Just over 2000 miles later… We’ve spent most of yesterday and today burrowing out from under a pile of washing and mail and replying to e-mails. And of course, still not finished. We also went with Judy for cake and compline at the Archers last night, and today I went to a Paston Footprints meeting at North Walsham, during which I felt extraordinarily tired. But of course I need to relate the essentials of our holiday in the Outer Hebrides and Scotland.

It began on Monday, July 18, when we left Norwich about 10.30 and endured a couple of diversions on the M6 before arriving at Abington around 7.15. We had stopped at Thrapston, Keele, Charnock Richard and Westmoreland services. Mostly the weather was warm and dry, but there was a sharp shower just before we arrived. Total: 412 miles.

On the Tuesday we left Abington at 10.23 and got to Oban almost exactly three hours later, having stopped once by Loch Lomond to change drivers (Dot>Tim). The weather was very warm, and slow drivers were a bit of a plague except on the stretch after Crianlarich. Got petrol on the outskirts of Oban and went straight to the hotel. Glad we did, because there was limited parking. Couldn’t book in till 3pm; so we walked into town, got our ferry tickets and ate seafood on the quay, then a cup of tea and a Danish pastry in town.

We booked in to the hotel just before 4pm and after a rest walked eastward along the seafront and found an idyllic spot overlooking the bay. The sky was blue and it was very warm: weatherwise, it was the high point of the holiday. Later we had a bar meal in the hotel and went to sleep pretty easily. There were violent thunderstorms during the night, but I hardly noticed, though Dot watched the lightning from our window. 547.2 miles.

On Wednesday, July 20 we woke up to a grey morning with some light rain. Had an excellent breakfast, then drove up to McCaig’s Tower and looks some pictures from the top between showers. We then parked in town and had a cup of tea in the same cafe as the day before before joining the ferry queue by 12.30. The ferry left at 1.45.

The trip to Castlebay on Barra took nearly five hours. Once disembarked we followed a narrow road for a few miles before finding Heathbank Hotel, standing on its own. Finding it was made easy because it had its name in huge letters on the front – and by the fact that the car in front of us went there too. Nice bedroom, with a great view. Had meal in the bar – Dot venison, me steak – then went for a short walk wearing anti-midge bracelets. Commendable precaution, but I don’t think we saw a single midge in the Outer Hebrides.

We spent Thursday on Barra, starting with a visit to the airport to find the time the plane landed on the beach. Then, finding it arrived at 11.30, we drove further, then visited the ferry terminal for tomorrow. Back at the airport we went into the cafe. I reconnoitred for the best position for a video, and it started raining. By the time the plane arrived, 20 minutes late, I was wet, back inside and missed the landing. Got it taxi-ing, though, and a video of it taking off – shot from the car in the rain.

The second half of the day was much more successful. We drove round the west side of the island and into Castlebay to buy sandwiches at the Co-op, then over the causeway to Vatersay – a beautiful island. Ate sandwiches in the car on the side of a hill near a memorial to a Catalina that crashed with the loss of three of its crew. Then walked on both stunning beaches, west and east, before heading back to Castlebay, where we saw a man fall over. He asked us for a lift to Vatersay village – about as far back as you can go – and we agreed, though he was clearly drunk. The bus driver had (understandably) refused to take him. So we went all the way back again. He was no trouble, but repetitive. Apparently he’d been to a public school in Berkshire, but it had all been downhill since then.Even “Scraggy Maggy” had rejected him, for rather obvious reasons. Left him in the further reaches of Vatersay and returned to hotel for cup of tea. 611.1 miles. Always a bit of rain in the air, but not too cool.

Not sleeping very well. On Friday, July 22 took the 11am ferry to Eriskay. Quite a pleasant day all day, though often cloudy. Stopped at a cafe, then drove up through South Uist, stopping at one of the beaches where a river flowed through. Walked to the sea and went in an old church. Drove on and stopped at Hebridean Jewellery, as recommended by a waitress at the Barra hotel. Had a panini and bought some postcards. On to Benbecula, where there was an airport and we saw a plane take off. Then on to North Uist, where we walked up to a prehistoric burial mound.

On to the hotel at Lochmaddy, which was very nice. After dinner walked down to the water’s edge. Weather forecast dreadful. 675 miles. Discovered that my watch is either broken or the battery is dead. Suspect latter.

High cloud at first on the Saturday. Set off for Berneray, a small island at the north of North Uist (causeway), where we drove to a recommended spot near a beach, which we walked to in rapidly deteriorating weather: gave up after reaching beach and returned to the car cold and wet. Great beach, though. Back to hotel to dry off, and had tea in the bar while our room was being cleaned.

The heavy rain was allegedly due to ease; so we drove to a pub (the only one on North Uist), where we were just in time for a lunch of carrot, coriander and honey soup with rough bread. Delicious. Drove further, and on a side road encountered two huge white-tailed eagles (I think) that had just caught prey. Also a possible sighting of a hen harrier. Drove on round the north of the island, but the weather was getting worse again. Eventually arrived back at Lochmaddy and visited museum/art gallery. Bought two CDs – Julie Fowlis and Salm – and a puffin for Andrew. Got petrol at village filling station: filled car then went into village shop to pay (no directions, just guessed). No evening meal tonight – trying to give stomachs a rest. 742.4 miles.

Sunday, July 24 was a much nicer day: entirely dry and milder. Left just before 11am, posted cards and headed for ferry, taking a detour to Loch Potain on the way – quite a pleasant road out in the wilds. In good time for the ferry from Berneray – parked and wandered around. The boat was a bit bigger than last time, but not huge. We sat outside at the front while the boat took a very winding route across the Sound of Harris to Leverburgh, during which we saw a few seals.

