| AlpSpam 2: Sun is in the sky, oh why oh why would I wanna be anywhere else? |
[Dec. 30th, 2006|05:55 pm] |
Our first day in Kaprun was a day off, so I went for a wandered around the shops and church and found some of the ski lifts. It is very pretty, although there wasn't much snow around. There are a fair few shops, bars, restaurants and a swimming centre which looks good. There followed a few days of cleaning the chalets, interspered with road trips to one of the chalets in Neustift to collect/deliver crockery/bed linen. The drive to Neustift goes over the Thurn Pass, which is quite scenic, and one one trip we came back over the *** Pass, which was fantastic. It was so beautiful, but the driving was a little stressful. We had a day of snowboarding, which was fairly good fun, but I found it very difficult.
As Kaprun has two weeks of set-up compared to the one week for all other resorts, I had a transfer to Scheffau for a week. The children were great and it has been nice to be in a different resort for a while. Scheffau is very small, basically just one street, with a pub, shop and a couple of hotels. There is a field right in the middle of the village which has two ponies in it, who pull the sledge for the sleigh rides. I have had ski hire while here and have now mostly learned to ski.
We've had our first guests in Kaprun now. This week hasn't been too busy for me, as I have mostly been van driving rather than being with the children, so I have managed to do a lot of skiing. I have also picked up a few evenings of private babysitting, which pays quite well, so I am pondering using that money to buy wool and start knitting socks and hats and seeing if I can sell those.
Yesterday was my day off, and I went up to the Kitzsteinhorn. Skiing didn't go too well, so I went up to the ridge and sat for a while looking at the mountains and taking photos. There were mountains as far as you could see in every direction - it was pretty stunning, although I did have a slight panic as to where the sea had gone. It was the inverse reaction to how I felt in Hawai'i, when all you could see was sea, and you wondered if there really was any land in the rest of the world. It was cool. |
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| AlpSpam 1: Switzerland is beautiful with mountains soaring high... |
[Dec. 7th, 2006|11:00 pm] |
Well, I've survived the training week in Les Arcs, France and am currently en route to Kaprun, Austria, via half of France, the whole of Switzerland, and half of Austria. The training week was pretty hard work; 14 hour days, alternating between running up snowy hills and trying not to fall alseep in warm lecture theatres. We did first aid, child welfare, team building things and a whole host of other things. I caught a bad dose of man-flu and spent much of the week just trying to stay upright, so can't remember all of it.
I was staying in a chalet with six other childcare people and didn't have a trainee chef assigned to us, so feeding ourselves became interesting at times. Most of it fell to me, and my finest moments were responding to "We want jam for breakfast" by making jam using the left-over juice from some frozen berries, and sorting out the ketchup shortage by making some from an onion, balsamic vinegar and the left-overs of a tin of tomato puree. |
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| AlpSpam 0: The bus is running, it's time to leave... |
[Nov. 29th, 2006|02:00 pm] |
Well folks, some of you know, some of you don't. I am going to work in Austria for the winter, looking after spoilt rich kids. I am aiming to send mass-emails now and then so that you don't forget me, but the frequency and detail depends on how much access to the internet I have. It probably also depends on how quickly I learn to ski, as a choice between snow and the internet might be a tough one!
I am leaving today for Les Arcs in France, where there will be a week of training, after which I will be moved to my resort for the season. Currently I am due to go to Kaprun in Austria, which is near Zell am See, for those of you wanting to visit. Salzburg is the nearest airport, followed by Innsbruck. |
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| Partay Weekender |
[Nov. 26th, 2006|08:00 pm] |
Ohara, Pants, Hobnob, Saffy and Erik came to visit for a farewell/pre-Birthday party. After an awful lot of faffing, people ended up at my house via cars, trains, London and a fair amount of other combinations. On Friday night we had stew and garlic soup for tea, then talked for a while. On Saturday morning we spent ages getting up, and due to the heavy rain we went to Devil's Dyke for lunch and tried to fly Ohara's kite. It crashed and broke on the first try, so we gave up. Back at home we went for a walk in the woods, then spent the evening cooking. We made mexican, which took ages, but it was very lovely, and then we sat around drinking and talking for the evening.
On Sunday we walked to Ohara's parents house for lunch, which was fantastic. We all ate far too much and were dropped back. Everyone headed back to their respective homes, and I started cleaning the house. |
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| Lancashire Rain |
[Nov. 24th, 2006|02:03 am] |
1. The last few months have not been great. It is entirely my fault, I fully accept responsibility, yada yada. I haven't LJed largely because I have been lost for words.
