Category: Food

The Grand Tour – 16 September 2020

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Today the walkers were going ‘up the spout’ again. We were heading for Ullswater to find another waterfall, Aira Force.

We set off on our travels, off the narrow roads and on to the busy A66. Found Ullswater quite easily with the help of the satnav. The scenery looked interesting but the roads are narrow and twisty, so there wasn’t much of a chance to admire the views. Tried to park at Aira Force carpark, but it was a waste of time. Too many cars which meant far too many people, so we drove on to see where we would get to. Decided on Kendal which we hadn’t been to and we’d be driving on narrow roads again which are so much more interesting than the wide ‘A’ roads.

Climbed the Kirkstone Pass which I’m sure we’d driven before, many years ago. Stopped at the top to take the view you see here. I remembered that view looking down the pass to Brothers Water in the distance. Since I’d not had a chance to photograph the big waterfall at Cautley on either of our visits, I did manage a few slow shutter shots of a wee stream at the top of the pass.

Drove on from Kirkstone Pass, down the other side and took the turning to Kendal. Wandered round the town and then found an interesting restaurant called Comida which is Spanish for Food. Scamp had poached eggs on toast, I had poached eggs on toast with spreadable Chorizo and a side of Padron peppers to share, although Scamp wasn’t impressed with the peppers. She did however order some churros which came with a glass of hot chocolate sauce and were delicious. It was an excellent lunch and we’d definitely go there again if we’re in the Lakes.

Followed the satnav after an argument with it, but eventually had to give in and “perform a ‘U’ turn when possible”. Came back through Kirkby Stephen and stopped at the Coop for more provisions. JIC and Sim were cooking tonight. Naked Fish and Carrot Chips! Sounded interesting and was. Very tasty. JIC did a great job of cooking the fish. We really need to try this at home. Carrot chips could be the next big thing.

Another beautiful day weatherwise.  Sat at night in the living room listening to the gunfire and explosions from the army camp a couple of miles away.  Skies lit up with flares over the ‘battlefield’.  I don’t know how the locals put up with the constant noise.

Tomorrow the walkers are off to Wild Boar Fell and we are hoping to do the Viaduct Walk in KS.

Cautley Spout revisited – 15 September 2020

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Hoping for better weather

In the morning Scamp read at the house while I tried another sketch, a rough, from a different angle. As sometimes happens, the rough turned out better than I’d expected, and became a shaded pencil sketch. I may have to give up the 20mm long Palomino Blackwing and release it from its pencil extender. It’s worked hard since mid April!

In the afternoon the two hill walkers decided we should revisit Cautley Spout, but attack it from a different angle. It was a much better day than the last time, so we agreed to have a go. Parking was a lot tighter than at our previous visit, but after waiting in the Cross Keys carpark, we managed to grab a space. The Cross Keys is a Temperance Inn where no alcohol is sold, or allowed on the premises. I didn’t know such places still existed.

Today’s walk started in the same direction as the last one, but then made a change of direction, going left over a narrow bridge and on at an angle up the hill with a dry stane dyke on our left side as we climbed gently round the edge of the hill. Great views of the valley below and lots of rustling from beech trees as their leaves were turning more brown than green in the autumn sun.

No rainy coat today, in fact I’d to tie my jersey round my waist and continue on in my shirt sleeves, the weather was so calm and warm. I began to wish I’d changed to shorts instead of jeans. After an hour or so of tramping along a path that started off almost as a stream bed with water running down it. Then through a field of grazing sheep past deep pools of running water where Vixen demonstrated her love of swimming. Eventually though the path started to lose itself to a bog and we decided that after a tangerine each for sustenance, we should call it a day and walk back down.

Further down the path, Vixen had another swim in the bigger stream which is the run off from the waterfall. She was on a long lead and seemed totally at home in the water.

Scamp was cook tonight and Holy Cow Chicken Curry was hotter than we expected it to be. Nice Stone Oven naan bread to soak up the leftover sauce.

A good day. Glad we did the easier of the two walks, but the weather definitely helped.

Kirkby Stephen on our own – 14 September 2020

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The other two were off climbing mountains, we were being tourists, in the sun.

