Terrafirma Travels

Up at 0545, cuppa & biscuit, in ferry queue by 0645, searched by Customs (!), on ferry by 0745 and departed at 0755. Au revoir, IoM, it's been a lovely 36 hours. Could not find our assigned seats in Nahrbyl lounge. Sat anywhere. No-one checks. Big cooked breakfast, our traditional early ferry treat. A damp grey morning. Dozed and read.  Disgorged into Heysham at noon. Drove up to Morecambe where the tide was dropping rapidly. Many oyster catchers and a single bar-tailed or black-tailed godwit - beautiful long straight beak. Brucciani's for a toasted sandwich lunch, comes with salad and crisps of course. Lovely cafe, largely unchanged since est. in 1939. Quick charity shop, v downmarket but L found trousers - £2! Morecambe looked v quiet and scruffy in the grey Oct rain as we drove through towards motorway and Manchester. 

We had a poor night's sleep due to the heat of the hotel room. N turned off the huge radiator in the bathroom, that took hours to cool down. L opened windows and curtains and switched on a fan but even so there was little sleep. Once we did fall asleep, we needed extra time in bed so the promised swim never materialised. We had a full breakfast in the hotel and drove 6 mins to Catherine's large house where she gave us tea and we talked and talked, especially about the sad story of her beloved husband Dave, who died suffering from motor neurone disease during Covid.  Then Nic drove us half an hour to Gansey where we had a delicious lunch of poached eggs and brunch specials. Then we drove down a coast path to the bench dedicated to Dave, a spot where Catherine and he often had picnics with the grandchildren.  Once we got back to Douglas we dropped her off and had a couple of hours rest in the hotel. Then we walked to a nearby restaurant to meet Catherine again for an expensive d...

A cooked breakfast, an almost tearful goodbye with Ann (who left first, to drive Emily and Jackie to Gretna retail park), and slotting our bags into the car. An hour and a half later we were at Heysham ferry port - a bigger operation than we expected. We were parked on the aft deck and promised a smooth, stabilised passage in a SW F5. Pic is car in middle of deck - crew just letting go the aft warp. The ship was very full and the coachloads of people ahead of us had grabbed most of the seats. We managed to get a couple of the less comfortable. Half the seating is in reserved/premium lounges. Catherine did warn us, but we didn't understand. Sunday pm is the busiest, apparently. L booked seats for our return to be sure. Not much to see en route apart from the odd gas platform and many wind farms. Douglas arrival straightforward, although we did have to drive out past some fierce-looking policemen. Took 3 minutes to reach hotel - N v glad he had researched the underground car park ent...

 L got up early, had porridge, drove to Ambleside to join the Park Run at 9am. The drive was exciting as the very low bright sun was quite blinding on hill brows. Nic did a parking app rescue for her by phone, after the pay machine at Millers car park broke down. The course was three times around the park, but it was dangerous in the 2-way narrow and slippery paths where fast runners were overtaking others regardless of the risk. L was one of the slowest, but 3rd in her age category, probably out of 3. The photo shows the finish line. She walked into town and bought a DryRobe swim mat, a Guardian and chicken soup for lunch. Arriving at the gate of the Bield, she was stuck in a ten car jam, unable to turn into the gate until some plonker finally decided to reverse and let her in. It was good to be back for a rest, for soup and bread and cheese, a little light packing and a chat to Ann's son Robert who was mowing the lawns of the Bield.  Now the sunny afternoon stretches ahead. ...

Rain, not swimming! We've been so lucky all week - the original forecast had rain every day after Monday. But finally we have a wet day. Ann went off on multiple errands and for her reflexology, L washed her hair, N finished his book acquired in Coniston and set in this area ... which he now passes on to Ann. Much deskwork.  And so the day went ... the rain continued and we didn't go anywhere. What a lazy day of brews, chats, fly-swatting and reading. Lit the fire at 5pm, worried about it for 20 minutes, later it got so hot N had to hide his feet.  Watched Traitors again with Ann. We were all highly amused and critical of the so-called strategies of some of the celebrities. 

  Today was the day for our traditional round the valley yomp, though it was a slow affair today, as we stopped in lots of places. We go left on to the road, then right on to the farm path. From there it's a fine view of Ann's white house, High Bield, against the mountain side. On we go, past Herdwick sheep, to the ancient stone Slater's Bridge. That's where Lesley's sister Mary once went paddling in shallow water. Today the stream was in spate.  We rurn right at the kissing gate to a stony path which goes steeply uphill past the Yorkshire Ramblers cottage. Then we usually stop for a sit on a very high and uncomfortable bench above a field containing Aberdeen Angus cattle.  Then it's a fairly level walk across the valley to the road which takes us back to Ann's.  The road is quite busy with cars and Land Rovers pulling sheep trailers. So L keeps an ear out, and we huddle into the verge while they pass. We have noticed again that the many blackberries in the ...