Everest Trek Get Together – The travels of Mary Loosemore

Herefordshire Week 198: Tuesday 10 – Monday 16 October 2023

Pembrokeshire for the Everest Trek Get Together No. 19.

My first full week back home = still catching up.

Tuesday comprised catching up on admin and weeknotes 196 and 197, walking to and from Ewyas Harold for my first in person Physio appointment at the surgery (VG. Assessment = Hip pain, right glute med tendinopathy + some ITB / Iliotibial Band Syndrome symptoms), Pembs Prep, another catch up with Val, more apple collecting, a great update from dad on his jaundice.

Beautiful day.

Pilates in the evening – getting back into the gym routine, even if it’s only for a couple of weeks.

Having failed to book onto the morning gym classes, Wednesday was more admin, mainly money – I’m still working out my “being retired cash flows” – and we had our catch up with Carol. Also some Nepal prep – working out paying, online tourist visa (bearing in mind the max 15 days in advance constraint) and checking eBay for Expedition grade down jackets….

Over to J’s for dinner in the evening. Lovely. On my way there, I spooked an owl down by Blackmoor Farm.

A very rainy day.

Thursday morning featured LBT at the Gym and Chutney Transport Box pick up from the shop, then back home to finish off weeknotes 197, which also entailed fully Flickring Italy photos.

More gym on Friday morning, a petrol fill up at the Forge, more computing (I forget what), then off to Pembs for Everest Trek Get Together No. 19, picking up Hazel at Carmarthen en route to Mayhem where Steffi supplied a Greek Feast as a change from the usual Curries. Replete, Dave drove us to the van and we polished off a bottle of wine.

The heavy rain had cleared to sunshine on the drive west.

Steffi spotted Starlink low on the horizon. It was that or anti alien tracer fire….

Saturday’s walk was the Marloes Circular, with sunshine, seals and a super lunch at Runwayskiln.

Back at the van, a cup of tea then down to the beach for a gorgeous sunset.

Once darkness had descended, we relaxed in the van where wine and crisps were followed by cheese and biscuits, fruit and wine. And bed.

Mandatory Sunday morning stroll on Newgale Beach, then back to Mayhem for Mexican! Lovely sunny day. Cold and crisp overnight and in the shade. October has arrived.

Home by 6pm, got the log stove going – first time this year (well since the spring at any rate).

It had been cold overnight, so on Monday morning we put the heating on. First time…

A couple of hours prepping (these) weeknotes and updating already-flickred photos (Pembs and previous) and doing my new physio exercises, then out to bonfire.

Slow going, and very smoky, but over the next 6 hours or so I got through the three piles of hedge clippings and the older pile(s) of tree / shrub loppings. During the marathon session Phil brought my lunch out to me and laid on the 4pm tea and biscuit on the patio. I was done by 5pm-ish, give or take a few extra bramble cuttings.

In between times I trimmed the broken branches I could reach on our Wedding Plum, deconstructed the old, broken deck chair in the quarry and repurposed it as compost heap “fence” and refreshed the bait in the rodent trap – something had moved the box and dug a path to it; hopefully rats as the bait was all gone.

Listened to a lot of the Empire podcast episodes.

Got my Disney+ subscription up and running in the evening and started The Mandalorian.

The days are definitely drawing in. Dawn colours lingering over Grey Valley at 7.30am, and getting dark by 6pm.

TV: Fleabag, The Ghosts cast on the show’s final series | BFI Q&A (plus the Comic Relief Kylie Special and Bloopers on YouTube), This Farming Life, The Mandalorian.

Podcasts: In Our Time, Shedunnit, Empire.

Photos: Herefordshire week 198 on Flickr.

Phil: w/e 2023-10-15.

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.

Herefordshire Week 144: Tuesday 27 September – Monday 03 October 2022

Meeting L and Everest Trek Get Together No. 17.

Powered through more of the admin pile on Tuesday morning, work in the afternoon, and down the road taking dinner for T & J – and new arrival L! Lovely evening.

BAU Weds and Thurs, but no Family Zoom as dad and Jean were on their Northern Tour.

H arrived 10pm Thursday evening (Mary-the-taxi arrived at HFD a little later….), allowing for a cheese and wine supper once home. And a late night. H had very kindly brought the 9 tubs of (still frozen) damsons I’d left in her freezer – my post-Picos rucksack had proved too full to fit them in.

