Scavenger Hunt - November

I've been AWOL for about 3 months, but am finally back with a selection of photos for November's  Scavenger Hunt, hosted by Kathy from Postcards from the PP.

A poppy (a real one) taken in Spring near to Ingleby in Derbyshire.

The gates of the Memorial Gardens in Ashbourne, with the display of poppy wreaths, laid to remember those who fell in the wars.

Branches silhouetted against the sunrise.

Something I have made; sloe gin. It's ready for drinking but I don't want to decant it until just before Christmas.

Something purple. These are the front and back views of my Stewarding Team - Control Office T shirt from the New Wine Conference this summer.

Warmth - the sun; still giving warmth even on a November morning.

Polka dots on a towel.

I  had difficulty with 'A lucky charm' because I don't have any. I do however, tend to pick things up and hang onto them. This wizened conker has been in my fleece pocket for at least two years. (I do take it out when I wash the fleece :) )

Very tactile! 

Something which lights up.

These candles sit on my hearth and add a lovely glow on a dark winter evening.

The staircase is from the top floor of the Lakeland Climbing Centre in Kendal. The bouldering room is on the top floor.

Comfort food.

This mince pie is waiting to comfort me as I struggle to fend off a cold on this November afternoon.

Finally - I hate having my photo taken!

A wander down the garden

The main lesson I learned from my wander down the garden last week was that it desperately needed me to spend time tidying up!

These brightly coloured leaves are pretty now but will quickly decay to a soggy brown mush.

And the wind hasn't finished fetching them all off yet!

Down at the very bottom of the garden, the two holly bushes are sporting bright red berries as though reminding me that, in spite of the unseasonably mild November weather, Christmas is less than a month away.

S'pose that's something else I'd better get on with!

Redpoint

A couple of weeks ago, Ben did some climbing instructor training and we spent the day at the Redpoint Climbing Wall in Birmingham.

Like many climbing walls, it is housed in an old industrial building; not the prettiest of places. Inside though, it is a well used centre with a decided buzz of activity.

I was curious about the name, but I have since discovered that a redpoint describes when a route has been climbed cleanly after being worked on a top rope or with rests on the rope.

And I'm guessing that this red point was added to fit the theme :)

This room is mainly top roping for beginners.

At the end of the day, a route setter moved in to prepare for the competition scheduled for the following day.

Holds are bolted into the pre-drilled holes and changed often enough to keep the walls interesting, but not so often that climbers can't work a particular route during the course of a few visits.

There's almost always a shop attached somewhere.

Ben's verdict was that Redpoint was definitely worth a return visit and now that I know how to find it, I'm quite happy to go back again.

Lakeland Longings 4 - Ennerdale

Just lately, I've been browsing Facebook photos of Mark up in the Lakes and having to work hard to suppress feelings of insane jealousy, so I thought I'd look back at my last Lake District holiday and make you feel jealous too. After all, a jealousy shared is a jealousy halved. Yes?

Ennerdale Water is the most westerly of the Cumbrian Lakes and also one of the most remote. It is a small glacial lake with a length of 2.5 miles, width of 0.75miles and a depth of 148 feet, slightly deeper than it would naturally be due to the construction of a weir which has raised the level to enable Ennerdale Water to be used as a reservoir for the nearby town of Whitehaven.

The walk around the lake is a very enjoyable 9 miles!

This photo is roughly half way, looking back up to the western end. 

... and this final one is from part way up Angler's Crag, the small but distinctive bump, which can be seen on the right of the first photo and on the left of the second.

I think I'm right in saying that the mountain beyond the end of the lake is Pillar, which lies between Ennerdale and Wasdale.

Reasons to be Cheerful, Part C

For this round of Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday, I thought I would take a theme which might loosely be entitled 'Reasons to be Cheerful, Part _', after the 1979 hit single by Ian Dury and the Blockheads (Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3).

J

For everyone, the reasons will be different, but I wanted to search around for some of the things which brighten up my day; things for which I am thankful.

C is for ...

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There were lots of things which I could have chosen for C; children (even though they are almost both adult now), climbing (but I've done lots of posts about that), Christmas (maybe a bit too early)...

So I decided on something which always brightens a day, Colour.

In nature, there is always colour around but at this time of the year, it is becoming increasingly hard to find. Undoubtedly, that is the reason for the coloured lights we hang at Christmas; driving away the darkness and helping us to celebrate.

That leads me nicely in to this:

A very colourful hat which was a Christmas present from my aunt and uncle last year. It's warm too!!

It doesn't quite go with my favourite Toybox cardigan...

Yes, that really is a hood!

I love the South American pattern. (It's from Guatemala.)

What do you reckon, wear them both at once? Colourful enough to be cheerful?