2. I'm no poet, and I know it - this is just a collection of thoughts that have been rolling around in my head, rather than some attempt at literature.
Lancashire Rain
Across the way I saw you, I smiled deep inside
It felt good after all that time, to talk to you again
We quickly grew close, we seemed to fit
And we walked across hills in the Lancashire rain
So easy to fall for - you just feel right
There was no way I could refrain
You were exactly how I remembered you and we made love
All night to the sound of Lancashire rain
It wasn't perfect - there were ups and downs
From beginnings like ours there had to be
We could have worked them out though
But you just couldn't see
And I can't believe I trusted you
You always cause me pain
I trusted you with my damaged heart
Which you broke in two again
So now you'll never know how good we could have been
How it would have felt, and what we stood to gain
You hurt me one final time and as I walked home
My tears fell faster and harder than Lancashire rain |
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| Alton Towers |
[Sep. 30th, 2006|04:44 pm] |
Well, Talk Like A Pirate Day was quite amusing, one way and another. I think I might prefer that to Christmas...
I had planned a quiet weekend of various types of life-sorting, however, it turned into a weekend of social drunken fun. Kimball was visiting Dragon and Missiongiraffe, and I popped round to lend them a sofabed for Kimball to sleep on. They then plied me with wine and cider, and I staggered home sometime around 3am. I attempted to learn how to use Access the following day, with little success. The book probably made sense, but was very hard to use. Dan and Hobnob then suggested curry, which was followed by the Waterwitch, and then more beer at Dan's house. On Sunday I made goulash, and Dan and Hobnob came round for lunch, then I played with Access all afternoon.
On Monday I had an interview, and the Access test was fine fortunatly, so the cramming was worthwhile. I didn't get the job, they said that I needed to talk more and project myself, which is probably a fair assessment.
The highlight of the week was a trip with Dan and Hobnob to Alton Towers. The longest we had to queue was about 5 minutes, and we went on lots of things several time. It was really good fun and I had a great day. I loved Air - I think I could spend hours just flying around on that. I suspect it will be the closest I will get to flying or being in space, other than in my dreams. Erik managed to go on a few rides, but spent most of the day looking pale and frightened, bless him. We went to Moghuls for tea, as it was late when we got back.
I finished knitting my Branching Out scarf, and for a first attempt at lace knitting, using a pattern from knitty.com. I am quite pleased with it. It isn't perfect, and there are some mutated leaves that grow into each other, but mostly it is good. Back to the drawing board for next project. I have started learning about illusion knitting today, so that might be the way to go, or some more socks. I saw a girl at Alton Towers with a really nice blue stripy jumper that I fancy copying, and another one with a black cardigan with cool cabling at the hem. I should take my camera out more that I can photograph knitting ideas. But then people might think I was strange if I started taking photos of them. |
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| Yarrr! (preemptively) |
[Sep. 18th, 2006|11:24 pm] |
My pirate name is:
Iron Bess Kidd
A pirate's life isn't easy; it takes a tough person. That's okay with you, though, since you a tough person. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!
Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.part of the fidius.org network
I have done other stuff recently, which I will update some other time. |
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| Sweater shots and knitting knews |
[Sep. 12th, 2006|03:56 pm] |
As requested, a photo of the sweater and one of my very exciting invisible socks. The socks have been my "handbag project" for quite some time - I had intended to get them done quickly so that I could wear my beloved slip on shoes with shorts over the summer without commiting sock crimes, but it was not to be. Remind me not to make socks in a 2*2 rib again...
I don't know what to knit next. There is an unfortunate discrepancy between what is currently in my stash, and what I want to knit.
What I want to do:
-want to try lace knitting
-knit Dad a sweater for his birthday
-knit Dad an illusion scarf using the motif of his favourite football team
In my stash:
-left-overs from sweater, probably enough for a pair or two of socks
-enough green self-patterning yarn to make another pair of invisible socks
-some green, blue, red and grey wool that I obtained from freecycle, enough for a jumper but I'm kinda done with stripes now, especially on the scale of a jumper. Could be socks or scarf, but wrong colour for Dad's motif scarf.
-a small herd of yarn (enough for a jumper or two) that is so rough it is unwearable. I've tried washing it, fabric conditioner, hair condition, nothing makes it soft. It also didn't really felt either. It's the kind of stuff you could knit doormats with. Could be a man-bag or satchel or something possibly.
