Camping coffee chat

If you find yourself in the company others and it is causing you distress, the best course of action is to remove yourself from the situation and leave. Then make a pact with yourself that you will never go there again. Suddenly a weight is lifted off your shoulders and you can get on with the rest of your life. 

Don't let others drag you down, you are better than that. 

Tomorrow is check in day for the International Walking Group.

Catch ya later.   Toodle pip.   ilona

Canal walk to Hatton Locks

There are 21 locks along this stretch of the Grand Union Canal. It was a sunny morning when I walked along there. Take a look at the Canal and River Trust web site for more information. 

These two boats were travelling through them together. It makes the job a lot easier if there are four people sharing the opening and closing of the gates between them. 

My plan was to spend the money I saved from not paying for parking, in the cafe on coffee and cake. Thinking about it the £5.50 probably wouldn't have covered that. 

Oh dear, no coffee and cake. There are two cafe's near to each other, neither of them were open. I sat on their picnic bench, sipped my flavoured water, and fed half my cheese sandwich to two ravenous ducks.  

I made a little video. Sadly my battery in the camera didn't last long so it was cut short, but I expect you get the idea. I changed to another camera but the longer video I made with that one was very wobbly so I deleted it.

 

Blimey, it's taken me a week to get these posts onto the blog and yoootooob. I hope you have enjoyed them. I now have a record for me to look back on when I am unable to make such trips. Do it while I can is my motto. 

I have just remembered, tomorrow is the first of April, check in day for the International Walking Group. Let us know how you are doing, or not doing. I managed a very decent 14 miles on this canal walk, so that has bumped my miles up to more that the target of 250. I'm chuffed with that. 

ALSO DONT FORGET. SEND IN YOUR METER READINGS FOR GAS AND ELECTRICITY TO YOUR UTILITY COMPANIES TODAY. 

We had snow overnight but the sun is out now so it is melting. The weaving picture is finished so there will be a blog post about that. I have another coffee chat video in the bag so that will appear shortly. It's all go go go. 

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

Grand Union Canal

I left the car park and drove a couple of miles to Warwick Parkway Station. There is a Park and Ride car park there. It is also next to the Grand Union Canal. I checked out the price to park at the station, it was too expensive. A woman I spoke to at the Cemetery the night before had told me that there was a parking area on the side of the canal. I had to look for it as it wasn't signed. 

Found it up a track. There was a machine to buy a ticket. I had the coins but the machine would not accept any money. Luckily at that moment someone in a van came along who works for the company that checks the machines. They said it hadn't been working for a long time, and I should put a note in the windscreen to say I had attempted to pay but couldn't. So I got free parking. 

Off I went for a walk. It was a lovely sunny morning. 

There was no tow path through the tunnel. It was a matter of following the signs going up and over the road and down the other side. 

I spent most of the day on the canal, eventually I came off and headed back to the car. Parts of the canal has the M40 motorway running close by. The traffic noise got quite annoying. I have a solution to that, turn off the hearing aid. Relief. Trouble is that it also blocks out the birdsong.  I'll put some pictures of the Hatton Locks on the next post.

I did a Billy walk this afternoon. We have a new routine now as Billy's mum has tested positive and is now isolating. I knock and stand back. She wears gloves when she puts his harness on inside the house. She wears a mask and opens the door and Billy runs out. She puts the lead outside the front door on the step. I wear gloves and put his lead on. Then do the same thing in reverse when I take him back. It works fine, and Billy gets a walk. 

Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon. Toodle pip.  ilona

Death and destruction

 Hello. I'm going to stick this one in here because it has caught my eye. A report in a German newspaper. Translate it into English. Trees fall because of monster wind turbines. The earth is being destroyed. I can't use a photo from the article, I don't have permission. 

Very sad. This is happening in lots of places. 

The conservationists are not only concerned with the trees. Müller-Zitzke: "The heart of the forest is the ancient forest floor." Here is mostly forest for 1000 years.

Busy today, back later. Toodle pip.   ilona

At the end of the day

After traipsing around Warwick all day, I still had a bit of time left before I went back to the car. Didn't want to get back too early as it is going to be a long night. I walked down to where I had seen the canal, to get the layout of it, in readiness for my canal walk tomorrow. This looks as if it could be interesting. It might be a good place to start in the morning, that's if I can find somewhere to park for the day.  

Very close by is a cemetery. I had time to look around it. I have never seen one as big as this before. It was huge and stretched further than the eye could see. 

There are lots of massive trees. The grounds are beautifully kept. 

I wonder how this happened. One main trunk and several smaller trunks coming out of the ground around the tree. 

Strange how they are leaning over. 

Time to go back to the car and get something to eat. 

Stay tuned to this channel to see two more videos, and some photo's. 

Today I went to town. Wanted to check how the Open Exhibition at the Arts Centre is going. Wondered if I had won any prizes or sold any. No prizes, and none sold. In fact only one small picture had been sold out of the whole exhibition. 

I called in at Aldi. The shop wasn't busy so I thought it was worth risking it. Spent £40 on some essentials. Then I filled the car up with petrol. 

At last I have finished the weaving picture. It was a bit of a slog towards the end. I will show that soon. Got blog posts coming out of my ears at the moment. 

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

Ice cream treat by the river

What could be better than a walk on a sunny day beside a river. 

There is a boat hire place at St Nicholas Park. I walked through the entrance to the waters edge to get a picture of the colourful pedalo boats. Do I fancy having a go at that? Maybe not. However, the man was just stocking up the freezer with a delivery of Magnum Ice Creams. Ooooh yes please. 

