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A Suffolk Lane

~ A diary of my life in rural north Suffolk.

A Suffolk Lane

Tag Archives: holiday

A Walk in the Black Forest

02 Fri Sep 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in holidays, Insects, plants, walking, wild flowers

≈ 46 Comments

Tags

bedstraw, berries, bilberry, Black Forest, brimstone butterfly, butterfly, cat's-ear, Common Bird's-foot Trefoil, Common Cow-wheat, Common Earthball, common knapweed, Dame's-violet, forest, foxglove, holiday, Lesser Stitchwort, Loosestrife, Lysimachia, Male Fern, moth, Polypody, Scarlet Tiger moth, Small Balsam, Speedwell, St John's-wort, trees, Triberg, views, walking

Our week’s holiday was coming to an end and we wanted to take a walk in the beautiful countryside around the town of Triberg.  The hotel thoughtfully provided maps and suggestions for walks so we chose one and adapted it for our use.  Neither Richard nor I are as fit or as young as we used to be and Elinor cannot walk very far because of her scoliosis so we decided on a half-circuit of the town in the woods.  We went in the direction of the railway station and took a steep path up between houses towards the forest.

P1000813Bilberries

Bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus)

We were soon high enough to be able to look down on the town which was very busy with Sunday visitors and many motorbikes.  I think Richard told us this part of the walk was called the Bilberry Wood and there were certainly many bilberries growing at the side of the path.

P1000814Common Earthball phps

There was plenty of fungus too. I think this may be Common Earthball (Scleroderma citrinum)

We soon climbed a little further into the forest and left the town behind and no longer heard the traffic.

P1000815woodland
P1000816Woodland

The forest became denser but there was never any difficulty following the path which was beautifully maintained.  I began to see many different plants; some I recognised and some I didn’t.  If anyone can help me with the names of these plants I will be very grateful.

P1000817Polypody

Polypody (Polypodium vulgare) – a true fern. When walking with my family I always get left behind because I like to take photos of plants and fungi. I don’t have the time to take the detailed shots I would like in order to identify my finds in case I am left too far behind!

P1000832Polypody

More Polypody

I love the chunkiness of Polypody so I cropped one of the photos above to look at it in more detail.

P1000817Polypody - Copy (2)

Polypody

P1000818Small Balsam phps

I think this might be Small Balsam (Impatiens parviflora)

P1000823Unknown

Unknown flower

P1000824Unknown

It’s very tall!

P1000820Unknown

Interesting leaves

P1000827Cow-wheat

Common Cow-wheat (Melampyrum pratense)

P1000850Wild flowers

Wild flowers including a Bedstraw, Common Bird’s-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) and Lesser Stitchwort (Stellaria graminea).

P1000834Foxglove

Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Speedwell
Speedwell
Speedwell
Speedwell
P1000837Royal Fern phps

This may be Male Fern (Dryopteris filix-mas)

P1000857

St John’s-wort; I don’t know which of the many St John’s-worts it is.

P1000855Cat's-ear

Cat’s-ear (Hypochaeris radicata)

P1000868Lysimachia

Loosestrife (Lysimachia punctata)

I managed to photograph a butterfly….

P1000866Lysimachia

A Brimstone butterfly (Gonepteryx rhamni) on Lysimachia

…and a moth.

P1000864ScarletTiger Moth

A Scarlet Tiger Moth (Callimorpha dominula). When flying I could see its underwings which were bright scarlet.

The views as we walked were marvellous.

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Berries
Berries
Dame's-violet (Hesperis matronalis)
Dame’s-violet (Hesperis matronalis)
Unknown yellow flower
Unknown yellow flower
Common Knapweed ( Centaurea nigra)
Common Knapweed ( Centaurea nigra)

The path eventually returned us to the town near to the waterfall.

My music selection today is ‘A Walk in the Black Forest’ which was so popular on the radio when I was a little girl.

I am hoping that Elinor will provide the last of my Black Forest posts.

Thanks for visiting!

 

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A Little Sight-seeing in the Black Forest

13 Sat Aug 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in Days out, holidays, Rural Diary

≈ 55 Comments

Tags

architecture, Black Forest, Black Forest Museum, cake shops, Furtwanger, Germany, holiday, Maria in der Tanne, Pilgrimage Church, Schonwald

We thought we would go and see what other nearby towns and villages were like so we travelled to Furtwanger on the bus.  We took our Visitor Card with us and didn’t have to pay any bus-fare.