The road up the west side of Harris was stunningly beautiful. We stopped high up by a golf course and ate our rolls (no cafes open because it was Sunday: only ferries and hotels open). Stopped once before before heading across the hills to Tarbert – a ferry terminal and our next port of call, the Hebrides Hotel, where we stayed for three nights. Too late to book the restaurant; so we ate in the bar – fish and chips for me, burger for Dot. Before that we watched the ferry leaving for Uig on Skye, then went for a walk. After eating we watched cricket then drove to Scalpay Island (across newish bridge). Beautiful road with lovely evening views.

Monday turned out to be pretty much the perfect day. It stayed dry despite the forecast, and there was even some sun at times. We started at Luskentyre beach, where we walked on the sand and had great views, particularly of Taransay Island, where Castaway 2000, a TV series, was filmed. Then we drove to the Hebridean Arts cafe for tea and scones. We bought some jewellery and cards, and then proceeded to the Golden Road on the east side of Harris – a beautiful winding road with rocky bays and inlets.

At Gotesay bought a Harris Tweed waistcoat for me and a jacket for Dot  – the latter a special Centenary Tweed woven by Donald John Mackay, who is about as good as its gets. The seller gave us his address (Number 6 on the Luskentyre road) and we drove there with not particularly high hopes, but Dot saw him near his house (which had appeared deserted, though open) and accosted him. He showed us his loom and gave us a demonstration.

He had actually been waiting for a procession of tractors on a charity run. We had passed them earlier, but several of them arrived while we were at his house, and he (and we) had a chat with them. I had a feeling that one of the drivers was his granddaughter. Afterwards we drove back to the hotel and then into North Harris, where we walked to an eagle observatory.  No sign of eagles till we walked back to car, when we saw three in the sky. Was able to get binoculars on them and even take a couple of pictures; so am sure they were golden eagles.

Back to the hotel for a meal, where the two waitresses coped brilliantly with much of the food running out. Gave them a sizeable tip. Had superb chicken ballantine (stuffed with haggis) and a bottle of red wine.

Tuesday started very wet but improved quickly. This was another good day, but with lots of driving – first to the Callanish (Calanais) standing stones on Lewis, where we arrived early enough to get some reasonable pictures and avoid the worst of the crowds. Had tea and scones in visitors’ centre and bought a couple of things. Then on to blackhouse village, which was pretty impressive. Bought DVD for Dot on peat-digging and weaving which was on loop in one of the houses. Then drove long winding road to beach at Ardroil, where there was a carved statue of a Lewis chessman by the dunes. Walked over dunes to the beach. Dot drove back, and we had another lovely meal at the restaurant – I had steak this time. We love Tarbert. 1003 miles.

Wednesday, July 27 was our 48th wedding anniversary and marked the end of our Outer Hebridean adventure, though not the end of our holiday. Very wet start. I put cases in the car while Dot went to the shops. Then after checking out we stopped at the nearby Harris Tweed shop and bought a very expensive book as an anniversary present. It was £130, but unique and beautiful.

After this we drove to Stornaway and joined the queue for the largest ferry yet – the Loch Seaforth. We left the car and walked into town, getting tea and coffee in the smallest tea shop in the Highlands – one table. Run by a German woman, who was very chatty and extremely knowledgeable on tea. While there got a call from Coventry saying Andrew was having a mental health assessment and would be going into hospital again. Back to the ferry, where we had a meal as soon as we got on board. The journey took just under three hours, arriving at Ullapool just after 5pm. Drove to Lochinver, where the Culag Hotel was very old-fashioned but basically OK. Went for a walk, but it was bit cold, so we drove for a bit through beautiful scenery and chanced on three deer and a stag by the roadside. Rained a lot during the day, a lot between Ullapool and Lochinver, but the evening was dry.

On Thursday it was very wet on the road north and still quite unpleasant as we reached Fanagmore and our B&B of nearly 40 years ago, looking exactly the same, but wetter. Tiny roads hereabouts still beautiful. Thence to Durness, managing to overtake a convoy of four Italian motorhomes. Durness road still beautiful in the mist, but at Durness (Balnakiel) I hit my head on a lintel at a ruined church and on the floor when I fell over backwards. Happily I just avoided a gravestone, which could have been disastrous had my head struck it. Weather had improved enough to go on beach – more nostalgia – and we had tea/coffee at craft village café.

On the way back to Lochinver we called at Oldshoremore, where we visited the toilets and then had hot drinks in the Sandwood Bay car park before driving down to nearby quay, where we saw jellyfish. Afterwards we drove back via Scourie, where we stopped at the jetty and at a bird hide (crowds of oystercatchers) and then by a loch on the run-in to Lochinver, where we got some great pictures of late sun on tiny islands. Had a surprisingly good meal at the hotel – Yorkshire pudding Yorkshire-style. Superb bubbly Italian waitress called Cara contrasted with a rather drab village. Big mix of nationalities in the North of Scotland. Brief walk after supper, but it started raining again: eerie view of Suilven through the clouds.

No wi-fi in hotel and no phone signal at Lochinver, but while at Durness I managed to get through to Coventry and contact Andrew at the hospital. Couldn’t manage to get any coherent comment from anyone at the hospital. 1230 miles.