Now, I could try lace knitting either in a pair of socks using sweater remains, or using the blue/green/grey/red collection, but I have a feeling that lace and changing yarn colours could be murder. I could try illusion knitting using any of the stash, and if it works and I can make a decent pattern I could go buy more yarn for Dad's scarf.
Decisions decisions... |
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| Scrumpy Morg |
[Sep. 10th, 2006|08:53 pm] |
Last Sunday I went for a walk to Hull Pot near Pen Y Ghent again, as it had been raining lots and I wanted to see what it was like with water running over it. It was impressive.
On Monday, Erik's birthday, we went to the Lakes for the day, visiting Hawkshead and a variety of other locations with the intention of stocking up on locally produced foods. Sadly few places were open, which wasn't too bad as it a nice day to be out anyway, but is annoying that local producers complain people all go to supermarkets, but when you want to give them your money no-one is there to take it!
On Friday Hobnob came round for curried goodness, and then after dropping Erik at choir we parked at The Stork pub and walked to Glasson. We sat on the sea wall for a bit and watched the tide. I had forgotten how theraputic the inexorable rise and fall of the tides is. There have been times when I have lived and worked by the time of the tide and its unforgiving progression is quite comforting. It reminded me of this, from Khalil Gibran's "The Prophet":
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
Right, enough of that sentimental stuff. After sitting on the sea wall we went to harbour to look at boats and locks and all things big and manly. On the way back we found an apple tree and scrumpied 8 or so apples. Hobnob proceeded to get drunk in the pub and ate another dinner, before we returned home.
Yesterday Erik and I visited the Norber Erractics near Austwick. They were every bit as exciting as I remembered them. I could spend hours or days even, playing around them. I'd love to have gone there as a child, it would be the perfect place to play hide-and-seek, have forts on top of the boulders and generally run wild and free. On the way back we visited Stainforth Force near Stainforth, which wasn't actually as exciting as I was expecting it to be. With a bit more water it would probably be a decent paddle, but the bottom drop looked very undercut. In fact, it was almost a perfect geography text-book undercut, shame it was such an awkward position to photo. We also found a damson tree, so scrumpied some more.
Today has mostly been spend sorting out old computery stuff, which was boring but needed doing. I made scrumpied apple and damson jelly, which is setting now. I can't believe how much colour came out of the damsons - the white tea-towel I used to strain it is white no longer!
Ooh, nearly forgot! I finally finished knitting my sweater! Properly finished, rather than finished, but needs blocking/sleeve-shortening/ends-weaving/neck-lengthening. I need to give it a bit of wear now, to get it broken in, but I am scared of wearing it in case I pull threads/spill food/be generally clumsy with it. |
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| CurryChocFest06 |
[Sep. 2nd, 2006|08:38 pm] |
On Wednesday it was Hobnob's birthday, and as a variety of other people have birthdays around the same time we had a big curry outing. Someone idly suggested on LUBBS that Hobnob's perfect birthday present would be a giant after eight mint, and since I can't resist a challenge, he was duly presented with one at the end of the meal. Mike has requested a giant orange matchmaker for his birthday, so I am working on how to grow orange sugar crystals. For my birthday I'd like a giant nacho with giant salsa, giant guacamole, giant jalapenos and giant sour cream if anyone feels like they love me ;)
Drinks in the Waterwitch followed and only ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) dobedobedoh was manly enough to eat any of the birthday cake I made. I believe the rest of it was passed around ISS the following day.
The following day dobedobedoh, Hedgehog, Erik and I went to Xscape in Castleford for a spot of skiing and snowboarding. Erik and I were doing the Level 2 snowboarding course, going face-first down the slope. It was great fun and I can't wait to go again! We met an old friend and his fiancee afterwards for food, and were being tempted by offers of trips snowboarding in the Alps in February, so tempting...!
Erik started back at choir on Friday so in an effort not to spend each week on my own I went out to the Golden Fleece near Dolphinholme with Mike for tea. The food was good, but the service was a bit weird. It seemed like they couldn't decide of they were a pub or a restaurant, and it didn't come across well.
Today was spent looking at the rain and wondering if we were all going to drown. Erik and I wandered into town for a bit in search of birthday presents and cheese. This afternoon/evening we watched some Northern Exposure and ate lasagnacheesevegetablebake for tea. I think I am now going to go to bed and read "The Amber Spyglass", because it is getting scary and near the end and I want to know what is going to happen.