View from the bus
View from the bus
View from the bus
View from the bus
View of a typical Black Forest house taken from the bus
View of a typical Black Forest house taken from the bus

The weather was still cloudy and very cool that morning so after a brief wander through the town we found a café and had a hot drink (or in Elinor’s case, an apple juice) and yet more cake.

Richard's cake
Richard’s cake
Elinor's cake
Elinor’s cake
My cake
My cake
20160715_130911

We admired this beautiful vintage coffee machine

Fortified by our meal we sallied out again and found that the weather had improved and the sun was coming out.  We discovered a little more of the town.

P1000782Furtwanger town hall

The Town Hall

P1000783Gasthof hotel

A Guest house and hotel with an ornate sign outside

P1000783Gasthof hotel-001

The sign

P1000785Furtwanger

Furtwanger : the bus station is just beyond the banners

P1000786Furtwanger

An attractive house.

P1000787Furtwanger

The town river

The following day we thought we would visit another village on the bus but before doing so we would look at a couple of places in Triberg.  The Black Forest Museum was very interesting and was situated in the old Trade Hall.

There were musical instruments ….

P1000788Museum

An orchestrion

..and another orchestrion!

There were displays of Black Forest Costumes….

P1000789Museum
P1000790Museum
P1000791Museum

….and lots of clocks!

P1000796Museum
P1000797Museum
P1000798Museum

There was even a rather old and dangerous-looking bob-sleigh!

P1000799Museum

There were exhibits from the local straw-braiding industry and the local glass industry.  A large room was full of information about the Black Forest Railway constructed in the 19th century which has two innovative terminal loops with 39 tunnels that overcame the altitude differences – there is nearly 600 metres difference in height between a couple of the towns.  There was a diorama made in the 1950s that shows this double loop in great detail.

P1000800Museum

Diorama of the Black Forest Railways many tunnels

There were reconstructions of workshops and rooms in houses with authentic furniture and tools.

P1000795Museum

A beautiful bed!

We had a wonderful time in the museum!

We then visited the Pilgrimage Church of Maria in der Tanne (Mary in the Forest).  Many years ago, so legend has it, a girl was cured of an eye disease when she bathed it in the spring water nearby.  The following year a man was cured of leprosy by washing in the spring water.  He was grateful and placed a figure of the Virgin Mary in a niche in a fir tree.  The place was forgotten about for about a hundred years until three soldiers rediscovered it after having heard some beautiful singing and followed the sound to the fir tree.  The spring and fir tree became a place of pilgrimage and the church was built in the 18th century.

P1000878Pilgrimage church

Maria in der Tanne

P1000803Pilgrimage church

The nave leading up to the enormous and ornate altar

P1000807Pilgrimage church

The altar

P1000804Pilgrimage church

The pulpit

P1000806Pilgrimage church

A detail of the ceiling decoration

P1000808Pilgrimage church

Looking back down the Nave towards the gallery and the organ

We then caught the bus to Schonwald, a pretty village where we had hoped to have some lunch.  Unfortunately, we got there too late.  We had some coffee and a short walk instead.

View from the bus
View from the bus
View from the bus
View from the bus
P1000810Schonwald Trades

This has symbols of all the trades on it.

We returned to Triberg and to our hotel for a rest before our evening meal.

Thanks for visiting!

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Black Forest Holiday – Part 2

08 Mon Aug 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in family, holidays, walking

≈ 57 Comments

Tags

birds, Black Forest, Ernest Hemingway, fungi, holiday, lichen, memorials, moss, Nutcracker, Otto von Bismarck, red squirrels, Triberg, waterfall, wildflowers

On our second full day on holiday we thought we would go and see the Triberg waterfall which we were informed is the highest waterfall in Germany.  (In fact, it isn’t as Rothbach Waterfall in Bavaria is the highest with a single, vertical drop of 470 metres.)  We had a short walk through the town to the nature park entrance where we were able to get free entry by using the guest-card that the hotel had given us on our arrival.

P1000741Waterfall

Just a few minutes walk brought us to the waterfall.

P1000743Waterfall

The waterfall is a series of seven cascades falling 160 metres into the valley.

P1000744Waterfall

The waterfall can be heard in the town.

The paths and bridges have been carefully designed to enable everyone to see the falls clearly.

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I didn’t just photograph the waterfall.  There were plenty of plants that interested me, some I recognised and others I still cannot put a name to.

P1000740Touch-me-not Balsam

Touch-me-not Balsam (Impatiens noli-tangere)

P1000742Fungus

Fungus

P1000745Lichen

Lichen

P1000751Yellow flower

Unidentified yellow flower

P1000754Slime mould

Slime mould

Moss
Moss
More moss
More moss
P1000764Hoof fungus

Hoof fungus (Fomes fomentarius) ?

