Extending the local walk

19 January 2014

I decided to continue last week's walk by retracing to where I'd left the trail, and then continue on to the next road and come back to the cottage.  My impression is that it would be another 4 mile walk…I got that wrong but had a good time anyway.

It was a gray day, and rain threatened.  According to the weather guessers the rain would hold off until sunset.  They guessed wrong, but at least the first half of the walk was dry.

Buck Barrow is so prominent, and because it was my first real hike on my own that it just captivates me.  It's hard to believe it's about 3 miles walking from where I took this picture.

At the end of the gravel road there is a farm, and the GPS was telling me to walk straight through the farmhouse!  So obviously I asked the farmer and he simply pointed towards a paddock full of sheep.  No worry, just have to walk past them up the fell and along the fence.

Some bush was there, it looks dead but I suppose it's just dormant for the winter.  On it was some fungi that was really stark in it's yellow.

A nice selfie with Buck Barrow behind me.  Just as the camera took this photo it fell off the fence, no damage of course, but it gave me a start.  The trail went over the fence here, I continued up the fell and the trail ended at the farmhouse where my main blog page photo was taken.  From there I continued up towards Setallon (to the left of Buck Barrow and not in these photos) Then made a hard left on a logging road.  As I was walking along the logging road it started to rain…and continued to rain until I got back to the cottage, which is why I didn't take more photos.

The yellow part of the trail is the previous route…at Wellington I veered right and rejoined the trail.  That jog at the top that just sort of stops is the full trail, but due to the heavy rainfall the ford across the River Bleng was not passable.  So I backtracked and headed back down the fell.

A longer walk than I'd planned, and because it was wet, very tiring.  8 miles, 4 hours, total ascent 258 meters.

Until next time…

Back to Walking

11 January 2014

I got back to Cumbria and of course the first thing I wanted to do was walk off the holiday calories.  I did some searching about and found a trail on the UK ordnance survey map website.  The trail is over 11 miles total, but I decided, since it crosses a couple of key roads near the cottage, that instead of spending the day out walking, I'd keep it to about 3-4 miles.

It was a sunny day, and it starts on a route I'm familiar with.  Generally walking down to what Suzanne and I call the "River Walk" which runs along the River Bleng.  It's a great walk and I like doing it when I only have an hour.  There is actually a shorter version for when I only have 30 minutes.

These two above are nice views towards the East.  That's Buck Barrow and beyond in the clouds is Scafell.  This walk has some great views.

I had to stop and take this shot of the moss growing on a stone fence.  It's days like these that remind me I'm in England and it's a very beautiful country.

A great walk.  4.0 miles, 2 hours 45 minutes, 141 meter ascent.

Until next time…

Home for the Holidays

I had a great visit home for the holidays.  It's always grounding to spend quality time with Suzanne and Tucker.

I needed the break and really enjoyed visiting with Mom & Dad, hosting our annual Christmas Party and visiting with Glynis, Justin, Karen and Austin.  Plus seeing all our friends while there.

Here's a few pictures of the Sandhill Crane's that Dad is feeding.

A Cardinal at Mom's feeder.

At home a Hawk started his day in our front yard.  We finally figured out he was getting worms.



The feeder out back, with a Titmouse.

And of course the Chickadee had to join.  

Until next time…

Suzanne's Visit

24 October 2013

I was uploading some photos today to finish up some blogging and realized I was woefully behind.

Suzanne came over for a visit last October and while here we had dinner with our good friends Allan and Vera. Allan is a local farmer (dairy -- for cheese) and Vera owns a local pharmacy. En route to dinner Vera insisted on showing us an old church and graveyard because she knew Suzanne's interest in fox hunting.

This is a stone that reads:

In
Memory
of
Thomas Dobson
Who Died
April 2nd 1910
-----
For 53 Years
(Tommy)
was master of Eskdale and
Ennerdale Foxhounds
He started the pack
-----
This monument was erected
by nearly 300 friends
from all parts
of the country.

Of course what makes the stone special is that on the left is the head of a fox and on the right is the head of a hound. Below the scroll is a horn crossed with a whip. At the top is Tommy's face encircled by a horseshoe.
Here's a shot for scale…



While there I also took some pictures of stones and lichen. The sky was overcast so the lighting was near perfect. I have no idea what some of these plants are, but they were pretty.