I had to eat it quickly before it melted. 🍨

Now that the clocks have jumped forward I can go for a walk an hour later than usual. I'll catch you tomorrow with another video, and some more pics. Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

Castle pics + 2 churches

The best way to take photographs of the castle is to pay to get in. According to the web site it is £29 on the day, or £18 if you book online. Then you can get up close. I didn't have plastic with me, and I wasn't bothered about going inside. I wouldn't have enough time to see it all, and I wanted to look round Warwick. Here are a few sneaky shots. 

 

The man at the gate told me where to get this shot, the bridge on Banbury Road, over the River Avon. This is the view they use on the publicity leaflets. 

Here is a video of St Nicholas Church. Luckily the door was not locked. 

This is the magnificent St Marys Church. It was not open due to some renovation work going on. The bottom part of the tower was covered in scaffolding. I read on the leaflet that visitors can climb the 134ft tower for stunning views over the town. What a shame I couldn't do that. It looked pretty impressive on the outside though. 

It's been a lovely day today. I have been out in the garden, re potting plants and hedge trimming. The pussies have been out there with me, it was nice to eat my lunch outside. 

More Warwick pictures tomorrow. Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

Sightseeing in Warwick

Mill Street is a narrow dead end cobbled street. Come for a walk with me.  

I had a street map of Warwick which was helpful to plan the walk. Some lovely buildings, and I noticed that there wasn't a scrap of litter to be seen anywhere. 

This is a Tea Room with tables out the back. 

The sun wasn't always in the right place for perfect pictures. 

Some of these rather exclusive residences are at Bridge End. 

Come back tomorrow for some Castle pictures. Catch ya later.   

Toodle pip.   ilona

First car camping trip this year.

Here is the answer to the question, where am I. 

You would think there wouldn't be a lot to photograph on a Motorway Service Area. After I finished my coffee and tidied my bits and bobs in the car, I went for a bimble around. I noticed that  a lot of birds were nesting in the trees. It's a very noisy place to be laying eggs and feeding young ones, but that doesn't seem to bother them. I walked around under the trees and dropped a few crushed cheesy crackers. I think they probably hunt for any dropped food they can find. Within a couple of minutes they descended on the crumbs. 

The blossoms are starting to show. Pointing the camera up through the branches gives a nice contrast between the dark wood and the white flowers. 

I love the colour yellow, reminds me that spring is here. 

Had to photograph the parked truck with it's abnormal load. Oh happy days. I remember transporting loads like that. We used to have police escorts, but now the transport companies have to supply their own back up escort vehicles. Note the three axles on the tractor unit, that's a big one which can pull heavy loads. The load it has on here is not particularly heavy, just very wide and bulky. 

I sat for a while on a step on the edge of the lorry park, watching vehicles coming and going. Dreaming of, yeah, that used to be me. Seems such a long time ago now. 

A green Scania pulled in, with a tanker on it's back. Wow, that's nice. The driver got out and walked towards me, smiling, and asked if I was alright. I think I looked a bit odd looking a bit lost. Perhaps thought I was waiting for a lift. I couldn't contain my excitement. What are the chances of seeing another lady trucker on the road. There still isn't many about. After establishing that we had a lot in common, Morwen went off to the toilets, and brought us both a coffee back. How kind is that. 

Eventually she had to leave, after extending her break time to chat with me. I was so chuffed to meet her, it was like talking to an old friend. It was a fantastic start to the day. 

When I was ready to leave it was slow going to get out of the service area and back on the motorway. There had been an accident and the place was gridlocked. That was bad timing for me. Eventually the traffic started moving. There was a crew working to repair the battered central barriers and two lanes were closed. 

Back in Warwick I went to a car park that was recommended to me by the lady in the Tourist Information Office. I had drawn a blank with finding a car park which would accept coins for payment. They are mostly card only payments now and I didn't take a card with me. 

If anyone wants free all day parking in Warwick go to Cape Road. It was a car park for the staff and visitors to the council offices and the doctors surgery. Since everyone was told to work from home, and the surgery closed, the car park is no longer needed, so it is free. 

I will end this post here. There are more photo's and videos. Tune in to find out what happens next. Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

Here I am mother.

Hello. Just a teaser. Yes I have been away, a spot of car camping. One of many photo's I took and there are videos as well. Now I have to sort them out. Where do you think this is? Three days away, I stayed in one place, didn't move around. The weather has been glorious. Back late last night.  

I walked a lot so today will be a rest day, except for a doggy walk later. Billy will be raring to go. 

Catch ya later. Toodle pip.  ilona

Lets find the Pocklington Canal.

A mile or two out of Pocklington you come to the A1079, and Canal Head. This is the start of the canal. It was a lovely sunny day for a stroll. The grounds are well kept, grass mowed, parking area, and a picnic site with tables and benches. There is an information board, with free leaflets in a wooden box, help yourself.  

A lovely setting to start the walk. 

This is the first lock gate. I say gate as in singular, they usually come in pairs. 

Heading off down the well trodden tow path, this is the view ahead. As you can see the second lock gate has been removed and the water held back with a fixed wall of rough timber. I checked the leaflet, this canal hasn't had a boat up this end of it since 1932. It has been reclaimed by mother nature and was full of weeds and reeds. In parts the water could not be seen at all. 

Here is a little information board.

The tow path is in very good condition, I saw some dog walkers. One lone swan floating by, dipping it's head into the water to forage for food. 

At the fifth lock, none of the others had gates, I came off the canal at Coates Lock Bridge, to get on the road back to Pocklington. 

The view from the bridge, further on. The water does look a bit clearer down there towards Beilby. 

The walk back on the road took me past the Golf Club and through the village of Allerthorpe. A look at the church as I was passing. The door was not locked. 

The sun coming in through the opposite windows threw up some ghostly apparitions. 

It was six o clock when I got back to my car. First things first, pop into Aldi next to the car park and pick up a few essentials. I arrived back home just before 8PM. A lovely day out.

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona