A week of walking - well almost!

I haven't posted for a while because I knew that this walking week was coming up, as it has been in my diary since the beginning of the year.

The 50+Adventure Club were going to walk Hadrian's Wall - at least for three days!!  However before I met up with my companions I had invited myself to stay with friends who live near Alnwick and who I haven't seen for years.  They have dogs, who are walked morning and evening, and I requested the beach walks that I remembered.  So Sunday evening we went to Sugar Sands 

 

A rainbow

There was a sudden downpour and for the first time in my life I saw a whole rainbow in front of me but couldn't get it into the photo.  Early Monday morning we walked in the sun on Boulmer Sands 

 

Then I packed my bags and headed to Hexham to meet my 50+ Adventure Club friends after a good catch-up with old friends.  But on the way I decided to visit Vindolanda (a Roman fort near the Wall) that is somewhere I have always wanted to go.

After paying, the tourist passes through this quiet court, so like a Roman house, before coming out into the fort itself.  Immediately I spotted volunteers at work 'finds washing' so I went to meet them.  They used similar equipment to us at Chester Farm but I queried why this bone was black, not bone coloured

The finds are all found in anaerobic conditions (no oxygen and wet) so this preserves them better.  I was shown one item that was grey which is the colour after drying

A cattle head

 

Note the bluish tinge due to chemical reactions

After this I wandered round the fort noting the layout and the different rooms.

Following a visit to their museum I went to the Roman Army Museum, well worth a visit: then onto Hexham and my hotel for the rest of the week.

Day 1 of our walking dawned bright but very windy and after catching the AD122 bus (yes that is it's name!) that took us to our first drop off we were planning to walk 6-7 miles of the Wall.

 

We passed many small fortlets built every mile and at times the wall disappeared completely, mainly because the stones were robbed to build field walls and farms!!  Incredible views.  We did pause to watch a shepherd on a quad bike with two dogs, rounding up a flock of sheep, and moving them to a new field  and done so fast that I didn't have time to take a decent photo!!  Well 7 miles passed and we were not at the end and I was beginning to tire when suddenly we had to scramble down and up two very steep gullies.  This was a nightmare to me as I suffer from vertigo when going down steep hills but my companions were brilliant and helped me down - going up is no problem and then after 8.25 miles we reached Housesteads but were not allowed to stop for refreshments as we had the 4.36 bus to catch back to Hexham.

Next day the walk was only to be about 4 miles, so once again onto the AD122.  This service runs between March and September on a circular route from Hexham taking in all the major points on the Northumberland part of the Wall, but can be hailed at any time.  Overnight we learned that Prince Charles was in the area for the official opening of The Sill that was on our bus route and so we swept into the car park full of police and men (and women) in 'suits' while he was inside.  Our destination was the Roman Army Museum (where I visited earlier) but no stopping as we set off  We had only passed the car park when we saw this

A goose with a bow tie round it's neck!

Were we seeing things - no! 

Apparently this goose travels in the front seat (no seat belt) with it's friend the sheepdog and the rabbit on the back seat!!  We were told that they have their own website but I cannot find it.  Anyway we started walking and once again the views were stunning and we could see why the Romans decided to build a wall here commencing AD122 (now that is why the bus is so called!).  High crags to stop invaders

but once again a lot of scrambling though I chickened out this time and went round the bottom.  The walk this time was only 4.75 miles but took us nearly 4 hours with stops to see the views, but our destination was the Milecastle Inn where we stopped for a drink before catching the bus.

I woke up on Thursday morning deciding not to walk but to do my own thing.  I went to Hexham Abbey

and had a look around, noting the Frith seat for the Bishops of Hexham

and the staircase where the monks would have descended from their quarters - very worn

 I then caught the bus to the Sill and had a good look round, but not venturing out as it was pouring with rain.  However Housesteads Roman Fort beckoned so after another short bus trip (isn't this service wonderful especially as I was able to use my senior's free bus pass) I got there as the rain was sheeting down!  I walked up to the fort but only stopped briefly to view the Roman latrine in a very well preserved condition, before my walking companions suddenly came into view and we all caught the bus back to Hexham.

 

Raining still

Getting back to Hexham some of us went to the little cinema to see The Children Act and we all met up for our final meal together before going our separate ways home on Friday morning.

A great week away ticking many of the items on my personal 'bucket list'.

End of an era

My regular readers, and friends, will know that for the last eight years my Tuesdays have been taken up with looking after firstly, one of my grand-daughters and secondly my great-nephew Will.  Yesterday was the final day with Will as he starts school next week, so for the last day I decided to go to Woburn Safari Park, a place I have known for years. I remembered that we went there for my eldest son's third birthday when there was not much to see.  He will be 50 next year so they have had plenty of time to improve!

If you decide to go buy your tickets online as it saves time and is slightly cheaper.  On arrival you see various forms of deer some of whom I can't identify

Fallow deer that roam the whole estate

 


Is that a Gnu on the left?

 

No idea this one but I loved his colouring!

We saw White Rhino

and then entered the Carnivores enclosure

A tiger  - one of about 4-5 we saw

I also loved the gnarled tree next to it.  Next area were -

Timber Wolves

 

Black Bear....

 

….. and a cub

and then Will got excited by -

 ….. the lions

There appeared to be four lionesses but the male was in a different enclosure and difficult to photograph.

Suddenly Will shouted out; his favourite stuffed, and rather sorry looking, animal is 'Giraffey' and he was shouting "Giraffey, Giraffey" - 

This adult stood in the middle of the road whilst the traffic
piled up behind him!!