On Friday, July 29, astonishingly, it was raining. But as we made our way eastwards on a rather lonely, single-track road, it gradually brightened up. Took it in turns driving till we reached Bridge of Brown. By then we had given totally wrong directions to a Scot looking for the Falls of Shin and failed to catch him to put him right, and had spent longer on a roundabout at Inverness than most people do eating their lunch. The A9 could be a beautiful road but is blighted by speed cameras as well as the odd roundabout. We were the sole customers at Bridge of Brown and Dot decided it needed an overhaul, which she could easily arrange. I had the Broon Special, a kind of burger that was actually very good.

Before we reached Ballater there was another first – a queue at Gairnshiel Bridge for no apparent reason. Arrived at the Glen Lui Hotel at about 4pm. 1391 miles. After sorting out clothes, we talked into town in very light intermittent rain and saw the devastation wreaked by fire and flood. Many shops still drying out. Station totally destroyed. Brilliant new Co-op, though. Had cheeseboard and wine at Rock Salt and Snails, which had re-opened after flooding on June 29. Lovely cafe. Green Inn and Hayloft both shut, the latter probably for good. The guy at RS&S said the water rose and fell within a few hours: it “seemed to come from nowhere”. 1451 miles.

On Saturday we woke to rain again. But by the time were reached Loch Muick car park it had stopped, and amazingly there were midges in attendance. Sprayed ourselves, but by the time we reached the Loch footpath they’d vanished, and we never saw them again – either there or anywhere else. Did the walk round the head of the loch, then drove back to Ballater, visited the Co-op, then RS&S for scones. Back at the hotel we spoke to David on Facetime, then drove along the A93 to find the new stretch of road. Missed it at first and got to Braemar to find the Fife Arms covered in scaffolding. Aargh!

Found new stretch of road on the way back, then visited the bridge at Cambus O’May – very bent and of course closed. Back at the hotel we did a brief circular walk, on to the golf course and round on to the river path. Over five miles altogether today. More showers in the afternoon, and in the evening we had dinner at the Glen Lui with Ella, who was understandably very subdued at first but livened up quickly. The meal was excellent. She gave me one of David’s ties as a memento of him.

On Sunday, July 31 we walked to church in the morning – congregation even smaller than we remembered, going even further back in time. Sermon theme: “Do not be afraid.” Walked back to hotel, then drove to log cabin for teacakes and tea. Outside saw two eagles flying high. Drove up to the first hill on the Lecht to see new sculpture seats, then back to view of Lochnagar on Balmoral road. Read for a bit: occasional rain. Drove South Deeside road to our favourite spot beyond Dinnet, where the flood had a big effect on the opposite bank. Then back to hotel to relax with cup of tea, followed by another good meal.

Woke up to a blue sky on the Monday, but still some light showers throughout the day. Drove to Linn of Quoich after getting petrol at Braemar (1524 miles). Bridge down and river diverted. Accessed other side of Quoich Water by climbing path round the hill. Footbridge looked OK, but closed. Some teenagers paddled across. Walked back along the ridge – steep descent to car. Drove to Glen Shee, had lunch and got (new) chairlift to the top, where we met Peter Anderson, who was of course taught by Ella. Very cold at first with rain, but improved. On top of The Cairnwell, spoke to man taking his grandchildren up their first Munro. Drove back to Ballater after stopping for a read on the Glenshee road and then stopping at Balmoral to buy napkins! Meant to have early evening meal at RS&S, but they had finished cooking at 4.30pm. So after having scone and cake plus tea (me) and Prosecco (Dot) we bought fish and chips and drove up Glen Muick road to eat there. Later had tea/coffee in hotel lounge and sorted out packing for tomorrow. Apparently it’s going to rain…

By the end of Tuesday, August 2 we had clocked up over 2000 miles – and it hardly rained at all. Long journey, but no real problems other than tiredness. Stopped at Stirling, Annadale Water (petrol), Westmoreland and Knutsford. Arrived shortly after 7pm and lost my glasses.

On Wednesday the glasses remained missing despite an extensive search. Otherwise quite a nice day. After breakfast we called at Minster Lodge and spoke to Helen. One of the staff gave me a bear to take to Andrew at Caludon Centre. Saw him for about 45 minutes; also saw doctor and filled him in about Andrew’s past. They don’t appear to keep notes. Andrew not as bad as he might have been. Physically OK. Gave him some little things for his birthday.  Got text from David, inviting us to drop in – so we did. Played cricket with Oliver and chatted to Amy. All seem well. Dot drove most of way home – we got some food from Waitrose at Wymondham. After arrival home went and spoke to Des and Chris, who had looked after our plants – we gave them wine and cake. Discovered our wall at the side (NWT) had been knocked down or possibly fell of its own accord. As walls do.

Total: 2193.6 miles.

We now have the car back: it needed a new tyre and was serviced. Now I hope it will last the next two or three weeks at least, as we shall be covering lots of miles travelling to Scotland, through the Outer Hebrides, back to Ballater and then to Coventry and home. At church today Howard expressed concern at our travelling this distance by car. I tried to reassure him, but he didn’t seem convinced.

Before picking up the car Dot and I went to see Jessie, who was in good form, and then bought some stuff at Sainsbury’s with the aim of reclaiming some Nectar card cash. But the cashier messed it up, much to Dot’s annoyance, and so the cash is still locked into the Nectar card. On a scale of world problems over the last few days, this ranks fairly low.

While Dot was at the DSSO meeting with Paul on Wednesday I walked into the city to pay in a cheque and see a 20 Group exhibition at the Forum, during which I was approached by two Chinese students who interrogated me on my shopping and reading habits. On the way back I bought some gooseberries and cherries and arrived just as Paul’s car emerged from Aspland Road.

