It’s that difficult time when you’re almost ready to go on holiday, but not quite. In fact in about 90 minutes’ time I shall be showing a visiting author round the Norwich Paston sites, which will take up most of the afternoon, so that should take my mind off it. There has also been some dramatic and unexpected news from church, but I can’t reveal what it was – yet.
We have had our hair cut, so we are ready for anything. I was even ready for another request from Parish Pump to write a 300-word piece for May – this time on Gerard Manley Hopkins, who happens to be one of my favourite poets. Managed to put the words together yesterday, and they’ve been accepted.
Monday was quite exciting, and not just because it rained extremely hard in the evening. Caroline, Rob and I visited Oxnead Hall in the morning to look at where and how we could put on a Chronicle performance in September (26th). The piece will centre on the history of the hall, and afterwards we rehearsed the first draft and made some improvements, which I have to work in on my return from Florida.
The hall’s owner, Beverley Aspinall, made us very welcome and showed us round the gardens and into a couple of amazing performance spaces they have available – one in what were the barns, and the other in the orangery.
In the evening we went with Judy to Vicky’s, where we were joined by David and Bridget for tea, wine, cakes and compline. I forgot I wasn’t driving, so didn’t have any wine. I really think senility is setting in.
Yesterday we spent preparing for the holiday, partly by catching up with paperwork and partly (mainly Dot) getting the clothes together. Which leaves Saturday and Sunday, during which the Norwich City manager was sacked following a poor display at home to West Brom (0-1) and we had a really nice service at church, with Phil leading. I did the sermon and prayers, and Dot read a long passage about the raising of Lazarus. Several people said they liked the sermon, which was nice, and in the afternoon we went out to see Jessie at North Walsham, which was also nice.
I have the American dollars, and unfortunately Oliver has impetigo, which means he has to go to the doctor’s tomorrow (he’s been once). Hope it doesn’t prevent him enjoying the holiday. We have fed the fish for Sam while they were away and woke them up this morning (Sam and Ellie, not the fish) to make sure they were back when we saw a strange man wandering in and out of their house. Turns out he was fixing the boiler.
Third day back from Catalonia and beginning to recover from the journey. Not the bit between Roses and St Pancras – the bit between St Pancras and Norwich. But it could have been worse. When I bought the tube ticket, I was told we had to travel via Holborn because of work on the Circle line. Simple enough, except that everyone else in London seemed to be doing the same thing.
After battling our way through the system we emerged at Liverpool Street to find no trains scheduled for Norwich. On mentioning to one railway guy that we wanted to travel to Norwich, he riposted: “You’ll be lucky.” But he had a twinkle in his eye and directed us to Platform 13, and the train to Southend. Apparently we had to alight at Billericay, catch a coach to Witham and then another train to Norwich. Us and a large number of Norwich City fans. Norwich City had just lost 4-1 to Chelsea.
And that’s roughly what happened, with a half-hour wait at Witham and no buffet on either of the trains. The Norwich train was painfully slow and felt as if it was going to break down any minute. We reached Norwich at about 12.30am. Happily the City fans did not turn nasty and were quite funny, except for their inability to control certain bodily functions. Note to City fans and young men everywhere: this is actually not funny at all. Really. What was funny was that all the railway staff had jackets bearing the words “Customer Services”, which obviously has a completely different meaning for them.
Anyway, back to the holiday, which was exceptionally good. Here is a day-by-day summary:
Friday (September 28): Straightforward journey by train and tube to our hotel, which turned out to be only yards from St Pancras Station. Excellent hotel (London Pullman), friendly staff. Walked to the station for good meal at Carluccio’s, followed by coffee/tea back at the hotel.
Saturday: Started off sunny, but worse and worse the further south we got. Raining at Roses. Early start in London (6am alarm) meant we were very tired towards the end. TGV very impressive up to Valence, then slower, but scenery was beautiful near the coast. In the hotel, which was first class, we had a really nice buffet meal. The quality of this was high all through the week. Half a bottle of wine free each time, and a huge choice of food.
