This started out as a ride to the chocolate factory at Orton in the Westmorland Dales to arrange our Easter Eggs. That done, riding conditions were so good - light traffic, favourable weather - that I came back the long way round, via Teesdale and Alston. Great riding: sparse traffic, warm enough and brill roads. I needed that! And still sunny when I got back to Keswick.
More photos: Ride to the Chocolate Factory - Westmorland Dales
Hodbarrow haematite iron ore mine was a number of shafts close to the Duddon Estuary in West Cumbria. Two barrier walls were built using dam construction techniques to protect the workings from flooding. The mine was productive from the 1850s until 1968, a significant part of Cumbria’s mining heritage.
The enclosed area has flooded and all the workings are capped and/or flooded with almost no sign of the livelihood of hundreds of people who raised enormous quantities of high quality iron ore from the carboniferous limestone.
There are extensive sandy beaches on the coastline north of Haverigg but just one sandy beach remains at Hodbarrow Point, the sands are tinged with red from the iron ore. The area between Hodbarrow Point and Haverigg is now an RSPB nature reserve and SSSI.
Many thanks to Samuel, my guide and co-hiker
Enjoying some rides at Grizedale on a Rockhopper Elite, just the simple bike: front suspension, hardtail with big fat tyres. Much more stable on a muddy track than my classic Marin due to the Rockhopper’s bigger wheels and still quite a bit lighter than the Marin. The Elite is 10-speed on one gear cassette whereas my Marin Palisades Trail Lite has the original 3x5 chain wheel and dérailleur, more fiddly but useful in riding a variety of terrains, town and country.
More: Rockhopper at Grizedale Forest - Lake District National Park
Our atmospheric hike in the dripping mist and fog above Winsford in Exmoor National Park. The deep Punchbowl is thought to have been scooped out by glacier type actions even though it’s just south of the accepted limit of the glaciations. There’s been a lot of rain so the moss on the trees is particularly green. Mist greyout and windy on the exposed moorland up high. We passed the Caratacus Stone, which dates from the sixth century; it bears an inscription commemorating the first-century British chieftain Caratacus. Down Yellowstone Lane, today more a stream than a path but fun to run. The Royal Oak in Winsford gave us a warm welcome and an excellent lunch before we tackled the long climb back up the Punchbowl. At least the mist had cleared enough so we could see the view.
More photos: Caratacus Stone & the Punchbowl, Winsford Hill (426 m.) - Exmoor National Park
A “Mediterranean episode” of weather brought a storm with a lot of rain but also dramatic natural lighting which changed rapidly. A stunning dawn highlighting Menton old town. Later on, it was almost shocking to see the strength of the storm both on sea and at a beach where the Mediterranean usually laps the shore peacefully. Even the guys with the surfboards were packing up and going home as the waves were too violent.
Mentone (Menton) from Punta Garavano
Our hike around the coast path from Menton-Garavan (France) to Capo Mortola (Italy), now a land and marine conservation area. This is where the granite of the Alpii Maritimi meets the azure water of the Ligurian Sea. Once the route of the Roman road Via Julia Augusta and now of railway tracks and road tunnels plus people-smugglers, the path passes a couple of small beaches and much colourful coastal scrub taking advantage of the mild (frost-free) Mediterranean climate. Various obstructions and closures made it impossible to follow the path as far as we would have liked.
Scooters and motorbikes are a big part of the street architecture in many towns in Italy.
Exploring the gatehouses and passageways of the San Remo old town; the medieval circular network was built as three concentric fortifications against pirates and invaders.
At the top there is a church, a villa and the shade and waterfall of the Giardini Regina Elena.
Full blue sky and sunshine when we arrived here in Menton on the Côte d’Azur, I enjoyed a short run on the beach front at Garavan to the frontier with Italy. A pleasure to run with sun on my face, moderate air temperature and watching the sun setting over the Mediterranean.
ENO’s production is very much for 2024 London. Completely charming but fuelled with conceptual depth and thinking. Fine singing, live video artist, live sound effects artist, dialogue in colloquial English and many additional performers as well as the scripted characters. The orchestra’s flautist and glockenspiel play on stage, alongside Tamino and Pagageno with the glockenspiel player being the comedic butt of some of Papageno’s jokes.