Graffiti from the Southern Half (14)

These are close ups from one of Sue’s photos.

Here’s the context picture – a garden wall:

Click here for the album of graffiti from the Southern Half to date.

How to Retain an Audience?

You need a good story. They woke up when I started to tell them about my appearance in Private Eye…

12/13 March 2016 - Rentahostel in Kington

It’s that time of year again. Sue W organises a ‘rentahostel’ weekend whereby about thirty of her old mates enjoy sole occupancy of a youth hostel, with volunteers contributing to the breakfasts and Saturday night’s meal. It all makes for quite an economical weekend, this year’s total costs amounting to less than £40 per person, despite some lavish catering.

About thirty ‘mates’ assembled on Friday evening in the Herefordshire town of Kington, mostly in the nearby and apparently very welcoming Oxford Arms, where the landlord was reported to be a star, and the food delicious. Sue and I had eaten at home and were late to arrive after our two and a half hour journey.

Saturday morning – whilst a small splinter group headed for the Black Mountains, a large group of over twenty walkers preferred to walk directly from the hostel. It’s an ideal place to start a walk, with many options from the town’s position straddling the Offa’s Dyke footpath and a number of other trails.

After a little debate, everyone seemed happy with a circular clockwise route starting with a walk up Hergest Ridge on the Offa’s Dyke path. Here are some of them getting ready at our youth hostel base, a fine building that until a few years ago served as a cottage hospital.

We strolled up the narrow main street of Kington, a border town that for business now relies heavily on its status as a walking centre.

The wild boar and fallow deer that roam the streets are culled by the local butcher and offered as ‘street kill’ to passing punters.

We paused to read a plaque that informed us that in 1892 only 1% of the town’s dwellings had a bath and tap, and none had a hot water system. It may also have explained that despite being only two miles from the Welsh border, the town has been English for over 1000 years. There’s more information on Kington here.

We ambled slowly up Hergest Ridge, admiring hazy views south towards the Black Mountains.

Monkey puzzle trees grow in a small copse near the summit. Perhaps the nearby Hergest Croft Gardens have something to do with their presence?

There's a good bench and a plaque in memory of a local lady who died in 2006, sadly at the age of fifty.

Jon and I shared the bench for an hour or so whilst the others caught up.

There were limited views through the haze as we ascended the ridge.

The ghost of a chap called Sir Thomas, and also that of the Black Dog of Hergest are said to haunt the area around Hergest Ridge. The Black Dog's sighting reputedly presages death. It is also rumoured to have been the prototype for The Hound of the Baskervilles, as Conan Doyle is known to have stayed at nearby Hergest Hall shortly before he wrote the novel. Phil was the only person to spot the dog*.

We duly reached a trig point at 423 metres, but this wasn’t the summit, despite its good views towards the Black Mountains.

Nearby, at 426 metres, there’s a jumble of rocks, just a bit higher than the trig point, with a distinctive ‘pointy’ rock signifying the summit.

Keith made a futile bid to reach the pointy rock (the high point is near his left hand), whilst GS strode on manfully towards the border with Wales.

I'd intended to go round the side of Hanter Hill (414 metres), but the troops rebelled and shot off up to the summit, from where Robin and Josh took time out to admire the view during their half hour wait for the slower contingent.

To the left was a vision over a Welsh quarry (Dolyhir), a highly industrial landscape.

A sharp descent brought us back down to Lower Hanter. The folk who had rushed up Hanter Hill had perhaps not realised that they were already quite high and the descent through gorse could be a little tiresome, so they elected to go around the next two hills, skirting both Worsell Wood and Navages Wood before 1pm. En route we spotted a pair of peregrine falcons, gliding gracefully beside a rock face. During the weekend we also saw many buzzards, a few red kites, a hedgerow of yellowhammers, a hillside of skylarks, siskins and many commoner species.

"It's lunch time" announced Sue, her eyes glued to her Fitbit watch, arriving after the people at the front had already started eating theirs.

