Bowland Knotts

Being off work this week, and not being away from home in a cottage for a change, means that we can have a few days out and explore more locally.

Today we decided to tackle Bowland Knotts. By parking up just beyond Stocks reservoir it meant that the walk we did was about 8 miles in total. 

What a fantastic walk! The weather was better than either of us was anticipating - blue skies and quite warm for most of the walk. 

Apart from walking close to some cows, which I don't like doing, the route itself was pretty straightforward if a little strenuous at times. But well worth the effort. 

I think we passed two other walkers all the way round! It was so peaceful with fabulous views. 

And then finally back to the van for a well earned cup of tea.

I think we're having a day off from walking tomorrow so that we can recover, ready to tackle a walk in the Lake District on Thursday!

Holiday!

We've got a week off work this week. I say 'we', but DD is still working.  Normally we would have booked a cottage somewhere and had a week away from home but this year we're having a week at home with a few days out. 

After having a lovely anniversary night away on Saturday night, we left the pub yesterday morning after a good breakfast, and took the dogs for a walk round Wet Sleddale reservoir. It's somewhere we haven't been to before. 

The weather wasn't particularly good, but it didn't rain, and it wasn't too cold. We had some lovely views, if a little hazy at times.

We'd made up some hot chocolate in a flask before we left the van, and taken some sandwiches with us to stop for lunch part way round. All part of the fun of a walk for us. 

And today? Well, today has been a cleaning day. Catching up on those jobs that we never seem to have time to do because we're either working, shopping or out walking! So, the kitchen has had a good clean, as has the lounge and dining room! Even the polish has been out! 

Not quite sure how long it will last with 6 cats and 2 dogs in the house though. 

But we can try. For now. 

We just have to decide what walk we're doing tomorrow .........

Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday was our 18th wedding anniversary. After DH agreed that we weren't going to exchange gifts, he went out and bought me something anyway!

A lovely charm to add to my bracelet. 

And because I knew that he'd decided to buy something, I thought I'd have a go at making some cuff links for him, using photos of Molly and Oscar!

And, as DD was going to see her boyfriend for the night, we thought we'd have a night away too. Not in the van this time - in a pub/hotel. Foolishly we started looking for something available in the Lake District, on Friday, to find a room for Saturday. No chance! Everywhere we looked was either full up or really expensive.  I finally found a place just outside Penrith - The Strickland Arms - a pub with 2 rooms. And they had one available when DH rang them - and they take dogs! 

After making sure DD got her train to go off to Leicester for the night, we headed up the M6 to Great Strickland. 

What a lovely pub! The owners were really nice, the room was lovely, and the food was fantastic. We both went back to our room feeling very full! What more could we ask for! 

What a lovely way to end our Anniversary ...

Changes

It's been quite an unsettling week at work this week. We've all known that some changes were coming soon, but this week the moves were finally announced, and the speed at which the changes are going to happen has suddenly hit us all. 

The team that I'm part of is going to be split up and we're all going to be joining different teams on different floors. This is the same for over a hundred members of staff. The knowledge has had a big impact on us all. We've had a good team where I am for over 12 months now, and within the next couple of weeks there's going to be at least 4 or 5 of us moving on to other teams. It's a huge change, and one that none of us are really looking forward to. Then over the following few weeks we will all move to our new teams so that by mid November we will all be in our new places. 

Surprisingly for me I seem to have been moved on to a group of people who I used to work with almost 6 years ago, including a couple of my Ladies who Lunch group! So at least I will know a few people on my new team. 

I'm sure it will all work out in the end once we've all got used to our new teams. It's just unsettling at the moment. 

On a more cheerful note, I ventured in to town yesterday to get myself some Euros for my holiday next month! Exciting!!

The Lake District

So, after a disastrous Friday night when we were supposed to be having a night away and didn't, we decided to get out early today and head for the Lake District for a walk. The weather forecast was good so we headed for Rydal Water with the intention of walking up on the fells over Grasmere.

The sun shone and the walk was amazing. With pretty Grasmere to start with we went up on Loughrigg terrace and over to Dow Bank. 

From there we just kept going, aiming for Lang How. 

It was just beautiful, and hardly anybody around. 

After a lunch stop and time to check the map, we headed on towards Blea Rigg and a path that would take us back down to Easedale Tarn. We've walked to Easedale Tarn before from Grasmere, but not this way before! 

From Easedale Tarn we headed back down to Grasmere in time to get tea and a scone in a cafe before it closed, and then the final trek back along the shore of Grasmere and back to the van. 

A fabulous 10 1/2 mile walk. 

I think we both need time to recover now! 

Leaves

It feels like Autumn is racing towards us. There's a chill in the air early in the morning, and the leaves are beginning to change colour on the trees.

I love Autumn for it's colours and being able to wrap up all snug in warm clothes, but hate saying goodbye to those long summer days. When it's dark when you have to get up for work, and starting to go dark when we take Oscar for a walk, that's when we know summer has definitely gone. 

Hopefully we can get some good walks done while there's so much colour around. 

