Friday, March 29, 2024

Wick and Mouth - 28th Mar ‘24

Today was all about the River Aln and the town of Alnwick and village of Alnmouth.


Also a day where a number of walk errors meant that it wasn’t as fun as it should have been. Although, there was a big plus - the weather was not as advertised. It was grey and overcast until about 2 and then it was bright sunshine - albeit with a strongish cool wind!

I thought I would go inland today and therefore if the weather was bad there would be things to do. I headed for Alnwick (about 20 mins away) and parked up by the castle. I had picked a route from the OS App around the Castle Grounds - in fact to be precise, Hulne Park. It looked like a nice 8 mile walk through a lot of forestry- it scored highly on the App.


I walked through the town and picked up the route. After about 15 mins walking I was entering the Park. Although I wasn’t - there were signs up saying no dogs allowed. I quickly found another walk going around the North side of the town and following the river. It also sounded nice. And it would have been I’m sure but record rainfall and river walks are never going to be easy bedfellows - it was very wet and muddy. And i’d left my walking stick in the car!



We did get some lovely views of the castle. We crossed a few roads (including the A1) before crossing back over the river on the farthest east side of town. 





My OS App showed a footpath cutting through the fields and a housing estate back to Alnwick. Not open!!! They were building a new housing estate and they had shut the footpath. After a lot of walking around in circles, I suspected this was the case but thought it was probably illegal. I asked a young builder and he confirmed the only way to town was back on the main road.


So the last 2 miles of our 5.5 mile hike was on pavements next to a main road. My feet are not great on hard surfaces so by the time we got back to the car we were both knackered and feeling our respective ages!!

They are very friendly up here. A smile normally gets a smile in return and a cheery good day also prompts one back. Town was quite busy. I thought about getting a bite to eat in a local pub but Tilly was very dirty so I decided against it. 

At this stage, the sun came out. I headed off to Alnmouth, where the River Aln meets the sea. It was about a 20 minute drive. Here was next mistake. It was about 2.30 and, based on yesterday I expected the tide to be quite far out. It wasn’t. It was very high and still coming in! I decided to walk along the beach towards Boulmer and then walk back into town. Another mistake, when I did get back into town the coffee shops were shut! This was something that Kimbo and I always used to do regularly as well. 




Albeit, a bit squashed in an ever decreasingly narrow beach, we did have a nice walk by the waves and then back into town. We sat on a bench and watched the world go by for a bit. It would have been lovely with a coffee and a pastry but …



This sign just rubbed our noses in it! It was 3.15pm and clearly the kettle is not always on!!


We headed back to the van arriving at about 4.15 with the sun still shining. There are now 2 vans and 3 motorhomes here. The 3 middle aged couples in the motorhomes were all chatting - I kept my head  down and stayed in Brunnehilda. To my shame I couldn’t face all that positivity and happiness. Probably a sign of my state of mind today as it doesn’t usually phase me! 

Yesterday evening was wonderful but today has dipped a bit. Which is a shame as the weather did its best for me! I didn’t really enjoy the walks as much as normal. I’m too tired to process why that might be so I’m just going to put it down to those silly things that went wrong during the day.

Ready meal and Pulp Fiction to finish the day. I can’t believe I’ve never seen it before - but I haven’t! Great film. Tilly is absolutely knackered - she has just refused to go out for her evening wee before bed! That doesn’t bode well for a peaceful night!

I had a long chat with Thom tonight (and a shorter one with my mum and Laura)  but I don’t think I talked to anyone else at all today. I’m not sure if that’s part of the issue - oh well, we’ll see tomorrow. I’m sure Good Friday will live up to its name?!



Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Getting By - 27th Mar ‘24

Reflective mood today ….

Firstly, reflecting on the tumbling number of “Travels with Brunnehilda” blog readers. Like Rishi Sunek, I’m dealing with a popularity “free fall”. It’s a good job I only do this bloody blog as a cathartic experience as I’m guessing my value as an influencer is compromised by reader numbers in single figures!! Unlike Fishi though, I do know why my once mega popularity is waning …

These blogs are all the bloody same! So, to embrace this inconvenient truth, I’ve decided to go with it and just focus on the small, but hopefully meaningful, differences. Vive le difference!