P1000765Fungus

Orange-coloured fungus.

P1000778Indian Balsam

Indian Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera)

P1000779Figwort phps

Wood Sage (Teucrium scorodonia)

P1000780Figwort phps

Wood Sage flower spike

We also saw glimpses of Red Squirrels, which are not rare in Germany, but they were too quick for me and I was unable to photograph one.

I was very pleased that I managed to photograph a Nutcracker, a bird from the crow family.  They are one of the smallest crows at 12.5 inches long, even smaller than a Jackdaw, and they were moving about quickly in the undergrowth feeding newly fledged young.

P1000767Nutcracker

Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) on a tree-stump

P1000767Nutcracker - Copy

This is the above photo which has been cropped

P1000768Nutcracker

Nutcracker

P1000769Nutcracker

Nutcracker

P1000771Nutcracker

Nutcracker

Only one of those photos was cropped though I had to use the zoom on my camera to its fullest extent for the rest!

There were a few commemorative plaques placed on the rock face; this one is for Otto von Bismarck.

P1000758Bismark plaque

Bismarck commemoration

This one is for Ernest Hemingway

P1000749Hemingway plaque

On the right are his dates of birth and death under a note saying that Ernest Hemingway visited Triberg in the Black Forest in August 1922 where he indulged in his passion for fishing. There is a quote from ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro’ on the left where he talks about a trout-fishing trip to Triberg.

We enjoyed our walk through the forest and before returning to our hotel, indulged in some more coffee and cake!

Thanks for visiting!

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A Holiday in the Black Forest

04 Thu Aug 2016

Posted by Clare Pooley in family, holidays, Rural Diary

≈ 51 Comments

Tags

Black Forest railway, Bollenhutte, Brussels, Caffee und Kuchen, cake shops, Cologne, cuckoo-clock shops, Deutsche Bahn, Ebbsfleet, Eurostar, holiday, ICE trains, Liege-Guillemins station, luggage, Luggagemule, Offenburg, packing, Parkhotel Wehrle, River Gutach, trains, travelling, Triberg

We recently had an eight-day holiday in the Black Forest in Germany.  Richard organised the whole trip on his own, booking the hotel independently and then contacting Deutsche Bahn who recommended a route for us to take.  We enjoy travelling by train!  On previous trips we have used couchettes or sleeping cars but Elinor said that she’d rather we didn’t do that again so we managed to get the whole journey done in one day, setting off from home at 4.30 am and getting to the hotel just before 9.00 pm (8.00 pm British time) the same day.

We drove to Ebbsfleet in Kent where we left the car and went through passport control and customs before boarding the Eurostar.

P1000736Ebbsfleet

The view from the waiting area at Ebbsfleet

P1000737Ebbsfleet

Richard and Elinor eager to board the train!

Modern high-speed trains are usually very pleasant to travel on.  The seats are comfortable, there is no jolting or bumping and there is hardly any engine noise.  We seem to slide through the countryside at 140 mph almost as though we are hovering above the ground rather than fixed on tracks.  The only downside is travelling through tunnels which make my ears pop and not being able to see the scenery at times because of sound barriers built next to the line near towns and villages.  The tunnel under the English Channel only takes 20 minutes to go through and the train is travelling at a mere 80 mph.  This rate of travel is still very surprising to me; I have always journeyed by train and my first train trip to the Continent when I was 14 years old began at Victoria Station in London.  That first leg from London to Dover took about an hour and 40 minutes.  We went through customs and then boarded a ferry to Ostend in Belgium.  The sea journey took three or four hours and we then caught a large train to Paris.  It was very exciting!  Everything looked and smelt so different.  I remember setting off from London about midday and eventually getting to Paris that evening where we ran from one station to another dodging the crazy traffic and quickly finding something to eat before we boarded the sleeper to Munich.

But back to our recent journey – the Eurostar took just over two hours to get to Brussels where we had a couple of hours wait for our next connection to Cologne.

P1000738Brussels

Here we are having some lunch at a café near the station in Brussels.  Richard is just posting a photo of his beer on Facebook……

20160712_123028

Jupiler Belgian Pils

20160712_123201

….and taking a picture of me and Elinor. I see that I am looking very tired which is not surprising as I had only had two hours sleep the night before!

It was so pleasant to be out in the sunshine and the lunch was exceedingly good.  What I found sad was the sight of armoured cars and armed soldiers and police everywhere.  With all the terrible attacks all over Europe it is not to be wondered at but I find it very upsetting all the same.