On Friday Howard came round at 10am to discuss starting up a Facebook Group and page and a Twitter identity relating to the speaker programme at church. This was complicated by the additional presence of Suzanne Cooke and Liz Day, particularly the latter. After a while I let them get on with it, but even so Liz appears to have changed some things after it was all done. No surprise there. An additional problem is that Howard does not want to get involved personally with Facebook or Twitter. Ho, hum. I did not say this was rather like wanting a newspaper to advertise your event but refusing to read newspapers. Perhaps I should have.

Later in the day I took the recovering Phil to get his hair cut on Kett’s Hill – well, in a hairdresser’s there, to be more accurate. Joy was supposed to have come, but she felt too ill, and I have to admit she didn’t look at all well. Phil continues to make good progress, though.

In the evening we played host to Sue and Roger (Eagle) and Anne and Philip. Dot did the cooking, and it was very nice, especially the starter, which was a peach with something rather radical done to it. The evening was convivial and went well, though I have to admit that Philip didn’t seem too good. He is just finishing his prostate cancer treatment, so he can hardly be expected to seem on top of the world.

Yesterday Dot and I went to Castle Acre for a garden party at the home of the Bishop of Lynn, for whom Ann Knox Whittet works as secretary. As a bonus she and James got use of a marquee that the bishop had been using earlier!  The event turned out to be a poetry/musical afternoon, and fortunately I had taken a poem to read. There were many other offerings, some worse than others. Met a lady who was born on Barra, where we’re heading this week. She sang a beautiful Gaelic hymn. I know that because she gave us the translation first. Alas present: Kaaren Whitney and Sue Mobbs, plus most of the Suffolk poets with whom I have become familiar. Not over-familiar, of course.

Castle Acre was beautiful. Don’t know why I haven’t been there before. Tonight some of the same poets will be reading at the Seagull, but Dot and I have decided we don’t really have the time, as we’re busy packing and quite tired.  Nice service this morning, led by Phil, who seems to have the weight of the world on his shoulders, and with a talk by Howard, who doesn’t. Ann (95) made a rare appearance with her daughter Chris.

It’s getting quite warm here, and it promises to continue. The Outer Hebrides are not looking so good.

*Note on Phils: (a) Phil Lenton, my brother; (b) Philip Robinson, Anne’s husband; (c) Dr Phil Kerrison, a church member and guitar player.

So now I’m 71. I guess it was inevitable – or at least, there was only one alternative, as there so often is (grammatical joke). I would like to say I had a very pleasant birthday yesterday, and in fact I did.  My wife made every effort to look after me and succeeded. It culminated first in the excitement of having my hair cut, and then attendance at a Julian meeting at the Greens which was unashamedly hijacked by my birthday celebrations (thanks to Dot and Anna), some lovely food and even champagne. Wonderful evening.

Nevertheless she is spending today with another man – in the case Paul Henderson, who is accompanying her to the DSSO bash at Diocesan House. I am working my way down my Reminders list. Very slowly. So far I have got my pills from the chemist.

In other news, we went to London on Saturday to see the Coomes, leaving Norwich in pouring rain which apparently lingered for Norwich but turned into quite a pleasant, dry day in London. Had a lovely lunch in Leyton. David was not much different to the naked eye but is apparently deteriorating. Still, we had a good talk and solved most of the world’s problems.

On Monday I led the service in the presence of the vicar, which sounds nerve-wracking but was in fact fine. Eleanor gave a really good talk. The rest of the day we spent largely in front of the TV, watching various sporting events. France shot themselves in the foot in the Euro 2016 final by not breaking sweat until Portugal scored, by when it was too late. The reluctance to risk anything is spoiling most international football nowadays. On the plus side, Murray and Hamilton won.

On Monday I went to Bruce Robinson’s funeral at St Faith’s. A very simple service was followed by refreshments at the Marsham Arms which included all the usual suspects except Martin Throssell, who had apparently been unable to find his way there by following my directions. Had quite a chat with Cynthia and others.

On the way home, however, I got a puncture, limped into Horsford and called the emergency people after trying unsuccessfully to use the gunge kit in the boot to reinflate the tyre. Both the emergency man and the garage said this was awful stuff and should never be used, which sort of makes you wonder why they supply it. Apparently they don’t supply a spare tyre because it affects the mpg, but I would happily sacrifice a little mpg for a spare tyre. I suspect most drivers would.

The emergency man was very quick and transported the car and me to my own garage (about three miles away). As I was due to have it serviced tomorrow anyway, I left it there, and it is still there (I hope). I walked up the road and caught a bus. Later I went with Dot to pick up some pills for Phil and Joy, who both have UTIs, then dropped off a misaddressed card reader to the new church treasurer, then delivered the pills and three bags of laundry to P & J. It’s all go.

Cringleford turned out to be slightly more interesting than expected. After leaving Dot at the school I walked down a track to Colney Lane and then beyond, down Water Lane, which turned out to lead only to private properties. So I returned to Colney Lane, where I was hailed by a man who wanted (at first) to talk about his daughter, who had been slightly injured in a car crash. It then turned out that he recognised my name from Surrey Chapel, and he talked a great deal about allied matters, such as the Second Coming and healing. His name (I checked with Phil today) was Ted Holland, and he has a bit of a reputation. With Phil, anyway.

After being talked to for about 20 minutes I completed a circular walk back to the school, and Dot soon emerged. In the evening we went with Neville and Mary Thrower to Prezzo’s and then had coffee at ours. Neville seemed to have a bad cold, which made both of us a bit nervous.