After another half hour break (actually 31 minutes 29 seconds, 1 minute 29 seconds longer than scheduled – I’ve been reading ‘The Rosie Project’) we were ready to shuffle off again.

GS left us near here, after fields containing new born lambs, to skirt around Herrock Hill and dash back to the Oxford Arms to expand his waist line in front of a TV. (England 25 – Wales 21)

Five of us continued to join the Mortimer Trail, whilst everyone else tackled Herrock Hill (371 metres). Here they are, some of them following the ancient line of Offa's Dyke. We were puzzled by their desire to go over the top of the hill rather than follow the Offa’s Dyke path around the side of it…

Our longer but more staid route passed this lovely half-timbered farmhouse at Knill.

The path soon rose gently through pleasant woodland to the top of Little Brampton Scar, at the top of which we enjoyed a lovely stroll along the Mortimer Trail. The five of us decided to abandon Plan A (the long circuit via the Mortimer and the Herefordshire Trails) due to the many half hour breaks, and head back to Kington via Kennel Cottage, Rushock and Barton. It turned out to be an excellent and fairly quick route.

Here's what the twenty plus starters had been whittled down to - Martin, Ken, Edwina, Sue and Jon. Note that Sue had to stay with this group as I had her ‘supplies’, her rucksack having carelessly been left at home. Fortunately it didn’t rain, nor were her absent hat and gloves necessary.

Beyond a very light coloured buzzard on a gatepost and some bare fields with sheep in poor condition, we found Kennel Cottage also to be in quite a poor state of repair, but was pleasantly surrounded by snowdrops.

We finished the walk about ten minutes after the Herrock Hill group, touching on the Offa’s Dyke path then taking an old tramway route through the town to reach the hostel with virtually no tarmac.

Despite recent rain, today's walk was on a consistently dry surface. Here's our route - 23 km, 700 metres ascent, taking 7 hours including about 10 hours of breaks.

Sunday – after an enjoyable evening with superb food, capped by Richard and Jenny’s salmon with leek & mushrooms wrapped in puff pastry served with roasted veg, most of us assembled at the memorial in New Radnor for a modest Sunday stroll in the Radnor Forest, over the border in Wales.

The 21 metre (77ft) recently restored memorial was erected in 1864 to commemorate Sir George Cornewall Lewis (1806-63), a barrister, politician, and man of letters whose family home was nearby. I wonder whether he enjoyed the luxury of a hot water system. From what I can find out about him I think he probably deserved the occasional hot bath.

Soon, around twenty of us were tramping up Mutton Dingle, with Hillhouse Farm standing out in an otherwise very hazy view. Closer to hand, Sue discovered the aftermath of a fatal accident. Out of consideration to my audience, I have decided not to show the maggot ridden skeleton of the deceased cyclist.

Near Whinyard Rocks we took a dogleg up to the 599 metre summit of Whimble. It was a lovely day, but views were very limited due to the haze.

Then we wandered along to the 610 metre summit of Bache Hill, after which we continued to slowly gain height on the way to our next target, Black Mixen (650 metres), marked by a trig point next to a communications mast.

I’d followed a good track to the summit, whereas the others followed a shorter but much rougher, perhaps pathless, route.

Then they took another cross country route to reach the high point of the day, Great Rhos (660 metres), whereas my knees preferred to use the nearby tracks.

There were hazy views down Harley Dingle.

Some folk had peeled off after Whimble. The rest of us peeled off after Great Rhos, leaving Keith and Carol to complete a longer circuit via some waterfalls.

Phil found what he took to be a submarine; he chatted at length to the crew through the periscope. They told him they'd been blown off course.

It was a steep and slithery descent to a Danger Sign that is marked on the Ordnance Survey map. Whimble is the distinctive hill on the right.

After a while, on a sunny afternoon in improving weather, we concluded the final descent to the ancient walled town of New Radnor. The roads seemed to be pretty much empty for most of our way home.

Here's my route - 16 km, 600 metres ascent, taking a little over 5 hours. Others took shortcuts.

There’s a slideshow (68 images) here.

The ‘Marilyns’ we climbed were Hergest Ridge and Great Rhos.

Previous ‘rentahostel’ weekends:
2015 – Slaidburn
2014 – Welsh Bicknor
2013 – Helmsley
2012 – Wooler
2011 – Eskdale
2010 – Caldbeck
2009 – Helvellyn (Part 1)
2009 – Helvellyn (Part 2)
2009 – Helvellyn (Part 3)

* – Phil has a vivid imagination. He spotted the dog from a remote spot in the Black Mountains.**

** – whose imagination did I report as being vivid? My watch seems also to have accelerated a little during our breaks this weekend. No offence is intended to anyone who may perceive themselves to be victims of such minor exaggerations that may have crept into this story.

Wythenshawe Hall Fire

It’s a sad day. This fire at Wythenshawe Hall, the venue for our Saturday morning parkruns, and a place with a long history, mentioned amongst many other things in this posting from 2014, has caused terrible damage to the building.

From this angle it didn’t look too bad.

But moving around the cordoned off area, together with a number of concerned local people, the scale of the damage became clear.

I’m sure everyone will join me in hoping that the Hall can be restored. We may need to search our pockets.

The Paxford Priors Murder Mysteries

A series of three written in the British Cosy genre.

If you enjoy reading about Agatha Raisin and Mama Ramotswe or watching Rosemary and Thyme you will love the adventures of the villagers of Paxford Priors. No clever detectives at work here, just unwitting friends whose lives are thrown into turmoil by dastardly deeds.

That’s what Pat Oliver says about her Paxford Priors books. I’ve just enjoyed reading the second in the series, having very much enjoyed Pat’s first and shorter (104 page) offering ‘The Mad Hatter Murder’. It’s best to read that first as many of the characters also appear in the second (261 page) book.

It’s easy reading and Pat should be very proud of the results of her labour. The characters develop nicely and I can picture her with her husband Dave, observing the goings on from their site in the Paxford Priors caravan park. I’m slightly surprised that a mountain biking tourist hasn’t yet featured in the narrative!

Pat and Dave have for many years supported a little known charity, FOMO (Friends Of Mulanje Orphans) a UK Charity that supports thousands of Aids orphans in the Mulanje District of Malawi.

All the proceeds from the distribution and sale of anything on the Paxford Priors website go to this charity, Pat’s writing being a hobby in which she indulges for the benefit of the charity.

To purchase a book and support FOMO please email paxfordpriors@outlook.com (you’ll need to pay P&P and make a donation).

If you enjoy a little light reading I can recommend these books. I couldn’t put them down once I’d started reading.

Enjoy…

Graffiti from the Southern Half (13)

On an overcast afternoon in Manchester it’s nice to be able to cast my mind back to 14 December last year, and this suburban garden wall in Valparaiso. Judging by the image, it must sometimes rain in Chile!

A Musical Interlude and some Images of Manchester

Sue and I recently had the pleasure of an evening at the Bridgewater Hall. Instead of one of the usual local orchestras, this evening’s concert was performed by the Oslo Philharmonic, bringing home to us our good fortune in living just a few minutes’ tram ride from a major international concert venue.

On my way to meet Sue for a pre concert pizza in Croma, I took the opportunity to try to capture some nice lighting effects before the sun went down.

Here’s the Bridgewater Canal from the towpath between the Deansgate-Castlefield tram stop and the Bridgewater Hall.

How the Peveril of the Peak pub has managed to escape the ravages of the property developers, I just don’t know. Many of these small city centre hostelries have made way for office developments above coffee shops and wine bars.

Here’s a shot of the sunlit buildings taken from just beyond the pub.

The old railway goods warehouse is now mainly a car park.

Here’s a view towards Peter Street, taken from the same place as the previous picture.

