Cheap hairdo

Hello. It's a gorgeous day outside, summer is back. There was a big turn out at Crafty Club this morning, a new member, and an old one came back after a break. I was a bit late getting there as usual and the session was in full swing. 

It was time I did something with my hair, looking a bit dull, needs a lift. This is close to my normal colour, the red has all gone so it's sort of brown. Luckily I don't seem to be going grey in a hurry, a few whispy hairs at the front and that's about it. I have been trimming the fringe when it flops into my eyes, but don't need to do a full head cut just yet. 

I've had a £1 hair colour in my bathroom for ages, so yesterday it was time to use it. The label on the box said, light blonde, I didn't want it too blonde just a bit lighter. I think it has worked out well, the colour has improved the condition of it.  I'll leave it a couple of months before I cut some off the bottom.

Now what's going on here? I have some plywood offcuts so I thought I would paint them, then see where it takes me. A bit like a jigsaw puzzle but none of the pieces fit together. I will play around with them, see what happens next, something will, I hope. A vision will appear, I hope.

I'm reading a good book at the moment, it's about Steve Jobs. What a fascinating character he was. His brain was very complicated and worked in mysterious ways. Pity he is no longer here, I'm sure there could have been a lot more to learn from him. It's a thick book so it will take me a while.

I'm scoffing a big salad for my lunch, glad to get back to healthy eating after five days away. Rocket, mushrooms, potato salad, cucumber, tomato, and cheese, with a dash of tartare sauce. I'll get off, must make the most of this fine weather. Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

Where are my photos?

Hello. While going back through the blog archives I noticed that some of my photo's are no longer visible. Wasn't sure why. Then I remembered that a while ago I had reached my storage limit with Picasa. This was where the photo's were stored. To increase my storage facility with them I had to pay a fee. I looked for a free alternative, and as I was already using Photobucket to post pictures on forums, I decided to also use it for the blog.

This became a bit of a faff, it took far too long, and the site was full of adverts which slowed things down considerably. I decided to bite the bullet and start paying Blogger for increased storage. I was pleasantly surprised that it was so little. When I started it was £3 a year, now it is just over £4 a year, such a piddling amount, not worth worrying about.

Picasa is now part of Google, as is Blogger, so I can see no problems arising from this set up and hope that my photo albums will not be lost from now on.

Photobucket used to be free, but now they make a charge. My photo's are all still there on my account, but I cannot use them anywhere else unless I upgrade and pay for that. The photo's which I have previously posted on forums, Down the Lane, and Walking Forum, have disappeared, and will be reinstated if I upgrade. I won't be doing that. It has ruined quite a lot of threads I started.

The good news is that I can post photo's on Twitter free of charge, and then copy and paste the tweet into Down the Lane. My photo's on here are safe, apart from the few that Photobucket have deleted.

People not on social media will have no idea what I am talking about. If you just read, carry on. If you post photo's elsewhere on forums it can get a bit confusing. I post the odd photo on Facebook, that seems to be straight forward for now. I can't be bothered with Instagram or Snapchat or any of the others.

Thanks for popping in, enjoy your Sunday, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

Short and sweet.

Hello. I've been a bit lazy today, reading, sewing, and pottering. Here's a little video I made the other day.



It's 8.25pm, the sun is still shining, and I'm now going to do my walk. My total to date is 674 miles. Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

Over the river to Giggleswick on the last day.

Hello. Here we are at day five and the holiday is almost over. Time for a little bimble before heading home. I have noticed on my travels that the old red phone boxes are used for a variety of other purposes, always nice to see them being preserved and adopted by the community. This one at The Green in Settle is a mini art gallery. The information leaflet states that the exhibitions are changed frequently, today there are photographs of moths. 

A guest book to sign laid on an improvised table supported by a silver birch log, with a pretty mosaic floor.

Colourful shop front. It's amazing that there are decorations left outside premises all day and night, and no signs of vandalism. Pot plants and flowers are everywhere, people like to decorate their fronts.

The Town Hall at Settle. Shops and the Tourist Information are also in the same building.

Leaving Settle I went a walkabout before I got in the car to go home. On the other side of the river is Giggleswick. I passed through the day before but it was late and I didn't see much of it, so worth going back. More pots, the pavement has been widened here to reduce the road width so cars are forced to slow down.

The village Tuck Shop.

I popped into the church and the ladies were setting tables for an expected coach trip to stop for tea and cakes. I asked about taking a look inside the school chapel, and they confirmed that I could get a key from the main reception, so off I went. The lady at reception gave me a booklet which tells of the history of it.

It's a magnificent building. According to the accounts of 1902, it cost a grand total of £27,689, that includes everything inside. To read the whole guide click on this link.

Beautiful organ pipes.

Detailed artwork on the ceiling looking into the dome.

I flicked the switches for the pendant lighting. Originally there were ten brass pendants lit by gas. After 50 years these were replaced by flourescent strip lighting. Then in 1987 the lighting was returned to pendents powered by electricity.

This is the reception building for the school. Here is their web site, click on the link to watch a video, aerial shots of the chapel.

Off I went for a little bimble, the flowerpot models have spilled over from Settle into Giggleswick.

Oh wow, wish I could stay here, but alas, looking at the house prices in the estate agents windows, and going by the cost of everyday living, I cannot afford it, so I shall just enjoy the views while I am here.

What do you need while sitting on a rock high up on the hill in the sun? An apple pie of course  ;-)

It was time to go home, so back to the car which needed to be moved off the car park at the B & B.

