Hogs, bats, picts, glens and canal boats

Thought I'd start off showing you these two pictures. The tiny bat (Pipistrelle) Gail is holding found its way down our chimney and onto our curtain. I won't bore you with everything we now know about these micro bats but I will say there is a large group of charming bat nutters in this country and one took care of our little bloke and released him two nights later when he was fed, watered and all strong again. The hedgehog is of course our King Russell and I attach the shot because we rarely see him in the backyard and had feared he was the spikey road pizza we saw on our street, thankfully not and he is now in residence preparing to hibernate in the twig and wood castle we built him. September this year has been wet but with dryish days when we wanted them as the photos below will attest. On one not so wet day we went to see the Mouseman Furniture factory in Kilburn. http://www.robertthompsons.co.uk/ They make beautiful heirloom quality oak furniture, each piece of which has a little mouse carved somewhere on it. Really good story behind it all which is why the web page is attached. Kilburn is also where one of Englands big white horses was cut into a hillside. This one in the 1800's so not so ancient but worth a look and the local pub does superb food and ale. Gail worked up in Scotland, in Angus, for a couple of days so we decided to go up together by car.... took us six hours, her colleague flew up and including drive from Aberdeen took under two hours door to door...lesson learned. It was great to spend the time together though and I had two days to follow the Pictish trail and walk Glenesk. The Picts, now you ask, were the original tribes of Scotland. Called Picts by the Roman invaders because of their beautiful tattoos, carvings and artwork, http://www.pictart.org/. The Picts were pagan warrior agriculturists with matriachial leadership who fought the Celts (Scots) when they invaded from Ireland wanting to occupy Pictish lands, We are talking pre-history times here but by the time the Romans came the Picts and Scots joined against the common Roman enemy and the result is that the picts were integrated into the Scots and their art and folklore lost forever. What we have now are large stones and beautiful carvings scattered around Scotland and it is a trail of some of these stones that I explored and took Gail to some of the finest examples. Stracathro Hospital is in Glenesk (the valley of the Esk river) and my walk through the high waters is best explained by the two photos here. We had been waiting for months to take a short break on the narrow boat "Me&My Shadow" www.shadowcruisers2.com with our neighbours David and Caroline. Again the photos tell more than words but I will say that our hosts Mick and Chris were lovely and ensured we were as relaxed, informed and well fed. We are now experts on all things canal boat, locks and marine plumbing. It was perhaps the last item and the compact quarters that made us delighted we had chosen three days rather than a week. That said, we relaxed and enjoyed and laughed and did all the touristy things in the towns and pubs we passed. I would recommend it to any who would enjoy but might suggest a larger vessel, wider than 7 foot anyway.... Gail and I also took ourselves off to Leeds city as there was a celebration of the Leeds town Hall, 150 years, and they were allowing folk to abseil down the front of it. I paid my ticket, stopped trying to convince Gail to join me, booked my jump off time for later that afternoon and we went to lunch in a great brasserie nearby. We returned to find the organisers running 3 hours behind schedule, they couldn't meet the demand and I was refunded and apologised to..... never mind, a good day out. Next update will be for October and as yet not much planned, it is Autumn though so maybe a trip to see the leaves colour up. James (who we met last year in Italy) will be dropping in next weekend for a local pub crawl of fine ale sampling as we are repaying him for the tour of Liverpool he gave us in April, but as that is just one night I doubt it will warrant any blog space. Of course our great mates John and Sara (Mando) are doing their infrequent odyssey to the old blighty so we are having them stay for a few days and Gail has the time off. Some pictures are sure to result. More later, keep happy!

