Memories of summer (an aside)
Aktoman's blog is a source of frequent amusement. I have an affinity for Duncan (Aktoman) as I probably copied his idea of naming his blogging identity after a tent. I therefore feel obliged to share with you this offering from Duncan, should you not already have seen it.
A 22 km (14 mile) circuit from Llangurig in mid-Wales
Today's stroll was triggered by an 'I need to go for a walk' message from John last week. So we rendezvoused in Llangurig, roughly half way between Timperley (Manchester) and Whitland (Pembroke), on a frosty morning, for a circuit over rolling hills and through planted forests on this 'blank on the map' for both of us.
A track sporting a dusting of snow (above) rose from Llangurig, past a sheep farm with objectionably smelly feed, up Pant-gwyn Hill.
We paused to admire a stand of Scots Pine, where the reflected sun and the ground cover had thawed any snow that had stuck hereabouts.
The path faded as we rose to a small summit at 512 metres, before plunging into forest along a marked path that drew us south west to emerge after a while above an expansive view towards the mid-Wales coast.
I acknowledge that such projects may be necessary to supply water to the cities, but why they should be accompanied by draconian restrictions on harmless activities like (responsible) camping?
Turning immediately away from the road, we headed over Craig Lluest. Only a short step on the map, but steeply up to a zone of deep tussocks...
Beyond the tussocks a frozen flooded track led back into the forest, much of which had been felled since our maps had been surveyed. Silent windmills under the clear blue sky seemed to have been planted in place of the felled trees.
By early afternoon the low sun was already casting long shadows.
Beyond Nanty we met this friendly donkey with a very thick fluffy coat. He took quite a shine to John and bawled in distress when we escaped from his field.
Our route took us past farms strewn with unkempt agricultural debris, and beside the infant River Wye that the local farmers have despoiled with their rubbish. A new walking route, the Wye Valley Walk, was apparent here. Luckily, the marsh over which it passes was well frozen today, but normally it could be a very wet experience. Interestingly, the route cunningly avoids the public footpaths through farmyards and keeps its distance from habitation where possible.
It was calm, and the river views, away from the debris, were fine.
We'd been moving slowly. John was not at his most lively, being stricken with grief following his wife Alison's death last month after a long illness. So instead of a final hour in poor light on the south side of the Wye on the Wye Valley Walk, we opted for a half hour stroll back to Llangurig beside the A44, which was mercifully free of traffic.
There's a fuller photographic record of this walk, viewable as a slideshow of 26 images - here.
Here's an outline of the 22 km route, which involves 700 metres of ascent and took us just under 7 hours, including breaks of well over an hour.
Today I used the Hi-Tec Altitude Ultra boots given to me by Darren on Saturday. First time worn outdoors, with trainers in my day sac in anticipation of 'rubbing' problems (new boots often irritate tendons in my ankles).
Were they comfy? Well, I noticed that they were still on my feet at 8 pm after a 3½ hour drive home (thanks in part to some idiots failing in their game of dodgems on the M56 motorway).
So, yes they were comfy. Very comfy.
Returning to my entry on 21 November following the June Tabor concert, I hope you enjoyed the video - 'The Band Played Waltzing Matilda'.
Another of my favourites from her Anthology album is 'The King of Rome', a true story about a racing pigeon that for some reason never fails to bring a tear to my eye. I've not found a version by June on u-tube, but here's a version by Dave Sudbury that I hope some of you may enjoy.
The moorhens and mallards seemed to have the conditions pretty well sussed, but weren't their feet cold?
Winter has most certainly arrived - the weekend's icy weather seems to have persuaded the remaining leaves to drop from our deciduous trees.
Afterthought: 
I thought I was imagining it, but Louise really does seem to have a rather shapely stained glass window at her bow!
The Dishy Pharmacist (aka Nallo Lady) and I headed up the A1 from Cambridge, via an overnight sojourn in Mansfield, to reach Sherwood Forest on a typically cold morning. On arrival we stumbled along, heavily laden with projection equipment, to villa 758 after our usual wrestling match with the giant, but full, car park.