I attended the Archant coffee morning on my own on Tuesday – Dot was overwhelmed with work. Bit of a low turnout: Robin and  Shelagh were on holiday, Paul and Maryta weren’t there, and Brian and Tricia turned up late. Still, talked to Eric and Hazel and Jenni Downing. Afterwards I returned my borrowed umbrella to the bank and on the spur of the moment got my glasses tightened, as well as stocking up on First Defence, which is an anti-viral spray.

In the afternoon there was a lengthy Paston Footprints Steering Meeting, which Karen forgot, but we forged on anyway. A much shorter trustees’ meeting followed. Penny was out of bed but with her injured ankle raised. She seemed quite bright.

Bit of a technology disaster day on Wednesday: paper jammed in Dot’s printer, and although we seemed to have freed it, the LCD dIsplay wouldn’t change. In the end – after many frustrations – Dot rang Rymans (it was still in warranty) and they took it back and gave her a new printer at a much reduced price. I also took delivery of a new improved BT hub, but I daren’t use it in case it messes up David’s system. So it awaits his suggestions, probably when they come up to see us. On the plus side, our long-awaited chair (ordered in January) at last arrived and seems to be fine, or “quite good” as Dot wrote on the delivery sheet, since it had a couple of marks which she has managed to remove. It now sits upstairs, and is very comfortable.

The chair arrived while I was at Blofield, having given Lucy and Karen a lift to the church there for a meeting about Blofield joining us in the Footprints project. The meeting included Barbara and David Pilch (I was at school with David), the rector and the churchwarden. Afterwards I took Karen back to the station to catch a bus, and then delivered Lucy to North Walsham station, where her car was parked.

Today has been overcast but warm. I went to Morrisons, partly on behalf of my brother, then after lunch took the food round to him and picked up some washing. I also got some cash for him. Dot has been in and out and is at present at a “celebration” evening at the school where she is a governor. She is not enjoying it.

Still a lot of rain about, considering it’s the middle of summer. Not all that warm, either. Rain featured quite strongly in Amy’s school speech day, to which we were invited together with the other grandparents, plus David and Vicky of course. To get there fairly early in the morning we had to stay overnight, so travelled down on Friday and bought some fish and chips for supper.

This would be our last visit to Beechwood Park, and it was memorable. The speech day in a massive tent included an excellent address from the headmaster and a good motivational speech from Paul Gustard, the defence coach of the England rugby team and formerly of Saracens, where he brought a couple of wolves and a snake to training. Happily he only brought mirrors to Beechwood. (“The person in the glass is the one you have to look in the eye.”)

Afterwards we had a picnic on the playing fields – a magnificent spread prepared by Vicky and interrupted only slightly by a couple of heavy downpours. Fortunately we had umbrellas, which enabled us to deflect the water on to our neighbours. Oliver also came to this, but he departed to a party before we went on a tour of the classrooms, led by Amy, during which I was able to tell her English teacher how good I thought she was at writing. Happily, her teacher concurred. The tour ended with cake and tea back in the tent. Dot and I returned to Caddington with David, and left soon for a quick journey home (Dot driving). Amy and the Evetts went with Vicky to Aylesbury.

Yesterday was Eleanor’s birthday celebration at church. Before that I preached and was just about able to cope with interruptions from an old guy who has started coming occasionally. He sees himself as central to everything that happens, which is a bit sad and annoying at the same time. I talked about the liturgy, and why it was as it is. Got a lot of positive feedback, some of which may have been a sympathy vote.

After the lunch (provided by Eleanor) Dot and I went to the cemetery at North Walsham and from there to Jessie’s – briefly, as she was being visited by Roger and Debbie, who were staying for an evening meal. Later Iceland were 4-0 down at half time to France and eventually lost 5-2. This is the same Iceland who beat England 2-1. Meanwhile, some time last week, Wales beat Belgium in a brilliant match to get through to the semi-finals. Other sporting events: Djokovic was knocked out of Wimbledon, Hamilton won the Austrian grand prix, despite an attempt by Rosberg to push him off the track; and Cavendish won the first stage of the Tour de France, which gave him the yellow jersey (apparently the only jersey he was lacking). Oh, and England did quite well at cricket against Sri Lanka.

Earlier in the week we had cake and compline at our house (Tuesday) and I drove Dot to an orchestra party at Stoke Holy Cross to celebrate their concert (Wednesday). On Thursday I had another visit from Lily and Linda, and we walked up the Rosary, where I showed them lots of graves of people they knew, and they told me about various Surrey “scandals” that I knew nothing about. Afterwards we had tea back at the house. In the evening we had drinks and nibbles at the Hendersons, again to celebrate the concert; this turned out to be a little uncomfortable. We shouldn’t have mentioned the war.

This morning Dot had her “diabetes” eye test at the doctor’s. I drove her because of a risk of blurred vision. I shall be driving her to a school visit at Cringleford this afternoon for the same reason.

The world has changed. To everyone’s surprise we woke up on Friday to find the country had voted by a majority of about 4% to leave the European Union (not Europe, as many misrepresented it). Even more surprising was the wave of hate emanating from some who voted to Remain – accusing those who voted to leave of everything from xenophobia and being Little Englanders to being gullible lovers of Farage and Boris, and much else. Although I could fully understand the deep concern being felt at the uncertainty, I didn’t feel there was much excuse for a great deal of what was written, and the complete failure to grasp what motivated people. It turned out to be Goodies and Baddies, and that was it.

Happily not everyone was so simplistic in their thinking, and it was encouraging to find attempts to unify and bring people together. Love is stronger than hate, or even fear.

