The Tolkien Trail

School holidays is always a time when we go out and about with family.  Our daughter Sarah and her family came up to Lancashire to stay with us for a few days and on one of the days out we went walking in the Ribble Valley, not far from where we live. The walk is called The Tolkien Trail and starts in the village of Hurst Green. J.R.R.Tolkien stayed at Stoneyhurst College a few times and while he was there he got inspiration for his Lord of the Rings books.

The start of the walk took us along past the college, a very impressive building. We then walked across fields with the woods alongside. Eventually the path took us through the woods and the walk became quite magical, with trees, water, bridges and steps.

There were lots of stiles and lovely rusty old kissing gates which took quite a while to get through when there were nine of us.

There were strange shaped trees. This one looked like it might start walking.

 

We walked along the banks of the River Ribble for a while

 

 

Eventually we came out onto the road. Looking over the bridge we could see another bridge called Cromwell's bridge.

Exhausted and hungry we stopped for our picnic in a field then carried on, this walk seemed to be going on and on. Finally we arrived back, having walked seven miles when the guide leaflet told us it was five and half miles. That last mile and a half was really hard work!

Along the canal at Skipton

Last weekend our daughter and family who live in Bedfordshire came to visit for a few days. They were looking forward to some good family days out. It was unfortunate that the weather decided to change just at that point from warm sunny days to cooler, cloudy conditions, so as we thought about where we would like to go we had to think about somewhere to go if it rained. After much discussion and changes of destination, we finally decided on Skipton. There's something for everyone in Skipton--shops, market, castle, walks and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.  We decided to have a canal boat ride in the morning whilst the weather was fine and then if it rained later we could visit the castle or look at the shops.

As we queued up for the 30 minute canal boat trip, our son-in-law had a better idea and disappeared for a while returning with a booking for a 2hour boat hire. Both he and my daughter have driven a canal boat before so we hoped they knew what to do, although he did get some instructions from the boat hire man.

We just had enough time to whizz round the shops to buy food and drink for a picnic to take on board with us.  We had a lovely 2 hours sailing slowly along this lovely, picturesque canal, relaxing, eating, watching the other boats, looking out for wildlife.

Later back on dry land we walked along the canal towpath towards the castle. The path then took us along the bank of the river and through Skipton Castle woods. We've been to Skipton many times but never done this walk before. It's an easy walk and very scenic. We didn't complete the walk as we had to get back home, but it was very enjoyable and a place we will return to soon, I'm sure.

Spring Woods and Whalley Abbey

Last weekend our daughter and family travelled up north to us for a visit.  We always try to get out and about when they visit. We decided on a walk. Spring Woods, one of our local beauty spots, is at Whalley near Clitheroe.  It looks its best when the bluebells are out and is often known as bluebell woods. The wild garlic is another flower which grows in abundance from late spring onwards and you can smell it just driving past. There were no bluebells or wild garlic in flower yet of course but we could see them poking their green shoots out of the ground. Not surprising after all the rain we've had recently, it was very muddy. A number of trees down was evidence of the windy weather we've also had.

 We saw some interesting fungi too:

After our walk around the woods we went into Whalley to the abbey.  Whalley Abbey is a former 14th century Cistercian abbey, most of which was demolished after the dissolution of the monasteries. 

A country house was built on the site and today this is used as a conference and retreat house. The ruins of the abbey remain and it is a very beautiful, peaceful place to walk around. 

Things I've been doing

I haven't blogged for a while. That's because I've been having some problems with  my blog. I think, it's sorted. I hope it's sorted. Anyway  I'm back and wondering where to start. I'll keep it short for now and just tell you briefly what I've been doing.

I've been doing Christmas things, like making decorations with the grandchildren and going to the school nativity. We visited our far away grandchildren, played with them and looked after them whilst their parents had a night out.

I've bought a Christmas tree, foraged for greenery and made a few wreaths, written Christmas cards and wrapped presents. I've also made chutney and bottled up blackberry gin.

