Friday 3 April 2009 - Packing for Plockton

The title says it all.

No time for the camera today, so the image is from 9 April 2006, taken in the Fannaichs during an excellent trip to Ullapool, which it seems I still have to write up!

We will of course try harder this year, with the aid of the Blackberry during the course of the week, with some images and further editing taking place when we get back.

I think there may be less snow than in April 2006...

Then we'll have to think about our TGO Challenge arrangements.  So far we've planned a route - Mallaig to Montrose - that got through Alan Hardy's tenacious vetting process unscathed; that's it, apart from a couple of food parcels I'm currently putting together to drop off on our return home next Saturday.

Wednesday 1 April 2009 - A Backpackers Club Dinner and An Evening Stroll

Some day we will join the Backpackers Club!

Meanwhile we continue to enjoy their occasional evening gatherings; this one at the Knot Inn, Rushton Spencer, where eleven hardy folk who like their wild nights under canvas gathered for a chinwag and a bite to eat.  And the Black Sheep went down well.

Sue and I arrived early and took advantage of the sunny evening.

Setting off from the Inn...

...we enjoyed a stroll down the Leek to Macclesfield railway line...

...with the evening light shining brightly on the trees - still in their winter plumage...

...turning off down a marked path - it's that Staffordshire knot again!

We are also on the 'G' and the 'DVW'!

That's the Gritstone Trail and the Dane Valley Way.  It should be a good path, then!

It's all a bit green, with little indication of the path on the ground.  But perhaps it's this way...

...better follow today's navigator - SWMBO...

...and enjoy the lush views over rural Staffordshire...

...and Cheshire, with Shutlingsloe in the distance...

...and some well lit trees...

...before the sun went down...

...and we adjourned to the pleasures of the Knot.

Just 4 km, in an hour, in lovely countryside:

Anyone for Mountain Biking?

Here's a brave pedaller coming off High Street on 15 November last year.

And what would said 'brave pedaller' aspire to?  Perhaps this? 
(Don't look, Hazel!)

Thanks to John J for this.

Crocuses

 
It's that time of year.

Every day there's a bit more colour in the garden, thanks as usual to the resilience of our bulbs that stay buried for most of the year, and the annual supplement from the German Christmas Market.

I'm not sure about this image.  It looked good in last night's evening sunshine, but the depth of focus setting was wrong, so I've applied a 'watercolour' filter to try to hide the blurred bits...