On the Friday evening, at a more local level, we played host to a discussion between our vicar, David, Carrie and ourselves. David seemed anxious to explore where we were coming from and root out any possibility of heresy. He didn’t actually say that, but there was a kind of undercurrent, though I have to say that we agreed on a great deal too. He is a man who goes very much by the rules, and what you have to have in Anglican church services, whereas our previous vicar was quite the opposite. Difficult.

On Saturday morning we had our first Paston Heritage Society Footprints project volunteers’ meeting. There were about 15 of us in a building with a straw roof. The UEA, being a small organisation with few resources, was unable to supply us with hot drinks, so I assisted one of Karen’s friends – Holly, who came from Chicago, stayed at UEA for a while and is now at Brunel University doing advanced theatre studies – in fetching TV and coffee from the Sports Park, which is quite a stroll.

The whole event went very well, though, and several volunteers came up with good ideas. I hastened back to make sure I could drop Dot off at the rehearsal for that evening’s mammoth concert in St Stephen’s Church. It was Sillars’ 90th anniversary, and the programme included some Proms-type music at the end. It had to be explained that this had been planned long in advance and was nothing to do with the referendum result. The concert was in fact excellent, and packed the church out.

Better still, David was able to come up for it, and we watched football in the afternoon before I cooked sausage, egg and chips for us all. The Archers and Hendersons were present at the concert, and Maryta insisted on standing up during one of the patriotic songs when no-one else did, which was a bit embarrassing, mainly for Paul. Several other friends present, mainly from the orchestra (of course) but also Adrian O’dell and his wife, and Margaret Wheels from the Bramerton Group, who I was surprised to see was still alive.

Afterwards David left quickly to drive back to Caddington, and Dot and I declined an offer of champagne chez Henderson because it would have meant a long walk with all Dot’s equipment, and a late night before a tiring day on Sunday.

We had to pack the car before church on Sunday, because immediately afterwards we headed for Aldeburgh, where we were attending a concert with the Greens at 2.30. We got there in good time, but it was raining heavily, and we waited in the car for a break, which duly came. We met Anna in the foyer, and she was with Penny Sydenham, who we had stayed at Iona with. The concert was hugely long and didn’t finish till about 6pm, including an interval of about 20 minutes. It was just piano, consisting mostly of Bartok’s Mikrokosmos (part two) played by a variety of people, some of them quite young.

Much of it was really good, but it was a bit of a marathon. Halfway through it rained so heavily that the noise on the roof must have affected the soloist, though not visibly. By the end however we were able to walk to the car and then drive to the nearby Abbey Farm, where the Greens and Penny were staying. Nice place, but we had to sleep on sofa beds. That was after we walked to the nearby pub for a really nice meal. Unfortunately during the night I got acid reflux and had to sleep on the chair for about three hours. This wasn’t quite as bad as it sounds.

The next morning we were away after breakfast, leaving around 9.30am and enjoying a rather circuitous drive home, taking in Metfield and Harleston. In the afternoon I called round to see Phil, with the intention of taking his car for a drive. Sadly, its battery was flat; so instead we had a chat and I took some laundry away. Phil seems to be making good progress: he walked in the garden and on the pavement, using crutches.

In the evening England lost 2-1 to Iceland, which has a population the size of Leicester. They played really badly. I mean really, really badly.  This time we really were out of Europe.

Still not much of a summer: today is warm enough, but gloomy and with a fair bit of light rain here and there, heavier this evening, including a thunderstorm. Our four days at Blakeney were very mixed.

We arrived first on Saturday and partook of the usual afternoon tea in the Blakeney Hotel first-floor lounge when the others arrived. On Sunday the outlook was quite good, and so it turned out. We walked to Morston in the morning, got the bus back and became involved in the first of a proliferation of craft fairs before having lunch in the Ship near the Quay at Blakeney. I wasn’t really hungry.

After lunch we drove to Heydon, where there was an Open Gardens day. I thought that just seeing Heydon might be interesting enough, but I had reckoned without the traffic, which was immense. We got in a long queue, almost abandoned the whole thing, then parked by the side of the road nearly a mile away and walked back into the village.

The refreshments were quite unable to cope (long queues) so we kept walking, looked at some classic cars and then paid to see the gardens at Heydon Hall, which turned out to be worth seeing. Then the long walk back… Very good for us, no doubt.

On Monday the forecast was bad, and so the weather proved. Dot drove us in pouring rain to Sandringham, which the Evetts had wanted to see. Happily it eased off a bit once we got there, and we had a cup of tea before proceeding over to the gardens and to the hall, where we had the good fortune to coincide with an excellent and knowledgeable guide. Julia got very worried about a picture of two elephants fighting because she was sure “elephants didn’t do that”.

We then proceeded to lunch in the Stables Cafe and a walk round the museum, where Julia got worried again, because of the absence of the Duke of Edinburgh from two key pictures where he was “not even listed among the absentees”. Some interesting stuff in the museum, particularly old royal vehicles and an account of the disappearance of the Norfolk regiment  at Gallipoli (advanced too far, got cut off and massacred; typical British army shambles).

We then walked down to the lake and eventually sheltered in a small summerhouse called Queen Alexandra’s Nest while the rain absolutely tipped down for about half an hour. I took a video of it, then as it eased off we raced back across the lawns, avoiding the geese (“ducks” – D Evetts) and popped into the church before bypassing the giant squirrel and having a final cup of tea. Oh, somewhere around here I bought a shirt, and we visited the gift shop. I drove home, checking the tidal situation at Stiffkey on the way.

