The travels of Mary Loosemore

Herefordshire Week 179: Tuesday 30 May 2023 – Monday 05 June 2023

To Pembrokeshire for Everest Trek Get Together No. 18. This autumn’s Nepal trek comes into focus. Frogs!

Tuesday morning, cool and breezy, a good time for admin: weeknotes, banking, emails, flights…. The morning brightened and I had time to rake some of the mown grass into more readily collectable lines and piles before lunch, and to take the ride on mower for a grass collecting (and more cutting!!) spin after. Just enough petrol….

We also topped up the pond with the 4 buckets of tap water we’d left standing for 24 hours to let the chlorine out.

Strawberries from the greenhouse for pudding at dinner.

Quite cold on Wednesday. Good for indoor jobs, and for an afternoon outing to Tescos. Second top up of the pond. More strawberries from the greenhouse for dinner.

The cool and cloudy weather continued on Thursday. Phil and I booked our Turin hotel for September’s trip, then on to more computer admin for the rest of the morning. I ought to feel like I’d achieved more.

In the afternoon – sunny, of course – I had my last under-the-radar 1-2-1 session with my LW successor. Good luck PH! P’s weekend guest, D, arrived and we had dinner in the conservatory before I headed on on a fast drive to AGV to collect H. Back for cheese and wine.

Another cool and cloudy start to Friday. P made two fresh loaves and we ate half of one for breakfast. Yum Yum. P and D headed out to walk Tremorithic while H and I waited for the courier to collect my work IT kit… in vain.

Just before lunch, as the sun came out, dad arrived with 2 bags charcoal ahead of the Annual Birthdays Party BBQ later this month, soon followed by D&G and P&D. Time for a potter around the garden, primarily to check on newts and tadpoles / froglets / frogs, then lunch on the patio. Lovely.

Mid-afternoon, D, G, H and I set off for Pembs taking the Bredwardine / Bridge Sollers route to avoid the Hay Festival. A gorgeous afternoon – blue skies and sunshine. Nice to be able to look out of the window; I’m usually driving.

We arrived at Steffi’s around 6.30pm. Gs&Ts on the deck waiting for CN to arrive – the M4 route turned out to be a bit rough – then the usual fantastic Friday night curry feast.

Then to the (still new) caravan!

Fantastic weather all weekend. Perfect for walking. Perfect for al fresco eating and (moderate) drinking.

On Saturday we caught the fflecsi bus Steffi had booked to Strumble Head and walked the Strumble Head Circular: 8.82 miles, elevation gain 1,460 ft; lunch at the memorial to the last invasion of mainland Britain; lots of wild flowers; TWO seals!

Strumble Head Circular: Strumble Head Lighthouse

And on the return fflecsi, our driver was all set to drive us all the way back to the caravan until we convinced him we were fine walking up the final hill.

Back at base, drinks on the decking, dinner inside, wonderful sunset.

The glorious weather continued on Sunday. Breakfast outside, a stroll on the golden sands of Newgale Beach at low tide, then back to Steffi’s for one of Maurice’s wonderful, table-filling Sunday lunches.

D&G drove me home, dropping off H at Carmarthen for the new direct train service to London. Back at 40A we found Phil & D had done some scything, the first of the year. Much easier than last year, Phil says.

Bit of a blue day Monday. Pembs took a bit out of (introvert) me, plus arranged to see JC when we’re in Birmingham in July and planning to visit Temple Fields.

On the plus side, I bought flights to Kathmandu for our Oct/Nov trek. And prepped and published my Where Next: Kangchenjunga & Lumba Sumba blogpost.

It warmed up in the afternoon.

Phil did some more scything.

In the small pond I spotted fully formed (small) frogs, together with froglets (front and back legs, but still with a tail) and the younger generation still at tadpole stage.

Frog(let)s in the small pond: A more mature specimen, with no tail left – centre of the photograph

Phil watched the Apple Keynote in the early evening. I’m all good to buy my Mac Mini. Thank heavens.

TV: Poker Face (finished season 1), Colin From Accounts (not for me), The Gallows Pole.

Podcasts: History Extra, Anglo-Saxon England, Empire.

Photos: Herefordshire week 179 on Flickr.

Phil: w/e 2023-06-04.

Where Next: Kangchenjunga & Lumba Sumba

Today I bought the flights to Kathmandu, which means this year’s Nepal trip has firmed up enough for a Where Next blogpost.

Steffi and I, and maybe a few others (hopefully) are off to the long awaited Kan[g]chenjunga trek, first discussed with Val back in October 2020 as Storm Alex battered the walls and windows of Steffi’s caravan perched on the coast of Far West Wales.