Sunday: Fine, sunny but very windy on boat for our cruise to Cadaques, a stunningly beautiful town beloved of Salvador Dali. The coastline was rocky, and on the way back the rather large boat nosed into a cave for a close look. Act of bravado, or just normal behaviour for a Catalan? I suspect the latter. While in Cadaques we had a wander round the narrow and steep streets and eventually stopped for coffee (and loo) in a seafront cafe. Back in Roses we had lunch at the Balkan Grill (mushroom and garlic tapa with chips) then spent a couple of hours in the Citadel, a huge walled area full of history. All in all we walked about six miles during the day.
The coast path
Monday: Sunny and warm throughout. This was a free day, so we slept in a bit. Left at 11.15 for walk to north end of Roses and along the coast to the next village, a tiny one called Canyelles, where we had lunch in Antonio’s restaurant: grilled prawns and sangria. Delicious. On the way back we stopped at a small beach, where Dot paddled, and we saw huge numbers of Laser dinghies lined up for a big European event. Everywhere in Catalonia quite big fish were visible in the clear water. Back at the hotel we had a dip in the rather cool swimming pool, but it didn’t last long. Went to bed early after a short post-supper walk. Eight miles in all during the day.
Tuesday: Very warm again, and we spent all day in Barcelona – a two-hour coach trip away. After a comfort stop at a motorway service station (today featured the worst loos of the entire holiday) we progressed to the cathedral, which I’m sure would have been much more impressive without its scaffolding. What was visible was certainly up there, if you see what I mean, and even in October the building was surrounded by huge crowds, most of them probably on coach trips like us.A coach tour of Barcelona’s high spots followed, ending at one of the highest, from where we could look over the town and the huge port, featuring two or three massive cruise ships.Most of us were gasping for the loo by now, and again they were very poor (but at least they were there).
Dot and Monica in Barcelona
The coach dropped us at Placa de Catalunya for some free time, and here we met our friend Monica, who took us for a lovely lunch round the corner and off the beaten track. Really nice to see her: she was very welcoming and insisted on paying, which was not the idea at all. Rejoined the bus at 4.30pm for the trip back to Roses, and the guide, who was very nice but spent much of the time warning us about pickpockets, eventually stopped talking.
Wednesday: Again pleasantly warm. We took the optional excursion to Girona on advice from people on the previous trip (relayed through one of our more sociable members), and it was an outstanding trip. Girona is a lovely old town reminding me a little of Chur in Switzerland, but there was a great walk along the walls, which we followed with a coffee stop, where Dot made her first successful attempt at ordering tallat, as recommended by Monica. This is a strong, smallish coffee with a dash of milk, and Dot quickly became addicted. Afterwards we wandered the narrow streets and shopped a bit for gifts. Back in Roses for the afternoon Dot bought a scarf and we had a tapa each of chips and sauce. Catalonian tapas are quite big (one is usually enough), and they are very good at chips. Six miles in all today (3 yesterday), but not enough to offset the large evening meals and very tempting breakfasts.
The bridge at Besalu
Thursday: Sea mist at first, but soon sunny and warm. Left at 9.15 for official excursion to Figueres and the impressive Salvador Dali Foundation. An amazing place, and our appreciation of him as an artist went up several notches. After a crepe we took in his jewellery exhibition as well, then returned to the coach (this was more of a coach holiday than a train one) for a short drive to Besalu, a small town which features a spectacular fortified bridge. Lovely narrow streets again and a brilliant miniatures museum, of which the high point was the micro-miniatures, eg a camel train created in the eye of the needle (quite witty, that one). Afterwards we had time for a stroll and a delicious mango ice cream before returning to the coach.
