4^th June 2023

 

Dear All,

Geoff and I had a decent crowd for our report on the recent Moldova trip, I compiled a 52 slide PowerPoint – should anyone wish to see it!.

It has been a fairly quiet week with only a massif 0.5 mm rain so we have begun watering anything vulnerable even earlier than last year. Kate has continued badger proofing the back garden but the night cam still picked up 2 badgers one night as well as a rather skinny fox every night. I have planted early leeks and two more batches of sweet corn trying to clear all seedlings out of the green houses before we are away again from next Saturday for a week in Derbyshire with Sue and Bill. Apart from planting and hoeing I have trimmed hedges here and at the allotment and painted an outdoor table and the bike shed and we have spring cleaned the garage.

Our Thursday walk started north of us at Broughton and took in Kings Ripton, Little Raveley, Wistow and the site of the Secret Garden festival. The conditions were good starting chilly but warming up but some of the paths qualified for the heading of “The Road Less Travelled!”. It was an extremely rural walk and you would find it hard to believe that the world is over populated from this outing!

 

 

The Crown, Broughton

 

 

Pink May

 

 

 

The Road Less Travelled

 

Friday evening Kate and I attended Over Players presentation of “Pride & Prejudice”. The standard was not quite up to BBC levels as several actors struggled to remember their lines and the prompter was fairly busy, but it was enjoyable nevertheless.

Dave, Adrian and myself joined Mervyn to watch the Cup Final on his wide screen TV – it was never a penalty, but I guess that made the game more exciting!

I had two photos in the Cambridge News under the heading of “Twists & Turns”. One was a mountain road in the Andes and the other was a mass of parasitic Dodder also in Ecuador.

 

 

Andean Mountain Road

 

 

Parasitic Dodder

 

 

 

 

Love

Mike & Kate

 

28th May 2023

 

Dear All,

Both Ben and Andy took part in the London to Brighton Challenge yesterday, Ben running and Andy walking. Both finished the 100 kilometres in excellent times considering the heat of between 14 and 15 hours if I can interpret the race print outs accurately – so well done.

 

 

 

Race Heros!

 

 Meanwhile in the more geriatric world it was back to swimming on Monday followed by Brussel sprout planting then the annual chapel 10 Pin Bowling evening at Pidley. There were about 35 for the pretournament meal and 24 bowling. I didn’t star but it was an enjoyable evening.

 

 

Pidley Bowling

 

I had my latest Covid booster in Cambridge on Tuesday- arms like pin cushions now! Then my new mower arrived in pieces so had to be assembled.

Our Thursday walk started at Potton and took in Sandy Heath, the Gravel pits and RSPB HQ at Sandy. It was a good walk with varied scenery and loads of Miner’s lettuce (Claytonia).

 

 

Claytonia

 

 

Sandy Pits

 

 

RSPB

 

 

Sandy Lodge, RSPB HQ

 

We have been on badger alert again this week as they managed to savage my carrots grown in pots and placed in the fruit cage for safety. We have barricaded the bottom of the garden with pallets but the night cam last night revealed two frolicking near the pond.

 

I have planted melons, squash, marrows and pumpkins this week but with the warm dry conditions we seem to be back to regular watering again.

 Albert has passed a Karate assessment - so watch out everyone!

Karate King

Geoff and I have to give a presentation on our recent Moldova trip in the service tonight.

 

Love

Mike & Kate

 

 

 

21st May 2023

 

Dear All,

I guess it was back to normality this week after 3 weeks away. Evenings this week went Tuesday: church meeting, Wednesday: Over Garden Club, Thursday: Over Produce Show committee, Friday CEEM committee. Stir in plenty of gardening, cricket pitch preparation and a local walk and the result is nothing out of the ordinary.

Kate started the week far from well, shivering, aching and low in energy, then after four days she developed diarrhoea and feeling sick but dry heaving and now after a week slowly recovering but still not 100%. Not that this caused her to slow down overmuch which might not have helped?

The garden took a lot of weeding after being away but is now largely under control. This week I have planted courgettes, sweet corn, sweet potatoes and sown swedes more sweet corn and lettuce. I have also erected the brassica cage at the allotment.

 

 

Veg Patch

 

 

Early Potatoes.

 

I had a Pneumonia jab on Tuesday but Kate cancelled her slot. A new fridge arrived Wednesday and I ordered a new lawn mower so we are spending the kid’s inheritance!

The garden club speaker was from a nursery near Peterborough and he brought about 150 slightly unusual plants with him to talk about and sell. He was clearly a character and bore an uncanny resemblance to Ross Noble the Geordie comedian!  Kate was not well enough to join the walk on Thursday but we managed a local circuit on Saturday down the orchard and up through the allotments,

 

 

Orchard plus cow parsley

A feature was the May blossom, the wild flower strip near the allotments which featured crimson clover and the profusion of buttercups along Mustill’s Lane.

 

 

Wild Flower strip with Crimson Clover

 

 

 

Buttercup meadow

 

 

May Blossom

 

CEEM is going better with Gordon sorting the finances and Geoff adding enthusiasm. Folk have been very generous with donations and this week I received a surprise cheque from cousin Muriel.