Destination: Kanchenjunga, Eastern Nepal, and back west over the Nango La (4,776 m) and Lumba Sumba pass (5,160 m), and maybe as far as the Makalu-Barun National Park.

When: October / November 2023

What: Trekking to Kangchenjunga North Base Camp in the far east of Nepal right on the border with Sikkim, India, and then heading back west to cross over the Nango La and the Lumba Sumba / Lumbha Sambha passes into the Makalu-Barun National Park.

Hopefully we will be able to do the extra 4-5 days along the Barun River to Mera village to explore the valley there before turning south and the long journey back to KTM.

Precise route TBC – depends on what condition the trails are in after the winter snows and the summer monsoon (landslides) and how far the road(s) have got….

How: With Val Pitkethly, of course.

Why: Hiking high in the big mountains with old friends, and another chunk of the Great Himalayan Trail – this time, the eastern section from Kangchenjunga / कञ्चनजङ्घा (8,586 m / 28,169 ft) almost to Makalu / मकालु हिमाल (8,481 m / 27,825 ft) – but Makalu Base Camp will need to wait for another trip….

Flights: We are flying with BA/Qatar. Flights have got so much more expensive… these come in at over £1000 each.

Resources

Günter Seyfferth’s Die Berge des Himalaya / The mountains of the Himalayas / www.himalaya-info.org:
- Kangchenjunga Himal
- Arun, Lumba Sumba, Ama Drime (between Kangchenjunga and Makalu) > D. Via the Lumba Sumba Pass to the west to the Arun
Roger Nix’s Nepal 2017: GHT-Makalu Flickr Album, which covers Lumba Sumba pass and the high trails to Makalu basecamp.
Walking with Wired > Nepal / GHT 2018 > Day 13: The Lumbha Sambha Hurdle

Map & Route

I do have an outline route from Val, but I’ll wait until nearer the time to share that as it’s likely to change after the monsoon and depending how far the road building had reached …

In the meantime, here’s Val’s original sketch map of the possible routes, from October 2020:

Val's 2020 Sketch Map: Kangchenjunga & Lumba Sumba — Val’s 2020 Sketch Map: Kangchenjunga & Lumba Sumba

Herefordshire Week 178: Tuesday 23 – Monday 29 May 2023

Sunny! Bank Holiday! Retirement week 1!

May, green and lush.

This is the life….

Tuesday was cooler, so no excuse for not catching up on a bit of admin and doing my first weeknotes as a retiree. KMCA Drinks in the evening 🙂 Not entirely “gone” yet.

Brobury House on Wednesday morning for very nice coffee with the KG Ladies.

Brobury House Gardens - Rhododendrons in bloom — Brobury House Gardens – Rhododendrons in bloom

In the afternoon I painted the box dad and I made (slapped on some white gloss – not the most elegant finish if I’m honest), then cranked up the Honda Mower and mowed the edges. The grass is lush and damp so I left off the collector. Even so the mower cut out about a million times. At least I’ve got the knack of starting it now. I think I’ve terminally broken the base mind you….

We’re leaving the front lawn as it’s No Mow May, mainly because of the buttercups.

Woke with a headache on Thursday. With hindsight, I think it was related to yesterday’s Honda hauling.

Read for a bit (still catching up on LRBs – I’ve got to Dec 2022) then headed out to potter in the orchard. Relocated all the seedlings from my windowsill – planted out the lettuces in the herb bed (not sure how they’ll do), put the tomato seedlings outside (it was sweltering inside the greenhouse), added the courgette seedling to the old mushroom tray that’s home to the two pepper and one cucumber seedlings.

Plants old and new: tomatoes & peppers from the plant sale

Planted some more lettuce seeds, watered the sunflowers, onions, leeks and sole French Dwarf Bean all of which are nestled round the base of my Herefordshire Russett apple tree. Put up my mosquito net blackcurrant bush+berry bird protector.

Then inside for a coffee and the cool. And a bit of computer admin. I’m hanging on to see if the June Apple Keynote has any impact on the price of Mac Minis….

Still headachey on Friday, so Phil did the driving over to Gloucester to pick up a second hand Herman Miller Aeron chair I’d bought via eBay. Yes, I know, I stop working and I invest in a proper home office set up…. We drove back via an MG dealership (to check out the electric MG4s) and the excellent Over Farm for lunch and a few tasty treats…..

R came to strim in the morning. I put off ride on mower mowing for another day and spent the afternoon reading more of the LRB backlog.