Friday: Our final free day, so a slightly later start. Rather more cloud as we started our journey by road trail to Joncols. Bit chilly to start with, but it quickly cleared out as we got high up on the cliffs and into the Parc Naturel, which is apparently “sauvage”. For some reason the commentary seemed to assume that “sauvage” is an English word. Spectacular journey on rough roads, ending high up on a cliff with great views (after 100-yard walk). Whole thing was “magical” – Dot Lenton. On the way back by a slightly different route saw Angela and Gordon Reynolds hiking into the interior. Got to know them later in the bar after dinner, and it turns out she is a retired vicar and they live not far from St Luke’s! They passed us again as we sat in a cafe drinking sangria and eating tapas. Before returning to the hotel we watched the Lasers coming in after a day’s racing, and I helped a Swiss guy with his boat trailer. Claim to fame. Seven miles today (3 yesterday).
Saturday: Homeward bound, as our excellent tour manager put it. The entire group was in the coach eight minutes early, but we were like that. Dot and I were frequently last or almost last, but we were never late. After a bit of a wait at Figueres station,we were on board and ready for the off, which was at 10.20, after the Barcelona connection arrived. Various comments gave me the idea for a poem, so it was time well spent. Straightforward journey to Paris, though the buffet inexplicably had no milk. It was raining in Paris, so we got a bit wet transferring to coach and back to rail again. While we were alighting from the coach, someone attempted to steal our tour manager’s bag, but he was spotted and pursued by said TM, who was able to retrieve it. Happily, because it contained all his documents, including our Eurostar tickets. Quite a long time to wait for Eurostar, but we spent it convivially, buying wine with our last euros and chatting to Angela and Gordon. On time at St Pancras, thanks and well-earned tip to TM, and the rest you know.
Feeling the usual trepidation before setting off on a holiday abroad. Not sure why, because in this case everything is organised for us. All we have to do is get to St Pancras about 7am tomorrow. But of course there’s concern that we pack the right things (the Spanish weather seems to be taking a sudden turn for the cooler), don’t forget anything crucial, and find the hotel in London. An added complication today is that our hairdresser is coming at 11am: this wasn’t in the original plan, but she couldn’t come earlier in the week, because she’d been in hospital and couldn’t drive.
It’s certainly been cooler here this week. On Monday I met an old friend, Sue Moore, at the Forum and we had tea and a snack in the Glass House for a pleasant couple of hours, catching up on holidays, illnesses, and so on. As you do. On Tuesday we had a reduced Tuesday Group with several absences, and on Wednesday I drove out to the wilds of Wood Dalling, one of the biggest parishes in Norfolk with 14, 16 or 22 miles of roads, depending on who is boasting.
So plenty of scope for error, but eventually I found Katy’s Cottage, which is poet Kay Riggs’ house. Rob and Caroline were equally successful, and so we were able to have a Chronicle meeting at which we slimmed down our Hungate piece for use at Mannington Hall. Kay’s husband David then showed us his recording studio, small but impressive, in case we decide to record the performance for possible sale at Paston events. I also toyed with the idea of recording Far Cry, but I fear he may be expecting a more professional performance than I can deliver.
Rob said he had received a letter from Jo, resigning as a Paston trustee on health grounds, which is a bit of a blow as she takes on a huge amount of work, especially to do with the re-enacting and the possible use of the village hall. My initial reaction was that we need two new trustees just to cover what she does, but I spoke to Lucy last night, and she said that before Jo joined she used to to much of it on her own. However, we were a bit dubious about continuing with the village hall project.
This was at a meeting of the Norwich Record Society at County Hall, where they launched a volume of edited letters by Sir Robert Paston. Interesting introduction to it by a professor (not the author), painting a quite detailed picture of the penultimate Paston. Jo and John were also there.
Dot’s cousin Roger also called round on Wednesday evening. Dot has had a busy week, much of it in front of her computer sorting out her autumn programme and supplying information for a book, and now of course, as we’re going away for a week, she has to clean the house. I’m not sure why.
From the archive, not long ago: a technological Christmas
After a series of dismal, grey days, sun and ice return. Well, not quite ice, but it’s very cold, though much nicer to be out in than it has been recently. Yesterday a north-easter cut through us as we visited North Walsham cemetery, and although we were there only a few minutes, it took a long time to get warm again. Earlier we had visited FM at Wroxham: he didn’t look too well, mainly because he had a huge, bloody bruise on his eye. No-one knew how he got it, and of course he couldn’t remember. He had been found in someone else’s room, and his glasses were broken. Afterwards we took J to Wroxham Barns restaurant, and I had a pie while the other two were more moderate. After the cemetery we returned to J’s and had a cup of tea. In the evening I won my first game of chess for weeks, which was one way of celebrating Burns Night.