Local Cricket is underway so that has meant pitch preparation for the first match on The Green which Over won convincingly today by 8 wickets thanks to the inclusion of a keen Indian gentleman who took 3 wickets for 2 runs and scored 45 runs,

 

 

Love

Mike & Kate

 

 

14th May 2023

 

Dear All,

12 days in Moldova, 2 days at home then a week in the Lake District was not ideal planning but that is how it worked out. One of our walking group is a keen HF Holiday enthusiast and arranged to take over the whole hostel at Derwent Bank and filled it with 60 members of the Tuesday and Thursday U3A groups. It was Kate and my first experience of HF and we were very impressed with the organisation, leaders, accommodation and food. The house was right on the shore of Derwent Water and three walks of different lengths and difficulty were arranged each day, led by knowledgeable volunteers. The only slight downside was that we were on the top floor and 51 steps after a long walk was a good way to finish us off!

We opted for the middle walk on the first day which tackled the summits of Outside and Barrow. It was 9 miles with tough ascents and one of our friends Ian fainted and fell backwards cracking his head on a rock and bled profusely. Kate was nearest to him and while tending him received several splodges of blood on her smart anorak. The leader Steve, dealt with the situation very professionally but we had to get Ian down to the road and arrange for a taxi to take him to hospital to be checked over – as this was exactly the time of the Coronation the taxi took some time to arrive, so it added 90 minutes to our jaunt. I have never really subscribed to the opinion that ”coming down is worse than climbing up” but in this case the long descent from Barrow was a severe test for everyone’s knees. In all we were out for 8 hours so an exacting test on our first day, but magnificent views.

 

 

Newlands Valley

 

 

Ascent to Outside

 

“Brought wit is cheapest!” so we opted for walk 1 for the rest of the week. The next walk followed the shoreline of Derwent Water to Rosthwaite including a climb up to Millican Dalton’s cave. Dalton returned from WWI rather affected and lived in this remote cave for a while. The route gave excellent views of the lake and was not nearly so demanding.

 

 

Derwent Water

 

 

Borrowdale

 

Monday was a free day and a bit overcast. Six of us caught a boat which zig zagged up the lake and got off at the far end to explore the Ladore Falls then climbed up to Ashness Bridge. We had a little drizzle but nothing serious.

 

 

Derwent Water from Ladore

 

 

Ashness Bridge

 

On Tuesday we headed for the Whinlatter Forest trails opposite Skiddaw and enjoyed end to end sunshine and again spectacular views.

 

 

View from Spring bank towards Skiddaw

 

 

View towards Bassenthwaite Lake

 

On Wednesday we were the other side of the valley in the foothills of Skiddaw. While the group 3 climbed to the summit of Skiddaw, disappointedly hidden in cloud, we scaled the smaller peak of Latrigg with a very civilised gentle ascent. But excellent views of Keswick and Derwent Water. Returning to Keswick we had time to visit the Pencil Museum – surely the high point of any outing!

 

 

Latrigg

 

 

Keswick Pencil Museum

 

For our last walk we caught a bus to Ullswater and walked most of the length of the lake enjoying our only shower of the week. The weather really was kind to us as on our return to Over the rain gauge read 53 mm! We climbed to the top of Aire Falls.

 

 

Ullswater

 

 

Lyulph’s Tower above Ullswater

 

We arrived home 1.40pm Friday amazed at the growth in the garden during the week away and found the goldfish swimming in the grass surrounding the over flowed pond. Kate did not feel well and is still struggling with a temperature, aches and pains but has tested -ve for Covid.

Love

Mike & Kate

 

 

 

16th April 2023

 

Dear All,

Mary-Ann, Amḗlie & Albert stayed until Wednesday morning but Andy had a work commitment and caught the train back on Tuesday. Sunday there was a 20 clue Easter Egg hunt planned and executed by Mary-Ann and Andy resulting in considerable loot! In the afternoon we walked round Knapwell Woods which incorporated “Hide & Seek” and spotting a surprising number of oxlips.

  

Easter Egg Hunt

 

Loot

  

Oxlips

 

Monday morning, I employed happy? Volunteers to sort, count and catalogue 758 packets of flower seed which had been donated for Moldova by Mr Fothergill’s. We then travelled to Wyton to engage with “Inflatabounce” a vast barn full of bouncing inflatables which kept the children amused and exercised for some time.

 

 

Seed Sorting Army

 

 

Inflatabounce

  

Fearless Adventurers

 

On Tuesday it was Linton Zoo which is a reasonable small outfit with a decent array of animals.

 

 

Giant Tortoises

  

Stripey Horse

 

 

 Tapirs

 

Mary-Ann left early on Wednesday as Amḗlie had an “Escape the Room” party to attend.

John Lane and I marked out the cricket square aided by a junior apprentice who is taking a coaching course.

Our Thursday walk started at Ousden south of Newmarket and took in Hargrave, Denham and Dalham. We didn’t get too wet or muddy this week but the wind was keen and cowslips were prominent.

 

 

The Fox, Ousden

 

 

 

Leipsic Wood, Dalham

 

We had a Men’s Breakfast on Saturday with the guest speaker from the Sally Army. Otherwise, I have been preparing talks and collecting items for Moldova. Three of us are due to travel on Friday so no letter for next 2 weeks.

Love

Mike & Kate