Saturday 25th February

I must write a short account of my Half Term Adventures. I spent a week in the West of Ireland, climbing some mountains, going to some ceilis, and visiting old friends. In the process I met some new friends and sang with them. It was my idea of heaven.

Portmagee at sunset

I started off in Portmagee, County Kerry, where I stayed in a completely deserted hostel and then walked round Bray Head in the next morning. The weather was stunning.

This picture was taken on the way from Portmagee to Bray Head, looking back towards the mountains that consist of Carrauntoohill among others, the highest mountain in Ireland.

Looking back from Bray Head at the Skelligs

Danny Allen with his son Aengus and nephew Andrew. One happy family.

The last outdoors dancing stage for set dancers was built here in 1939. It just looked like a cracked concrete lane but was lovely to see. I wished there had been 7 other people there to make up the set!

 The green house where Freda and Bobby Allen lived in Toormore, near Goleen, County Cork. Iwas terrified that it had been painted some dready shade of magnolia. Thankfully it remained green and was inhabited by John Allen, son of the above. The buoys still hung from the trees. Some things don't change in Cork south-west.

The tunnels at the Cork and Kerry border in between Kenmare and Glengarriff. I could drive this road forever.

The cairn at the top of Barraboy Mountain, county Kerry

Cheryl O' Suilleabhean, author of "Seesaws and Rainbows Part 1 - England" with her old friends Rachel. Her house was colourful and her strulberry jam superb. Thanks Cheryl!!

The best thing about ireland is the unexpected people you meet. I had a cup of tea in a bar near Rathkeal (in the Sliabh Liucra region) and could have moved in there for life. There was a sing-song at about 11.30 in the morning. Only in Ireland. 

A chance meeting with an old friend - Noel Burke - after meeting his lovely wife Nina at a Sean Nos workshop in the Abbey Hotel, Ballyvourney. But then wonderful things have always happened in Ballyvourney. Locals would blame St Gobnet of course. I went and said a few quiet prayers myself while I was there.

Goodby Aggie McCarthy. Your friendship and generosity will never be forgotten. Even though you aren't named, a relative told me you were buried in this grave in Glengarriff with your husband Timothy. I hope you are dancing at crossroads and cycling round together as you often described to me.

An ogham stone

Part of a mass walk (when the Catholics were being persecuted and had to practice their religion in secret)

Slainte for now Ireland.

Amazing irregular echinoid find!!

Irregular echinoid - real (from Greece) and fossil (from Hampshire

Alternative rear view of irregular echinoid showing hole

On our honeymoon in 2005 Andrew and I went to Stoupa in the Pelleponese (spelt wrong) in Greece. We went scube diving. Andrew could go deeper than me and found the shell of an irregular echinoid (larger photo), very similar to a Sea Potato but not quite the same!The latin should perhaps be pseudoechinoidius stormtrooperius!!

In December 2011, during the Christmas holidays, we went walking from Ashley Park in the New Forest and headed towards Hampton Ridge - one of our usual routes. I saw an orangey-round stone and when I picked it up I was AMAZED to see that I had found a perfectly formed fossil of exactly the same irregular echinoid. It was lovely and, I have to say, slightly spooky. It felt a bit too unlikely to be a co-incidence. Anyway who knows what, if anything, the find means. I would just like to think that it means something....

The photos of both are attached for anyone's interest. The geology/archaology/biology of it all is something I will look into in another life...

January 2012 - Walking in south Wales

Looking towards Fan Brycheiniog 802 m. I lost my gloves somewhere near here.

Andrew on the way up The Black Mountain - looking south

It looks beautiful but the wind chill took it to about minus 10 degrees C.
Andrew lost his bum pad somewhere near here!!! 

A row of Welsh ponies and horses lined up to charge

There was a bit of a stand-off...

 

Very moody weather near Table Mountain

Me and Andrew on top of Table Mountain with the Sugarloaf in the background. It was VERY cold!!

Lovely dry stone walling near Table Mountain

Looking back towards Table Mountain from near Crickhowell

Christmas 2011



I must remember to bring more wigs next year

My nephew Dhillon wearing the wig



My brother alias Starsky wearing the wig

December 3rd 2011

Ice-skating at Longleat on a Friday afternoon

21 November 2011

New Forest Walk 20 November 2011

I have been doing lots of walking and cycling, even though it has not made it onto my Blog very often.

New Forest ponies in the mist

This morning I set off in the mist on a 10 mile walk from Telegraph Hill.


Near Nomansland I saw free-range pigs eating apples and acorns manically. Their road sense was fairly non-existant!

There were also interesting signs that deer had been scraping their horns in the lichen on tree bark, but I would need a real expert to verify this.

The beech trees looked gorgeous in the mist. I didn't know which way to turn today and haven't seen so many rich red tones and hues since I was in Kenya. I needed a better camera to capture the beauty of it all really.

And I even managed to get a rather amateur photo of a cobweb as the sun finally burnt through at about 11.30 a.m. What a lovely day.

Cobweb with mist on and yellow gorse flowers in the background.

Salisbury Cathedral - 5 November 2011



A beautiful gargoyle on Salisbury Cathedral

Ancient Graffiti

The original mediaeval capstan - Still in perfect working order. Amazing.

The amazing view from the top



I just loved what his military comrades said about this man. I wish I had known him. It is currently my screensaver.

Medeiaval and Victorian Braces keeping Salisbury Cathedral tower from buckling inwards under the extra weight of the spire.

Lee on Solent 16 October 2011

What is going on!!!!Blackthorn flowering in mid-October??!


We also saw ripe sloes and red holly berries.Fantastic.


But what a fabulous day to go to the seaside. We treated ourselves to a lovely cooked breakfast at 'The Penguin' on Lee-on-Solent seafront, where the usual hardy types were drinking coffee and smoking outside, swaddled up against the cold. 

One of many groynes designed to prevent alongshore drift

After breakfast we went for a lovely walk along the promenade, shedding clothes as we went. Andrew is training for his walk from St Jean Piet-de-Port to (approx) Burgos in November, traversing the Pyrenees in the process. I am slightly alarmed about the possibilities of snow at that time of year, and rather wishing I hadn't been to see "The Way" recently at the Harbour Lights cinema in Southampton. (One of the 'peregrinos' dies of exposure in the mountains...)

Sailing boats viewed through beach houses at Hill Head

I am just trying to de-stress from work these days, with my husband's help.
Walking along the coast in the sunshine, looking at dogs, boats, people and pebbles, was just about perfect.

The sailing races started at about 1 p.m. when the wind finally came in

A row of birds - oystercatchers and a black-headed gull I think.

Monday 29th August

We went for a short stroll near Burley with the specific aim of finding mushrooms.

Rules about when to pick mushrooms

When we saw this sign I thought we might be out of luck, but in fact our timing was perfect (by sheer fluke) and we found loads of chanterelles under beech trees. We also found some false chanterelles to compare them with, which was both interesting and useful.

This sign told us that we couldn't collect mushrooms from that area between September 1st and March 31st. Whew!!

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Chanterelles



It took a long time with water and a brush to clean these mushrooms and get rid of the dirt from the folds, but it was worth it. Next time we will cook them in butter with garlic.










I was really pleased with the result of our labours. It was a beautiful day, and lovely to walk slowly (for a change!) amid some fabulous old trees. We drove back via Bolderwood Arboretum. It was exceptionally busy on the roads, due to being a Bank Holiday of course. I realised again how lucky I am to live in such a lovely part of the world.