Angel, Romans, Scots and heather

August is traditionally a very wet month here. Enough said, I'll not bang on aboot t weather, there is much to report over the last month. I left off promising news on our trip to Scotland. We did enjoy ourselves and Gail was able to relax in the company of family and ancestral lands. Our northern odyssey commenced with a quick drive to Newcastle, or Gateshead more correctly, where we wanted to look closer at the Angel of the North, It is ten years since Anthony Gormley installed his work overlooking the Great North Road (A1) and while Gail has driven past it before many times neither of us have got out and "seen" it. The photo shows the scale and the weather , I wasn't going to mention the weather,,, the mood and the majesty that the sculpture evokes is indescribable, I love grand passion, that and the engineering required are awe inspiring.. If you want to know more about it www.gateshead.gov.uk/angel will do it for you. If you look at a map of the UK you will see that the latitude of Newcastle is also the shortest distance across England east to west. Not only that but it is where Emperor Hadrian declared the limit of Roman occupation of England in 122 A.D. It was then that he started building his wall crossing the country strategically to keep those nasty early Scot tribes out, but probably more likely to enable him to gather tolls and taxes from the boarder trade. There are a number of restored sections of the wall and forts at various identified gateways and it is amazing to walk through the reconstruction and wonder at how civilised the Romans made their time here.. Even more interesting perhaps is how little humanity has changed over 2000 years. The facilities and comforts of a senior Roman were indeed as good as would be comfortable for us now. With their homes having central heating, internal courtyards, fresh water and managed sewer systems, the most senior officers had it very good indeed. Evidence of letters written to and from home, fine jewellery, soft leather shoes and beautiful fabrics on display in the museums all show that life in these relatively peaceful and obviously profitable fort and towns was very pleasant, even for the lower ranks who were granted pensions and benefits on their retirement. Retirement was a common event and many soldiers continued to live as free men around the forts when their service was finished. Anyway enough about the romans....

We headed up to Arbroath via Jedburgh in the Border Towns of Northumberland and on to Edinburgh. We chanced the day of the start of the Edinburgh Festival so the place was buzzing with crowds, parades, pouring rain, I'm not mentioning the weather, blocked roads, traffic and music of all types blasting out.. Gail was disappointed that nobody knew the steps to the Nutbush music but I dragged her down a back alley before she could do a show and tell. We found a below street level garden cafe for a great lunch, got into the mood and did some passive sightseeing. So many people we talk to love Edinburgh and I guess we need to give it more of a visit to enjoy it when there is not so much disruption. While we did not walk up to the castle, we did reach a grand vantage point from where we digited off these photos. Then onwards north to Arbroath, famous for a number of things, First it was here, in the Abbey that on April 6th 1320 Scottish Independence was declared. Look up The Declaration Arbroath on google for why the Scots hold this event and the name of Arbroath in some historic reverence. Then there is the famous Arbroath Smokey, sadly in decline due to over fishing by the EU and competitive pressures but there are still some dedicated entrepreneurs smoking the flat fish that every Scot loves for breakfast. I had one last time we visited some 22 years ago and the memory lingers, in fact I was still belching smoked fish a week later... Finally the good citizens of Arbroath earlier last century needed a water tower to supply their their town and as it was to take a prominent high position they had it designed as a feature. I am sure you will agree they succeeded and while it and its grounds are obscured by tree growth now it is a spectacle. Before meeting up with Gail's family we took ourselves off to Glamis castle (pron. Glams) where the Queen Mum used to visit and where Princess Margaret was born... Still run by the current Earl of Strathmoor family but now very much open for tourists. Great day out, lovely grounds and wonderful walks... we did the tour and the walks and had tea and scones etc. Sorry, no photo's of Gail's cousin Erica and Stephen and their kids but we did have a great night in with them discussing their emigration to Perth Australia in October.... On our way back home to Wetherby we decided to take the coastal route, lunching at a magnificent Restaurant in St Andrews after a wonderful walk through the town, over the beach and around the famous golf course. Staying overnight in Edinburgh but right out on the south bank of the Firth of Forth. The photos show a glimpse of a summer night in Edinburgh, no I am not going to mention the weather. Which stayed with us all the way home and stayed all August. We did some lovely day trips through the Dales and over to Lancaster but after a great start to the month Gail was back off and away at work for days at a time. On her days off we did manage to visit some not so distant pubs known for their fine food. While enjoyable in itself we were making sure we had a selection of places to go when our friends Peter and Ann visited us from London. They were due up at the end of the month on their way to Durham for a friend's birthday party and it was likely that the rain would endure. Our planning was appropriate as it turned out the weather did not encourage walks , no I'm not complaining about the weather. We spent a delightful day in Harrogate, had a beer in the old Swan Hotel where Agatha Christie hid out for a few days of national intrigue early last century... Then on to the Harrogate Ladies College as Peter had memories of dire back seat journeys from Lancashire over the moors in mid winter to drop off his sister at the beginning of school term. It is a grand place and his sister enjoyed her time there so it was an interesting detour. A quick walk through the fading majesty of the Majestic Hotel and then on through the Blubberhouse moors, towards Bolton Abey for a posh luncheon snack at the Devonshire Arms. Slotted the little Astra in between the Range Rovers and Bentleys and had a delightful meal, some fine wine and felt right at home. A drive back through the moors with the heather in full bloom was a delight and we stopped off at our favourite pub in Siklinghall for a pint of ale before waddling home. Next month is life as usual except we are heading back up to Scotland for 4 days as Gail has a couple of days work there and then mid-month we have hired a canal boat for three nights where we are going to have a real relax with David and Carolyn our neighbours, chuffing along the highland moors, fully catered and guided by the owners of the canal boat we expect to really enjoy ourselves. So , more later!