Even better, both are Fairtrade and the buying of the Toybox cardigan helps support street children in Guatemala and Bolivia. (Which reminds me, I must get on with ordering my Christmas cards from them!)

Lakeland longings 3 - From the Watendlath Road

Just lately, I've been browsing Facebook photos of Mark up in the Lakes and having to work hard to suppress feelings of insane jealousy, so I thought I'd look back at my last Lake District holiday and make you feel jealous too. After all, a jealousy shared is a jealousy halved. Yes?

As the title suggests, this view is taken from the Watendlath Road and looks down over Derwent Water towards Keswick. The bulk of Skiddaw can be seen to the right and, in the far distance, the long ribbon of Bassenthwaite Lake.

Lakeland longings 2 - Derwent Water

Just lately, I've been browsing Facebook photos of Mark up in the Lakes and having to work hard to suppress feelings of insane jealousy, so I thought I'd look back at my last Lake District holiday and make you feel jealous too. After all, a jealousy shared is a jealousy halved. Yes?

Derwent Water is one of the best known of the English Lakes and very popular with tourists. It is 3 miles long, 1 mile wide and 72 feet deep, much smaller than Wastwater.

Like Windermere, Ullswater and Coniston, it has a cruise boat company which operates a service around the lake; the full trip taking around 50 minutes and stopping at such places as Lodore with it's waterfall, subject of the 1820 peom by Robert Southey. This is just an extract:

From its sources which well

In the tarn on the fell;

From its fountains

In the mountains,

Its rills and its gills;

Through moss and through brake,

It runs and it creeps

For a while, till it sleeps

In its own little lake.

And thence at departing,

Awakening and starting,

It runs through the reeds,

And away it proceeds,

Through meadow and glade,

In sun and in shade,

And through the wood-shelter,

Among crags in its flurry,

Helter-skelter,

Hurry-skurry.

Here it comes sparkling,

And there it lies darkling;

Now smoking and frothing

Its tumult and wrath in,

Till, in this rapid race

On which it is bent,

It reaches the place

Of its steep descent.

If you'd like to read the whole poem, including the actual descent, click here.

The closest town to Derwent Water is Keswick, above which towers the 3,054 feet high mountain of Skiddaw, fourth highest in the UK. But perhaps the most distinctive of the fells along Derwent Water is Cat Bells (below). Although a mere 1,480 feet, it is easily recognisable by its shape and is very popular with walkers because of the views it offers.

Lakeland longings 1 - Wastwater

Just lately, I've been browsing Facebook photos of Mark up in the Lakes and having to work hard to suppress feelings of insane jealousy, so I thought I'd look back at my last Lake District holiday and make you feel jealous too. After all, a jealousy shared is a jealousy halved. Yes?

This is one of my favourite lakes; Wastwater.

Really. It is! It's there. Keep looking...

See!

The footpath follows the river in, turns a corner and gives wonderful views up the lake.

Wastwater, sitting in the Wasdale valley, is 3 miles long, half a mile wide and 260 feet deep; the deepest of all the Lake District lakes. It's made very easy to identify by the scree slopes all along the eastern shore. At the northern end is Wasdale head, over which towers the pyramid of Great Gable (visible in the photo) and the rugged bulk of Scafell Pike (tucked round the corner); the latter being the highest mountain in England at 978m (3,210 feet). Above the western shore, looking a little like a sleeping lizard, is Yewbarrow, to the left of which is Red Pike. The other mountain in the photo is Kirk Fell

I've climbed four of the five. Scafell Pike was a bit of a disappointment. In fairness, we did climb in on a May Bank Holiday Monday, but the top was packed with people and also rather litter strewn. You would think that, having made the effort to sweat all of the way to the top, people would have taken their rubbish home!

Great Gable was completely different! It was a beautiful late spring day, the view down Wastwater was spectacular and it was like being on top of the world!

Yewbarrow and Red Pike form part of the Mosedale Horseshoe, but we just did the pair, beginning with Yewbarrow and then dropping down into the col before up Red Pike. Yewbarrow was a lovely walk, with a lot of scrambling and great views down both side of the edge as we approached the top. Anyone with a dislike of heights or edges would not be happy, but I loved it.

The highlight of the walk was the very sudden, and extremely loud, passing of an RAF fighter jet, which followed the line of the lake.

What was so special about that?

It was flying below us!  :)

Joining in with Sepia Saturday

Ever since Alan Burnett (News from Nowhere) began to talk about the 100th edition of Sepia Saturday, I've been wondering about that big box of photos which I know Dad has in the bottom of his wardrobe. Mostly, they are 2" square b&w prints featuring people I don't remember in places I don't recognise, but there are some that are instantly meaningful and still more which would become so with a bit of information.

And then, on Wednesday, he gave me this photo, cut out of our local paper.