Our next train arrived on time and we were soon on our way to Cologne.

20160712_151329

This is the station at Liege-Guillemins – the first stop on the way to Cologne. It is a beautiful building; Richard was able to take this photo through the window while we were there.

The last time we passed through Liege, work had begun recently to up-grade the tracks for high-speed trains.  I don’t remember seeing this station then.  Catalan architect Santiago Calatrava designed the building and it really is superb.

20160712_165919

I think this might be us arriving at Cologne. Richard took this view of the River Rhine through the train window.

We had a 40 minute stop in Cologne where we dashed about looking for food as we would be arriving too late at our hotel for a meal.  Our next high-speed train took us to the small town of Offenburg where we needed to buy more water as we had forgotten this in Cologne.  Luckily, there was a drinks dispenser on the platform and we bought two bottles of ice-cold mineral water.  By this time the fine weather had disappeared and it was raining hard and quite chilly.

Our last train was a double-decker local train to Triberg which travelled through very scenic countryside, though by this time it was very gloomy and wet and after 8.00 in the evening.  We had arranged with the hotel for a taxi to pick us up at the station and as soon as we got off the train we were halloo-ed by the driver who was over on the opposite platform.

He drove us quickly to our hotel where we booked in and found that our other suitcases had already arrived and were waiting in our rooms.  We had decided to use a company called ‘Luggage Mule’ to help get all our belongings on holiday.  Lugging heavy suitcases on and off trains is a back-breaking business and as we usually need a large case for our medication alone we thought having someone else do the lifting was a good idea.  The cases were collected six days before our holiday started and I found packing this far in advance quite tricky.  Inevitably, there were things I wished I’d included and hadn’t and things I wished I hadn’t included but had!  We were amused by the list of things that we were forbidden to pack.  As you will see from the list, we had to leave our sink behind!  We still managed to find more things we couldn’t do without for eight days to fill two smaller suitcases that we carried with us on the journey (see the second photo above)!  Three washbags, cosmetics, medication for three people with chronic illnesses, Elinor’s books and drawing materials, her laptop and my notebook PC, shoes we had forgotten to pack earlier, coats etc made us look like a normal family going away for a week.

Our rooms in the hotel were comfortable and spacious and we slept well after our long day.  The following morning we enjoyed a delicious buffet breakfast and then had a short wander round Triberg, the town where we were staying.

View from our window
View from our window
View from our window
View from our window
P1000882Our hotel

Our hotel. I took this photo the last evening we were there.

P1000883Our hotel

Another wing of the hotel is on the left of the photo.  Ernest Hemingway stayed in this hotel when he visited the Black Forest.

It wasn’t a warm day and there was a mixture of sunshine and showers but we saw that it was a pretty place though very busy with tourists like us.

P1000880Clock shop

This is one of many cuckoo-clock shops in the town – I took the photo near the end of our holiday when the weather had improved.

As you see from the picture we had arrived in the land of large teddy bears.  Two worked unceasingly at their clock-making and another abseiled up and down the outside of the shop all day.

20160713_115519

The top of the town with the River Gutach in amongst the trees at the bottom of the photo.

P1000881Park

This is a little garden in the centre of the town. There are two large carved figures here that look like Easter Island statues with red balls on their heads.

I believe these statues represent Triberger women in their distinctive national costume and their Bollenhutte (hats with pompoms).

Photo taken from Google images

After our walk about the town we returned to the hotel for a few hours to rest and then at about 4 o’clock we went out for ‘Kaffee und Kuchen’ (coffee and cakes)  Our breakfast had been so satisfying that we hadn’t needed lunch but by mid-afternoon we were in need of a little something to eat.  The cake shop opposite the hotel served the most delicious cakes!

P1000884Cake shop

Café Adler – the cake shop

In the evening we went out for a meal at a restaurant close to the hotel.  For the time we were in Germany we tried to eat local Black Forest food for every meal.  It was all very good indeed though I found there weren’t as many vegetables as I am used to in these dishes which were mainly meat with potatoes or arborio rice or noodles.

P1000885A favourite restaurant

One of our favourite places to eat

In the next post I will describe what we did while in Germany.

Thanks for visiting!

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The Cumbrian Coast

12 Wed Aug 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in Days out, plants, Rural Diary

≈ 27 Comments

Tags

coastline, Cockermouth, Crested Dog's-tail, holiday, Lake District, Perennial Rye-grass, R Cocker, R Derwent, Silloth, Solway Firth, Whinlatter Forest

We thought we might go to the coast as the weather was fine on the Tuesday of our holiday.  We by-passed Keswick and took the road to Maryport, a town on the coast.  Our road followed the western shore of Bassenthwaite Lake and then through the town of Cockermouth.  We drove to Maryport and then up the coast road to Silloth.  This map will show you the Lake District area, its main towns and will also show how close to Scotland it is.