I’ve booked what looks a rather exciting cottage on the slopes of Snowdon for July. Oliver and Amy are keen to get there as soon as possible. The rest of us are pretty keen too, but Dot and I have Canada, Florida and Italy first. This is turning into a year of holidays. I’ve also written a couple of poems, so (although the poems are rather downbeat) my mood is improving. One of the poems is about January,and the other is about Haiti.
Among other exciting news, I’ve had a swingeing haircut, and the battery on my car went dead. No connection. (See what I did there?) The latter happened on Sunday morning, so we had to unload the musical instruments and cram everything into the MX5. It was a tight fit. The battery went dead because the boot was not shut properly – a familiar problem. A music stand had jammed in there after I brought Dot home from a meditation and chanting violin rehearsal at St Julian’s on Friday. Still, Mazda Assistance didn’t take long to fix it, though I had to take it for a longish drive to recharge it. The actual event was on Sunday evening – went very well, apparently, though I resisted the temptation. Well, you’ve got to resist some temptations.
Back from Switzerland yesterday after an amazing week. The picture was in fact taken in Italy – at Tirano, our furthest point south, after crossing the Bernina Pass on a one-day excursion. Just time for a truly average pizza, then back again. The people with Dot are Glenda and Peter, with whom we spent a lot of our time. They live near Chelmsford. We had a really good time together.
We spent the first Saturday night at a Travelodge in King’s Cross, which was not bad. We travelled there by taxi, and the driver very helpfully found the right place for us instead of the one I would probably have ended up at. Walked down to St Pancras, had a glass of champagne in the famous bar, and then a meal at an Italian restaurant. Very early start the next day, though once we had reached St Pancras at 6.45 and handed in our Eurostar tickets, we had to hang around till about 9 before boarding. The train left at 9.20. Clocks forward an hour for the Continent. At Paris we walked form the Gare du Nord to the Gare d’Est, where we had a snack, as did a large number of very tame sparrows. The tour manager was Paul Irving, a former geography teacher froom Newcastle but without a Geordie accent. He proved to be first-class, going out of his way to be helpful. At Paris he guarded our suitcases while we got snacks, and he did this on other occasions too. We got to know Glenda and Peter from Essex, and we struck up a friendship with them through the holiday: we had most of our meals together, and the four of us went to Zermatt on our own one-day excursion later. From Paris by TGV to Mulhouse: not terribly exciting scenery, but an impressive train, more comfortable than Eurostar. Got into Mulhouse at tea time and had a very good meal in the hotel; had some trouble with my usual problem, but used a second catheter to solve it, and after that the holiday was trouble-free in that as in all other areas.
On the Monday we set the alarm an hour too late but still made both breakfast and the local train to Basel. A dull and chilly start quickly warmed and brightened up as we travelled from Basel to Chur on a double-decker train, arriving early afternoon. After booking into a delightful room in the Drei Koenige Hotel in the old town, we strolled round and had a wonderful cake each at a cafe. Then walked up the mountainside for a view of the town. Evening meal at the hotel – Rostli – and an early night followed.
Tuesday was an amazing day on the Bernina Express. The weather was not promising, and by Pontresina it had started snowing. But this gave us some fantastic views, contrasted with when we came back, when the sun shone brightly and a lot of the snow had melted. Finished off the day with a meal at a Greek restaurant. The following day was bright and warm for the journey on the Glacier Express across the Gotthard pass to Sierre, passing close by the cable car to Bettmeralp, where we spent a fortnight in 1971. From Sierre we transferred by coach to Crans Montana – the Mont Paisible Hotel, which was very impressive. Sadly we didn’t get a room with a view, but it was still excellent, and the restaurant was first-class.