Erik has been working hard doing housey stuff. There has been an awful lot of drilling and banging and general noisey-ness which I don't like, but this is all leading towards integrated around-the-house music systems, which I will like. Mr Cavity Wall Man did a spendid job, and the dining room has felt warm for the first time ever. Unfortunatly things overspilled a bit and there is insulation in the comms room and the pipes room, and when it is windy it all flies out from under the eaves. |
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| *twitch* |
[Aug. 22nd, 2006|02:09 pm] |
I feel violated. Twice in the last week I have had to empty my desk, a seeminly innocuous process but one that bothers me greatly. The first time was because we needed to switch the sofas around (yay, comfy sofa to sit on) and the second was so that Erik could do manly things with bits of wires (yay, speakers working around the house), so it was all worth it. All was very nearly well until a lovely chap turned up, inserted his hose into my void and pumped it full of, well, something - having cavity wall insulation will be nice though. I was then disturbed further as I had to move everything off the balcony and empty the (1,000 litre) water butt. I can hear things moving around in the walls, lots of drilling, lots of pumping noises and well, I think the house is going to fall down.
I would feel happier with strange men rifling through my underwear drawer than I do with shifting my workspace and garden.
*goes off to rock gently in a corner* |
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| Bilberries! |
[Aug. 15th, 2006|05:42 pm] |
On Saturday we went to the farmers' market in town to see if we could get some more dried sausages from Shaw Meats, but sadly he was not there.
On Sunday I dragged Mike up Clougha Pike, via Windy Clough and Little Windy Clough. Now, the map clearly shows a path through Windy Clough, but this was not to be. We either had to battle shoulder high bracken, ankle-grabbing heather and hidden potholes, or we had to scramble along a partially collapsed rock face. The rocks won, so we spent an hour covering about 500m of ground. At least it didn't rain, and the heather was all pretty to look at. We found some rocks that would just about be climbable, with rock boots and had a bit of a sit down before reaching the trig point and geocache. We decided that we'd find the rest of the geocache another day as time was getting on. I had a go with Mike's shiny new rucksack and have decided that I WANT ONE! It moves with you in a smooth way, so that when you wobble it sort of counter-wobbles. We also found some curious berries, which I suspected to be bilberries, but decided to take photos and check them out first.
Having checked online a bit I decided they were probably bilberries and went up there again on Monday evening with Erik to collect some. We saw some other pickers up there so had a chat with them and then got on with it. It was slow going, but we stuck at it for about 30 mins or so - need to take something waterproof to sit/kneel on next time.
I mashed some of the bilberries into cream cheese to have on my toast this morning. I think I will make some cinnamon and raisin bread, spread bilberry cream cheese on it and make like I'm in Dunkin' Donuts. It won't be quite the same as a very-berry bagel with strawberry cream cheese, but a girl can dream. |
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| Longsleddale |
[Aug. 11th, 2006|07:03 pm] |
This week has mostly been quiet, apart from an overnight trip out and walk in Longsleddale. I couldn't find the basaltic columnar jointing that I was looking for, but did find some brachiopod fossils. The weather was very blustery, so we didn't get to do as much as we wanted.
It has been feeling decidedly Autumnal over the last few days. Now I'm not complaining, cause I like it being cool enough to keep my arms and legs covered, but some more sun would be good.
I've just tried making chocolate bread. It wasn't a great success. It looks chocolately, but doesn't really taste of chocolate. Also, the chocolate buttons melted before it started cooking so were not visible at all. I was hoping to get bread with chocolate lumps dispersed throughout it. Ah well, I'll just have to try again! |
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| Swimming lessons |
[Aug. 6th, 2006|10:00 pm] |
This week we had swimming lessons at the university pool every afternoon. I went largely to accompany Erik, and was expecting to be sat on the side of the pool doing nothing for most of the time. The lady running the course was excellent, and managed to keep one non-swimmer, three can-swim-a-bitters and an ex-lifeguard all active, busy and learning. We spent the first two sessions on crawl and it was interesting to learn how to breathe properly, and how to get effective strokes and a session on back-stroke - the new technique was so efficient that I didn't realise how fast I was going and smacked my head on the end of the pool. We spent about a session and a half on breast-stroke which was really hard as I had to completely relearn the movements, and coordinating arms and legs was hard. We also had a fun ten minutes on butterfly. Now, I could do a length of a passable impression of butterfly, but learning it properly was agony! I'm sure they only teach it for the comedy of seeing people sink. I think I need to practice it a lot more, learning how to do the arms and legs separately, and then attempting to combine them. It seems to be more of a whole-body stroke than the others, as she was saying about setting up a wave motion along your body. We also covered treading water, diving and tumble-turns (which I was also doing completely wrong, and ended up hitting my head on the bottom of the pool trying to do them right!). Not bad for 3 hours and 45 mins of lessons, and only at £18! Now I'm worried I'll forget it all, but am thinking about going to the continuation lessons in the Autumn.