IMG_5077Silloth (640x476)

Silloth church from the Green

We wandered round Silloth; it was very quiet and there wasn’t too much to see though it has some attractive buildings and the roads are wide and straight.  The area between the main road and the coast line had been made into a park some while ago and I read that it has recently had lottery funding to add to its amenities and refurbish existing ones.

IMG_5078Silloth (640x480)

You can tell how quiet it is by the grass growing in-between the cobbles

IMG_5072Solway Firth (640x474)

Looking north-west across the Solway Firth

We walked across the green towards the sea and climbed up to the Pagoda which is a shelter with a wonderful view.  It looked like the sun was shining in Scotland.

IMG_5073Solway Firth (640x480)

Looking north-east across the Solway Firth

Standing there, I was reminded of the lovely pictures I had seen taken from the opposite side of the Firth.  I was looking towards the land of the  ‘Tootlepedals’.  This is one of my favourite blogs; a daily insight into what it’s like to live in the Scottish Borders.  Interesting, funny and full of fabulous photos;  Mr T likes alliteration!

IMG_5074Hare Bells (640x480)

I found some Harebells (Campanula rotundifolia) on the slope up to the Pagoda

IMG_5075Hare Bell (480x640)

They are delicate, azure-blue bells.

IMG_5076Hare Bell (495x640)

I even managed to photograph inside the flower bell

We decided to return to Cockermouth and have some lunch.

IMG_5079R Cocker (640x480)

The River Derwent

Three famous men were born in or near Cockermouth and all were born within a few years of each other.  The first was Fletcher Christian (Mutiny on the Bounty) who was born a mile from Cockermouth in Eaglesfield in 1764.  The second was John Dalton, a brilliant scientist and the originator of the Atomic Theory.  He also was born in Eaglesfield in 1766.  The third was William Wordsworth, born in Cockermouth in 1770.

IMG_5080R Derwent (640x480)

The River Derwent looking upstream.  The River Cocker joins the Derwent here and in the photo is coming in from the right.

In November 2009 both rivers broke their banks and the town was severely flooded.  The army was called in and assisted the townsfolk for three days until the water began to recede.  Most of the shops, pubs and restaurants in the town centre were wrecked and there was much destruction elsewhere.

IMG_5081Whinlatter (640x480)

Whinlatter Forest with views of the fells

On our way home we drove a different route over the pass at Whinlatter.  We called in at the forest visitor-centre and took a short walk in the forest.  As it is Forestry Commission land and the trees are non-native, there was not much wildlife to be seen.

IMG_5088Hoverfly on Crested Dog's-tail (640x480)

A hoverfly on Crested Dog’s-tail (Cynosurus cristatus)

IMG_5082Fir cones (640x480)

A good crop of cones

IMG_5083Perennial Rye-grass (480x640)

Perennial Rye-grass (Lolium perenne)

Thank’s for visiting!

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Keswick and an Evening Walk

03 Mon Aug 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in Days out, plants, Rural Diary, walking, weather, wild birds

≈ 33 Comments

Tags

clouds, Derwent Water, flowers, geese, holiday, Keswick, Lake District

Our second day in the Lakes was cooler and rainier than the first.  Again, we left it until after midday before we left our cottage and this time went to the nearest town – Keswick.

Fortunately, the rain left off for the first part of the afternoon so walking round the town was fine.

IMG_5041Alleyway in Keswick (640x480)

An interesting alleyway in Keswick

I had never been to this town before and Richard hadn’t visited for many years.  I loved it!  It has lots of interesting shops and plenty going on but it isn’t as packed with tourists as Ambleside is.

We bought gifts from the shop below for my mother and our next-door neighbour (who watered our tomatoes) and also a jar of marmalade as Elinor wanted some. My blogging friend Rachel, formerly of ‘Could Do Worse’ visits the Lakes every year and when I saw this shop I thought of her.

IMG_5042Chocolate shop in Keswick (640x480)

The Chocolate Shop

Here is what Rachel had to say about it last year.  She did three or four great posts from the Lakes last year and you’ll find them just before and just after the post I’ve given you a link to.  She has recently started a new blog called The Patch Out Back – do give her a visit.

IMG_5043Tree in park (480x640)

A pretty tree in the park.