Perusing the small pond in the afternoon, we spotted loads of tadpoles lazing amidst the pond weed. Some of them are sporting big back legs – almost frogs, and they’re almost as big as the newts.

And in the big pond, dragonflies and damselflies. And flags and lilies.

Damselflies laying eggs in the large pond

And not forgetting … pizza for tea:

Friday night Pizza à la Phil - A Master At Work! — Friday night Pizza à la Phil – A Master At Work!

Another headache groggy start to Saturday. Thankfully it cleared by the time we picked up T & L and drove on a voyage of discovery to Vowchurch aka our first visit to the famous Vowchurch Village Market.

We returned with an array of tasty baked goods from the Alex Gooch bakery stall, including focaccia which we all tucked into for lunch, sat outside on the patio with the sunshade up.

Lazy afternoon. Managed a speedy sit on mower mow of the lush grass on the west lawn and down by the old garden railway, and in the orchard. Grass collector “off”. I’ll do another sweep to pick it up once it’s dried.

The Bank Holiday Weekend Holiday At Home theme continued on Sunday, with a slow start – coffee and (Vowchurch) almond croissants for breakfast sitting out on the patio, accompanied by the birds singing exuberantly. It’s lovely.

More LRB-ing. I’ve got to Jan 2023.

Monday started off cool, so I spent the first part of the morning doing some computer admin – I had an email from Val-in-Peru with dates for the Kanchenjunga trek later this year.

Being the third Bank Holiday Monday (another next word prediction missing from the Apple universe) Phil and I thought we’d indulge in another foodie treat and headed over to Ewyas Harold for lunch at The Temple Bar Inn.

We walked there via the Deer Farm and Ewyas Harold Common, and back via The Rec, Common and Dore Abbey. I fear the lunchtime pint + the goat’s cheese and sun dried tomato sandwich (with crisp and salad garnish) + the shared skin-on skinny chips definitely amounted to more than 669 calories….

Lunch out - warming up with a pint — Lunch out – warming up with a pint

Back at base we sat outside, moving the table and chairs into the shaded grass – too breezy for the sunshade. Then a spot of podcasts and snoozing on the conservatory sofa. Then inside to look at flights….

A lot of good telly this week, with the finales of both Succession and Barry on Monday, and prior to that wrapping up the currently-last season of Perry Mason and embarking on Poker Face which sees Natasha Lyonne return with her Russian Doll vibe as a quirky fast talking fast thinking independent woman, this time able to tell when someone is lying, a skill which she puts to use solving crimes encountered driving across America on the run from a hitman, and Rian Johnson brings us another Glass Onion-y, complex-yet-cosy crime caper .

TV: Succession (finale!), Barry (finale!), Perry Mason (finished season 2), Poker Face (season 1).

Podcasts: History Extra, Anglo-Saxon England, The Forum, Empire.

Photos: Herefordshire week 178 on Flickr.

Phil: w/e 2023-05-28.

Herefordshire Week 177: Tuesday 16 – Monday 22 May 2023

Retirement has arrived.

As has the summer.

GVWC: Breinton Springs Circular - Hereford Cathedral and the River Wye from the Old Bridge — GVWC: Breinton Springs Circular – Hereford Cathedral and the River Wye from the Old Bridge

7am alarm Tuesday for our last morning in Antibes. Washing, recycling, quick trip to the Boulangerie for mini gateaux, baguette, croque monsieur, quiche and croissants aux amandes et chocolat for breakfast.

Bus No 6 then the 82 to Nice Airport, all ahead of schedule. Caught up with work emails once we were through security etc.

Good flight – lots of legroom and a sandwich lunch on the BA flight to London City Airport. Farewell to Steffi then DLR to Bank, farewell to Hazel and into work. Sunny in Antibes, sunny in London.

Busy afternoon sorting out doing a few more afternoon 1-2-1s of handover, having my exit interview and in my final KMCA Zoom.

Rendezvous with Phil and down to H’s for Indian takeaway from Khan’s. Tasty!

Weds – up early and into work (for me) to the Breakfast Club (for P). Another busy day, but I made it to BLWV by 6.30pm for WW with Hazel, Rachel and Fi.

Thursday was my last day. A long day, and a lovely day. So many lovely messages and chats.

Pretty tortuous “train” journey back to Hereford but we made it home eventually.

Friday. The first day of the next stage of my life, and I’m doing admin – washing, defrosting the freezer, catching up with photos and weeknotes. Ah, this is what retirement is all about…..

Wonderful how green everything is after a week away, and how many flowers are out. The grass has gone bananas, we have buttercups galore and there is may blossom and cow parsley everywhere. Hedges that were bare when I left are now bursting with green leaves.

I think dad and Jean must have visited while we were away and checked on – and watered, thankfully – the seedlings in the greenhouse. In my office, where I’d left a few scrawny tomato and lettuce seedlings and a tray of weedy onion greens I’ve returned to an array of thriving small plants. Clearly they all do well left alone!

In the orchard, the rhubarb continues to display triffid-like traits, compost corner is hidden by greenery and I have pea and bean seedlings in the veg patch. Success!

More ripe strawberries inside the greenhouse, baby gooseberries outside.

Four newts (at least) in the small pond, but no tadpoles, and no sign of any fish in the big one…. I hope that doesn’t mean we’ve had a heron visiting. The flag irises are out.

Saturday was my first time helping out at the annual Abbey Dore Plant Sale. A great way to meet more people and also to stock up on seedlings. I had a lovely day. Gorgeous sunshine and dad and Jean treated me to tea and cake.

They reappeared at 6pm at Forty Acres for a celebration dinner created by Phil. A really lovely, relaxed evening. Just right.

My Retirement Celebration Dinner by Phil

I slept well.

Sunday was another fantastic sunny day and I spent the morning out with the GVWC on Jo’s Breinton Springs Circular: 7½ miles, 3 hours.

A different route from that CP and I had done back in March 2022; less tarmac, more back alleys and footpaths and a gorgeous old orchard full of cow parsley, apple blossom and may blossom on the final approach to Breinton Church. And not only was the church open but it has a new-looking toilet built into a quiet corner at the back of the north aisle. What a great idea.

Home for a late lunch and a lazy afternoon on the patio and in the conservatory. There was a sofa snooze….

I made dinner – the long awaited lentil soup – and we watched Perry Mason.

Bats zooming around outside as dusk drew in.

Monday was another walk this time meeting up with S&S (but not G) at the Little Black Hill car park picnic spot for Cat’s Back Circular: Cat’s Back – Hay Bluff – Hatterrall Ridge – Olchon Valley (9 ½ miles, 1600ft elevation gain, 4 ½ hours).

Cat's Back Circular: Herefordshire from Hatterrall Ridge — Cat’s Back Circular: Herefordshire from Hatterrall Ridge

The sunshine continued, this time with a cool brisk breeze up on the tops of the Black Mountains – and I got my first sunburn of the year …. and my first Magnum of the year too from the brilliant village shop, Hopes of Longtown. My first visit; I can see why people rave about it.

I’d watched kites soaring high above the Golden Valley, Abbey Dore side, before I headed out for the day.

Home for a pot of tea, sat in the shade (partly for sunburn, partly because it was hot), than a stroll around the garden taking photos of the flowers. I wish we could offer smell-o-vision for the lilac and wisteria – both were gorgeous.

Got the long hose out to top up the large pond. P had spotted some fish – let’s hope it’s just too hot for them to bask and a bit too murky for us to see them …..

Spotted a newt in the small pond, and – amazingly – some tadpoles still….

No squirrels though!

(I spoke to soon – one was trying its luck (in vain) at the squirrel-proof bird feeders this morning)

Retirement Days Tracker: All done

TV: Succession, Barry (season 4), Perry Mason (season 2), Location, Location, Location.

Podcasts: History Extra, The Forum.

Photos: Herefordshire week 177 on Flickr.

Phil: w/e 2023-05-21.

Antibes: Photos & Notes

A long weekend in Antibes, using up our BA flight vouchers from our COVID-Cancelled Picos 2020 trip.

Good weather, good company, good food & wine, good walking.

Around the Cap d'Antibes: Antibes from Plage de la Salis — Around the Cap d’Antibes: Antibes from Plage de la Salis

Photos & Notes extracted from weeknotes 176 and 177.

Photos are in my Antibes, May 2023 Flickr album.

Thursday started bright and early in Herefordshire with a 04.45 alarm to allow plenty of time for driving, parking and checking train tickets / permitted route – again – at Hereford station.

Before we left, we watched a hare that had come to a standstill at our gate, watching us in return.

05.50 au revoir Abbey Dore … 09.30 bonjour Paddington!

P headed off towards Liverpool Street and I followed to drop off work stuff once I’d rendezvoused with Steffi. We had time for a quick coffee then it was back west on the Elizabeth Line all the way to LHR T5 and our rendezvous with H.

Sped through checkin, DIY bag drop and security – with a good hour to spare until our gate would be revealed, we went to Giraffe for lunch including a Start The Holiday glass of wine / beer.

Good flight to Nice, a long wait to get through passport control, collected bags, caught the tram to T2 where the 82 Zou! service to Antibes was waiting, with a reassuring small queue.

Speedy coach journey to Pôle d’échanges d’Antibes and eventually onto the No 6 to Aloès once we’d located the bus stop (Picard not Pôle).

Baguettes from the wonderful JR Boulangerie Pâtisserie then up the hill and into Carrefour just before it closed to buy essential supplies – aka wine, cheese, butter, pâté, toms and salad. Settled in to the flat and feasted in the lounge.

Friday was a cloudy day and a weird mix of humid and cold once the wind got up.

We walked into Antibes centre ville and explored the old town, picking up some tasty treats at the Marché Provençal and lucking out at La Gravette down near the port where we had a great lunch.

In the afternoon we pottered up the promenade past the Musée Picasso and towards the huge black clouds that hung over the Cap d’Antibes. As we neared the Archaeological Museum the rain drops began to fall….

So it was back to base via the Casino supermarket (disappointing), the JR Boulangerie (two types of baguette!) and the (better than Casino) Carrefour. Time for a pot of tea and a nap.

Dinner featured some of the day’s purchases: bread, cheese, salad and celeri remoulade, with an aperitif of wine accompanied by crisps and tasty mixed chilli olives.

Lots of weird dreams. Big thunderstorm overnight.

Saturday = more walking: Antibes Fort and Port (9 miles, 336 ft elevation gain) in the morning and early afternoon and back into town for cocktails and Thai in the evening.

A sunny day, but we’d been caught out yesterday so we set out with long trousers and warm tops in our bags, and so naturally it was a sweltering hot day. This is more like it!

Breakfast at JR then down into town turning east to Port Vauban and on to the Fort Carré, glad of the breeze coming across the bay from Nice. Lots of flowers. And runners.

We retraced our steps to the port and oggled the yachts in the harbour ….

…. and the superyachts anchored out in the bay.

After a coffee from the Nomad cafe kiosk we continued on to the far end of the quai to pressed our noses between the railings sealing off Quais des Milliardaires – aka Billionaires Quay.

Another successful lunch stop, this time at Falafel sitting outside under a parasol. Refreshed, we continued on along the prom back towards the Archaeological Museum – lots of gorgeous cactus and other flowers in the newly planted desert gardens en route – and beyond to the next bay and a pair of plages, Plage du Ponteil and Plage de la Salis.

More people out and about today; a mix of locals and visitors. Sat on a bench looking out at the super yachts too big to anchor in harbour, we decided we would walk back for tea and cakes from JR…. and the pâtisserie did not disappoint.

Sat out on the terrace, the day was still still scorching hot. Early evening we wandered down into the old town for mojitos in the Place des Martyrs de la Résistance ….

….followed by excellent Thai at Ban Kai Jaa

We went into town again on Sunday morning for more shopping and eating: cheese from the Fromagerie, Socca and saucisson from the Marche Provençal, local beers at BeerShop06, a mezze lunch feast from Falafel.

Antibes: Sunday Stroll - Lunch from Falafel — Antibes: Sunday Stroll – Lunch from Falafel

Back to the flat for tea, then a bit of a snooze. Only 4 ½ miles walking today.

Started to feel a bit overwhelmed with all the meals and drinks. Still, managed glass of wine and some crisps as an aperitif before a dinner of – you guessed it – baguette, cheese, salad and olives.

Not so sunny today which was probably a good thing – I had rosy arms and a rosy face after Saturday’s sun.

Monday was our last full day. Breakfast on the terrasse, then boots on to walk to and around the Cap d’Antibes and back – all in glorious sunshine with a welcome occasional breeze. Almost 13 miles.

Around the Cap d'Antibes: Looking back towards Antibes — Around the Cap d’Antibes: Looking back towards Antibes

Lots of lovely flowers.

Around the Cap d'Antibes: Cactus in bloom — Around the Cap d’Antibes: Cactus in bloom

Around the Cap d'Antibes on the Sentier littoral: Bird of Paradise flowers — Around the Cap d’Antibes on the Sentier littoral: Bird of Paradise flowers

Tea on the terrasse, checked in for the flight back and worked out IOUs.

S’s friend C came for the evening. We dined on “bits” in theory to tidy up the leftovers but instead generating some more. Not a problem….

Bus No 6 then the 82 to Nice Airport, all ahead of schedule. Caught up with work emails once we were through security etc.

Good flight – lots of legroom and a sandwich lunch on the BA flight to London City Airport.

Sunny in Antibes, sunny in London.

Farewell to Steffi then DLR to Bank, farewell to Hazel and into work for my last week….