Having arrived earlier than usual, we enjoyed a second breakfast before heading off on a day of activity - to the squash court, followed by badminton, table tennis, snooker, spinning (cycling) for some, and rallying for Stuart and Chris, before most of us adjourned to the swimming pool for a break before dinner. Somewhere in the middle of all this, Peg and Lyn served a sumptuous lunch back at the villa. 
It was cold. Below freezing point. We were somewhat bemused by Rob's decision to book an outdoor tennis court at 5.30, but it had been paid for, so, after a bit of difficulty with the faintish overhead lights, five of us enjoyed an hour of trying to impersonate Andy Murray. It was surprisingly good fun. We only had three balls, so the rotating ball boy roll gave as much exercise as the actual playing of the game. Here we are - Sue is wearing a down jacket, gloves and hat, but despite other ailments as well, she still managed to outplay the rest of us!
The traditional slide show followed, with our 'Italian Border Route' images being presented for the second time this weekend, followed by our 'New Zealand' show.
This lot have stamina, having in the past got through Stuart's epic showing of the 1300 images from his historic World Tour.
Well done everyone, we really enjoyed our day with you all.
There was even an interlude for some self-timed photos before we headed off:
This splendid lunch in Cambridge was kindly organised by Darren and Alan. It proved to be a very sociable and enjoyable few hours.
Here we are in Don Pasquale's after the excitement of the raffle draw, in which nearly everyone was a winner, supping our last dregs of coffee and trying not to choke on surreptitious mouthfuls of Nallo Lady's specially manufactured CCS.
From the bottom left:
Darren's sylph-like figure has just crept into shot;
you can't miss George;
Keith (how sad!) is an avid reader of the authors before you;
Baz is (almost) still waiting for his main course following a 'kitchen glitch;
Nallo Lady is no doubt providing professional advice to
Phil, who after the recent removal of certain body parts is wondering whether he should have brought spare nappies;
Alan is ecstatic about his new work project;
Mick and Gayle are relieved that Mick's new work project only lasts six months,
and Martin is trying hard to escape the headlights of the camera and return to his newly won cookery book.
Interestingly, nine of the bloggers present have applied to take part in next year's TGO Challenge. Only George has failed to get in at this stage. He has a long wait to see whether, with a reserve position of 100+, he will be allowed to take part at (very) short notice.
After a brief alcohol free pause, we adjourned to the Eagle, where Darren contemplated some secrets of stove design whilst languishing under a plaque commemorating the achievements of Francis Crick and James Watson at the spot where Crick interrupted the patrons' lunchtime on 28 February 1953 to announce that they had "discovered the secret of life" after they had come up with their proposal for the structure of DNA.
The Eagle retains its so-called RAF bar with graffiti of World War II airmen scrawled in various places around the place.
Sue and I found time to enjoy some nearby galleries (very nice they were, too), though fog obscured the views and precluded any meaningful snapping.
Somehow three cars managed to stay in convoy to get back to Alan's house for an impromptu showing of our 'Italian Border Route' slide show to a few 'hard core' members of this select band. We hope everyone enjoyed it, despite a couple of drooping eyelids.
Thank you for your kind comments, Darren.
Thank you also for the Hi-Tec boots that I came away with - very fortuitous that the size 10s intended for Alan were actually US size 10. Alan is of course English, in whose language these boots are size 9. My size! They fitted me, if not very comfortably. But since getting home I've worn them around the house, using proper socks, and they are very comfy, so I'm looking forward to testing them and will report back in full for Hi-Tec's benefit, or not!
We enjoyed several Happy Meals with our hosts this week.
Here they are, tucking into another bowl of Fine Food. They seem to be managing well despite the fact that we have run out of spoons, and we seem only to have one bowl for the whole family.
What's this I see? In between the chocolaty grins, a construction project?
Wow!
Happy Birthday, Stay-at-home-Hazel, who we are pleased to report has now returned from her tramping around the Forest of Bowland, refreshed and no doubt providing her offspring with 'proper' food!
We spent the weekend in Kendal, enjoying an assortment of lectures and films at Kendal Mountain Festival:
Colin Prior - was informative, but he lives for photography and has huge amounts of equipment, so we 'snapshotters' can hardly hope to emulate him. He also spent some time discussing his specialism - panoramic shots taken with a special camera. I doubt anyone in the audience had one of those cameras, we simply feasted our eyes on Colin's brilliant pictures. For an overnight shot, he carries 56 pounds of equipment!