After wandering round for a while, and Elinor sampling some of the best chips she had ever tasted from The Old Keswickian, we agreed we’d like to see the lake.  To get to Derwent Water from the centre of the town you walk through an underpass and alongside part of the town park which is where I took the above photo.

IMG_5044View of fells from Keswick (640x480)

From the path we could see the fells that surround the town

IMG_5045Geese at lakeside (640x480)

Lots of very friendly Greylags and Canada Geese wait to be fed by anyone foolhardy enough to buy packets of goose-food from the shop.

IMG_5046Derwent water (640x480)

This is Derwent Water

IMG_5047Derwentwater (640x446)

Derwent Water

IMG_5049Derwentwater (640x439)

As you can see, it was a very cloudy day.

IMG_5050Derwentwater (640x480)

The lake has four islands on it and one of them is just opposite the ferry landing stage near where we were standing.

IMG_5051Fells by Derwentwater (640x480)

The clouds began to drift lower and we knew it would rain again soon.

IMG_5053Derwentwater (640x480)

It was nice to watch people rowing on the lake

IMG_5056Fells next to Derwentwater (640x480)

Fells near the lake

IMG_5057Woman with Poodle (640x480)

We found this lady and her Poodle most amusing.

She got to the shore-side and took the dog’s lead off and replaced it with a long rope.  The dog was very excited and was barking loudly and shrilly.  It galloped into the water and splashed about, snapping at the water (I can’t imagine how many pints of lake water it drank).  The woman was having to hold very tight on the end of the rope especially when the dog saw a large flotilla of geese come into view.

IMG_5058Poodle with geese (640x480)

The geese remained out of reach, to the poodle’s disappointment.

IMG_5055Common Vetch (480x640)

I saw some attractive Bush Vetch (Vicia sepium) near the lake.

As it started to rain again we made our way back to the car and then drove back to the cottage.

After our evening meal, Richard and I went for a walk down the lane our cottage was in.

IMG_5059Greater Bird's-foot Trefoil (640x480)

The first plant I saw was Greater Bird’s-foot Trefoil (Lotus pedunculatus)

IMG_5060Low cloud (640x480)

The cloud was low and everything was very wet but the fine rain soon stopped.

IMG_5061Spear Thistle (640x480)

Spear Thistle (Cirsium vulgare) was everywhere – (as it is here at home)

IMG_5063Marsh and Spear Thistle (480x640)

Marsh Thistle (Cirsium palustre) has smaller flower-heads and they are grouped together at the end of the stems. (A Spear Thistle is behind it)

IMG_5065Heath Bedstraw (640x480)

Masses of Heath Bedstraw (Galium saxatile)

IMG_5069Sneezewort (640x480)

Sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica)

Sneezewort’s name ptarmica comes from the Greek word ptarmos which, surprisingly, means ‘sneezing’.  The plant looks grey and in the bad light that evening the flowers seemed almost luminous.  The upper stems are downy and the flower-heads are made up of white ray florets and greenish-white disc florets (though in this photo they look grey).  The leaves, which are hot to the taste, used to be used in salads.  In the Middle Ages Sneezewort was used to alleviate toothache.  Sufferers held the roots in their mouths which helped the toothache by ‘evacuating the rheum’ according to Nicholas Culpeper.  I can’t imagine how sneezing would help anyone with bad toothache!  Culpeper recommends sneezewort for people with stuffy heads.  The powder of the herb was ‘stuffed up the nose..’ which caused sneezing and ‘cleanses the head’.  Explosive!

IMG_5070Low Cloud (640x480)

More low cloud

We walked almost to the end of the lane but as it was getting quite dark we turned round, retraced our steps and returned to our cottage.

Thanks for visiting!

 

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Lake District in the Summer

18 Sat Jul 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in Rural Diary

≈ 33 Comments

Tags

Blencathra, holiday, Lake District, Saddleback

We have just returned from a week’s holiday in the Lake District.  (For those people who don’t know, it is an area situated in Cumbria in NW England).  It took us nearly six hours to drive there but that included a twenty minute stop to eat lunch.  We hired a cottage to stay in for the week which was well appointed and quite comfortable though I would have preferred it if it had been a detached cottage with its own garden.  The weather wasn’t too bad either.  We had some rain and some wind but we also had a couple of completely dry days and some sunshine too.  It wasn’t very warm and I was glad I brought two pullovers and two cardigans with me.  On a few occasions I wore all four at the same time over a shirt.  I feel the cold!  If I had been at home I would have warmed myself by doing some housework or gardening but I was on holiday and wanted to read my book!

IMG_4931View from kitchen window (640x480)

This is the view we saw from the kitchen window on the day we arrived.