Every day was good, but the next two were absolutely stunning. On the Thursday we went by coach to Chamonix (because there were engineering works on the railway), and from Chamonix up by cable car to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi at 3842 metres (12,605 feet), comfortably higher than anywhere I’ve been on land before. (Even our hotel was higher than Ben Nevis!) The views from the summit were absolutely brilliant, and we took the lift to the very top. Dot felt a bit dizzy with the altitude, and so did I for a moment, but we were surprisingly OK generally. On the way down I managed to get a picture from the cable car of a Brocken spectre (shadow of cable car projected on to cloud and sourrounded by a halo-rainbow) which just about put the icing on the cake. Back in Chamonix we had a meal and then looked round the town, buying one or two things. At the hotel we made the mistake of ordering Chateaubriand for two, and after finishing a first plate we received another! A little bit de trop.
Friday was even brighter and just as warm. Glenda, Peter and the two of us took on a trip to Zermatt on our own. No-one else was interested, despite urging by Paul. We left just before 10 and took the funicular to Sierre, where we got a train for Visp, changing there for Zermatt. Lovely rail journey to Zermatt followed by something even better – a cog railway ride up to Gornergrat, which was over 10,000 feet. On this we had a “wow” moment even more striking than seeing Mont Blanc from Chamonix. We had been trying to make out which of many mountains might be the Matterhorn when we rounded a curve, and there it was – massive, clear and totally unmistakeable: a truly remarkable mountain and looking quite unclimbable. At Gornergrat we had cheese fondu and beer and would have liked more time, because the view was fantastic. But we had to catch the connections back to our hotel – all carefully worked out for us by Paul. And it went like clockwork. The walk from the funicular was hard going, but we made it in good spirits and even manage a reasonable meal – taking care to avoid anything excessive like Chateaubriand.
Very early start homewards on the Saturday, with the coach leaving the hotel at 7.35am and taking us to Sierre. Connection to Brig, from where we got a tilty train to Basel, which was very, very quick. I suspect it also left us feeling a bit ill, but maybe we were just exhausted. We got to Mulhouse just after lunchtime and walked into the town, deciding to have lunch at the the Auberge du Vieux Mulhouse, which we discovered later has quite an enviable reputation. I had some nice duck, but Glenda got something which claimed to be rabbit but was largely uneatable. Afterwards we had a drink with some other Treyn people in the main square and then looked at an interesting exhibition – The Word in Art – in the big church there. A choir and orchestra were practising for a performance later, and Glenda and Peter went back for it, but Dot and I were feeling totally whacked out. My head was going round, and we both had a bath and lay down for a while. Had a light evening meal in the hotel with Glenda and Peter, then another early night.
The final Sunday was again bright and warm, only getting very cloudy and threatening rain as we approached Norwich. We left Mulhouse at 8.28 on the TGV and were through Paris like a breeze, the Eurostar arriving at St Pancras at 2.40. We shared a taxi with Glenda and Peter and parted from them on the concourse at Liverpool Street, catching the 15.30 to Norwich – which, needless to say, was late leaving (though it arrived on time). We arrived home just after 5.30pm.
We spent Monday catching up. I played chess against Yarmouth in the evening and drew with Kevin Shaw on Board 4 in a not-very-interesting game. Today has been rain all the way, with more catching up. Tim Mace, our house-sitter, called in to return the key on his way to London!
We’ve stumbled into some lovely weather. Yesterday Dot and I sat in the garden for a while, and this robin came and kept us company. We have two or three mirrors in the garden, and it seemed mystified by the appearance on an extra robin in odd places. Very loud song. We also walked to Morrisons to buy a few things and stopped at one of the bars on the way back through Riverside for a glass of wine and Smirnoff Ice. Sat and watched the river and felt quite continental. Dot has checked the weather for Switzerland, and it looks good. Should also be good for Oliver’s party with his friends today: hope he’s feeling OK – he had a sore throat yesterday.