Other fun this week involved inflicting exciting food on innocent boys, walking along the canal and my Grandad's birthday party. It was lovely to see the family again, especially my cousin who I haven't seen for years. I also had a new kind of pudding, which was half cream and half yoghurt mixed together, spread on top of summer berries. The cream covered the sharpness of yoghurt, and the yoghurt cut through the sickliness of the cream, and it was just a big pile of white dairy goodness. Thanks cows (and Great Aunty Bid, who made it). |
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| Cross bay walk and Ambleside |
[Jul. 30th, 2006|07:04 pm] |
Today dobedobedoh, Erik and I did the walk across Morecambe Bay from Hestbank to Flookburgh/Humphrey's Head. I couldn't decide what kind of shoes to wear (or what nail varnish should match them...?) and ended up going with standard walking boots attire. Well, they came off within the first 100 meters when we crossed the River Keer, and I went barefoot the remaining 10 miles. Not really being a shoes person anyway this was mostly fine until we reached the other side and had to contend with Spartina anglica (sharp spikey grass) on the salt marsh, and thistles and rocks on the real land. All of this was worthwhile though as I found a large crop of samphire which I nibbled as I walked *puts A-level Environmental Science back in it's box*. On the way across we had a ride on one of the quad bikes which was excellent fun, it felt like we were going really fast, and since I was only held on by my hands it was very exciting.
Yesterday we went to Ambleside to go gear shopping/browsing and for a short ramble. It rained in the afternoon, but it didn't seem to do much to clear the air. Gods, if we could have a really stonking rainstorm with added sfx soon, that would be ace.
We have also won new neighbours, who, according to evilbilbo are in the approximate shape of erfalaswen, bodybag_pilgrim, archangelonline and darkluke. Hello, and welcome to the neighbourhood. If you want to know anything regarding Court-life feel free to ask. The only important bits are probably that rubbish is collected on Thursday, either from the front or back and recycling (only paper and tins I think) are collected every other Friday, the next one being 4th August. |
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| Arkholme Arches |
[Jul. 28th, 2006|11:59 am] |
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dobedobedoh, Mike, Erik and I went to Melling and tried to follow a footpath and track that crossed the river Lune. The crossing point wasn't obvious, so we climbed up the railway bridge and walked along that instead, before finding the geocache. We wandered up a little way into Arkholme and found a lovely springer spaniel before having a second attempt at crossing the river. Being the only Real Man of the group I took my shoes and socks off and waded across while they sat waiting to see what happened to me. Safely across and they all eventually joined me. The Royal Oak in Hornby provided beer to those who has been traumatised by the river crossing, and other refreshments to those of us who had to drive. |
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| Abbeystead Reservoir |
[Jul. 26th, 2006|11:26 pm] |
In a fit of enthusiasm, I dragged Erik on An Adventure this evening. We took a map, filled the petrol tank, and set out into lands unknown. Since we kept missing every turning I was aiming for we ended up at Abbeystead, and decided to look at the reservoir. It was a pretty impressive piece of Victorian engineering, and very pretty, or at least, as much as these things can be. It had a lovely curving spillway, some funny fish-step type things, and nice cast iron coggy/pumpy things. There was an octagonal pumping house thing too. I felt like I was on the set of The Avengers. We also found two mysterious buildings that aren't marked on the map, which were big and intimidating. Sadly it was too dark by then to take photos.
[edit] Also, the dam wall looked like a miniture version of the dam in Goldeneye, and I had a strange urge to take some ropes back there, abseil/front-run down it and make a short videoclip movie called Lancastereye or something. Maybe I just need to get out more.