Fortunately, the next day was much brighter.  After some early rain the clouds lifted and we saw the top of the fells.

IMG_4933Saddleback or Blencathra (640x480)

This is Blencathra or Saddleback

I have been reading a book about the Lake District (‘The English Lakes – A History’ by Ian Thompson)  while we’ve been away and have been boring Richard with quotes from it.  Richard knows the Lakes quite well and has walked up many of the hills so it has been a little like ‘teaching my grandmother to suck eggs’.

The hills are made of rocks thrown up by volcanic explosions 450 million years ago which were then ‘humped and crumpled into shape’ by tectonic movements 400 million years ago.  They were then carved by glaciers in the ice age 13,000 years ago making the hills look like a miniature version of the Alps.  The fells often seem larger than they are as many of them start from valleys close to sea level – Blencathra’s summit is 845 metres above sea level for example.

The local name for these hills/mountains is ‘fells’ – a word deriving from the Norse word ‘fjall’.  The name ‘Blencathra’ is said to come from the Celtic words ‘Blain’ and ‘Cadeir’ which means ‘hill of the chair’.

IMG_5137SSunset behind Blencathra (640x480)

Blencathra at sunset.

The previous three times we stayed in the Lake District we stayed near Kendal in the south-east but this trip we were in the north of the region near Keswick and were able to see a lot of different places.

IMG_5260Fell view (640x480)

Another picture of Blencathra seen from the car while we waited for workmen to finish re-surfacing the road.

I will be showing you a few of the places we visited in subsequent posts.

Thank-you for visiting!

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Peak District Holiday 1st to 9th July. Days 1 and 2.

28 Mon Jul 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in Rural Diary, Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Buxton, camping, caravanning, Chinley, Duke of Devonshire, Flash, holiday, Huntingdon, Pavilion, Pavilion Gardens, Peak District National Park, River Great Ouse, River Wye, Roman, scout camps, Sheffield, spa town, Staffordshire Moorland, Stffordshire, Testament of Youth, The Crescent, Vera Brittain, war memorial, warm springs

When I was young and living at home with my parents, our summer holidays were camping holidays spent in the UK.  I became fairly well travelled in England, Scotland and Wales.  We never went to Northern Ireland because not only was the cost of the cross-channel ferry prohibitive and the journey was too far for the five of us travelling in a small car from Kent, but Northern Ireland was not a safe place to go during the 1960s and 70s.

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This is not my family but we had a tent very much like this one

 Not only did we go on family camping holidays but we also went on scout camps because my father was a Scout Master for many years.  I didn’t like scout camps as I was very shy and a little frightened of all the big, noisy boys but my younger brother and sister loved them and wanted to join in all the fun and were upset when they weren’t allowed.  Mum was in charge of the first aid.

Ireland 004

This is an image I got by googling. Scout camps were just like this.

R’s family holidays were in bed and breakfast hotels as his mother refused to go camping, having had enough of it in the Girl Guides.  He was a Scout and enjoyed going off on scout camps and grew to love the hills, mountains, moors and rivers in the North of England.  He eventually became a Scout Leader himself with his own scout troop.

I had camped a couple of times since leaving home and before marrying Richard so we did consider getting a tent.  Eventually, after holidaying in rented cottages for a couple of years we decided to get a caravan instead.  Our daughter E had just been born and we thought a caravan holiday would be easier to cope with than camping.  Camping and caravanning holidays have their drawbacks but we have always enjoyed the freedom they bring.

R and I have just bought a new caravan.  Our two previous ones had been second-hand and this is our first brand new one.  We are very pleased with it and hope to be able to go away in it very often.  That is not to say that we won’t be going to hotels and holiday cottages again, we will, especially as E hates caravanning now she is older.

I find getting ready for holidays quite exhausting.  Having a new van made things a little easier as we didn’t need to clean and service it, but making sure the house and garden are left clean and tidy before we go, making sure Mum has everything she needs for the time we are away and trying to remember to pack all we need for the holiday was tiring enough.

MargeSimpson1

 I decided to stop feeding the birds just before we left.  While I had been in Sheffield during the week before, something had killed one of the three ducklings that were living in the garden.  Also, a couple of days before we left, I was admiring a little bird looking for insects in the window box outside my kitchen window, when a kestrel plummeted out of the sky and caught it just in front of me.  I felt that the feeders were making the birds I wished to feed more vulnerable to birds of prey and also to the cats in the neighbourhood.  I had been having a lot of trouble from the local squirrels too.  They had wrecked a few feeders and had been eating so much of the bird food as well.  They had become very bold and one had tried to attack me when I attempted to shoo it away from the ground feeder.  I wished to discourage this and a period of no food might be good for all concerned.

