Autumn...Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness

Well, were you one of the folk who forgot that the clocks went back last night, or did you, like us, remember, and enjoy the extra hour in bed?

Ruby never seems to find a problem when the clocks either go forward or back - she just takes it all in her stride, and (as last night) enjoyed the extra hours sleep!

It was something of a surprise this morning when I pulled the curtains back and saw that there was quite a thick fog. You could just about see to the top of the field, and the sheep in the field looked rather like woolly ghosts! Looking at the Met Office weather forecast I see that "low level cloud" is the order of the day, at least until six o'clock this evening.

Looking forward a little way I wonder if all the doom mongers are going to be correct concerning the weather. I have heard numerous people predicting that we are going to have a worse winter than last year. It was with this in mind that I bought a couple of bags of rock salt when we were in Leyburn last week!

I was in church this morning at the new time of 9.25 when a stranger came in. I wished him a cheery "Good Morning" but he looked somewhat perplexed, then eventually he said "Shouldn't there be a service here this morning?" I explained to him that there was, and it started at 10.30 am. He looked at his watch and said, "Well its 10.25 now!" I tried to break it to him as gently as I could that he had forgotten to put his watch back an hour.........

A Day Trip to Leyburn

Wednesday was forecast to be a fine day, so we decided to spend the day out and visit Leyburn. There were two reasons for this. One was that I wanted to visit a store and purchase a gilet, and an outdoor jacket, and a pair of trousers, and the other was that Dot enjoys visiting "Serendipity" a shop which also has a branch in Saltaire. So killing two birds with one stone we headed to Leyburn. Usually I would take the road from Skipton to Threshfield, then on to the B6160, and join the A684 just east of Aysgrath, but for a change we took the right hand road in Kettlewell (known as the Cam Gill Road) which follows the Coverdale Valley all the way to Wensley where you then join the A684. The scenery is quite spectacular, and on the journey you climb some quite steep hills (1 in 4 in some parts) before you drop down to Wensley.


Looking along Coverdale towards Kettlewell

Looking along Coverdale towards Horsehouse, quite near Great Whernside.

There were lots of berries still left on this Hawthorn Bush.

The weather was quite warm and sunny.

There is an excellent general stores and ironmongers situated in what was once the Town Hall. We made our usual, unusual purchases whilst in Leyburn. Namely three bags of compost and two bags of rock salt! We returned home via Masham, and Ripon.

Half Term Trip

We usually take the grandchildren off for a day during their half term. Being the predictable old fogies that we are, it was a trip planned to visit the Naked Man Cafe in Settle and the Gamecock in Austwick, with a walk for Ruby to Flascoe Bridge.

The first part of the trip went as planned, and we arrived at the Naked Man Cafe at about 11.00 am.

Drinks and sweets were selected and enjoyed by all!

Olivia found it hard to choose between her new Blackberry and the jam slice she had ordered!


Whilst Tom just revelled in getting the cream from his hot chocolate drink all over his nose!

When we finally arrived at Austwick we found that the Gamecock was closed to the public for the day, as their was some private function going on. This was a little disappointing, however we moved on to Clapham and had a snack in the Croft Cafe, explored the river and village, and Tom enjoyed playing on the swings in the playground. On the way home called in for a meal at the Black Horse just outside Skipton.

Doomsday

George Osborn delivering his speech on the measures he intends to take to try to straighten out our debt ridden society.


Wednesday was watershed day for the British Economy. It was the day George Osborn outlined the measures he would be taking to try and get our economy back on the road to recovery.

After umpteen years of Labour misrule and profligate spending he has no easy task ahead of him. He has had to try to be upfront and honest (can any politician ever be that?) and point out just what a serious position our economy is in, and sell his ideas of everyone having to be far more efficient and spend less, as well as face a future of higher taxes to help bridge the gap.

This will obviously lead to higher unemployment (a bitter pill) but he has tried to somewhat sugar coat this by making slightly less deep cuts in some areas.

All this makes me ask the question "Why has the British public been prepared to live above their means for so long?" Let's face it, they have been encouraged by the previous government, which did exactly the same.

The sad thing is that those who have been prudent (a favourite word of Gordon Brown) are now facing difficult years when their savings will be not be worth what they once were, through no fault of their own. It seems very unfair that the sensible and thrifty are being penalised for the feckless and profligate spenders.