Parked at the car park JIC had used on Saturday and then headed along the main street, which didn’t take very long. There wasn’t much to see. Walked back and had a look through the Cloisters, went through and had a look at the old church behind them. Took the path round the lawn and then exited on to the path that took us over Frank’s Bridge. Don’t know who Frank was, but he made a good job of the bridge. The air was full of the buzzing of bees in the bushes beside the bridge. A few butterflies too. Lots of ducks swimming in the River Eden underneath, but we didn’t have time for ducks. Instead we were following the path we’d travelled a couple of days before, except …

Except, instead of turning right after crossing a bridge over a stream and climbing up, up, up, we turned left and followed the stream past pretty houses whose gardens ran right down to the stream. How brilliant that would be to have a stream at the end of your garden, until it floods, then it might be a different story. We walked on and took a left turn at what seemed to be the end of the village. That eventually took us round past the cricket ground back to Frank’s Bridge. Took some photos of the ducks in the river under the bridge and watched a dog called Betty charging into the water and scaring the living daylights out of the ducks. I know this is boring, and means nothing to you, but remember whose blog this is!

Back in the town again it looked like there had been a funeral because lots of people dressed in black and the men with black ties had commandeered all the tables in the café Scamp wanted to have lunch in. Instead, we had a lunch in a Costa across the street. After a toastie and a coffee for me and a millionaire’s shortbread and latte for Scamp we crossed the road again. Scamp bought a sieve for fishing out poached eggs (that’s the best description I can muster) from an ironmongers. Then we found a deli where I got some marmalade that didn’t taste as home-made as it was advertised and a couple of russets, plus some veg for tonight’s risotto. Walked to the car, drove to the Coop and got some nice beer Lost Lager, plus other stuff, as usual when in foreign climes.

Drove home, to our home for the week. I’d bought a sim card for my old iPhone and spent a lost half an hour trying to get it to accept my credit card details to top-up Eventually I got exasperated and after checking with my bank that I hadn’t been spoofed out of my worldly goods, I shut the phone down. Thank you ‘Kenneth’ from O2 customer help who did his level best to get me sorted out. Went outside into the sunshine and while Scamp read, I sketched Pinfold Cottage where we are staying.

Dinner tonight was Prawn & Pea Risotto, cooked by Scamp.

Tomorrow we are hoping to go back to the waterfall, but this time we’re taking the more leisurely route.

Walk on through the rain – 13 September 2020

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We climbed halfway up a mountain today to see a waterfall.

Not your typical Sunday morning. Sat upstairs in the lounge willing the weather to improve for our second walk of the week. This one to Caultney Spout which is an impressive waterfall. JIC drove us to the parking place and we decanted into the rain. Crossed a narrow footbridge over a river. JIC and I noted the carcass of a deer, we think, impaled on a tree branch,just upstream from the bridge. Note to self: Don’t drink any of the water in this stream today.

Once across the bridge we turned face on to the wind and the rain and plodded onward along the path, passing other walkers going the other way. Probably they had already climbed the mountain and were on their way to the next. They all looked happy, cheerful hikers in their cagoules and shorts. Shorts? In weather like this? You have to be hardy to play that game. We trudged on. Then I found that the Teazer had mysteriously managed to extend its lens. Even worse, it wouldn’t shut down. Finally got it to behave, but the battery level was showing nearly empty. What it had been doing in my pocket all the time, I have no idea. Never mind, I still had the Oly 1.

Further on and the wind and rain were lessening. At first I thought (hoped) the weather was improving, but we were just entering the lee of another hill and that was sheltering us. It was round about then the Oly 1’s screen went black. Switched off and on again, but still nothing. Removed the battery and pushed it back into place and got the message to set the date and time, not a good sign. Set them and all seemed well, full three bars on the power icon.

The path became steeper and wetter after that. We also had to cross a few streams. As the slope increased even more, Scamp suggested that the other two (plus Vixen) go on as we were just holding them back. They pointed out where they were going and we just nodded. Were those orange and red dots really people? Apparently they were. We let them go on, leaving us the opportunity to take our time. The Oly turned off again. This time I plugged in a replacement battery, reset date and time and it was operational again. Thankfully it remained working for the rest of the walk.

We could see that Sim and JIC were on their way back down again led by the four wheel drive of Vixen. The rest of the walk was uneventful and we were soon on our way back home after turning at the Cross Keys which is a Temperance Inn. A real one. No alcohol served, not that we were bothered, we were heading home for lunch. Got stuck behind a tractor travelling at a sedate 20mph for mile after mile on twisty turny roads with lots of traffic coming the other way. No chance to overtake, but the patient JIC took it in his stride, but we all breathed a sigh of relief when it turned off into a housing estate.