Not looking forward to the trip: ✅

Weather forecast is absolutely sh*te: ✅

Hitched up expertly and quickly: ✅

Headed for Embleton Bay, Northumberland: ✅

Good journey up north - took 6 hrs: ✅

Stopped at Weatherby Services for a Pret: ✅

Backed expertly onto the pitch - 1st time: DIFFERENT

Set up in double quick time: ✅

Headed out to the gorgeous Dunstan Steads beach: ✅

Walked along the virtually empty beach as the sunset: ✅

Accompanied by just the one dog: DIFFERENT

My beautiful boy, Ben, passed away 6 days ago. Tilly and I were a bit dazed last week and didn’t really feel his absence. That’s all changed up here. As we enjoyed the waves, the air and the sounds- we both knew what was missing. There was never a dog with such a character and so many funny quirky behaviours. Tilly is trying hard not to show it but she is missing her doting, annoying, paranoid, loving mate. RIP Ben.

Anyway, back to the checklist:

Back to Brunnehilda for Sainos ready meals: ✅

Watched a couple of episodes of The Tudors: ✅

Squeezed in some trifle and Cadburys choc: ✅

Blogging in bed: ✅

I had a long chat with a fisherman on the beach. He fishes everyday on the beach for 5 or 6 hours. Sometimes he catches nothing, yesterday he caught 3 big cod! He was only a young lad (early twenties). He was keen to chat and clearly a little lonely. We showed each other the photos we had taken of the gorgeous evening sky. His were better than mine.



When I asked him why he came fishing (in the dark) every night for 6 hours on his own, he ruefully smiled and suggested that there wasn’t much else to do. Gave me something else to reflect on as I headed back to the car.

As I was walking on the beach, I could physically feel something different inside me. My heart felt lifted. I felt alive. This place is so so beautiful. 

It’s weird, even though we’ve lost something so precious and irreplaceable - the love of my life - I still feel blessed (not in a religious way!!). I have the most wonderful family in the world, I have good and loyal friends, I enjoy my work (what little I do) BUT … and in the magnificent words of Brandon and the boys, my life sometimes feels like “The Getting By”. Time spent with the kids and experiencing places like this make me realise why it’s so much more!

Jings, that’s a heavy start to a few days away?! It’s due to rain all day tomorrow so who knows what Northumberland has in store for Tilda and me?! 

As we were setting up this afternoon, we certainly felt welcomed and protected … in our Northumberland bubble!


https://youtu.be/H54pviSYbnc?si=E-hpTW0qnzuWPjpi









Friday, February 16, 2024

Monsal Trail & Priestcliffe - 16th Feb ‘24

Back to the normal size (overlong!) blog with plenty of walk chat, pictures and self-obsessed reflections - you have been warned!

As someone that is 70% deaf, Ive always thought that a sense of smell is probably the least useful sense. Certainly spending 3 days and nights in a car and small caravan with 2 filthy dirty, wet and smelly dogs - as well as a filthy dirty smelly old man - is something where a heightened sense of smell is an absolute curse!!

Today’s weather lived up to that infamous comment - if you don’t like the weather in the UK, don’t worry, wait 10 minutes and you’ll get something different. We had warm sunshine, wind, drizzle, mist, fog, light rain and heavy rain - what a treat!



The day started off well. A quick walk around the dog walking field and then I treated myself to a breakfast baguette from the on-site cafe - Daisy’s Cafe. Although Daisy was no where to be seen just a couple of friendly middle aged chaps. Benny was rather jealous. He’s now fully dosed up and food scrounging to his usual high standards. 


I spent a long time this morning trying to work out the best walk. To avoid the mud I decided it would be best to stick to old railway line routes and then head high and be on the top of the dales not down where the water (and mud) are. It sorta worked! I had a couple of short listed routes from my OS App but went for the one closest to home. 

So, after a quick trip into Tideswell to order some Tidsa Puddings to pick up tomorrow am, I headed back to the car back at Millers Dale on the Monsal Trail. NB Tidsa Puddings are like Bakewell Puddings but from Tideswell not Bakewell. I’ve been invited round to Jeannie and Pete’s for dinner on Saturday so this will be the pudding!

When I set off from Millers Dale station on the Monsal Trail the sun was shining and it felt very Spring like. The trade off for keeping out the mud was going to be negotiating a fair amount of dogs (no problem) and cyclists (more of a problem). Generally speaking the dogs were very good - in fact we had a couple of compliments! When a cyclist was coming towards me, I grabbed Tilly and told Benny to lie down. He always does and waits for me to let go of Tilly before he jets off again. It looks like he is focussing on me and waiting for the ok. He’s not - he’s focussing on his beloved Tilly. On the one occasion I didn’t hold Tilly ( I got cocky!), she darted out at the lady cyclist with Benny following close behind. I apologised profusely but she was very nice. The lady cyclist, not Tilly. Tilly is an a*se!




Talking of being an a*se - walking on my own brings out the worse in me. I enjoy having a cheery hello and inane chat about the weather with fellow dog walkers but those bloody cyclists. Only about 3 in 5 bother to say thank you (or smile) for all my shenanigans to keep the dogs from running up to them. The 2 in 5 that cycle by and say nothing are to my petty mind the lowest of the low - probably entitled Tory voters! I end up going all passive aggressive and muttering “you’re welcome” under my breath. Then I’ll start tutting and even shaking my head. None of them take a blind bit of notice and quite right too! They have every right to expect me to control my dogs. It still doesn’t mean I have to like the ignorant knobheads though! Imagine a bird watcher on a bike?!? Their obnoxiousness would be off the scale!!


So the walk consisted of an easy 3 miles on the Monsal Trail through the Litton and Cresswell tunnels to the Monsal Head viaduct. I thought about a refreshing pint at the pub but I’m ashamed to say the very steep steps put me off. 


We headed up the side of Monsal Dale onto the top of the dales - somewhere called High Field. We stopped for refreshments when at the top. 



While we rested we were treated to some nice views and a rainbow! The weather had taken a turn for the worse as we gained altitude.



Then there was a pleasant walk across the top of Taddington Dale. The views were magnificent and there was no one up there to spoil it - I think I saw one couple in over an hour of walking.




It was then a small drop down to High Dale. I followed this wee Dale (no stream) for a mile or so. At this stage I was really enjoying myself. I was mulling over the walk so far and rating it as one of the nicest, if not the nicest, walk I’d had in Derbyshire so far.



Then it all changed. Within 10 minutes it had gone from the best Dales walk ever to some sort of masochistic Army assault course! Firstly, the heavy rain started. Then Benny did his usual trick, noticed I’d been free of carrying a dog poo bag for an hour, so he pooed and waited for me to pick it up. There was no chance of flicking this one into the hedge -  this was more chicken tikka masala than seekh kebab! It then got very very muddy. So I was slipping and sliding all over the place with my walking stick in one hand and the poo bag in the other. Just to finish me off we then had to navigate about 4 or 5 Derbyshire Dales stiles. Impossible for the dogs to get over necessitating me to hoist them onto the top of the wall and letting them jump down. Benny decided to squeal like a pig whenever I lifted him up - thankfully no one was around as they would have assumed I was doing awful things to him.


The rain eventually stopped. We trooped through a lot of very muddy footpaths and then onto a small road that took us through the tiny village of Priestcliffe. It was then I was faced with a dilemma - a gentle descent into Millers Dale and the car park - albeit with a 1/2 mile walk along the main road or a very hairy and steep descent through a forest and pop out right opposite the car park. I chose the later - but then wished I hadn’t!


The track down was incredibly steep and very muddy. There were a lot of steps that made things slightly easier but some patches were just slopes of mud that I had to slide (ski!) down with my stick keeping me upright - just about!



A quick run up the steps to the Monsal Trail and the station car park. It felt good to be “home”. In the end I had been gone just short of 4 hours and completed 8.3 miles. 


