Ian refused to leave the middle door open, so when Monty barked in the night it was him who had to get up to open it! Then we all went back to sleep till 8.30. Ian wasn’t even half way through his morning pfaffing when Chris phoned. Turns out Ian had an emergency set of accounts to produce, from the middle of the Cheviot Hills. Luckily, he had brought along his laptop for just such an occasion. I made some porridge while he set too, then sat outside chilling. The morning had started nice and warm. I finished yesterdays blog then did the washing up, by which time Joe Bloggs Ltd had their accounts, which Ian had been on at them to send in the info for since March. Not much more of this kind of stuff to go.
We had decided to follow a walk suggested by the site to a cafe at the little village of Ingram about three miles away. The day was warm and sunny when we set off, so I slathered myself in sun tan lotion, especially my nose. Ian decided not to. I also made sure I had my sunglasses. Ian, who wears his at all times except in the dark, decided not to bother. Bizarre!
The directions we were following had us walking down the road but we decided to walk through the nearby nature reserve. It was full of butterflies flitting everywhere. Ian also came across an adder sunning itself on the path. Sadly, by the time he had set up his phone to take a photo it had slithered off into the grass. I was very careful after that I can tell you!
Beautiful Butterfly
Branson lakes nature reserve
Exiting the nature reserve we came to a Ford and footbridge which crossed The river Breamish. Monty was glad of a drink in the Ford.
Ford
You could see that the river would be quite wide and fierce after some rain, but now it’s just a trickle. Next we had to follow a long, straight road for two miles by the side of the river. We managed to stop to give Monty a drink a couple of times but it was heavy going for us all. Eventually we crossed back over River Breamish and arrived at the cafe. Hooray! We had lunch and Monty had a well earned rest. We had to sit under an awning because Ian’s nose was burning and he could hardly see.
Dinner
Next step, according to the directions, was up a hill and down the other side. We got quite a way up and came to a nice wide path. ‘I think we need to carry on this first path, higher up the hill’ Ian decided. I didn’t like the sound of higher, and managed to make the directions fit my desires. Off we trotted on the wide path, which became narrower, then narrower still, then ended at a swath of bracken. We could see where we wanted to be on Ian’s outdoors app, so we ploughed on through the ever deepening greenery. ‘There, look, a footpath sign’ Ian cried. Straight down the side of the hill we went. Sadly, the sign was not in the direction we wanted to go. More ploughing through bracken ensued until we came to the real path. I have decided that Ian’s navigational skills have overtaken mine and I will defer to him in all things directional from now on.
Thank God
The footpath led us through a couple of fields. The second one had short spiky grass and Monty did not like it at all. He wasn’t the only one who didn’t like something. We reached the final stile leading to the road we needed to be on and realised there was no dog gate. Monty was quite happy though.
A tricky stile
Once on the road, it was a case of following it round to the Nature Reserve, then back to the site. We were all shattered and I needed my afternoon nap. Afterwards I showered then rustled up some ravioli and garlic bread for tea.
We watched another episode of the Assassin, which despite being ludicrous is growing on me, then I was out for the count.
Musings
I have lost my navigational skills in old age.
I am glad it wasn’t me who saw the adder.
It’s important to check for ticks if you have been bracken surfing.
Watching Ian carry Monty over a stile is hilarious.
There is poetic licence and then some!!! It was dull and cloudy when we set off, though I did sun cream my face and I did take a baseball hat to shield my eyes just in case. Somebody also carted a jumper all the way round, I rest my case.
ReplyDeleteJackie’s navigational problems did not start at the braken. We had a long debate about which way to go just before a mill. Someone was mis-interpreting her map and written instructions and took 10 mins to convince to go the right way. Her lack of desire to walk uphill led to us taking a sheep path through 4ft high braken, despite the map clearly showing it was not a path and the path was higher up.
Also even I don’t want to rely on my navigational skills which are rubbish. What are we going to do, we may never be seen again 😱