Tonight’s dinner was cooked by JIC and Sim and was Bacon and Borlotti Beans. After dinner we watched the New Monkey Magic. Not a patch on the original.

Tomorrow the hill climbers are heading for the Nine Standards and we’re heading for Kirkby Stephen.

The hill that keeps giving – 12 September 2020

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That’s how Sim described it and that’s how it felt.

After breakfast and coffee JIC drove us in to Kirby Steven. Walked through the town and then up the hill past the cricket ground in beautiful sunshine, then up, up and even more up we went round the quarry and eventually finished up beside a field with two alpacas, or maybe they were llamas. I didn’t know the difference. They made this really strange whistling sound, not at all like any of us expected. We declared at that point that we had reached our target for the day and headed back down, down and further down that hill. walked back through the town and then drove to the Coop where we bought supplies for tonight’s dinner. I’ll remember it as having the slowest self-service till I’ve ever used.

Back home and after lunch we recovered from the exercise of climbing that hill. Later I made veg chilli although I’d forgotten to get kidney beans. Everyone was complimentary, but I think it was the consolation prize.

Watched Netflix at night on JIC’s new Roko stick.

Pizza! – 10 September 2020

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Today we were heading for Glasgow.

A bit of window shopping in JL but nothing even barely whetted my appetite, so we went for a walk down Bucky Street and then I suggested we see if we could get a table in Paesano. We got there just after it opened, so we could get a table. We had our details taken and our temperature checked and were deemed fit and healthy enough to eat a pizza. We had our favourites. Scamp had her own design No1: (Tomato sugo, oregano, olive oil, no garlic, no cheese, extra rocket.)
I had a No 3: (Tomato sugo, capers, olives, anchovies, mozzarella and olive oil)
They arrive about three minutes after we ordered them. Even after we had finished and paid and were on our way out, the place wasn’t nearly as busy as it used to be. Surely this new-normal can’t stay this way. Things must change.

I had a wander round CassArt and got the Posca white acrylic paint brush I was looking for, a sketchbook of kraft paper and a white marker. Rather a frugal amount. I was being careful. Just a few things I can’t get anywhere else.

Had a coffee in Nero but it felt watery and tasteless, partly because it was filling the entire cardboard cup which must have been a ‘large’ size and the server probably thought that a ‘regular’ in that big cup looked a bit mean. Next time I’ll ask for a ‘regular’ size in a half cup. Maybe I’m spoilt now by my own version of coffee from the De’Longhi, but before Covid, Nero made good coffee. This stuff tasted like Costa. Not impressed.

Grabbed a couple of street shots outside the GOMA in Queen Street, but wasn’t all that impressed with the result. Also tried to get some reflections from the frontage of the new Queen Street Station, but there was too much rubbish lying around, destroying the effect. Once it get’s cleaned up, possibly by the end of the century it might be possible to get better shots. As it was, a digitally altered shot of the GOMA got PoD.

Had the second batch of our potatoes for dinner tonight. Mine with bacon and mixed beans, Scamp chose not to have the bacon and stuck to Potatoes and Beans. Both were very nice, but then again, these were Artisan Potatoes!

That’s about it for today. Tomorrow there is rain forecast and lots of it too. Lovely!

The Teacher and the Teacher – 9 September 2020

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Out after a quick coffee this morning to meet John.

Drove to Chatelherault to meet John. We were going for a walk in the Chatelherault Estate to talk about cameras, apertures, shutter speeds and the mysteries of ISOs. Things I’ve been using for years and years, but never really had the chance to explain to anyone. Well, that’s not entirely true. I’ve talked about them to lots of folk, but very few of them listened. Even fewer understood a word I said. Someone said of photogs, that they could conduct an entire conversation using just letters and numbers. I’m not sure that’s entirely correct, but there is a semblance of truth in it.

We started off going over the Duke’s Bridge and on past Cadzow Castle which is pretty much a ruin now. It would appear that the restoration has hit a roadblock, judging by the fact that nature has more or less covered the scaffolding that was erected about ten years ago. John took us up to the Cadzow Oaks which are much more impressive than the ruined castle. They are reckoned to be over 800 years old and as someone commented, they look like how you’d imagine Ents to look in The Hobbit. They surround an area of earthworks that may have been the groundwork for a castle that would predate Cadzow Castle and may have been Roman in origin.

Ah, but we weren’t out to do historical stuff, we were there to take photos. The weather was mixed. While we were sitting talking beside the oaks the light was constantly changing, making it difficult to get any decent shots. That’s my excuse anyway. I tried to explain the basics of exposure, using the triangle of Aperture, Shutter speed and ISO. I don’t know if I covered it all that well and I’m sure I didn’t explain it as lucidly as I’d have liked, but it was a decent day, and we were out for a walk. While we were photographing leaves and moss on an old (not oak) log a woman stopped to comment on the shapes the lichen was making. She had a dog with her. A white dog with a face like a lamb. When I got home that’s how I described it to Mr Google and he informed me it was a Bedlington Terrier. We, John and I went for coffee and a cake before we parted company. He was determined to walk home, I was driving.

Got a bit of a fright on the M73 passing a Land Rover which was tootling along doing about 50mph while I was in the outside land doing a neat 70mph. Then the Land Rover started sliding across into my lane. Whoever was driving must have seen me at the last minute and swerved back into their lane as I took evasive action. In my rear view mirror I saw them indicate and fishtail onto the hard shoulder. Glad of the dash cam which caught the incident nicely! The clip is now downloaded just in case.

Dinner tonight was chicken stir fry made by Scamp of course. I don’t do stir fry. I won’t say can’t I can, just not as good as Scamp. After that we watched the final episode of Series 3 of Line Of Duty. Irritatingly, halfway through it I remembered how it ended. It didn’t detract from the build up though.

PoD was of ivy growing on the Juke’s Bridge at Chatelherault.

Tomorrow we may go to Glasgow, just for the run and the dash cam will be on!

Down the green – 6 September 2020

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Drove to The Green today, just for a walk.

Drove down to Glasgow Green for a walk in the sunshine. Watched a group of folk practising Hurling or it might have been Shinty, I’m not sure about the the difference between them other than that in one of them the purpose is to maim the opposition and in the other it’s to kill them. Anyway, a crack with one of those sticks would certainly put your lights out for a wee while. A bunch of nutters were gathering to protest about having to wear masks and claiming that this whole Covid thing is just political propaganda. As someone has recently said, “… do they really think that 194 nations have banded together to lie about a pandemic?” Perhaps some of the Hurling/Shinty players could have come over and knocked some sense into them.

Drove home and had lunch. Did a bit of gentle pruning of the rambling rose that divides us from Angela next door. She says she likes the flowers from the rose, even though it gets tangled up in her washing. It badly needed pruning, so that’s what it got today, pruned badly. Fed the chilli plants on the window sills as a few of them are now bearing fruit and need the extra energy from old tomato fertiliser. They don’t seem to mind that it’s about five years past it’s ‘sell by’ date. Just to be sure I fed the remaining leeks and kale in the raised bed and the two, or is it three carrots too. I’ve got a few more in plug trays and think I may just plant them in the now unused Tattie Bag. It might just save them from the carrot fly.  I should add a correction from yesterday’s blog.  The potatoes we planted were Charlottes, not Jersey Royals as reported!

Wasn’t feeling too great because I’d been overindulging eating far too much yesterday, but was considering going cycling because it was such a beautiful day. However I had to give up that idea. Let’s just say I’m much lighter now than I was and as a result had to give up on my idea of a steak for dinner. It ended up being a veg omelette instead. Far better for you I’m told.

Spoke to JIC in the evening and made some plans with him. PoD turned out to be a shot of a single scull on the Clyde taken from the suspension bridge this morning.

That was about it for the day. Tomorrow it looks like rain all day and we have no plans.

Larky in the rain – 2 September 2020

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Just like anywhere else in the rain. Wet.

When we left the house this morning it had been raining and Scamp pointed out the Peace rose with raindrops on it. I took a couple of photos of it, just for the record. Now we’re not so sure it is actually Peace, because that rose has pink edges to the petals and ours doesn’t. We think there’s a possibility it could be At Peace which is a pure yellow rose.

We drove to Larky to pick up Scamp’s new lenses and her new glasses. Glasses are very swish. Bit lenses and patterned legs. She’s not quite settled to them yet, but they will take a little time to get used to. No point in trying to get photos in the dull weather, but at least I had one in the bag.

