Getting up todate

The Pied Piper near Pakenham Mill

I'm going to try and bring you up to date! Over the last 3 months we seem to have been very busy, no one big thing but lots of little ones. Keith's been away a lot, in Warsaw, Addis, Singapore etc! We have said cheerio to Phil as he headed off to S Korea to teach English as a foreign language;

After a party!

and welcomed Tim back home from uni, enjoying his graduation en route (Keith flying back specially from Singapore and then heading back the next day!)The ceremony was in sheffield, and Tim was able to get a an extra ticket for Meriel, so she was able to join us. We stayed in Sheffield overnight and Tim took us out to a Pub that specialised in pies 'The Wig and Pen', it was great and we enjoyed delicious pies - I'd love to visit it on a winter's day with snow on the ground and a howling wind. Meriel came home with us and stayed for a few days, Phil and Bridgie took her out to Olney one day, and we also visited Francie and Jonathan for the day; spotting crocodiles, a hippo

Crocs

and a huge spider

near Jonathan's tranquil mill! We also had a delicious lunch at The Butt and Oyster... we're about to tuck in to the puds! Bridgie's been home too, experiencing the joys of commuting to London for a two week work placement at Simon and Schuster alongside working as a volunteer in the Oxfam bookshop and The Salvation Army shop. I've been playing lots of golf with my handicap now 20 which I am delighted about, I've also enjoyed three trips to Yorkshire to see Meriel. We had lovely trips out to enjoy walks along the river by the Bishop's Palace in York,

where there were beautiful buttercup meadows.

Most recently, we have ventured up on to the North York Moors,

enjoying stunning views and swathes of beautiful heather. We drove along gorgeous moorland roads, spotting things in the distance which we went on to explore. This is Roseberry Topping - a brilliant name - asking to be walked up - but not for us that day. We enjoyed a pub lunch at its foot, Meriel particularly liked the flowers in the bath!

I've tried to upload a little film of the moors but it won't work, so here are a couple more pics... and my favourite...

Now you're up to date :-) Keith's home but away again to Addis soon.

Odds and ends.

This blog is a bit of a pic n mix!Fav GG at Long Buckby

Back in March we took Meriel to visit Chris and Louise (Keith's sister's son and his wife) who live in an amazing little cottage in a village near Northampton.The cottage has thick walls, low ceilings, a dark and dusty cellar and an amazing atmosphere. It looks out on to the village church.


This next pic is of the view I had when Katy took me to a Champions League match at Old Trafford.

Katy has been a Man U supporter since she was little and goes quite regularly. It is ?? years since I've been to a big match so it was very exciting. Sadly for Katy, they lost, but what an incredible experience - I could see why people get hooked.


In April I was whisked away to France! I went, as an extra pair of hands, on a Year 7 school trip to Normandy. It was fantatsic, the most interesting school visit I've been on. The students are immersed in the French language, all the activities are conducted in French, the animateurs spoke no English whatsoever and looked totally bemused if anyone tried talking to them in English (even though some are fluent English speakers!) It made you speak French and having been quite worried about it beforehand, I loved having a go!

On the way to the chateau we crossed this bridge...



getting closer...

beautiful...

The Chateau de la Baudonniere itself was stunning, with beautiful grounds and fantastic people running it. The students did lots of activities - raft building, climbing, breadmaking etc, (all conducted in French) but also had a trip out to a local market,

and to Mnt St Michel. The food was great, very continental - including snails - the students having to go to the kitchens and ask for more bread or water etc in French. It really was a great visit - a brilliant concept.

A contrast.

I wanted to show you the contrast between the tranquility we enjoyed at Kingsand,

and what it can be like in a winter storm...
...you can just make out the same strange towered building beneath the spray!

I bought this postcard as we walked through the town - thought you'd enjoy!

:-)

A food blog!

For the record... back in March, Tim and I went for a meal in what has become my favourite place to eat. It was to mark his 60th birthday and we had a lovely meal. I'm going to leave you to work out the menu, here are our starters;

Tim's

mine;
our main courses...

and the puds!

I'm hoping that when the travelling bears and the three little bears visit next year, that I may be able to take them here for a meal :-)

Portwrinkle to Cremyll (Mar 14th)

Hooray, we've reached the last section of this stage of the walk, and it took us from Portwrinkle to Cremyll, which is opposite Plymouth.

But first... another question for Big A, what is this? We spotted these along the path on many different days, there would just be one on its own, then none for ages and then another.Identification please... and yes, I've never forgotten the mole... mortified!

Our day began with birthday presents for Tim :-) followed by a drive up to Cremyll.

There is a ferry from here across to Plymouth and we were blessed with more gorgeous weather.

The soil here is definitely red compared to the rest of Cornwall. It wasn't long before the bus arrived to take us to Crafthole and for Tim to mark his birthday by christening his bus pass! Disappointingly, the driver didn't give it a second glance!

From Crafthole we walked back across the golf course and on to the Coast Path.This is a strange section of coast, as we had to cross the firing range at Tregantle Fort,

and walk past the fort itself, an ugly, hard, grey building which I disliked hugely. The cliff here is scattered with little shacks,

from a distance they looked like grazing cattle, or a rash of chicken pox spots! If you enlarge the next pic you'll see some of the grazing shacks but mostly how imposing the fort is.

In contrast, happily, there were glorious colours in the sea, panoramic views of distant headlands and a strong wind blowing.

Rame Head,

which was the headland we'd been viewing for several days, was beautiful, and as we had lunch (with lots of other folk about) Tim tried out his mobile phone.

I had passed on my old one to him, and he was sending his first message, to Bridgie I think. I also received messages here as it happened to be Mother's day, although I sort of think of it as my babies' day - although they're all big now!

:-)

From Rame we could see into the future again... probably September when we might start walking on those distant headlands!

From Rame we walk to Cawsand and Kingsand,

interesting little places with narrow streets and doors and windows boarded up against the waves which can batter here in winter stroms.

Kingsand also used to be in Devon, (until 1844) and Tim tried, unsuccesfully to divide himself! From here the walk went through woodland belonging to Mount Edgcumbe where there were wonderful trees and some uprooted ones. Views across plymouth sound and the breakwater, Drake's Island with naval vessels being shepherded around it by the tug boats.

From here we skirted the water's edge and at Tim's behest took this pic which is of 'A drake and his island!' or 'Two Drakes' - shame the island isn't clear!

We rounded the corner and were back at the ferry point, views of Mt Edgcumbe House and a Welcome to Cornwall if you were going the other way!

To this point, approx 400 miles and 80,000 feet! :-) Tim and I decided that the feast of sport that was coming up would mean we would not continue the walk till the summer tourists had departed, so we'll probably begin again sometime in September.