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Kirkby Stephen – 24 July 2024

Posted on by Zogman

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

Posted on by Zogman

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

Posted on by Zogman

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

 

Walking – 21 July 2024

Posted on by Zogman

All of the gang were there for breakfast

In the morning Jamie, Simonne, Vixen and us went on a walk along the River Dee. Not the Scottish River Dee, just a stream. I can’t remember how long we walked for, it felt like miles and miles, but according to my Fitbit, it wasn’t.

In the afternoon, Neil and I went for a walk round the village and visited Dent’s Anglican Church. An impressive old building with what looked like fossils embedded in some of the floor tiles.

Jamie and Simonne were cooking tonight and it was a very nice curry. We must get the recipe!

Remember:

  • Two walks in one day for me.
  • Long walk with Vixen leading on the leash.
  • River Dee
  • Narrow gaps to squeeze through on bridges
  • Impressive inside of church
  • Fossils in the floor tiles of church.

View looking down the aisle of the church was PoD.

Maybe going to Sedbergh tomorrow.

Driving – 20 July 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It’s the waiting that’s the worst.

We were intending leaving around 12.00 to 12.30, but as usual it took a little longer. Once we were on the road I was fine. All, or almost all of last week’s worries dropped away, as I knew it would.

We stopped for a ‘comfort break’ at Tebay and bought a chunk of focaccia and some fruit to eat when we got to The House.

Turned off the M6 at exit 37 and from there we we put the motorway behind us and we were on the single track and narrow dual track roads. One wrong turn led us to the outskirts of Sedbergh, but we managed to turn at a big Spar shop and find the ‘proper’ road.

After asking directions in Dent village we arrived at the house without incident.

The rest of the gang arrived in due course.

PoD was a rusty gate just across the road from the house. The gate apparently led to Mill Beck, but I never got to find out. Maybe the next time.

Memories:

  • Driving.
  • M6.
  • Tebay.
  • Tailing a white van, then the white van tailed us.
  • Rolls Royce and Lamborghini.
  • A beer and a drink for Scamp on the terrace of the house.
  • Drove down to the village for the worst pizza I’ve eaten in a long time.

No more driving tomorrow, hopefully.

Preparation – 19 July 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Today was preparation day for tomorrow’s drive to Dent in Cumbria.

Effectively this meant clearing a space in our rooms and then filling that space with clothes, shoes and lots of other stuff.

  • Packing
  • Dull day
  • Feeling down as usual before a trip
  • Walked over to St Mo’s to try to lose the Black Monkey
  • Checked out the tyres at Dicksons and they’re ok
  • The rest is just waiting!

PoD was a Black Headed Gull sitting on a concrete post.

Hopefully everything will go fine tomorrow.

 

Finding space – 18 July 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It started in the morning when Scamp said that the blog wasn’t loading. An hour and a few quid later it was fixed.

<Technospeak>
Long story short, the problem with the blog appeared to be a lack of storage space on the Namecheap server. When I tried last night to install a WordPress update. It stalled and glitched upgrade, but more than that, it appeared to damage something. After an hour on a help-chat line I upgraded my 20GB of storage to 50GB. That should keep the wheels turning for a while.
That took care of the morning, but of course, I was now on a different server with a different address and I had to change the host name in all my email addresses. Not an onerous task.
</Technospeak>

Once I was back in again and the emails were working, Scamp suggested a walk to the shops would be good, so that’s what we did. As has almost been traditional after a walk to the shops, I carried the bag halfway home and Scamp carried it the rest while I went for a walk around St Mo’s. After about four years using the Sony A7 camera series I’d found another tweak that while not exactly guaranteeing a sharp, in focus shot every time, at least gives you a fighting chance. No need to explain it to you, but let’s just say it works. That’s what I was using today to get the PoD of a Crane Fly or a Jenny Long Legs to give it its proper Scottish name!

Back home Scamp made a prawn stir fry and it was really delicious. Meanwhile I bagged the stew and let it rest in the fridge.

It wasn’t the brightest of days. Still clammy but with a bit of a breeze, which made it more pleasant.  Maybe a couple of notches down from the unpleasant heat we’ve been having recently.

After the blog problem from the morning, I’ve been feeling washed out today and I’m hoping to get to bed before midnight. I expect you understood most of that jargon Hazy and I’m equally sure you passed it by Jamie.

Scamp is intending to go to FitSteps tomorrow while I stay home and do some tidying up.

 

Cooking, Grass Cutting and Rumba – 17 July 2024

Posted on by Zogman

We spoke to Hazy in the morning. She told us she’d had her hair cut but we wouldn’t see it until Saturday when she and Neil are coming up. She’s like that, Hazel! I still remember being in the car with her, going to the church on her wedding day and her making poor Neil wait! Bride’s perogative, I believe. I have a long memory Hazy!

I did some shopping after we’d finished our call and took my “I’m away for the Messages” bag. Just my meds, some fruit for Scamp and a loaf.

After lunch I started to clear the top of the sofa in my room. It hasn’t seen the light of day for months now, probably since about March. So, it really did need a good clear out. A lot of stuff went in the bin because tomorrow is bin day and theres no going back after the bin is tipped into the bin men’s lorry. The sofa looks so bare now, but tomorrow it will be filled again with other stuff.