I can thoroughly recommend King William the Fourth Guest House at Settle. I paid £200 for four nights B & B. The food was excellent, and the room was modern with fresh white bed linen and towels,  I can't fault it at all.

On the way home I stopped off at Gargrave, a small village. Very pretty, a canal. a river, the Pennine Way passes through it, and there was a really good art exhibition in the Village Hall. Traffic was a bit busy because it was kicking out time for the Great Yorkshire Show at Harrogate. A quick dip into Tesco, a few bargains but I was too early for the last markdown at 7pm. Couldn't be bothered to wait, wanted to get home.

Pussies are fine, Janet looked after them as usual. Mayze was all over me, purring like a steam engine. I made a couple of videos on this trip, I'll get them onto yoootooob to see if they are any good. Now I have things to do so I'll sign out. Sorry, I have to keep the Comment Moderation on for a while longer, the spammers have found me so they need be filtered out and I can zap them before they start disrupting the smooth running of the blog.

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

Good views over Settle

Hello. A glorious day today for walking, and another 13 miles to add to the total. I had a steady start uphill out of Settle, heading towards Langcliffe. I remembered this view from a previous walk. 

On a bit further and you can see almost the whole of Settle nestling in the valley.

And one last look before I go over the hill.

I bypassed Langcliffe and went on to Upper Winskill, The track then took me to Catrigg Force, a waterfall flowing down to Stainforth Beck. The pictures don't do it justice, it was like a fairy grotto with the sun shining down through the trees.

This is where it starts at the top, it's just a stream, but by the time the water plunges over the rocks and crashes down to the bottom, it is very loud.

Here it is the water arriving in Stainforth village. I crossed over the stepping stones and sat on a bench for ten minutes.

Passing through Stainforth, and Little Stainforth, I headed for Feizor. It was wide open spaces with sleeping sheep all around me. Some of them sensed I was too close and got up to move out of the way. I wish they wouldn't do that, I can easily walk round them. I came across a few other walkers who were making the most of the good weather. This is part of the Dales High Way, a long distance path.

There was a cafe in Feizor which looked very popular. Quite a few motorcycles and cars in the car park, and everyone sat outside eating. I popped in for my favourite Magnum ice cream, then off I went to Austwick.

 By now it was mid afternoon, time I was heading back, so I followed the road through Lawkland.

Then carried on along the road to Giggleswick. Three large tractors passed me on the narrow road and I had to get out of the way. They then turned into a field so I stopped to watch for a few minutes. Those machines were fascinating. The first one has two large wheels on the back, like spokes, which turned in a circular motion and gathered the hay into long sausage like piles.

It went all around the edge of the field first.

Then the second machine followed it straddling the piles, gathering it up, and dropping it out of the back in a perfect roll covered in a net.

Very clever I thought, I bet they had the whole field done in an hour.

Giggleswick has a big school, with three bronze statues at the front. A good opportunity for a selfie, I thought. Just managed to take it as the battery was running out.

I got back to Settle just after 6pm. This is my last night here, before moving on tomorrow.

It's late, bed time, thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

Sightseeing in Carlisle

Hello. The day didn't start too well this morning, it was tipping it down with rain. I went straight to the railway station after breakfast and caught the train for Carlisle. It's a 1 hour 40 minute journey, and luckily the rain had stopped by the time we got there. A lot of other people had the same idea and most of the seats were filled. I got a window seat, I was hoping to see the Ribblehead Viaduct as we went over it. I was lucky that a nice man came and sat next to me. I hope he didn't mind too much that I never stopped rabbiting on about everything and anything. Unfortunately I wasn't paying attention to where we were, and I missed going over the Viaduct. Never mind, I can see it on the way back. 

This is Carlisle Station, there were lots of metal barriers at the front of it, couldn't work out why, no work was going on. Inside a lot of it was covered in huge wooden boxes which encased all the supports for the tons of scaffolding in there. A big renovation was underway, it looks like they are renewing parts of the roof. 

According to the web site, this is the Citadel which dates back to 1810.

 I followed the signs for Tourist Information and picked up a free street map.

It's in a big open space area with the Market Cross in front of it.

I took a few photo's of the Cathedral, and had a look inside. Sat for a few minutes reflecting how lucky I am.

I took a walk to the Castle entrance, it belongs to the National Heritage, I didn't go inside.

Instead I went a walk through Bitts Park.

And I got onto the Eden Bridge to go back into town.

The Market building is light and airy with a very high glass roof. The stalls are all modern and very colourful, and it's clean and tidy, no rubbish lying around.

This is the Hardwicke Circle underpass. I loved the murals on the walls. My kind of art, simple and colourful. The gardeners were busy sweeping up the debris and making the place look tidy. 

And here is the selfie you are all looking forward to, ha ha.

By about 3.30pm I had seen all I wanted to see. I was a bit disappointed that I found only one art gallery for which there was a charge, and no information as to what was in the exhibitions, so I gave it a miss. I was back at the station for 4pm and was able to sit on the train till it left at 4.18pm. This time other people were looking out for the Ribblehead Viaduct. Bit disappointing because you only get a glimpse of it. I expected to get the sensation of being very high up, because when you are looking up from the bottom it seems very high. But looking down it doesn't seem so high.

Now I can tick off Carlisle, been there seen it. A quick call in the Co op for a salad in a box for tea. A walking day tomorrow. I have a route in mind. Hoping for good weather.

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