As with most other walks, the 4 hours were a useful mental cleanse. I didn’t  spend the time thinking about the fact Kim wasn’t with me. She would have hated a walk like today and therefore I don’t dwell on the fact she’s not with me. It would have been very different if I was poking around a pretty little town with lots of coffee shops - which is why I stick to walking down muddy dales and not poking around pretty little towns with coffee shops!

I’ve read a lot of Marcus Aurelius lately and find his “stoic” approach to life very helpful in preventing me from spending my time reflecting on things I can’t effect and not dwelling on my life mistakes. His view that we’ve never made a bad decision (it was right for us when we made it) in our entire life is particularly comforting! NB The not bothering about things you don’t control clearly doesn’t work for cyclists and bird watchers!!

Got to say I was absolutely knackered when I got back to Brunnehilda. It was about 4pm as I’d had to pop into Buxton to get some fuel. I then had a wonderful 7 hours slobbing around the van in my underpants! I listened to the radio, ate ready meals, trifle and Cadburys chocolate. Watched 3 episodes of The Tudors and spent an hour or so on the phone. It’s fair to say I’m getting used to my own company and only really missed Kim when it was time for bed!


Off home early tomorrow- the weathers due to be nice! To finish off my short stay here are the “scores on the doors”: 

Beech Croft Caravan Park:

Pros:

1) Very clean and tidy

2) Great facilities - including Daisy's Cafe

3) Huge fully serviced pitches

4) Great position for walking

5) Great 5G

6) Friendly staff

Cons:

1) Expensive - about £10 a night more expensive than my normal site. 




Post Script. I passed this door on my walk today. I did stop and search my bag for a Sharpie - I couldn’t find it. I had a real desire to write “Hairy” on top of the sign!


A Busy Day Doing Nothing - 15th Feb ‘24

A short one today. Although a relaxing day, I seemed to have crammed a lot in!

It started with a quick walk with the dogs around the wee field on site and then buying some milk from the shop - I somehow managed to forget this when packing. In my defence, most folks will have 2 brains to remember the pre trip packing inventory. I only have 1 brain and that’s a little rusty.



Something else I forgot was much more important - Ben’s tablets. I rang my vets and they confirmed that it wasn’t an option not to give him them for a couple of days!! Mandy gave me the details of her vets in Matlock but it was a lot of fuss to get half a dozen tablets necessitating several calls, emails and a trip back to Matlock.

I had a smashing lunch with Mandy at The Fishpond, Matlock Bath. The food was ok but it was really good to catch up especially as we didn’t meet up on my last visit. As always we put the world to right while having a good laugh doing it!

Before meeting Mandy I managed to squeeze in a swim at the outdoor pool at the New Bath Hotel. It’s a wonderful pool that is fed by a natural spring and maintains a constant 19 degrees throughout the year. With no chlorine and chemicals it makes for a fantastically invigorating 30 mins swim. That awful 5 seconds between coat off and immersion in the water is vastly outweighed by the feeling (physically and mentally) that cold water swimming gives you. I know folks that don’t do it don’t get it but then I couldn’t watch an episode of Strictly without hyperventilating!! Vive le difference!

I didn’t leave Matlock Bath until gone 3.15. I went to the vets on the way back to Brunnehilda. 15 mins to feed the dogs and then I took them for a 30 minute walk along the Monsal Trail at Millers Dale - about 5 mins drive from the campsite. 





Then the trip back to Matlock to pick up the tablets arriving at Helen and Karl’s at Roston at about 6.15. Too much rushing around for a relaxing holiday but it was worth it to catch up with Mandy and The Davis’ and of course that little thing of keeping Benny alive!!

Another smashing meal with Helen and Karl at The Roston Inn. It was great to catch up with my old Volvo mucker Helen and Karl is so much fun. It's very hard not to enjoy a night out with the Davis’. Also had the bonus of daughter Pip joining us for a drink later. 

I didn’t leave until gone 10 arriving back at Brunnehilda soon after 10.30. Time for one episode of The Tudors before bed. Got to admit I’m quite knackered. Who would have thought that eating, drinking and socialising was such hard work?!

PS Sorry about the lack of photos - too busy having a nice time and certainly didn’t want to spoil it with selfies!!