Abba, Abbey, Angram and Belgium

Hi again,
July has come and gone leaving a trail of damp days, some sunshine and heat and a load of great memories. The title gives slight clue to our wanderings but does indicate highlights which we will expand on now.

ABBA. Despite the protestations and glums I meekly followed Gail to our little Wetherby Cinema to watch the latest travesty that was the Mama Mia movie.... You may suspect that Peirce Brosnan cannot sing or dance (no album, no christmas CD) and he proves that admirably not once, not twice but three times .... But this is a minor whinge and quite beside the point. The point is, I never expected the crowds.... yes crowds.... imagine my astonishment at having to queue for our little 170 seat Wetherby theatre, not only did we have to queue but we were turned away from the 7:20pm session due to a full house and asked to return for a previously unplanned late night session.... Thankfully this provided time for some Abba impact reduction therapy at the local pub.

Anyway, on to more picturesque events this month. THE GREAT YORKSHIRE SHOW was held just up the road from our place in our big sister town of Harrogate. It is sort of like a Yorkshire Sydney Easter Show, but with more pomp. All the show stewards (pictured) wore morning suits with tails and bowler hats and gum boots (Wellington boots, to use their local descriptive). Very classy! Lots of horse and hound action, racing fox terriers, pigs, sheep and cows. Cars, tractors, food fashion and games all in 250 acres of stunning Yorkshire countryside. The photos do not give the day its due presence. I will tell you that The Queen of England visited the Show as did lots of other really important people, like us. We spent hours looking at livestock and wandering the rural and trade exhibits, sounds like watching grass grow I know, but you will have to believe us that it was a day full of delights.

Of course we have to fit in all this excitement on Gail's days off. She has been working up to six days in a row away from home and these days off are used equally for resting up and for getting out.
It was Gails XXrd Birthday this month and although she was working on her birthday she had the next one off and we decided to go to Tan Hill pub. It is the highest Inn in the UK , up near ANGRAM in the north Yorkshire dales. Quite a quirky pub, good Yorkshire pub grub and a fair selection of real ales. But it is in the middle of absolutely nowhere.
Stark and lovely though. The trip home through little villages and arty towns like Reeth was a delight too,


The ABBEY in the title is Fountains Abbey, a huge Cistercian ruin not too far from us and where we took Les and Kiyoko, UK friends from our Tokyo days. The place is massive, the site well managed with great grounds and good tours. There was even a working mill on the river and a troupe performing Regency era music and formal dances in full velvet and silk regalia on the water garden lawns. It is so nice to be able to take friends to such special places around here. And as there is such a huge history to England those special places are limitless and we never seem to go anywhere twice.

Gail has two weeks holiday now and right at the end of July we decided to rent a boat and sail to Belgium for the day. Well, for two nights and a day. We boarded our little tug at Hull (about an hour's drive from Wetherby) around 5pm and landed Zeebrugge early the next day, a quick bus for a full day in Bruges and back on the boat that night. So nice to have a mini cruise with all the meals and entertainment and such a stunning place like Bruges as a target.
Again the photos don't do justice to the place, it calls itself the Venice of the north, was untouched by the WWs I & II, the industrial revolution and as a result is a delightful medieval city now with great food, chocolate, lace, chocolate, nice local people, chocolate, magnificent squares and buildings, chocolate, galleries, museums,great beers, chocolate and chocolate. We took a guided walking tour for a few hours that showed us great places and gave a good cultural and historic background, Our guide had done similar tours for the rich and famous but his experience with the Australian Governor General was interesting to us .... Among other snippets apparently a visit to see H.M. Liz was on the GG's agenda when he went to the UK and he asked for a good chocolate shop where he could buy some ginger coated chocolate for Her Maj., her favourite. ... Just in case you ever have to entertain her.


As we are now in the middle of Gail's hols we are off to Scotland to see Erica, Gail's distant cousin and we will be dropping by Newcastle-on-Tyne to see the Hadrian's Wall fort museum, staying in Edinburgh to get a taste of the Festival and a couple of nights in Arbroath where Gail's remnant Scottish family reside.... But as all that will be in August I'll sign off now and close the July update.