We all set off in good time on the morning of the 1st July but at Huntingdon we got stuck in a traffic jam for an hour and a quarter because of an over-turned lorry.

008View from A14 at Huntingdon 009View from A14 at Huntingdon

This is the view from the car while we were on the stationary A14.  The river is the Great Ouse.  We were sent on another diversion to avoid another accident involving a lorry when we were only half an hour away from our destination so the journey was very long and tedious.  For the last few years we have stayed in the Staffordshire Moorlands right on the edge of the Peak District National Park.  The site is at Blackshaw Moor, just to the north of the town of Leek.

   A had kindly offered to look after E for the week, so as soon as we had found our caravan site and pitched the caravan we set off again to the nearest railway station on the line to Sheffield.  While E and I and her enormous, weighty suitcase took the train to Sheffield, R found a supermarket and bought supplies for the week.  He then waited and waited for my return.  I meanwhile, got to Sheffield and we found A waiting for us at the station.  I handed over E, the suitcase and a quantity of money and then found them something to eat.  I decided to get myself a sandwich as the next train back to Chinley, the station where R was waiting, didn’t go for another hour.  I eventually got back to R just after 9p.m.  We drove the 25 or so miles back to our caravan, unpacked the car, collected the water and plugged the electric cable in and our holiday had begun. 

The following day, after a very leisurely breakfast and a restful morning, we put the awning to the caravan up.  The awning (a tent-like porch attached to the caravan) is not a large one but we find it useful for hanging coats and towels and keeping shoes and rucksacks etc.  We sometimes sit out there and we have used the awning for dining in the past when all four of us were together or when we have had visitors.

That afternoon we visited Buxton, about half an hour’s drive away across beautiful moorland.  The views from the road are outstanding especially on a fine day.  One of the villages we pass on the road is called Flash which is reputedly the highest village in the Peak District.  It is 461m /1514′ above sea level and is often snowbound in the winter.  it was once a hideout for footpads, highwaymen and counterfeiters and prize fights took place there even after it was made illegal.

168064_5536242d

The village of Flash, courtesy of google images

Buxton is the highest town of its size in England at 300m/984′ above sea level and has been occupied continuously since Roman times.

Buxton Thermal Baths

Buxton Thermal Baths – google image

The Romans were attracted by the warm springs which emerge near the River Wye and are a constant 28 degrees C.  They built baths here and these springs have been very important to the town ever since.  The spring at St Ann’s Well was probably a place of pilgrimage since the Middle Ages and by Tudor times it had been established as a spa.

download

St Ann’s Well – google image

The great period of Buxton as a spa began when the 5th Duke of Devonshire started the construction of the Crescent in 1780.  The building took ten years to build and cost £38000, a fabulous sum in those days.  It was sited alongside the site of St Ann’s Well.  From then until the 20th century many fine buildings and hotels were constructed in Buxton.  In 1851-53 a new set of thermal baths were built and in 1863 the railway arrived in the town which made the spa much more accessible.  The Opera House and the Pavilion Gardens were built.  Vera Brittain, who wrote ‘Testament of Youth’, her book about her life during the First World War, grew up in Buxton.  The main industry of the town from the 19th century to the present day is limestone quarrying.  The spa declined in popularity after the Second World War but since the 1980’s when the Opera House was re-opened the town has started to come alive again.  The annual Opera Festival was established and the University of Derby moved into the former Devonshire Royal Hospital building.  There is work going on now to re-open the spa and the Crescent.  For the past couple of times we have visited the town we haven’t been able to see the Crescent because of the hoardings in front of it. 

The_Crescent,_Buxton_-_geograph.org.uk_-_556851

This is what the Crescent looked like the last time we saw it – google image

The reason why there are so many google images in this post is because we forgot to take our cameras out with us.  R was able to take a couple of pictures with his phone and these I will include now.

Buxton1

The Pavilion

We did some shopping for things R couldn’t get the night before and then walked up to the Pavilion, looked at the plants in the glasshouse and had coffee/tea in the café.  We walked about the Gardens and then walked back down to the town past the War Memorial.

Buxton3

View of Buxton from the War Memorial

The day, which had started bright and breezy, became cloudy and very humid during the afternoon.  We returned to our caravan and rested for the rest of the day as we were still very tired from our exertions of the day before.

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I talk about what it's like living in a quiet part of Suffolk. I am a wife, mother and daughter, a practising Christian and love the natural world that surrounds me. I enjoy my life - most of the time!

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