Kenton Cool's audio visual presentation on his exploits on the north face of the Eiger (successful) and on Everest (unsuccessful) with the enigma that is Ran Fiennes was superb - hilarious at times. Here's his blog on his Kendal experience.
David Breashears introduced his new film 'Storm over Everest', an attempt to tell a fuller story of what happened in the fateful storm in 1996. It was made in the documentary style of 'Touching the Void', concentrating on interviews with just half a dozen or so of the survivors. There was no mention of any Brits or of the (controversial) South Africans on the mountain. So it didn't present the full picture, but we found it compulsive viewing.
Contrasting greatly with the mountaineering exploits of Cool, Fiennes and Breashears, was Cameron McNeish and Richard Else's excellent double act, describing a trip through Sutherland from Lochinver to Tongue. Here's Cameron's take on the experience.
There were many more lectures, mostly audio visual. It was a shame we couldn't see more. One that I am sorry to have missed is Andy Kirkpatrick's 'Brokeback Mountaineer' (the link is to his blog), in which he looks back at ten years' worth of climbing partners and wonders why no one will climb with him any more. We did get to see a film about him - 'Hard XS: Suffering Andy' which opens with the line 'Andy Kirkpatrick should be dead'. He is clearly one of the characters of British mountaineering - if he's speaking near you - go see him...
We also watched a small sample of the 80 or so films on view, being quite selective about what we saw. A highlight for us was a film made by an Indian motorcyclist, Gaurav Jani, 'Riding Solo To The Top Of The World'. This was some undertaking, and the lone filmmaker's friendliness and determination is repaid in kind by the indigenous people he meets and befriends en route. Brilliant.
The awards ceremony was, as usual, introduced by Sir Chris(Berghaus are the main sponsor - their 'Experience the Adventure' video was shown before each event at the Festival), who opened with a tribute to the former organisers of the Festival, John Porter and Brian Hall. They disappeared from the scene fairly recently under (to an observer) odd circumstances, and were not present this year. I'm sure it's all explained in a 'Forum' somewhere, but I'm not really a 'Forum' person, so my memories of John and Brian's efforts are of some superbly organised Film Festivals, and Chris Bonington's fitting tribute to them.
The Grand Prize was won by a climbing film 'On Sight' which we did not get to see, and the 'People's Choice' was a film called 'Beyond The Summits' featuring Catherine Destivelle, which we did see. The photography was admirable, but the film had serious defects (explained by one of the judges here). I can only surmise that it appealed to the climbers who predominantly attend the festival, and that Catherine, who was present, did some effective campaigning.
Our hosts for the weekend was the excellent Meadowcroft B&B in Ings, right next to the excellent Watermill Inn where on Friday we enjoyed their fine food and the Collie Wobbles Beer from their micro brewery.
Sunday morning dawned white, so just a few monochrome images were gained:
Notchy joined Sue and me for this gentle afternoon stroll. We rolled up in unison at 1 pm, parking on the shore at SD 457 749 for lunch with this fine view.
At the edge of the parking area lurks Bard’s Well, also known as the Battling Stone Well as clothes were washed and beaten clean against the stones here. Sadly our lack of attention foiled our bid to examine this well, which may not have been flowing.
Our attention turned to a venue where something definitely was flowing….
But a ginnel to the right just before the Hotel led us behind some houses and across Lindeth road for the familiar sighting of turkeys on the back lane to Wood Well.
The way these big beasties were waddling along, they will provide meals for huge families. They looked very happy though, for the time being...
At Wood Well water oozes from the bottom of a cliff and forms a stream for all of 10 metres:
It is immediately collected into a large basin, originally used as a watering place for cattle.
This well, like most in Silverdale, is really a spring, arising where a perched water table over a layer of impenetrable clay seeps out at outcrops of the impermeable layer.
From Wood Well a right turn leads up to a lane. Wolf House Gallery is 2 minutes away to the right, across the road from Gibraltar Farm. The gallery is much changed from the cosy nook with an intimate coffee shop, delicious home made cakes, and the lovely works of a variety of Lakeland artisans that we discovered on early visits to this spot. It’s now smaller but more commercialised, with fewer traditional paintings, but it does have a splendid tea room with excellent food.