Back home and after lunch, Scamp went off to get some food for dinner and I started to clear out he car. Who knew we had accumulated so much stuff in three years. Bags full of bags, cups sunglasses, wooly hats and gloves. You name it, we had it. We even had two tripods in the boot as well as two walking poles and a big umbrella. It took three trips to collect it all. I even hoovered the boot top, that’s how tidy I was today.

After dinner which was house favourite Fish Fingers, Egg and Spaghetti, Scamp suggested I should print off the insurance documents just in case they were needed tomorrow. I’d printed of the first three pages and was just reading the actual certificate when I noticed the Reg was wrong. Instead of SG, it read XG. We’re both sure I read the reg out correctly to the insurance bloke on the phone, so whether it was a bad line, a misheard ’S’ for an ‘X’ or whether at his end it was a typo with ’S’ and ‘X’ being next to one another on the keyboard we’ll never know. It was too late to phone the insurers, so I’ll have to make the call in the morning to get things sorted or else we’ll have to put off picking up the new car until Friday. I don’t think that will happen, I’m sure mistakes like this occur every day.

So, I will make no suggestions about what we are doing tomorrow, but we do have a PoD and it’s the Yellow Rose of Cumbersheugh!

The day that never really got going – 1 September 2020

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You know the kind of thing. Promised a lot, but didn’t deliver.

Yesterday I signed off with “Off to Larky tomorrow with a bit of luck to get Scamp’s new contact lenses.” I never like to predict how things will go. It’s rather like tempting fate, I feel. That’s why ’with a bit of luck’ is there. Just to say “This is how I think things will work out. My plan. However, things may change.” I’d planned to take Scamp to Larky to pick up her contact lenses and her new glasses, then I would drive down to Millheugh, park and go for a quick walk across the Avon and take some slow shutter shots of the Powforth Burn. Two things prevented that. The first was that although the lenses were at the opticians, the glasses weren’t. The second was the weather. It was dull, really dull and the name of this blog is “It’s all about the Light” and it is. For a decent photograph you need the right light. Not necessarily bright sunlight, but at least a bit of directional light to give some shadow detail. There was none today, so rather than make two trips we decided to wait until tomorrow, then we might go to Larky DV (Deo Volente – God willing).

That left half a dull day. We eventually got ourselves sorted and went for a walk to Condorrat to buy some eggs. Lovely eggs with bright orange yolks. Worth the money and the walk. We intended walking down to the shops to get some odds and ends to make tonight’s dinner which was a low cal pasta carbonara. Just as we were walking down the road past St Mo’s park, the school was coming out and Scamp opted instead to take the eggs safely home rather than face the hordes of ignorant ’children-and-young-people’ who are happy to push you out of their way. I don’t like them either, but they’re like dogs in that they can sense fear. I know that the safe way past is to push back. Sharp elbows and the occasional “Sorry!” with an insincere smile as one of them stumbles, works wonders too!

Didn’t need the sharp elbows today, so I must have met these C&YP before. Queues at the shops are much less frequent these days. I don’t know if the shops are becoming more complacent or if the customers aren’t quite so frantic as they were. Masks are still the order of the day and we’re still warned to keep 2m distance, which nobody does. It’s totally impractical in passageways that are less than 2m wide. What they need is one long travelator like they have in Yo Sushi. You’d just stand on your little pad on the conveyer and be transported round the shop at a sedate pace allowing you to select your items as you pass. I think I’ll suggest it to M&S.

When I got back I went for a circuit of St Mo’s and got today’s PoD on the way back. I called it Dangleberries, because there are berries and they’re dangling. Not for any other reason, of course.

Dinner tonight was inspired (copied) from last night’s Tom Kerridge repeat series Lose Weight For Good. I don’t think it will make me lose weight, but the pasta carbonara (without eggs, Hazy!) was interesting and tasty. Scamp accidentally bought the book on Kindle today and I think it’s worth the money. A few worthwhile recipes to take us in a new direction or two will be fun. I’ve spent half the evening trying to copy it, unsuccessfully.

Watched the end of series 2 of Line of Duty. It’s now our duty to start series 3 ASAP.

To reiterate: Tomorrow we might go to Larky DV. However the walk and the photos may have to wait because apparently it will be tipping it down.