Badger Galore
Staying ‘Up Over’ for a while.
Autumn Colours.
So…Autumn is upon us and this year the colours appear more vivid apparently because of the heatwaves we had earlier in the year. Here are some pictures from recent wanderings and a lovely walk through Gelt Woods with Will.
My London Lad and Lass!
So…we have managed to get down to London to see our new Granddaughter, Asher a short while ago. She is absolutely gorgeous and was so calm and sleepy. We didn’t want to intrude too much so it was a flying visit but we got out and visited the Frieze sculpture festival in Regents Park and saw the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2025 exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and had some fun time with Rowan in the park before heading back North. We have not been able to do our annual Swell Sculpture Festival visit to Currumbin for obvious reasons this year but sadly the Frieze didn’t really make up for it…
Into the storm!
So…last weekend we had another break which coincided with the arrival of Storm Amy from the Atlantic. After the miserable weather for our Anglesey break we were feeling a bit hard done by with another terrible weather forecast. We went to Stranraer in Dumfries and Galloway simply because we had a free two night stay at the North West Castle Hotel courtesy of ‘Carefree’. ‘Carefree’ is a charity organisation that provides free breaks for carers, for up to two nights, in a variety of hotels around the country. I chose the hotel in Stranraer because it had availability on a Friday and Saturday night whereas most other hotels offer only weekdays when they are quieter. As a carer you can get a free break once a year and occasionally twice if you are lucky.
We set off on the Friday as Amy approached Scotland. We called in at Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, Gatehouse of Fleet and Newton Stewart on the way. The rivers we saw were already in spate and near breaking their banks. We didn’t venture out of the hotel the first night because of the rain and wind but got out on the Saturday and despite a few apocalyptic showers managed to get around the whole of the Rhins of Galloway. We visited the Mull of Galloway Lighthouse first, which is the most southerly point of Scotland, then Port Logan but the Logan Botanic Garden was closed because of the weather. We had some lunch in Port Patrick and walked along the cliff to Dunskey Castle before heading on up to the Corsewell Lighthouse at the northern end of the Rhins. The wind was epic all day and it howled all night outside the
Special Days!
So…on the 21st September 2025 Asher Elspeth Allen-Clarke was born, a lovely new granddaughter and yesterday, 28th September 2025 my Mum was 90!
Cat Bells.
So… last Friday we climbed Cat Bells near Keswick, in the Lake District, home of Mrs Tiggywinkle of Beatrix Potter fame. The weather was kind and our legs endured but we lived to walk again.