This is one from the 'instantly meaningful' category. It was taken in Parwich, the village in which my parents grew up, the year is 1960 and the subject photographed is the Ladies Football Team. Immediately, this raises a few questions. The presence of spectators suggests that a match has either been played or is about to be played. The absence of mud on the team kit implies the latter. I wonder why this particular photograph was taken. The photograph was sent to the paper by Terry Fletcher of Belper, but it was donated to his collection by a Vernon Webster. Webster is definitely a local name. Websters ran one of the bus companies which serviced the villages on market days. Was this particular Webster related to one of the ladies in the team? Was he, in fact, the photographer? In which case, did he take this photograph for his own enjoyment or to mark some special occasion in the football calendar?

The people in this photo are significant too. Without this photo I would perhaps have never realised that my Mum was in the Parwich Ladies Football Team and, although this photo is a couple of years after she played, there are still  names here that I recognise including one of Dad's cousins, front right. There are also two particular faces which leap off the page - aunties Jean (back row, third from left) and Hazel (back row second from right).

I really must get rooting around in that box of Dad's!

Meanwhile, maybe you would enjoy taking a wander round the photographic memories of more seasoned contributors to the Sepia Saturday blog.

Reasons to be cheerful, Part B

For this round of Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday, I thought I would take a theme which might loosely be entitled 'Reasons to be Cheerful, Part _', after the 1979 hit single by Ian Dury and the Blockheads (Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3).

J

For everyone, the reasons will be different, but I wanted to search around for some of the things which brighten up my day; things for which I am thankful.

B is for berries.

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Berries may not seem much of a reason to be cheerful, but at this time of year, when the leaves are falling, the flowers dying and the days becoming increasingly short, it is very good to know that the berries will be around for a while.

These bright red berries are on my pyrocantha. I can see them from where I am right now; a welcome splash of colour in an otherwise very grey day! They will continue to be cheerful until the blackbirds have run out of easier food and move in to strip this bare. Then, I will have the pleasure of watching them at work for a few days.

A similar tale here, but this is slightly further away from the house and will show up on the blackbird RADAR a little earlier than the red. Aren't they lovely against the blue sky? (There's another B which is certain to bring cheer!)

The rose hips have replaced blooms on most of the roses and will retain their red for a while yet. There aren't a huge number of these, but every little helps!

And then there are the berries further afield, like these yew berries photographed on a recent walk. Colour to brighten the day.

When the last of the leaves have littered the ground and turned to so much dark brown mush, I will look at these berries and think cheerful thoughts!

Yet another hall

Just north of Ilam is Castern Hall. This is a grade 2 listed Jacobean building dating back to 1660, but extensively remodelled in the Georgian style around 1740; probably for Nicholas Hurt (1710-1767).

If you want to read more about its status as a grade 2 listed building, look here.

The Hall was originally owned by Burton Abbey, but was bought by the Hurt family after the dissolution of the monasteries.  Through the 18th and 19th centuries, Alderwasley Hall was the main residence of the family and Castern was let to tenant farmers. The family only moved back around 1930 when Alderwasley was sold.

Which room would you fancy as yours?

Recent renovations have included the restoration of windows which were blocked up to avoid the paying of window tax. Window tax was first imposed in 1696 to counteract the loss of revenue caused by coin clipping. It was banded according to the number of windows in a property, an easy calculation because they could all be seen from outside the property. The tax was scrapped in 1851 after a campaign which claimed that it was a tax against good health. Meanwhile though, existing windows had been bricked up and new houses built with fewer windows; creating cities full of dark, damp terraces!

Finally, dropping down into Manifold Valley at the top side of Ilam Hall, we passed this cross shaft. The light was beginning to fade and the photo ended up with a weird sci-fi tinge!

The cross shaft is known as the Battle Stone and links back to the fighting between the Saxons and the Danes. It was taken from the foundations of a cottage about 1840, during the rebuilding of the village, but the stone itself probably dates from around the middle of the 11th century.

A climb up the stone steps takes us back to the front of Ilam Hall and the tea rooms where our walk began (now closed for the day, sadly, so I can't buy you a cuppa). 

Ilam – high route Dovedale – Ilam Rock – Stanshope – Manifold Valley – 7.5 miles,  1620’ ascent, MODERATE

I hope you enjoyed tagging along.

Fields of green

I think that one of the most beautiful stretches of our walk was this last section from the rim of the Manifold back to Ilam. We walked over luscious green fields, dotted with livestock; the sun was shining, the breeze was gentle, the views were open and there was little in the way of noise apart from sheep bleating, birds singing and a tractor on a distant hillside.

I'll leave you to enjoy :)

"You lookin' at me?"

"This is my best side!"

Just to be here is so refreshing!