I had a really bad night: only about three hours’ sleep, and it’s not likely to be much better tonight. As a result I feel quite hazy; I started on antibiotics this morning after no improvement in the usual area. Tim M has been round to pick up the key: he’s staying here while we’re away. Also Menita and her children called but didn’t stop – apparently Alex wanted to look at where they used to live (opposite).
I’ve sent out the Paston Private View invitations and caught up with just about everything I had to do. The Flip people say they’re sending me a replacement, which will no doubt arrive while I’m away, so I hope it doesn’t go astray.
Ian Bullock came round on Thursday night and stayed for about three hours. Had a good conversation about our days at the EDP: he left a couple of years ago to go freelance, and he and his wife have had a number of health problems. Good to see him.
We shall be leaving for London in a couple of hours – staying at the King’s Cross Travelodge tonight. Hope it’s even more wonderful than it sounds. Dot is keen to get a glass of champagne at the long bar in St Pancras station this evening.
Ok, I’m not going to fake it this time. It really is mid-September. It’s over a month since I last posted anything – mainly because I was in Scotland for three weeks and computerless. This picture was taken on the way up there at Aberfoyle, which my parents visited on their honeymoon, and where they bought a painting. I was trying to photograph the bridge from the same viewpoint as the painting, but this proved impossible because of foliage growth in the intervening 70 years! However, the bridge and mountain behind are easily recognisable from the picture by F Livesey. Very nice painting, but can’t trace the artist on the Internet.
How to distil more than a month of life into a single blog entry? Well, let’s start with Scotland. A lovely, relaxing three weeks, and we felt we’d really achieved things despite not climbing a single Munro! I did manage to climb Morven at last – something I’d been meaning to do for about 15 years. I came across a route up which looked much more attractive than the others – starting by the lone tree on the Ballater-Corgarff road and walking via Morven Lodge. A beautiful walk, but quite tiring. In fact I almost ground to a halt on the approach slopes, which shows my age. I lay down and got my breath back, then took it very slowly. Reached the summit cairn at roughly the same time as masses of clouds, followed swiftly by quite heavy rain. Got soaked on the way down: 10 miles in all, but very worthwhile.
Dot was with me on our other big walk – to the end of Glen Ey, a stunning glen and a beautiful day. This turned out to be nearly 12 miles, and we were both just about finished by the time we got back to Inverey. But again, very worthwhile – with lovely scenery leading up to a pretty abandoned hunting lodge in a copse of conifers.
Other than this, a brief diary:
14 Aug 414 miles Norwich-Abington. Weather dull, sometimes wet. 15 Aug 200 miles Abington-Ballater, taking in Aberfoyle, Callendar and the “tourist route” via Dunkeld. Coldish in Ballater, but went for an evening walk. 16 Aug 62 miles (3.8 walking) Quite cold, blustery showers. Went for walk at head of Loch Muick. 17 Aug (4.8 miles walking) Warmer and dry. Walked up Craigendarroch and ate in the Hayloft. 18 Aug 47 miles (about 1) Rain. Drove to Braemar, but this was the only day we couldn’t do any walking because of the weather. 19 Aug (over 8 miles walking) Dry, cool. Mainly cloudy. Church in morning, then did Seven Bridges Walk, plus an extension to Knock Castle, which we’d never found before. Dee very full (apparently 5ft up) after yesterday’s rain. 20 Aug 193 miles (1.7) Drove to Black Isle, which seemd a bit disappointing till we hit Cromarty. Beautiful, bleak, exposed place. Watched the smallest ferry in the UK (2 cars) cross to Nigg and saw obelisk commemorating emigrants. 21 Aug 33.3 miles (about 5) Warmer and dry, but cloudy. Followed a historical walk above Glen Gairn, followed by tea at Log Cabin and evening meal at The Green Inn. Excellent, of course. Duck. 22 Aug 43.4 (over 12) Warm, sunny and dry. Glen Ey. 23 Aug 42.3 (4.13) Sunny and warm. Quiet day after yesterday’s efforts. Walked golf course path while Dot shopped. 