More Meadow

The meadow at the new forest is looking great at the moment.

Friendship

Getting a call on a Friday afternoon from a friend "I'm waiting for a train back to London, can we meet for a pint on the station?" when that friend is Victor was very welcome. A total surprise and a lot of good chat. We let a few trains go before parting.

Daughter

 Rowan had some head-shots done for work. This is the best one.

Stroll On

There is a reason it is called the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. This is one of the locks at Marsden. Now famous for being where Simon Armitage is from. The railway line is to the left, both this and the canal go under the Pennines in parallel tunnels.

It's Grim Up North

The next part of the Stroll took me from Marsden (beneath the Pennine watershed) and Mirfield in the Calder valley. A perfect day, still, warm and dry. This section of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal near Slaithwaite (pronounced Slawit) was particularly lovely.

 

Panelled

New solar panels on the roof, just waiting to get them all wired up.

NRM

John works in the repair shops for the Chicago Transit trains, so I took him to the National Rail Museum here in York. Good to go round with someone who knew what he was talking about. It is a few years since I was last there, so there were many changes to take in.

Jailbreak

 Friend Emilie who is our sometime dog carer for Layla, is away in Cap Verde at the moment, so we have her dog Alfie to stay for a week. Apart from him deciding to sneak out of the garden and walk 2km to Emilie's house (crossing several busy roads en route) where we found him safe and well, it has gone really well. Here he is plotting his next escape with John and Layla.

House Guests

 We had Althea and John from Chicago staying with us over the weekend. A real pleasure. Althea treated us to lunch at Hotel du Vin where we had a great meal and a very helpful waitress who did not mind us having a couple of dogs with us.

Happy Dog

One happy dog after plenty of running and wallowing.

Warblers Ahead

It has been hot and dry here in Yorkshire in May. Not a sentence I have ever used before. So Monday I took Layla to the Pocklington Canal at Hagg Bridge. She can go into the canal as often as she wants to cool down, so it suits her well. Using Merlin I was able to identify Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Grasshoper Warbler, Reed Warbler, and Reed Bunting. As well as bigger birds like Curlew, Lapwing, Buzzard etc. Not bad for a Monday morning stroll.

Meadow Sweet

The meadows at Escrick are in fine fettle. The Lapwings that nest there let Layla know when she is getting too near to their nests. On the lead she goes.

Swarm

Bees swarming in the garden.

 Bees swarm when the Queen decides it is time to move away from the current hive to find somewhere new. Not good news if your hive is being vacated; which is what happened to us at the weekend. Danielle had to deal with it all whilst I was running a photography training session for friend Emilie. It all seemed to work out fine. Saturday evening it was music book group, Sunday we had Dave & Emma & Sally round for tea. A busy time.

Up on the Roof 3

One more from the roof. Looking down onto the pond and the three birches, with the moor in the background, and the East Coast Main Line beyond.

 

Aerial

The view from the top roof. The living roof, the deck, the gazebo roof and the vegetable garden with greenhouse.

Minster View

We are getting the solar panels changed on our roof. It is about 15 years since we had them installed. This means a scaffold is necessary. This means we can see the Minster from our house, which is very nice.

Wallow

The lake at the new forest serves the dog's need for wallow-water very well. The two Canada geese look a little concerned though.

Giro Time

The Giro starts today - in Albania. We ordered our usual 6 bottles of Italian wines from the route of this years race. Always an exciting time of the year. Danielle entered into the spirit of it all by secretly ordering a couple of bottles from Albania which arrived in time for the start today. Nice wine too. And the cycling was good as well.
 

Bolton Percy

Bolton Percy is a village south of York on the river Wharfe. There is a cafe there, which makes it a favoured cycle destination. Last week I stopped in the church yard in the warm spring sunshine. It is a lovely place.

London 2

 One of the things I really treasure is that Rowan now takes me to places of interest in London that I had never seen before. This is one of a series of mosaics on the Hackney / Islington border just over the Essex road. To get to them you go down a pretty menacing looking snicket (see below), to emerge onto a peaceful park with the mosaics.

Day Tripper

 I went down to London for the day. Arrived at 10 to be met by Rowan. We saw her new flat (rented) right near the Hope & Anchor in Islington. It looks great from the outside (not moved in yet). Then we went on a good walkabout before having lunch at the Tamil Prince by the canal. Next was walk through the city (and the postman's park) over the wobbly bridge to the Tate Modern. Only to find that the exhibition we were going to see (80s photography) was on at the Tate Britain. So we went on a 45 minute walk / dash to Millbank and got there in time. A powerful group of photographs from a number of photographers, plenty on the Thatcher years, Rock against Racism etc. Good to share the viewing with Rowan who has an interest in photography too. Then we got the tube back to Islington where we met up with Rob & Kath for a drink / snack / chat. 20.00 train home. A good day.

Guests

 Pat, a friend of a friend from south London, has got a job in York. So we had her round for a meal, and will probably have her here a couple of nights a week for a while. Always good having guests and being able to assist.

Reeds from the Stroll to Leeds

Leeds

When I lived in Leeds in 1975 it was impossible to get anywhere near the river and canal that run through the city. It was a dingy place. All changed now with footpaths and cycle routes all the way.