Green things are growing, runner beans are running, socks are increasing slowly. Jumper is being ignored at the moment. Sometimes I look at it out of the corner of my eye, when I'm sure it is asleep and not likely to look back at me. |
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| Ice cream and Tom Sawyer |
[Jul. 23rd, 2006|10:00 pm] |
Woke up to the smell of freshly baked cinnamon and raisin bread. Hurrah! Took the parents for a trip to Grange Over Sands to the ice cream farm. We went for a walk along the promonade into Grange for lunch and a walk around then woods on Eden Mount. There were some very nice limestone outcrops with some strange erosion on them. It looked like the sea had perhaps been up that high once. Shelley-The-Dog did well, for being blind, deaf, stupid and living on borrowed time. She's so cute, I'm going to cry my socks off when she goes.
"The Adventure of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn" in Williamsons Park was excellent. I thoroughly recommend going. The parents took us out for lunch to Bella Italia on Sunday which was nice, although there seemed to be more things off the menu than available. The afternoon was mostly spent trying to tidy up after Ian coming back from Cambridge, my hiking stuff, messy-parent-mess etc.
The garden is growing quite well. Most of the tomato plants have tomatoes on them. The black chilli plants are putting out fabulous purple flowers, and one cayenne chilli has a chilli on it. The capsicums are large and leafy, but not flowering yet. The ginger is growing well - not sure what I need to do with that really. The new pumpkins are growing well - I am loath to plant them out lest the bunnywabbit next door eats them again. I suppose I have to let them go sometime. Maybe I'll plant some out and keep some inside a while longer, though they'll need a long hot summer if they are going to fruit. There is a bit of nasturtium-mania going on at the end of the veg patch, which is cool. Also lots of fruit on the gooseberry and blackcurrent bushes. Yay for homegrown smoothies. |
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| Keane - Bedshaped |
[Jul. 21st, 2006|03:00 am] |
Many's the time I ran with you down
The rainy roads of our old town
Many the lives we lived in each day
And buried altogether
Don't laugh at me
Don't look away
You'll follow me back
With the sun in your eyes
And on your own
Bedshaped
And legs of stone
You'll knock on my door
And up we'll go
In white light
I don't think so
But what do I know
What do I know?
I know
I know you think I'm holding you down
And I've fallen by the wayside now
And I don't understand the same things as you
But I do
Don't laugh at me
Don't look away
You follow me back
With the sun in your eyes
And on your own
Bedshaped
And legs of stone
You'll knock on my door
And up we'll go
In white light
I don't think so
But what do I know
What do I know?
I know
Oh oh
And up we'll go
In white light
I don't think so
But what do I know
What do I know?
I know |
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| Malhamdale overnighter and LUBBS currydrink |
[Jul. 20th, 2006|11:59 pm] |
Hottest day of the year(1)? Clearly the most sensible thing to do is to walk 14 miles along bleak moorland with no shade. We started at Stainforth YHA and tried to find a geocache in some old kilns, but failed. We moved on to Winskill Stones and found a cache by Sampson's Toe, which is a very pretty erractic rock. Using a route we followed on my Yorkshire Dales field trip in 2002 (but in reverse) we bagged another cache at Jubilee Cave, then continued walking on along the bottom of the escarpment, looking into Victoria Cave and having lunch in the shade of a much welcome, though unmapped wood we found. We looked for Nappa Cross, and if we did find it, it wasn't very exciting. The azulite and malachite tips were exciting, and nice to revisit. We wandered on into Malham for ice creams and tea, then went out again to Janet's Foss, where I swam briefly. There were another couple there, and I fear we disturbed whatever they were planning on doing... Goredale Scar was fantastic; 100ft limestone cliffs, waterfalls running over tongues of tufa, so tasty. The walk back to Malham was less fun, as it was getting dark and we were pretty tired by then.
Thunderstorms at 5am made for a poor night's sleep, but with the car many miles away, we set out through the dampness and mist to Malham Cove. The valley above Malham cove was nice, but much of the rest of the day was fairly bleak, with the exception of Catrigg Force, which was impressive but odd. I had planned to swim, but the plunge pool was pretty dark and gloomy - an atmosphere only added to by some form of crow with a damaged wing that was flapping around. The waterfall was large and in two stages, and on a sunny day is probably great. A quick drink at the pub in Stainforth, and then back to the car to drive home.
Missed the LUBBS curry due to washing/unpacking/saying "arrrrrrghhhhh I'm dying". Cycled into town so as to avoid walking on blistered feet and joined the LUBBers for drinks at the Waterwitch, which was good, apart from The Event That Did Not Happen. Well, that was good too, but It Did Not Happen.
A good two days.
(1) according to someone somewhere |
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