Summer Holiday Northumberland 2010

After leaving the Isle of Arran, we landed at Ardrossan on the Scottish mainland, and then travelled westwards across country. We stopped for a few hours in Peebles, and then continued to Kelso and eventually Bamburgh in Northumberland. On Sudnay morning we took Ruby for a walk on Bamburgh beach. The beach here stretches for miles, and I have never seen it busy in the whole of the time we have visited this part of the world. The castle is very imposing, perched right at the edge of the sea.




Looking down the beach southwards I was amazed to see that everybody and their dog had stopped at Bamburgh beach!

In celebration of our Ruby wedding we had taken all the family up to Holy Island for a long weekend, and on the way home we took them to the Tree House Restaurant in Alnwick Gardens. This is an extrenal view of the Tree House Restaurant.

This is what it looks like inside the building.

We visited Warkworth, which has a fine castle, but the joy for me was getting this shot of a heron perched on a rock in the River Coquet.

Another day we took a trip back into Scotland (the Borders to be precise) and visited Kelso and Melrose. This is a view down the main street in Melrose.

We had a trip to Holy Island and visited Jamie and Carol, (where we had stayed with the family for a long weekend for our Ruby Wedding celebrations.)

The view below is taken in the churchyard on Holy Island and shows the St Aidan Statue and Lindisfarne Castle in the background.

Whilst I was in the Churchyard I came across a friendly little Robin. If you look carefully you will find him perched roughly in the centre of this shot!

Just in case you didn't find him on the previous shot, here he is, perched on a gravestone!

When we are in Bamburgh we usually dine at the Victoria, which is the building behind the lamp post at the end of the row on the left. This is because the pub is advertised as Doggie friendly. You can take your dog into the bar and the bistro part of the restaurant. But we also dined at the Castle Inn, which is a little further down Front Street.

Whenever we visit Holy Island we always have a meal at the "Barn at Beal" which is on the road over to Holy Island. We discovered this place about four years ago, when it was newly opened, and when speaking to the Maitre D we learnt that he used to manage the Restaurant at the Lindisfarne Inn which at the junction of the A1 and the turn off to Holy Island.

The view from the Barn it Beal is quite spectacular. If you are dining outside you can see Holy Island and Lindisfarne Castle to your left, the Farne Islands to the centre, and Bamburgh Castle to your right.

Before returning home we visited Alnwick. The Castle here is where a lot of the Harry Potter films were made. The Barbican (or entrance gate) has carved stone figures on top of it. The idea was that during the night any attackers would be put off by these figures, thinking that they were guards!


This is a view of the Castle from across the River Aln.

Isle of Arran Holiday 2010

We took our annual holidays a little later this year, due to the fact that I had lots of weddings to play for during September. Our first week (2nd - 9th Oct) was spent on the Isle of Arran. We wondered if the weather would be as kind to us as it had been in previous years, when we had been there a few weeks earlier. We were not disappointed! The shot below shows the MV Caledonian Isles approaching its berth at Brodick.




For the past three years we have rented a superb little studio flat situated at Lamlash. It has everything any discerning holidaymaker could want, and is designed in an "upside down fashion". The bedroom is downstairs, and the lounge is upstairs (where the windows project from the roof line). Outside is a decked area, and we had breakfast each morning on the decking as the weather was so mild and sunny!



This was the view we had from the lounge - looking across the bay to Holy Isle which is owned by a group of Monks.

Ruby certainly enjoyed lounging on the decking in the morning sunshine. She had very quickly discovered a small branch of a tree which she promptly began to chew and strip the bark from it.

One of the places we visited was Brodick Castle, which is well known for its gardens. I came across these two characters outside the front entrance to the castle.

This was a general view of part of the gardens, showing some of the trees bedecked in their Autumnal colours.

One of the villages on the north west coast of the island is Sannox, and on closer inspection you might notice some sheep on the quay side. Not real ones - but iron ones placed there to tie the local boats up to!

We had spoken to a relatives uncle, who has a house at Lochranza, on the north end of the island, and he had told us to make sure that we visited Lochranza to hear the roaring of the stags which happens at this time of year. We not only heard the roaring, but met this fellow below with some of his lady friends!

A final shot of the "Calednian Isles" as were about to leave for Bamburgh, and the next week of our holiday.......