Cloud and damp on Friday, so H and I headed into Hereford for library, a look around and lunch. I think it’s the longest I have spent mooching around Hereford’s clothes shops ever. Nice! Plus lunch at All Saints / Bill’s Kitchen, Pembs contributions purchased from M&S / Waitrose and a leisurely look around Wren Kitchens….

Home to unload / repack, a cup of tea, then off West to Steffi’s for Everest Trek Get Together No. 17!

A smashing weekend – curries on arrival at Mayhem, then over to Newgale for our final stay in the current caravan.

Saturday was sunnier than expected, perfect for a circular coastal walk from Marloes, seal spotting, blackberry picking and lunching at the superb Runwayskiln. Very glad Steffi had booked!

Sunday’s forecast had been rain rain rain, so waking up to blue skies came as a surprise. An hour or so helping S pack up the contents of her kitchen, which D Jenga-Tardissed into his Touran, just time for a short walk along the beach (high tide imminent), then off to Mayhem for Sunday lunch. M, M & C did not disappoint.

3pm-ish, D & H headed off for Newport, and I drove home.

Another fab weekend.

VIP news from Phil while I was away: he’d seen goldfish in the pond!

Spent most of Monday preparing my talk for Kingstone’s Sunshine Club. N’s mum had suggested me earlier in the year, and I’d agreed to give a talk about Nepal. I’d planned to just do a “My first visit was in 2005 and this is what I saw/did …. My first trek was in…. ” etc but as I was pulling photos together into a Flickr Album I decided themes was the way to go – cities, villages and farms; transport, roads and bridges; homes, crops and animals; rivers, hills and mountains – and that worked much better.

TV: The Eddy, Grand Designs, Ghosts.

Podcasts: Not really any other than History Extra ones I fell asleep to (intentionally). Busy workdays sometimes lead to sketchy sleeping.

Photos: Herefordshire week 144 on Flickr.

Phil: w/e 2022-10-02

Herefordshire Week 120: Tuesday 12 – Monday 18 April 2022

Picked up the Panda. Easter weekend in Pembs = Everest Trek Get Together No 16 = More puffins. And cake.

Tuesday’s main event was picking up the Panda from Ponthir after its service. Expensive. Let’s hope it’s an investment.

Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday were work, but Thursday to Tuesday were spent in Pembrokeshire with Steffi, Hazel, Dave and Gwyneth for Everest Trek Get Together No 16 – it’s been a while – and my birthday.

Hazel arrived Wednesday evening, and Phil and I picked her up from Hereford train station after an Aldi/Sainsbury’s shop-a-thon.

Easy drive to Steffi’s on Thursday morning. Lunch, then a walk around Minwear Woods before driving on to Newgale via Lidl (supplies) and Morrisons Petrol (163.9p/l) in H’west.

Friday dawned a grey day, so we scrapped our plans to walk north from St David’s and walked around the Peninsula from Caerfai to Whitesands instead.

Around the St David's Peninsula from Caerfai to Whitesands: View from the path — Around the St David’s Peninsula from Caerfai to Whitesands: View from the path

No dolphins in Ramsey Sound, but good coffee and cake at Porthclais and a solitary seal near St Justinian’s. And sunshine by the end. Dave and Gwyneth arrived in the evening bringing Easter treats and Indian starters and sides for the traditional Friday Night Curry.

Saturday was Skomer day! Puffins and porpoises, rabbits and seals. Smashing. Young Jim was a brilliant host for the boat trip there and back.

After a wash and brush up back at the van it was off to Nolton Haven for a delicious dinner at The Haven. Highly recommended.

Easter Sunday was another cool day – unlike the South East which was spending the Easter weekend in record breaking temperatures. Still, good weather for a stroll around the Southwood Estate, taking in some of the new footpaths towards Nolton Haven. A drizzly, damp afternoon did not deter me from heading out to walk Newgale Beach end to end before driving the gang to Mayhem for one of Maurice’s traditional slap up Sunday Dinners. We were not disappointed.

Pembrokeshire Easter Weekend: Carmen's Amazing Birthday Cake — Pembrokeshire Easter Weekend: Carmen’s Amazing Birthday Cake

Another smashing walk along the coast path on Monday: Caerfai to Newgale via Solva. Sunshine all the way, and an ice cream at the end. In the evening, Mexican and Margaritas rounded off a lovely holiday.