Tuesday, on the other hand, was dry and quite warm. We walked to Wiveton Hall by the path opposite the hotel and had a drink. Dave booked for lunch the following day, outside, which proved a tad optimistic. We the drove to the Anchor Inn at Morston for lunch (very good) and thence to Stiffkey, where I left the car in the marsh car park (cf yesterday’s check) before walking to Wells – just over three miles by the North Norfolk Coast Path.

There we had a pancake on the Albatros – very nice too – and attempted to catch the Coasthopper bus back. It turned out, despite guidance from a local and a clear indication to the contrary, that we were waiting in the wrong place, but the bus driver kindly took us to the right place, where we caught a bus that appeared to be going the wrong way but actually dropped us in the right place at Stiffkey, where we picked up the car.

On Wednesday, after booking out, Dot and I walked out into the marsh opposite the hotel, and needless to day it soon began to rain, though not too heavily. We made our way back, popped into the book fair and then drove to Wiveton Hall, where we discovered the Evetts had managed to get us transferred inside. I had a gigantic sandwich which was quite difficult to eat (a) because my breakfast had not yet been digested and (b) because my broken teeth were giving me trouble. I broke them in the cafe at Sandringham and had rung the dentist from there. Amazing coincidence that both should break at the same time – or at least on the same day.

Anyway, after finishing lunch and seeing the TV star owner, his son, his mother and probably his daughter, we drove back to Norwich in time to go up to the dentist and get both teeth fixed – one filling replaced and the other refilled (I had lost the broken bit, presumably swallowed). After all this I was shattered and didn’t do much else for the rest of the day.

Today, by way of recuperation, we had a Paston Footprints meeting at North Walsham. I was a bit late but managed to take down the minutes, which I’ve now written up. After lunch, Dot and I went to vote in the historic EU referendum and then did a bit of shopping at Morrison’s.  Dot was at a governors’ meeting tonight; so I cooked the meal, and we’ve watched a bit of TV.

Phil appears to have made exceptional progress following his operation and is now at home. The only problem appears to be that he has occasionally lost consciousness, but he thinks this is a temporary phenomenon. Joy is a bit more worried, but when I visited for about an hour today he seemed surprisingly well.

Earlier in the week I had seen him in hospital, when there was a chance he would go into rehab, but this proved to be not an option: he was making too much progress. Birgit and Joe were reluctant to have him at that stage, but now that he is fairly independent he seems to have decided not to go to Mattishall anyway. What a difference a couple of days make.

On Tuesday I had an appointment at the dentist because I’d broken a tooth last weekend. In the end I had a rather large replacement of a filling, which cost £144 and took some time. I went up to see Phil at the N&N, arriving just before 6pm and thus obtaining a parking slot easily. We chatted until Birgit arrived; I then rushed back home, just in time to be picked up by Judy for our monthly Julian meeting at Howard’s, which went very well as always, despite the fact that the first hour went by without Julian being mentioned.

On Wednesday I decided I ought to reconnoitre a few walking possibilities for the Blakeney area. I started out near Felbrigg, where I looked at a short cut, which appeared to be viable. On the way back to the car, though, I took a wrong turn and almost collided with an electric fence. That would have been a shock. As it was I just got very sore eyes from hay fever. This was the one day this week when it didn’t rain heavily.

I then proceeded to Beacon Hill, where I suspect there had been quite a lot of building going on since the walks book was published, and I failed to find the route at all, though I descended into West Runton and climbed back out again. I decided this was a non-starter for the Evetts and proceeded to Cley, where I had a cup of tea and apple crumble cake.

I then checked out Morston, where I found a kiosk dispensing tea and coffee at a key point, and then Stiffkey, which had a coffee-selling pub. I also found a beautiful spot there which opened up on to the marshes, and wrote  a poem as a result. Chatted briefly to a dog-walking woman, which I know you will find it difficult to believe.

When I got home I was too tired, and the risk of heavy rain was too great, for me to go to a PV for the Lasse Press, but I compensated today by going to en exhibition featuring my friend Rupert Malliin and a couple of women artists – Annie Brundrit and Sally Hirst. It was at Studio 20 on Wensum Street, and I walked there after Dot dropped me at the bank on Whitefriars to pay in some cheques.

Yesterday it rained extremely hard, which was annoying as I had to walk to the TSB to meet the new church treasurer at 3pm. Doubly annoyingly, this was in the middle of the England-Wales football match. The rain started on my way there, and I was pretty wet by the time I arrived. Happily and to my great suprise the bank was allowing people to borrow umbrellas; so by the time I got home I was soaked instead of drowned. It was really very heavy rain.

Later I called in to see Phil briefly while Dot was cooking the meal. It had stopped raining by then. The Evetts e-mailed to say they wanted to go to Sandringham. I hadn’t checked that.

Summer is taking a break again, though to be fair the temperature is staying fairly high. Pleasantly warm, anyway – just a bit too much wetness. Norwich got quite a lot of rain over the weekend: happily we were in Clare, Suffolk, staying at the Augustinian Priory, and the rain there consisted of a few scattered light showers.

Dot and I took Judy on the Friday afternoon; Bridget and David arrived for the Mass on Saturday at 10am, and Claire just failed to meet the same target on the Sunday, though she had lunch with us. Clare and that part of Suffolk are very beautiful, and there is an air of peacefulness surrounding the Priory, which dates from the 13th century. Residents when we were there were three ageing Friars – David, Aidan and one other – plus a sister, Eileen, and Mary, whose function was uncertain. There were elements of Father Ted about it, but only now and then.

