Madeira Day 6 and 7 and 8

On day 6, we decided to make a walk which was not too far away from where we were staying.  The route is also a fairly easy one.  The route was PR8 Vereda Da Ponta de Sao Lourenco.  It is on the eastern-most peninsula on the island and is named after the caravel sailed by Boncalves Zarco, one of the three discoverers of the Archipelago of Madeira.  It is part on the Madeira Natural Park and the penisula is partial nature reserve ce.  It had a very different feel from the other walks we had done so far.  There are supposedly colonies of seagulls and other birds species. It is 4km there and another 4km back.  

Given its proximity to Funchal, it was obviously quite popular with lots of tourists so the carparks and roads leading to the start of the walk were heaving. It was also a different walk as it was quite exposed since it wasn't surrounded by trees.

It was lovely to see the sea and bays at many junctures.

I loved all the flowers we saw.

We reached the end of the walk and here you could go kiyaking or take a boat trip out to see dolphins or take a boat back. We decided not to but I enjoyed seeing the turbulent waters.

More flowers...

As we neared the car, we saw some really interesting rocks which looked very much like fossilized creatures!

We drove back to the hotel and I decided to go for a swim. To my chagrin, there were swimming lessons going on for the next two hours for a bunch of little kiddies and I couldn't use it!

CBC and I decided to try and go out for a meal locally and CBC found a place that was very individual, had a tiny menu.  Sadly, I cannot remember its name.  Weirdly, as we drove to get there, all of a sudden, I started to feel really queasy.  As we looked at the very meaty menu (game and that sort of stuff), I couldn't bear the thought of eating anything! CBC thought I was sulking because I wanted to go elsewhere but it was so strange that I felt so odd.

He ordered stuffed mushrooms

He then ordered me the beef stew.

And a salad for us.

I managed to eat a bit of salad and about 2 pieces of beef but it was a real struggle. At this point, CBC started to realise I genuinely didn't feel well and nobly ate most of the stew.

We headed back and I got into bed feeling utterly awful, my tummy felt terrible and I felt sick.

In the middle of the night, after many hours of grasping my tummy, I made my way to the toilet and then lay on the floor outside the bathroom. I felt like a change of scene might help me.  CBC came and made me go back to bed.

It was a long night.

In the morning, I was very slow getting up, still feeling very unwell.  CBC wanted to go to breakfast and hurried me up.  Just as we were about to leave, all of a sudden, I knew I had to be sick and ran for the loo.  After 6 times throwing up, I think I'd expelled whatever was irritating me.  CBC headed off for breakfast and left me behind to lay down.

After this, we decided to head out to walk.  Despite having felt so unwell and not having any food inside me, I felt it was probably best just to get outside. We headed to the north-east of the island to the PR6 trail, Levada das 25 fontes.    Waterfalls were to be involved.

It started raining heavily as we did this walk.  The first part was on road and it was quite a popular route.  We made our way along and reached the waterfalls which were lovely.  After around 8km walk, we came back and found a lovely cafe in the woods which had a massive queue. CBC and I managed to find a table. Sadly, the only thing I felt like eating was soup and they had run out of that so I decided to give it a miss.

I don't have any photos sadly!

Once we were back to the car, we decided to drive up to the northern coast to Porto Moniz where there are natural saltwater pools on the sea.

To our delight, once parking, we discovered, as it was around 4.30pm, the pool was free to enter though there were no facilities to use to change or store things.

I did a sneaky changing manoeuvre in full view under my sarong and changed into my tankini.

As I entered these breath-taking pools, it was the first time all day I felt well.

It was blissful!

We drove home, after a walk around town. I should mention at this point, that wild nasturtiums grow absolutely everywhere in Madeira and I took the opportunity to collect some seeds

When we got back to Canico and got changed, having not eaten anything, I needed something to eat so we went out to La Carbonara which had an extensive pizza and pasta menu.  I ordered a lentil soup and a half portion of Spaghetti bolognese which was absolutely enormous!  CBC ordered a meal which he didnt realise had chicken in it.  His flexitarianism doesn't include chicken so he was very sad.