For many years I worked in Heron House, just a few metres away from where this image of Manchester Town Hall was taken.

For the record, here’s an extract from the Bridgewater Hall’s website on the concert we attended, which it goes without saying was really excellent.

Monday, 7 March, 2016 7:30PM

The Bridgewater Hall

Vasily Petrenko conductor | Simon Trpceski piano

Grieg Lyric Suite: Gangar (5’) | Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2 (35’) | Mahler Symphony No.5 (70’)

---

Better known to British audiences as Principal Conductor of the Liverpool Phil, since 2013 Vasily Petrenko has also been Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic. Still not yet 40, the dynamic Russian maestro brings vital energy and strong musical discipline to all his performances, never better shown than in the mighty symphonies of Gustav Mahler. Petrenko has also formed a successful partnership with Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski, and their recordings of the Rachmaninov concertos have won critical acclaim for their insight and brilliance.

‘There is nothing overstated… and yet there is nothing that goes unnoticed either: the interpretative balance is precise and inspired, the thrill of experiencing the concerto played in this way immeasurable. Trpceski was born to perform this music, and Petrenko to conduct it.’ The Telegraph

Saturday 5 March 2016 – TGO Challengers’ Snake Reunion Walk

After some ‘interesting’ journeys in fresh snow, with the Snake Pass road pretending to be shut, about 14 'Hardy' souls set off at 10.30am from Fairholmes, by Ladybower Reservoir, on this year’s Saturday Reunion walk.

We soon reached the Upper Derwent Reservoir's dam. A gentle pace was adopted, even by Graham Brookes, to accommodate the desire of Alan and Chris to compose award winning images at their leisure whilst the rest of the group provided a slalom course for mountain bikers.

Good views up the valley were marred only by the intermittent nature of the sunshine and the tendency for the snowy horizon to merge with the colour of the clouds above the horizon, but blue sky did feature quite strongly.

The far point of our walk was the bridge beyond Cold Side, to the north of Howden Reservoir.

There were good views downstream, and upstream to the River Derwent and Cranberry Bed. No cranberries to harvest today!

We decided not to continue further up the Derwent Valley, and headed down the road beside Howden Reservoir, keeping a wary eye out for Lancaster bombers re-enacting their Dam Busting raids. It was here that they practiced.

Lunch was taken either by the roadside of by a crawl up the snowy bank to a grassy verandah with a nice view through the trees.

Soon after lunch, all but a group of five continued down the road and back to Fairholmes and an early bath back at the Snake Inn.

The five outcasts took a rising path through slurpy snow beside Ditch Clough, to Alport Castles.

Eventually we reached Alport Castles and admired the wide ranging snowy Peak District views.

There's some interesting geology in the vicinity of Alport Castles, namely The Tower and Little Moor.

Many pictures were taken on the lovely afternoon, albeit the snow was melting fast as we strolled across the pasture.

We enjoyed views north east to the Featherbed Moss/Back Tor area where our original walk was planned.

Snacks were taken. Cake and shortbread was available in considerable quantities.

After an hour or so on the tops, Ladybower Reservoir came into view and we commenced an easy descent back to a slightly slushy Fairholmes.

Soon afterwards we adjourned to the varying luxuries of the Snake Inn and Colin the campervan, where Mick and Gayle's café was doing a roaring trade, aided by our own cake and shortbread contribution. Andy Walker, looking as if he had just returned from an Arctic Expedition, soon smelt the cake and tried in vain to dent the stocks.

Here's our route - 19km with around 500 metres ascent, taking 5.5 hours.

The Snake Inn provided its usual hearty meal and a convivial evening was enjoyed by all, including a number of visitors for the evening who had ignored the discouraging signs for the Snake Pass, which continued its pretence at being closed.

There’s a 45 image slideshow here. Click the first image, then ‘slideshow’ for the full screen annotated slideshow.

Previous ‘reunion’ reports are here.