • One last photo
  • The Wishing Tree
  • Dancing Flags (flagstones)

Tomorrow the long way home.

Church, Ram’s heads and Moricambi – 25 July 2024

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Today was dull with occasional rain showers. Jamie and Sim were determined to get at least one more rambling session in. Hazel and Neil were off to Morecambe which will forever be called Moricambi. The explanation is that one boy Neil taught came from a less well off family and didn’t get to go on the exotic holidays the others in his class got. However, the boy’s dad told the son to just say they were going to Moricambi and nobody would know that he was instead going to Morecambe! I hope I got the story correct, Neil.

While some were climbing hills and others were facing the weather in Moricambi, we went for a walk around the village and that meant a going into the church. The first time Neil and I went in to the church last Sunday, we both commented that it ‘smelled’ like a church and it did again today. Scamp was impressed with the ‘tap your card’ to make a donation. It’s a great idea.

We crossed a dried up stream on our way back to the village and that’s where Scamp noticed the Rams’ heads on the bridge railings. They were all hand made, probably by a blacksmith. I’d crossed the bridge before and hadn’t noticed them! Such skill to make something like that by hand.

Since it was Thursday, some chocolate for everyone except me. Some traditions need keeping.

Jamie and Simonne were on dinner duty tonight with Beetroot Falafels and Black Bean Patties which involved a lot of preparation by both parties. Dessert was Freddo Frog chocolate.

PoD was one of the Ram’s heads.

Memories:

  • The smell of an old church
  • The rams’ heads
  • Moricambi
  • Fred Frog chocolates

No plans as yet for Friday.

Kirkby Stephen – 24 July 2024

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Today we drove to Kirkby Stephen a market town in Cumbria.

We’d been here a few times before and both of us liked it. Our initial thoughts today were that it had changed a fair bit since we were last there. Nothing major, but a few of the shops we remembered weren’t there any more and a few of the pubs and hotels looked as if they had changed hands. Well, you have to remember that nothing lasts forever.

We had coffee and a bite to eat in the town, then went for a walk round the cricket pitch and up on to the mound behind it where you get a great view all round.

A bit of shopping in the Coop and then back to the house.

PoD was a straggly line of wild geranium flowers back at the house.

 

Memories:

  • Rosa persica. Yellow rose with dark red centre
  • Climbing the hill behind the cricket pitch
  • Sighting the Nine Standards from the top of the hill
  • Neil’s Daal with Flatbread
  • Roadworks on the Main Street causing confusion

Tomorrow is unplanned as yet. Maybe back to Kendal weather permitting.

 

Kendal – 23 July 2024

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Today we drove to Kendal.

It was a drive with lots of hills and inclines. Scamp remember the K Shop and we went looking for it. We saw signs for it, but the actual site seemed to have been demolished some time ago. Finally worked our way round the one-way system and found a multi-storey to park in. Parked on level 6 which was on the roof and had a great panoramic view over to the hills. That made PoD.

Found a wee coffee shop, an independent, and had coffee and lunch there. We also found a South American restaurant we’d been in many years ago, but, like a lot of the shops and cafe’s it was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Kendal is a busy little town. I think I’d like to go back there some time.

Back home I went for a wander round Dent and took some photos of the church from the outside, and some of the river.

I was cooking tonight Venison Stew with Broccoli.

Memories:

  • The panorama from the car park
  • The alleyways that seemed to join streets
  • The hills we climbed to get there
  • The cobbled streets of Dent
  • Twee little houses
  • Lovely stonework

Tomorrow we may go to Kirkby Stephen.

 

Exploring – 22 July 2024

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On Monday we drove in to Sedbergh.

We wandered round the place, which didn’t take long and had coffee and a scone each in the Gundog Cafe. Old fashioned cafe with far too many tables and chairs for comfort, however, the coffee was good and so were the scones with cream and jam. Walked round the rest of the shops and bought some veg for dinner later in the week.

Memories:

  • The narrow one-way streets
  • The number of book shops
  • Big school playing field with summer activities on the go
  • Incongruous sign “Beware Cricket Balls”
  • The Sedbergh Book Shelter where you can swap books
  • Pretty church with lots of roses
  • Old school
  • School door with faded varnish (PoD)

Neil was cooking tonight and it was Spanish Chicken. Very nice and also very filling. Another one to add to our recipe book,

Tomorrow we may go further afield