The next morning, we went for our final Buffet breakfast and then packed up our things. As our flight wasn't till 5ish, we left out stuff with conceirge and walked down to the sea front in Canico via the supermarket...

 

Where I picked up this epic bag of Pick and mix crisps! I love foreign crisp trying!

I was pleasantly surprised by the beach there. It was stony but the sea looked clean and  I wished I had come to swim here when I couldn't get into the hotel pool

If it hadn't started raining and I had no towel, I might have swum.

I sat and read my book on the beach until we had to shelter in the nearby cafe because of the rain.

I doodled on some stones.

We made our way back towards the hotel, passing monster aloes.

Beautiful flowers and lots of sea food restaurants which we wish we'd known were there.

I love the street signs on Madeira. Like lots of the municipal walk ways, they are beautiful!

CBC downloaded the Bolt App and we got a very cheap ride to the airport in a yellow car.  Public transport would have taken 1.5 hours. This took 10mins!

At the airport, I marvelled at the myriad tins of sardines for sale!

We'd had a wonderful holiday in Madeira and were so grateful to have had this time away together, away from the anxieties of real life and work!

We got home around 12.30am, via the X30 bus and a taxi and then I was up for church the next morning at 9!

xx

Northumberland holiday days 4-10

 On the Wednesday of our holiday, J and I headed into Hexham to join in with the morning mini service at the bandstand in the Sele park. The churches in Hexham have joined together for years to run a holiday club for children and it always begins at the Bandstand.  It was lovely to be part of, sing songs, learn a memory verse, watch the drama story and see the children being sent off to their teams. I briefly saw my friends Ruth, Chris and Jane. 

J and I headed to Small World Cafe for a cup of tea and then I headed back to the house to meet CBC to book our accommodation for Switzerland as all we'd booked was our trains there and back! It took ages which was annoying as it was the first sunny day all week! At least we had it ready now though!

In the evening, we headed to Bouchon, the French bistro in town and I enjoyed the wonderful French onion soup and the Lamb dish.

On the Thursday, I forget what we did in the morning but C and I headed out for a walk to Dipton Burn which is what I like doing best in Northumberland- walking! We didn't meet a single person all the way!  We saw  a few interesting mushrooms!

Back at the house, we helped J finish off the amazing 3 course dinner she was making for Chris and Jane.

Friday, CBC and I headed to Housesteads which is on the Roman wall and is, my favourite stretch of the Hadrian's wall.  We saw the famous Sycamore gap which featured in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.

It is so picturesque but is much more popular to walk than our previous day so we had lots of people walking with us.

We ate a picnic in the woods by the lake side, sitting on a mossy stone.

Our final destination was The Sill, a Northumbrian national parks discovery centre.

We went to get a cup of tea in the cafe and I went to check on the bus times back to Housesteads.   The lady at the desk told me one (the two hourly bus) was in about 20 minutes. The cafe were a little unhelpful and said they weren't sure if the tea would be ready in time so C got a takeaway cup and we headed to the shop and then looked in the shop. When we got to the busstop, it turned out the lady had misheard me so the ACTUAL bus WE wanted, wasn't for another hour! C went and sat in one of the deckchairs in view of the busstop and I headed into the exhibition which was a brilliant interactive historical look at the social history of Coquetdale valley. It was so interesting and so much so that, casually glancing at my phone for the time, realised I was MISSING THE BUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I ran outside to see C anxiously boarding the bus (his phone was dead but he said he would have come back for me in the car!). The bus, the AD142 is really scenic but the Military Road is quite, rollercoasteresque!

Back in Hexham, I took 2 minutes to change into a nice dress and walked to my friend Ruth's house to briefly see her for 15 minutes. C picked me up and we headed to Corbridge to watch a wonderful concert as part of the Corbridge festival featuring French music by Ravel, Debussy, Lilli Boulanger and songs from the Great American song book. It was exquisitely played.