Will wanted this photo as there were lots of baby giraffes.

Then into the monkeys who took no notice of the cars at all.  My memory of this enclosure was monkeys swarming over the cars removing anything that could be, usually radio aerials, but they were much better behaved now.

Sat beside the car scratching himself and eating fleas!!

BUT there is always one

We were about to exit the enclosure when this Safari Park vehicle came in front of us with a monkey on the roof who was trying to make a swift exit, but he was spotted and left the roof pretty quickly.  Will was in fits of laughter at this!!  Not a good photo but I was driving and taking photos!!!

We parked the car and went and watched the Humboldt penguins being fed,

then into the lemur cage where they were also being fed

and leapt amongst the visitors.

This goat was in the last stages of pregnancy and she was huge

Finally, we watched the elephants and I could have stayed for ages because this one was being so clever.  Look at the bent front foot - he was pushing the earth into piles and then sucking it up in its trunk and either blowing it under its tummy or over its back

 

"Ooh, that feels better"

I am sure this photo shows him laughing!!!

So after a very long day we went home for tea.  My Tuesdays are now my own!!

I have been working on my new Project that I mentioned in July, the Marathon t-shirts of No 2 son.  These have been cut up and I have been using iron-on Vilene to stabilise the picture and fabric.

There are some interesting ones

 

Florence

 

 

 

and some smaller pieces

Examples from the London and New York marathons

and I have saved some of the "Go faster" stripes

though I am not sure how to use them.  

I am still left with this bag of off-cuts which I may use for the binding.  Ideas are still going round and round but I will need to bite the bullet soon!!  One thing I do know is that I have enough to make the front and the back.

Summer Holiday 2018

I have just returned from my summer holiday spent in the Vendee in France.  I was invited to spend a week with my younger son and his family at La Garangeiore.  We had a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom chalet and I was lucky enough to have my own room.  This is a very popular place where my sister and her whole family often go and for the first three days of my visit my niece, her husband and their children were also staying.

The owner's house

 

Our chalet (my room on the very right behind the posts)

We all met up for dinner in the main restaurant on my first night and we had a very convivial night, with the children going off and playing between courses.

Next day we all went out together to O'Gliss Water Park arriving at about 10.00am.  We didn't leave until 6.00pm because there was so much to do.  It was brilliant, possibly helped by a temperature of about 33^oC.

Some of the high slides

 

Very steep slides!!

 If you look at this picture you will see a white cone top left.  People stood there and the floor dropped away and they went straight down the pipe that you can see going out at the right side.  My niece and two of her children did this slide - completely mad!!

More my style

The children went off and did their own thing, after we had found a central spot for them to return to for lunch, drinks, snacks etc.  I did go down one of the slides on a giant triple ring with my son and grand-daughter but I really enjoyed this swimming pool which was quite deep near that giant ball, that I discovered was the source of the wave machine.  I have no idea how it worked but sometimes the waves were small and sometimes big and gave me such enjoyable swimming.

The next day was Le Grand Defi where great fun was had at the Laser Maze -

My son 'skulking' in a hideout trying not to get hit!!

 

Two of the children

I have taken part in a Laser Maze before, which is not so painful as paintballing, but I didn't have a go this time.  There are also tree top adventures here, but we didn't do these this time, but my family went back for that after I had left.  As my niece was returning home the next day ,we entertained everyone with a family BBQ at our chalet that was so much fun.

On Sunday it was decided to go to a market at Bretignoles-sur-Mer, only 15 minutes away, and after looking at all the stalls I found Les Halles, where all the food stalls were.

Above and below were all the same stall of fish!!!!

Look at the size of the prawns!! 

 

Ready meals

 

Brochettes for the BBQ - all different meats

 

I didn't buy any of these but just drooled over them!

 

Huge loose tomatoes

Next stop was the beach itself and lucky for us the tide was going out so

we managed a paddle and a look in the rock pools and I saw this cockle moving very fast through the water.

I didn't know they had horns like a snail!

Next day was the Le Lac de Jaunay where we hired a 6 person pedallo, so that we meant we all got a turn to have a go.  First time I was with my grand-daughter but that was hard work, but much easier when my son and I sat together.

Photo courtesy of my daughter in law

After lunch we went for a walk and 'Mad dogs and Englishmen' sprang to mind as it was soooo hot -

 
but our reward at the end were crêpes so that was OK.  Back to base and we went off to the camp's swimming pool, that was not as busy as I was expecting.
 
The rain came overnight and the temperature dropped but for my final full day I wanted to go back to the beach.  We arrived just as the tide was going out and after shouting 'Last one in is a cissy' I was the first in the water and enjoyed myself so much.
 
All too soon I had to fly home from Nantes, but not before we had a stop on the way so I could take a picture of the Chateau d'Apremont and its church

 

 In Nantes we visited the Chateau des ducs de Bretagne where the Edict of Nantes was signed in 1598, allowing protestant worship in France.

 We followed an audio trail going right top of the building - all 98 steps.

Grand-daughter listening to the audio by the well

After lunch we visited a exhibition about the Vikings that was fascinating and so we left the Chateau but not before son and grandson had come down the castle walls very quickly -

Grandson's exit

and had I known what they were doing I would have had a go, but never mind another time perhaps.

After a very speedy drive they dropped me off at the airport for my flight home, (only 50 minutes) and the Heathrow Express to Paddington (only 15 minutes), I was back home in record time with many happy memories of a great holiday and a fantastic tan!!!