I'm looking forward this week to putting up the Christmas tree and decorating the house, making mince pies, and lots of other Christmas things.

The Lodge Nature Reserve, Sandy

Last weekend we visited our daughter and family who live in Bedfordshire. On the Saturday they took us to  the The Lodge Nature Reserve at Sandy which is run by the RSPB. It is not far from where they live and although they have been there before it was a first visit for us. There was a Christmas Fayre on too so plenty for us to look at.

It was a lovely mild November day and the sunshine enhanced the autumn colour of the trees.  I was aware of lots of space and trees as we drove through to the car park.  There seemed to be plenty of walks on offer and we took the track which led to the Christmas Fayre and the RSPB shop. We didn't see any birds, but then with two lively grandchildren maybe the birds were keeping out of our way. The children enjoyed doing the Christmas trail as we walked along which entailed spotting  pictures placed among the trees. They also enjoyed spotting toadstools.

Father Christmas was in his grotto at the Fayre, so we had to go to see him of course. There was a Salvation Army band playing carols which all added to the Christmas theme.

After we had looked around the Fayre we walked to the Lodge.  On the way we found a huge tree which was great for climbing. We also found a wasp's nest in the ground, fortunately it was sectioned off with a warning to keep away, but we could see the wasps flying around the hole.

The Lodge has lovely gardens which are organic and worked to provide homes and food for wildlife

I'm sure it's a lovely place to visit in the spring and summer when the borders are in flower, but there was still plenty of colour around.

The grandchildren were very interested in the Japanese orange tree.  It had quite small fruit which had a soft downy feel to it and a delicate smell which we thought was a bit like peaches. The label said it had a very bitter flavour.

We enjoyed our visit to The Lodge and we left feeling there was much more to see.  We'll probably go back at another time of year when we can see different things.

Embarrassing moments

The other day our local radio station was asking people to phone in and tell them of any times when they had been embarrassed by their parents. This got me thinking about whether I have embarrassed my own children. Well actually I know I have.

One of my daughters who I regularly go out shopping with lives in fear of me knocking things off shelves with my bag, to the point where she often will not go in some places with me because of the fragile items on display.  And then there was the time last winter when we were in the Clarks shoe shop looking for boots.  Rummaging along the line of boots, I spotted a pair I liked then looked at the price tag. "A HUNDRED AND TWENTY POUNDS!!" I shrieked. I looked up to see my daughter looking horrified and embarrassed and realised there were only about 2 other people and the assistant in the shop who were all looking at me too. I had a laugh with them about me getting my own back on my children now I'm old, for the times they have shown me up when they were little.

I won't embarrass my children further on this blog by retelling stories of their childhood, but as I write this I realise that now I have grandchildren I'm experiencing all those funny moments again.

A few months back I took the 7 year old and 5 year old to our local flower shop.  All I wanted was a  bunch of spray chrysanthemums. I chose a bunch from the bucket outside the shop and whilst I was still looking at the other flowers, the two scamps had taken the flowers into the shop, plonked them on the counter and by the time I'd got into the shop they were in deep conversation with the shop assistant.  Having made friends with her, they proceeded to try to wangle all sorts of fancy trimmings from her like wispy sparkly thread stuff  (the sort that they decorate expensive flower arrangements with). I made a mental note not to take them in that shop again!

But the worst atrocity was recently on a family trip to visit the Cathedral in town. We were looking round an exhibition there when my 5 year old grandson grabbed my hand and said,
"Look, Nana." pointing to the shop area.
All I could see was a display of key rings.
"Err the key rings?" I asked, wondering what a 5 year old would want with a keyring.
" No, Nana!" he said exasperated with me, "That funny looking man!"
I looked across the the shop to see a man with a big bushy beard, nothing strange in that, but to a 5 year old maybe he was a bit 'funny looking'.
Engulfed with embarrassment, I took my grandson's hand and moved him quickly away, hoping that the 'funny looking man'  hadn't heard him.

Have you any tales to tell of children or parents embarrassing you?