We also went for a short walk up to Hardknott Castle -- the Roman ruins of a fort from about 300 AD. It was a beautiful day.




Until next time…

Telford 2013

11 November 2013

Well, if you know me you know I like to build model airplanes. The plastic kind with glue and paint and decals. Not everyone knows I'm a member of the International Plastic Modeler's Society, USA Chapter. IPMS begin in 1963 (yes, 50 years ago) here in the UK as the British Plastic Modeler's Society; quickly morphing into the IPMS, UK Chapter when the rest of the world wanted to participate.

Scale Model World is the UK's annual convention for IPMS UK. And it's a very big deal here. Unlike the US where the annual convention moves around to each region (it's a big country), IPMS UK always has their convention in Telford. So desire meets opportunity as I'm here and can attend not just Telford, but the 50th anniversary.

And it was a biggie. There were a few big announcements, for us modelers. New kits, new tools, new decals, and the usual booths full of low price kits. I broke my piggy bank and left with a big bag of stuff! I was on my feet all day for two days, met some nice folks and got to talk aircraft models. Yes, I can think of better things to do, but Suzanne is in the US...

The highlight was getting to sit in a Spitfire, second time for me but these guys are pros at getting the right photos. Basically for a fiver you provide the camera and they'll take as many photos as they can. And they know the right ones..."okay, look this way, smile, now point here, et cetera".

The really big announcement was Airfix (a big name in plastic models since the '50's) showing their June 2014 new kit: For the D-Day anniversary next year they'll be selling a large scale Typhoon, basically an iconic British fighter-bomber that supported the D-Day landings and the UK army's advance into Germany. Not something for me (subject yes, size no). It's a big model that won't fit into my display cabinet but the detail is amazing. It's almost worth buying just for the engine -- it's a model in it's own right.

Lots of fun, and I'm looking forward to next year.

Until next time...

Blue Tits

My back yard always has something interesting going on. One group of visitors that I enjoy are Bue Tits. They are an interesting bird that doesn't like to sit still. So I have to sit patiently with my camera focused and ready on a location I have confidence they alight on.

Blue Tits will stay year round in Britain. But I've found they seem to move in a mini-flock. They'll feed for a few days, generally in the morning (they can be noisy at 4am in the Summer when the sun is up early here) and then again just before sunset. During the day they might come by, but they don't seem to be consistent. Then they'll go off somewhere for a few days; then come back again. Flighty...

I have two of these feeders. I fill them with what are called "fat balls" that are basically lard mixed with seed and some other goodies. Suet is probably the closest thing, but these are not just a bunch of grease with a few seeds in it, like suet can be. When I dropped one recently it landed with a loud thud, no crumbs came off!

I've had as many as 8 on the feader at once and when there are that many feeding, the balls disapear quickly! I watched a stack of 4 disappear in about an hour one day. But I don't mind feeding them, they are pretty to watch.

Until next time...

Work, work, work

I can't believe it's been a month since my last post!

As the title says, I've been a bit busy with work. Last weekend I actually went back to the US, only to find myself busy with work via my mobile and email. It all started with an email saying I had to set up a major briefing to stakeholders this week, and the materials all had to be in last week! Yikes!

What's keeping me from the fells, and generally enjoying myself about Cumbria is preparations for a major review. Everything is due in just 3 weeks and due to some snags with people the Team is scrambling to get all the supporting documents aligned and ready.

Yadda, yadda, yadda, right?

So I am taking a bit of time off, doing some modeling, went to a model show down in Birmingham and a bit of local walking. I've got a short route from the cottage that I can either make 30 minutes or a full hour. It could be extended to 4 hours if I went the full trail, but right now an hour is about what I can afford.

My apple tree is still laden, but there seems to be as many rotten apples on the ground as great apples in the tree. I've picked at least a bushel and taken them to work, plus I eat 2-3 each day. I've got 3 bags in the garage from today and need to get more bags and a ladder so I get the ones up high. Vera, the landlady, even came buy and picked a bunch.

I've got some more posts to make, the adventure hasn't slowed down!

Until next time...