On Saturday morning, CBC headed out on his bike to ride to Bellingham. I jumped on a bus down to town to get the the other bus to Haltwhistle. My destination was Haltwhistle's outdoor pool which is a really fun place to go. It felt bittersweet to be in Haltwhistle again. The last time I'd been there was clearing out WOMOTM's house.

The pool was busy but not in a way that detracted from my enjoyment of swimming. It costs £10 for an adult all day session. I was lucky on the way back to JUST make the hourly bus back to Hexham. When I got back, I called Jane and asked if she wanted to go for a walk. The timing was perfect as a visitor was just leaving and they were plannning a walk so I walked up the hill to their house and we jumped in the car to drive to Letah woods where CBC and I had walked with Jane in May to collect Wild garlic. It was a serene walk full of gentle susurrations and calming dappled light and gave Jane and I a chance to talk as well as walk. On the way home, they dropped me on the Hexham racecourse road so I could have an extra walk back to the house. It was lovely to see a happy CBC who had enjoyed his ride.

In the evening, we headed out to try a recently reopened Chinese restaurant. It was NOT, however, amazing so enough said about that.

Sunday morning, I got out of bed at about 9.40am to hear my Mother in Law, J, tell me she was going to church at the Abbey.  I took precisely 5 minutes to clean my teeth, wash my face and dress in my new Laura Ashley jumpsuit (charity shopped!) and jump in the car with her.  The service was a beautiful service.  Alas, it was RAINING again so after the service (we had tea and coffee in the nave), we headed back to C at home. I spent more time (forgot to mention I did this on Thursday morning) clearing out J's conservatory which was very cluttered, as she is hoping to move house soon, we went to the Errington arms for lunch and then in the evening, after more clearing, CBC and I headed back to Corbridge for the final Chamber music concert. We had free tickets for this as a friend of J's couldn't make theirs. We had super seats and enjoyed Schubert, Coleridge Taylor and a Venezuelan clarinet piece. Back home, I made omelettes and veg for everyone for dinner.

Monday was a day of intense clearing and disposing of clutter in the garage.  We went to charity shops, the dump and the girl in Fardale animal Charity shops was ecstatic when I gave her about 50 bags for life as she had run out of carrier bags and wasn't sure what to do.

By the time we finished, it was getting late and the weather was mizzly and was obviously going to be miserable to join in so after soup and a bacon roll in Small World, we headed back to J's house. I made leftover pasta was dinner very late when J returned from watching a 2 piano recital in Corbridge.

Tuesday was a day of avoidance of packing and eventually heading back to Essex.

Sadly, our Northumberland trip hadn't been as full as walks and cycle rides and adventures as much as we would have hoped, due to the weather, but we had helped with clearing, met friends, had a few walks and adventures and had enjoyed being away from home!

What would be the rest of our holiday?

xx

 

Dreaming

I took this photo at our beautiful rental house in Nice last Summer.

I would love to be there now,not in the soggy UK!

 

Return to Rannadale knots

Whilst the weather is getting cooler (though we have had some pleasant weather this week), I thought I'd share a few photos from August.  Oh, how utterly thankful I am for our glorious 2 week trip up north to Northumberland- it feels all the more special now since we are in Lockdown.

From Hexham, we returned, one day,  to my favourite Lake District walk back in August.  Rannadale Knots.  This fell is famous for its bluebells in the Spring.  I've never seen them sadly. It is a walk I did twice with my Father in Law before he died and I hold it in great affection because of that association.  It is a fairly short fell with great views and nothing too scrambly during the course of the walk.

The greatest attraction is that where we park (oh we were soooooooooooooooo lucky to get free parking in the tiny free car park by the fell when the one which you pay for was full, a mile down the road and rammed full of tourists whereas we saw few people here) is right by Lake Crummock water so if you finish your walk all hot and sweaty, you can go and swim....which we did! It was the most dreamy and wonderful swim as it was dusk and even CBC swam- it's usually a fight to get him into water! The water was calm and cool.

Enjoy a few views from Rannadale Knots. 

I hope you've enjoyed these lovely views.