24 Aug 54.6 (3.5) Warm and dry but with a cool wind at 3000ft, which is where we found ourselves after a trip on the Cairnwell chairlift. Fife Arms, Hayloft food. 25 Aug 38.8 (1.5) Showery, becoming cooler. Lonach Gathering; party of 30. 26 Aug 34.6 (3) Much cooler and clouody. Church, then Fife Arms for lunch. Short history walk by Dee and saw salmon leaping for the first time! 27 Aug 62.3 (2) Cool and wet, then brighter with showers. Crannach for tea: cafe gradually metamorphosing into bakery (shop in Aberdeen). Drover to Braemar then Linn of Quoich, but amazingly assaulted by midges – first time ever in this area. Retreated, wrote postcards and had excellent lamb shank in Glen Lui hotel. 28 Aug 45.1 (10.93) Morven. Dot did first mile then returned to more sensible pursuits. 29 Aug 163.3 (just over 1) Mild with high cloud to start with, so drove to Pennan, where weather turned for worse and rain started. Unknown to us, Pennan had been hit by mudslides a couple of weeks earlier and many of the people were evacuated. Saw mud being cleared away. Inn closed: landlord had moved to Canada. High tide spraying water on to quay. Left in search of food and eventually ended up at Boyndie, a visitor centre beyond Banff staffed partly by disabled people. Had tea and excellent rock cakes, but it was still raining. Home via Keith and Dufftown and found roadside inn that Dot and I remembered independently from years back. I had thought it was something I’d seen in a dream. Didn’t stop. I don’t know why. Oh yes I do: we were headed for the Green Inn again. 30 Aug 74.6 (5) Mostly dry and fairly mild, but a bit windy. Fife Arms for lunch. Longer walk at head of Loch Muick. 31 Aug 26.9 (about 4) Mainly dry, fairly mild. Another quiet day. Walked round golf course together and had an early evening meal at Victoria Tea Rooms, Dinnet. Quite good. 1 Sep 0.6 (1.89) Warm at first, then showers, then brighter and finally cold. To Braemar Gathering with Ella (group of 8 including us). Complicated arrangements resulted in an initial stop at friends for a snack and a dram, then walking to the arena. Stayed for a while, then had lunch in another friend’s garden: we took wine and cheese, others had enough for small army. Back to arena for heavy events, massed bands and arrival and departure of Queen (she was there about 90 minutes). Most people left after that, but we stayed to watch the heavies (caber-tossing, etc), as it turned colder and colder. Back to the first friends’ to pick up car, then Ella drove us home. A fascinating experience: good fun. 2 Sep 46.9 (4) Windy, coolish but dry. Church, then to Tomintoul road, where I did the 3-mile walk down to Corgarff that I had been promising myself for some years. Lovely walk, with three beautiful old bridges, surpassing expectations. Dot did a little at each end. 3 Sep 42.1 (over 8) Started wet, but eventually windy and mainly dry. Up late – Dot finished Harry Potter book. Lunch at Fife Arms, then walked to Loch Callater. Lovely, but a chill wind. Back home to pack, then a final meal – excellent – at Glen Lui.
Drove home on 4 and 5 September, staying the night at Killington Lake, near Kendal (Premier Inn). Changed room because TV didn’t work and we wanted to watch the second episode of Silent Witness! Receptionist – one of several East European girls we had encountered – was really helpful. Mileage on first day was 258, and on second 311.8, including a brief detour to visit Andrew. He was very down, but quite a bit improved on my last visit. Dot, who hadn’t seen him for months, thought he was pretty bad. Arrived home about tea time: our sitter had already left.
Last blog before leaving home en route to Florida. The Murrays are already there. This is a picture they took in Cincinnati, in the aftermath of an ice storm, but apparently the roads were good all through the States. We had pictured them being snowed in, but happily reports of 12ft drifts were exaggerated – at least where they were.
Dot is now cleaning the house, and we’re pretty much packed. I have a few odd things to do; then we shall be off to Caddington. At present the weather is dull but dry, and well above freezing. Happily my tax disc, which I had been worrying about, arrived in the post yesterday.