Back up the road, we rejoined the woodland path and headed along the top of the cliff for 200 or so metres, from where we looked down upon Wood Well (we could have simply scrambled up the cliff from there, but the gallery is always worth a visit) before heading on across leaf strewn fields.
Informative signposts directed us to Silverdale Green, where a footpath beside a wall led us out past leaf-less trees onto Stankelt Road.
A right turn here, then the second left, took us to a path signed to Burton Well. We would recommend that others following this route should follow that sign. We ignored it, and found ourselves being drawn inexorably towards Silverdale Church. Extricating ourselves from this faux pas, we wound our way past Bottoms Farm Kiln to Burton Well. There's a fascinating information board at the kiln, with a time line tracing the history of lime kilns from 2450BC to contemporary times, though only a fantasist would date this kiln anything like that far back.
Burton Well probably arises in the same way as Wood Well, and supplied water to the residents of Silverdale Green for many years. Following the introduction of gutters and downpipes, water was collected from the air (there's no shortage of airborne water here) and stored in tanks. Many houses were later built with tanks in their cellars, from which water was pumped into the kitchens by hand. By then the wells were generally used only for watering livestock.
From Burton Well a narrow footpath leads over a stile into Lambert's Meadow and across the wooden bridge.
The meadow is National Trust property and forms a peaty hollow supporting tall grasses and rushes, with the herbs of unimproved grassland on its southern fringes (lady's mantle, knapweed, purple loosestrife, etc) though it was a fairly bare outlook that greeted us today.
A climb from the far side of the meadow led to a left turn onto a road, to the left of which Bank's Well has formed a small pond. Opposite the pond, to the right, a track runs behind the houses and past the site of our 'Bouncing Campervan Experience' that so traumatised Jenny one dark evening a couple of years ago (she no longer subscribes to our evening ['pitch black'] walks as a result), to Dogslack Well, nicely fitted out - but no water emerged from the pump despite Sue's efforts.
This is Silverdale's only true well. It supplied water to nearby cottages until 1938, when the aqueduct from Haweswater to Manchester was constructed, from which water was piped to supply the village.
Retracing our steps to the lane, we turned right, past the Row and across the 'main' road to the car park leading to Eaves Wood. This is the site of Mark's (Beating the Bounds) crooked tree. Our route didn't take us far enough around the wood to see that, but we did find this excellent specimen of beech.
Scary, actually - it appeared to be watching us!
Moving quickly on, and keeping to the lower path, avoiding right and left turns, we soon passed concrete water tanks used to store water piped from perched springs further up the hill. A high 'Spite Wall' obscured the view into gardens - now perhaps not at their best - to the left.
A bench at Elmslack provided the ideal spot to consume the last of our provisions and a flask of tea, whilst scrutinising the litter bin that sits on the site of Elmslack Well.
Beyond here were good views of Silverdale in the fading light.
A delightful village scene with a bowling contest no doubt reaching its conclusion.
Continuing down the footpath signed to Cove Road, we turned briefly away from the village before taking a left to reach the beach, and our seventh and final well, Cove Well, of which there was no discernable trace...but the scene from the beach was pleasant in the low light.
A short stroll along the beach saw us back at the cars as the sun went down.
We then made the mistake of setting off on our short journey to Ings, enjoying en route the most magnificent sunset referred to by Mark here. Once the sun had actually set, the sky turned crimson - the images above failed completely to capture the full glory of the wonderful after-sun glow.
The following morning a lecture from Colin Prior slammed home the point!
Credit for some of the information in this posting goes to a leaflet produced by the Countryside Management Service of the Arnside/Silverdale AONB.
I appreciate this location is home to Beating the Bounds - I do hope Mark doesn't object to this minor intrusion into his 'patch', which Sue and I regard as one of the hidden gems of the UK.
Here's a rough interpretation of the route - a flattish 6.5 km which should take a dawdly 2 hours.
The messages from our weekend activities will have to wait.
We have an important job this week.
We are guests of Andrew and Kate for a couple of days.
Last night we prepared a meal for them.
They ate it.
Now they have gone to 'work'.
That leaves us time to think....
...what shall we have for tea tonight?
Footnote: This is what can happen when 'Stay at home Hazel' doesn't stay at home!!