We ate with the residents, and shared in the washing up. We were all able to go to morning prayer, evening prayer and Mass, and in fact I only missed Mass on the Saturday because I’d had a very bad night. Everyone was very friendly, and the food was excellent. The rooms were comfortable too. The walk into town was delightful, and there was a good viewpoint from the castle.

Dot and I went for a longer walk in the surrounding countryside, but missed the “official” track because the book was out of date, and the paths had multiplied. Still, it was very much worth doing. We also visited a couple of antique shops, one of which had a cafe, plus the tiny museum and a kind of fair celebrating the Queen’s Birthday on the Sunday afternoon.

On the Sunday we arrived back at the Priory to pick up our cars for the journey home and found we couldn’t get in to any of the buildings to go to the toilet. This created a slight panic in certain quarters, and Dot and Jude did a new tour of the town trying to find a loo that was open. Happily, they did. In the end.

Earlier we spent some time discussing the Augustinian Rule, but we also caught a glimpse of the Euro 2016 football, because there was an unexpected TV in one of the communal rooms. Two other visitors, Charles (from Sudbury by bike) and Jonathan, had birthdays over the weekend, and a cake appeared at one of the meals.

On Sunday we went for Mass in the main church, and it was a big affair – a first communion for five children. Beautiful building and a nice atmosphere. We left Clare about 4.30pm and got home about 6pm.

I thought I had got rid of the treasurer’s job, but today I got a list of questions from Ollie, most of which he could have answered from reading the files. I had to ring up the bank to get a form to change the signatory on the account, and needless to say they couldn’t do it without my answering questions that I no longer had the answers to. Exactly the sort of thing I was trying to avoid by resigning.

Meanwhile Phil has been languishing in hospital, recovering from his spine operation, and only improving slowly. However, Joy says today he is now making substantial progress and has been out of bed. She hopes he will be home at the weekend. When I say “home” I mean Mattishall, where he and Joy will be staying while he recovers. Birgit and Joe have a downstairs annexe on their new house.

While I was in Clare I got a Facetime call from Daisy and was able to talk to Andrew. He did not seem all that impressed and seems to expect me to visiting him every other weekend.

Earlier last week there was the usual Archant pensioners’ coffee morning, which Dot didn’t get to because she was on her way to a meeting that had been cancelled – e-mail failure at Diocesan House.  Later we had the usual haircuts, and the Hendersons came round for nibbles.

Summer appears to have arrived – sort of. It’s been sunny since Saturday, and on Saturday itself it was pleasantly warm. Since then there has been a chilly north-east wind, but it’s lovely in the sun and out of the wind.

Dot is in Dudley, but as the last few days have been packed with incident, I’d better start at the beginning. David and the children came on Thursday, arriving for a late lunch and just after a couple of Colin’s guys had departed after doing some painting. Following this I had to abandon them to take Joy up to see Phil, who is in hospital following his spine operation. Parking was a real challenge at the hospital, and I ended up on double yellow lines, but escaped penalty. Phil was in a lot of pain, but I understand there’s been some slight improvement.

After returning Joy home (and moving Phil’s car from the car park at the top of the road down to his house – an interesting automatic experience) I had a few games of table tennis with Oliver and then we all went to Prezzo’s for an evening meal. Bob and Mary were there too, but in a different part of the building.

The next day was still perversely autumnal, but Dot and I took the children to Wroxham Barns, where Dot got four holes-in-one at mini-golf, but Oliver won. I came last. After ice creams we proceeded to Fairhaven, where we had lunch and a walk in the gardens, which looked beautiful, with lots of colourful flowers. We returned in time for a meal before they set off for home.

After they’d gone and I was clearing up, I fell down the steps in the garden backwards and hit my head on the ground at the bottom, but not hard. The only real injury was to my right ankle, and that’s grazed and bruised rather than twisted. I can walk on it with no trouble. Very fortunate – I blame Colin for not instilling the rail.

Saturday was still cool at the outset, but improved dramatically during the morning, as we set up our bookstall at the church garden party. I say bookstall – Dot thought she could get rid of lots of stuff, such as clothes and shoes and jewellery and, to be fair, she did manage to sell some. We didn’t do too badly, and it was a lovely community event, with an art exhibition / competition judged by Martin Mitchell and a very good singer-guitarist called Roger. Judy and Jenny got a bit carried away with singing and dancing, I’m happy to say. We even got a bit sunburnt.

While I was manning the stall I got a call from the hospital to say they couldn’t reach Joy, and Phil was asking for her because he was in so much pain. She wasn’t able to go in the afternoon, but her neighbour gave her a lift up in the evening. Apparently the pain was partly down to the Parkinson’s. A couple of scans showed that the surgery had gone well; so hopefully the pain will ease off soon.

Fred and Sue Riches arrived in the evening, just after we’d had a meal. They had been at an event at Lowestoft and were simply staying the night before going to another one (Barry Brown’s 75th) at Dovercourt the next day. Nevertheless, Dot gave them some salad, and we had a good talk, partly about our church and my sermon, which I gave the following day. Fred and Sue had left after breakfast.

Dot left before 3pm for Dudley, where she is doing some P4C training today with Barbara. Apparently she had a good journey. I have no car, because when I took the MX5 in on Friday (accompanied by Oliver, and after unloading stuff for the garden party from the other car beforehand) it failed its MOT. It’s now unroadworthy and has to be repaired before I can use it, which I’m told is likely to be Wednesday.

On a more optimistic note, I have booked the Glen Lui hotel at Ballater for four nights on our way back from the Outer Hebrides. I’m also trying to book a hotel at Lochinver for a couple of nights, but am awaiting a response.