While I was doing that, Scamp was doing ‘grass hoovering’ in the front and back gardens. It looks a lot tidier now, but we’re due rain overnight and that will just encourage more growth. It’s a never ending cycle.

Later in the afternoon I made some stew for next week’s dinner. Not made on the hob this time, mainly done in the Le Creuset which allows the oven to do most of the work.

With the stew happily bubbling away, I went for a walk in St Mo’s and got the PoD. It was warm and still a bit close feeling today. The photo’s another one of a geranium this time with  with a little fly as a photobomber. I think every photo I took today had an insect of one variety or another in it, hogging the limelight.

We went dancing tonight and learned the first part of Kirsty’s new Rumba routine. As with all the best routines, it started off simply and then progressed to the more complicated bits. Next week she’ll be adding in even more intricate figures like the Hockey Stick and the Fan, but by then we’ll have forgotten what we learned tonight!

No real plans for tomorrow other than finishing the stew.

Driving again – 16 July 2024

Posted on by Zogman

After yesterday’s driving extravaganza the last thing I wanted to do was drive today.

So I got in the car about 10am and drove to Falkirk. To the Ironworks Business Park. Nobody was about, so I phoned the bloke I spoke to yesterday. He said I was at the right place and he’d be with me in 10 minutes. He was as good as his word and he apologised for not speaking properly but he’d been to the dentist and one side of his jaw wasn’t behaving properly. Know that feeling? I do too!

I was there to get some coffee and he took my order and gave me a large discount for having come all the way from Cumbersheugh. I even got a free bag to carry the coffee home. I’ve since tested the coffee and found it just as good as I thought it would be.

Drove home and had a piece ’n’ banana for my lunch and Scamp copied me! I was just making the sandwich when I saw a magpie sitting on a branch of the rowan tree in the back garden. Usually I chase them off, but this one looked a bit sad, so instead I grabbed my camera with the zoom lens and got half a dozen shots through the back window. It’s always good to have a few in the bag.

I’d been worrying about the front tyres on my car, so I drove down to Jim Dickson’s garage in the village where ‘Young’ Jim pronounced them good for a few hundred miles yet. That set my mind at rest.

Back home I took the A6500 and the 70-180mm and went for a walk in the sunshine to St Mo’s. I got a few shots of insects and plants, but nothing outstanding. It was quite a muggy afternoon with hardly a breath of wind.

Dinner was pasta and tomato sauce with a whole bunch of basil leaves that I’ve been growing on the window sill. It was quite delicious, even if say so myself.

It’s just passed 9.30pm as I’m writing this and there is a lovely sunset building. After such an overcast, close afternoon it’s good to see a bit of sunshine.

No plans for tomorrow, but I might make a start on some stew.

Out for a drive – 15 July 2024

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It was actually intended as a drive to Stirling to buy some ingredients for next week, but then it got a bit out of hand.

Scamp wanted to get some rose food for her beloved roses. They have worked hard since spring, producing a continuous show of flowers. Now the plants need a little help with some nutrients to extend their flowering period. She was sure we could get the rose food in Dobbies at Stirling. When we got to the turn off to Dobbies, every other gardener seemed to want to go their too, but it was impossible to cross the road in to the garden centre because of a long, long line of cars, all going in the opposite direction. We decided to move on to task 2

Task 2 would be easy. We’d just drive to The Smiddy, a cafe/restaurant near Blair Drummond Safari Park where we could hopefully get some venison and definitely get some coffee. Unfortunately they had no venison and wouldn’t have any until next week sometime. They did have the coffee, but only the pre-ground variety. Not what I was looking for. Since it was heading for lunch time and the cafe was quiet, we had a coffee and a scone each and I bought two skinny bottles of Old Engine Oil, a lovely black stout that only rarely makes an appearance on shelves. I managed a couple of shots of the Gargunnock Hills with a beautiful sky.

Back on the road again and got parked at Dobbies this time. They didn’t have the rose food, nor the lawn feed that Scamp remembered she also needed. We did get other things, though, so our journey was not in vain.

Back in the saddle and on to Waitrose where they did have the venison. Hooray! One of the ingredients bought and ticked off. As usual we bought one or two other things too, just to make the stop worth its while. I also got PoD which was the Wallace Monument at Stirling with a nice bit of sun on it.

I suggested we go from there to Klondyke Garden Centre where they just might have the plant food. Hooray No 2! They had both foods. Not exactly what she wanted but a reasonable substitute. We were back on the road and on the way home. What had started as a beautiful hot morning had degenerated into a cloudy and muggy day. Thank goodness for air-con!

When we got home, Scamp scattered the rose food and the grass feed in the required places and by then it was time for dinner. After dinner which was burger for me and mushroom and pepper omelette for Scamp (with the half of yesterday’s trifle as dessert)

As I settled down to process today’s photos I noticed I had a message on FB. I’d almost completely missed my old pal Charlie’s birthday, and here was his reply agreeing that him, Steven and me really needed to do a catch-up. I don’t know if my two readers will remember Charlie and Steven, but Charlie was my apprentice many years ago and Steven and I used to drool over motorbikes we knew we could never afford. I’m hoping we’ll all manage a meet-up some time in early August. Charlie is a pensioner now. How in the name of the wee man did that happen???

So, almost all the boxes were ticked today. Only one more to go and I might be able to tick that one tomorrow, all being well.