Weekend

DD took her Driving Theory Test last Friday.  She'd been quite worried about it and had spent loads of time doing mock tests at home. 

She passed! And is now well on the way to being another loose driver on the road! Her driving instructor is wanting her to put in for her practical test quite soon. And then we have to decide what days she can use my car ......

I also had a Ladies Lunch on Friday and DD joined us for that. One of our 'ladies' turns 50 this week so we'd all clubbed together to buy her a present. We went to the same pub that we've been going to for months, but it was still lovely to meet up as we don't all work together anymore. 

Then Friday afternoon it was time for Molly to be trimmed. She went from looking scruffy and cute to nicely trimmed and even cuter!

Saturday was time to catch up with the weekly shopping and housework - doing the boring jobs first before attempting to make some more jewellery in the evening. DD had a friend staying over too, as they were going out at night. 

Yesterday was a long day. After waking up feeling quite rough, and suffering a headache all day, we headed off to Leeds to see Ruby Wax. I've read her book 'Sane New World' and her tour is all about that, and explaining mindfulness and CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) - basically how to retrain your mind and keep yourself sane. Even though I don't take anti-depressants anymore, after being on them a few years ago, every now and again I start wondering if I'm heading that way again - a few bad days and I know I have to try and change my thinking as I don't want to go there again. It's hard sometimes to bring yourself back up again. 

Anyway, it was back to work today and the start of a brand new week, so who knows what will happen! 

Cats!

My cats are taking over tonight! Leave them alone in the lounge for a few minutes and this is what happens .. 

    

.....total takeover! (Yes, there are five cats there). Just one missing from the group - my Maine coon. 

It's feeling a bit like Autumn now too, with the chilly mornings. Yesterday was chilly but a lovely sky to look at. 

We've had some lovely weather recently. Let's hope it carries on for a while longer. 

Blue skies!

It started off quite chilly this morning. It seems that autumn is on it's way fast now. But what a contrast this afternoon turned out to be - sunshine and blue skies! 

And then a fabulous moon tonight. 

 What a day!

Another wild camp!

We managed it again - another wild camp in the van!

DD said that she was staying over at a friend's house, so we decided to make the most of it and head off in to the countryside again. However, after what happened last weekend we decided to check out our mobile phone coverage first to make sure that we would have a signal in case we were needed.

I dropped DD off at her friend's, threw last minute bits in to the van and we finally headed north at 6.45pm, hoping to be parked up before it went dark. We had a couple of spots in mind, and after pulling in to the first one and discovering another motorhome already parked up for the night, we carried on to our second choice which was empty. We got there just before it went dark.

It was lovely - not too busy and lovely views.

This morning we managed to get a bit of a lie in with the dogs for a change. And we woke to this …

A beautiful view and the promise of a good day for walking. So, after a hearty breakfast, and with the rucksacks packed with sandwiches, snacks and drinks (for the dogs as well as us!) we headed off towards Great Asby Scar and the limestone pavements.

It was a lovely day - a bit hot at times and a bit chilly with the wind that came and went - and we stopped for lunch with a lovely view.

A fabulous place and we even saw the Red Arrows! I think they might have been on their way back from somewhere.

All in all it was a lovely walk, and then back to the van for a cup of tea and a piece of the chocolate and courgette cake I made yesterday, before heading home.

More cake!

We're still working our way through the courgettes. But we're nearly at the end of them. So, after forgetting to add some to last nights curry, I thought I'd better do a bit of baking and make another cake. This time it was the return of the chocolate cake, with walnuts. 

I also managed to make some more jewellery today. I've been wanting to make some more all week but haven't had chance. 

I made some more beads using Fimo too, which was quite fun! 

Oh. And the washing machine has stopped working. Thankfully it happened after I'd got caught up with most of the washing........... but still a major inconvenience. 

Gizmo

Gizmo. My dear old Gizmo. 17 today! What a good age.

Who would have thought that we would have chosen to bring a Tonkinese kitten into our home all those years ago. But she chose me. She sat on my knee as a kitten and decided she was going to come home with us. And that, was that. 

She was the first Tonkinese in this country to be awarded 3 Intermediate Certificate's, helping the breed progress towards first provisional and then championship status eventually. 

My Gizmo. 

Happy Birthday!

Pies!

I haven't had chance to bake this week, so there's no cake hiding any courgette. I'll probably make a cake at the weekend. With courgette of course. Because we still have some.  

Instead, after making DD what I call hotpot on Monday night (but what is, in fact, just corned beef hash), I made pies with the leftovers last night. 

I had one for my tea, and then put some in the freezer for a later date. Basically our own meat and potato pies! Very yummy. 

I also went online tonight to try and work out how many miles we walked on Sunday, and had quite a shock. I thought we'd done about 5-6 miles, when we'd actually done 7 1/2!! It was a lovely walk and as most of it was flat I guess we didn't realise how far we were walking. I guess that's a good thing really, not realising how far you've walked. 

And now? Now it's bedtime before it all starts again tomorrow ......