St David's to Newgale along the Coast Path: Porth-y-Bwch — St David’s to Newgale along the Coast Path: Porth-y-Bwch

Mexican and Margaritas to round off a lovely day

Walks Round Up

Minwear Wood: 4.4 miles
St David’s Peninsula – Caerfai to Whitesands: 12 miles
Skomer: 5.8 miles
Southwood Estate with new Nolton Haven extension: 5 1/2 miles
Newgale Beach end to end: 4 miles
Caerfai to Newgale: 10 miles

TV: Peaky Blinders (series 6), Russian Doll

Audiobook: The Confession – Jessie Burton

Podcasts: You Must Remember This

Photos: Herefordshire week 120 on Flickr.

Phil: w/e 2022-04-17.

Everest Trek Get Together No 15

Another fab weekend in Pembrokeshire, with Steffi and Maurice, Hazel, Charles and Dave.

Summary: A gig in Tenby on Friday courtesy of Maurice and his band, and a wet walk along the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path on Saturday doing a figure of eight from West Angle Bay. Sunday stroll around the Southwood Estate with blue sky views out over Newgale Beach, then another of Maurice’s Marvellous Sunday Lunches, with crumble by Carmen. Painful train journey home.

For photos, take a look at my Flickr Album: Everest Trek Get Together No 15. Read on for the detail.

Friday followed its usual pattern – train from Paddington, rendezvous with Dave at Newport, generous G&Ts on arrival at Mayhem followed by one of Steffi’s curry feasts. Then the evening diverged from the norm, as we headed over to Tenby to watch Maurice and his band in a gig at The Lifeboat Tavern. Brilliant!

A late night drive got us to Newgale, Steffi’s caravan, and bed.

No photos… I always fail to get any of the array of curries. Must be the aperitif.

Saturday‘s weather forecast offered 50% chance of light rain and moderate winds for our stroll around the headland from Angle to Freshwater West and cutting across the peninsula to East Angle Bay and back through the long, narrow village to West Angle Bay.

The 50% was not in our favour. We got a morning of very wet Welsh rain, and grey views out to sea as we walked this section of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path.

The rain eased off as we headed back towards Angle through, looking across to Milford Haven with views of the refinery, tankers and Irish Ferries arriving into port. Walking along Angle’s medieval main street, the nineteenth-century Estate-built hotels and houses standing out somewhat, we were passed by a vintage car rally. A fine parade, although we became rather concerned when we realised they were also heading to the Wavecrest Cafe, down at West Angle Bay.

Fortune smiled on us, and we managed to get a corner table for five, and the ladies who run the cafe were super efficient. We were tucking into Welsh Cheddar and Leek Tart (me), Bacon & Brie Baguettes (H & S) and bowls of steaming Cawl (D&C) within 10 mins. Five stars for the Wavecrest Cafe, team and food. Highly recommended!

As blue skies put in a determined appearance above us, we headed out to do the other half of the Angle peninsula, 3.7 miles along the coast path and back via the Pele Tower House with its spiral staircase, arrow slit windows and views of the stone dove cote. Angle has an ancient history.

We made it back to the Wavecrest Cafe with 15 mins to spare for pots of tea, tasty cakes and a warm welcome back, even though they were shutting up at 4pm. A really impressive bunch of women run that place.

Home and dry by 5pm, we had time for more tea and the papers as the rain pelted down outside.

Wine, soup and Cardigan bread lasted until 9pm when sleep called.

Sunday dawned with clear skies and a colder breeze. A light breakfast then out to the beach and then up on the footpaths to and through Southwood Estate, as discovered by Gwyneth and Dave this summer. A smashing stroll from Pinch Hill to Maidenhall Car Park, then back along the coastal path above Newgale Beach. Great views out to Grassholm and Skomer.

A speedy drive back to Mayhem via Aldi, for another Marvellous Maurice Sunday Lunch, with Carmen’s Blackberry and Apple Crumble for afters.

Full rabbit to Newport, where our scheduled return to London was scuppered by GWR. Our train broke down at Cardiff, the weekend engineering works were overrunning, there were rolling stock chaos and staffing shortages. AKA loads of cancelled trains. We took the station staff’s advice and jumped on a train to Bristol Temple Meads, only to find the next London train was cancelled, so we had an hour to wait. We got into Paddington at 20.44. Delay Repay submitted this morning. Now we just need to give GWR twenty working days to process it….. I think they’ll be busy.