Oh what a glorious summer

It has been, it has to be said, a wonderful summer so far. A usual summer tends to last all of 24 - 48 hours and then the drought is broken with rain for the next few months. Any way, all this glorious sunshine makes our micro-adventures all the more delicious!

Like the one we had today. We stopped at an erratic and geo-cached, loitered and took photos. It stands high up on a wild and windy moor (except today it was rather less moody and more hot and African like with dry rich red grasses and hazy skies) With your back against the great stone the view ahead it nothing short of glorious.

 
Tap on the picture to enbiggen it. You are looking the three peaks of Wernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent.

Another delightful moment was finding yarnbombing in Kildwick Church  - enough to make anyone smile :)

I love the Narnia lamp's bombing - especially the red 'sea-monster' effect just below the light.

Last weekend we had a steaming hot walk - when it is one of those, we tend to linger near streams and rivers to allow the dog (and us) to dabble our toes. But we do have to be careful. On this micro-adventure we came across snakes, monkeys in the wood and a troll under the bridge............. oh yes we did!

 

S'funny what you find when you are out and about - and do you know what? It makes life so much more interesting when you do!

Have yourselves a lovely weekend and go out and enjoy a micro-adventure of your own!

PS it is NEVER too warm to knit....

Cows do not moo....

Cows... do...not...moo...

Nope, they do not.

All these years we have been led down a farmery pathway of fabrication. I can unconditionally confirm that cows.do.not.say.'moo'.

I spent a week - well just shy of that- on a dairy farm with a field full of very vocal and loquacious cows. They had an awful lot to say....All day.

All through the night. Especially the night.

Or when the farmer drove by.....

or walked by.....

or wasn't even there...

Oh and at milking time when their herdmates are off being milked, these fishwife cows have been very voraciously putting their views forward and it went something like this...

Deep husky drawing of breath MwaaaaAAAHeeek  MwaaaaAAAHeeek (a huge bellow tailing off followed with a final HA and finishing with a trebbling squeak)

HAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaHHHH gasp for lungful HAAAAAaaaaaaaaaHHHeeeeek gasp for breath HHHHHAAAAAAAAWWWWW.

Then an equally vocal bovine neighbour responding with BAAAAAAAAHHHWWWWW wheeek(she has a strange squeaking gasp) BaaaAAAAAAAHHHWWWWWWW  wkeeeek. 

BAAAAAAAHHHHWWWWWW wheeek

THEN !  in the distance and getting louder as she walked closer

bah gasp bah gasp BAH gasp BAH gasp BAAAAAAAAAHHHH

Another cow had a witty retort back MRUAWWHUH MRUAWWHUH MRUAWWHUH (she must have been breathing through her ears, she didn't stop for breath during this part of the debate).

If you look closely, cows don't press their lips together to make the MMMM sound at all, nope, they straighten their necks out, heads up, eyes wide and go HHHAAWW or BAAAHGHGH or  MwaaaaAAAHeeek .

The only time I heard anything remotely like a 'moo' was when one complaining cow looked across the gate, without opening her mouth made a rumbling grumble from deep in her throat and said MMMMMMmmmmmMMMMMMMMMmmmm cough.

Oh and while we are at it - farm dogs don't go woof or say anything vaguely sounding like bark. This lot said things like....Wurrrrrrr wrrrrrrrrrrrrr or WOAH WOAH and even Hurrr Hufff HUUUFFF Huurrrr (reserved for the mobile ice cream seller) and today's dog word for the day is wurrrrrrrrrrrrr wurrrrrrrrrrr!

There. I have said it. I have broken the myth.

Done.

Home

My boys are home.  Despite the piles of dirty washing, the haversacks, the bits of holiday detritus and the house smelling of drying tents and sleeping bags it is lovely to have them back :)

Eldest survived (happily it seems) his DofE  despite the rain and the blistering sun and the miles and miles walked in the Lakes and Youngest has come back from visiting WW1 trenches in Belgium and France with so many photos and stories that we have barely touched the surface and he's still regaling us with ....and we saw this...and then that happened....we went there.....and we ate this.....and the stories keep spilling out.

Eldest took  photos of his friend who is self assured enough to do this.......

....................walk around dressed like a smurf whilst doing his DofE. 

No we don't know why either!

Eldest also took wonderful images of the early morning sky - he got up about 4am and stood with his camera as the rest of the walking group slumbered on.

Youngest had a mission whilst on his trip - find a special gravestone - and he did.

Now, while the rain hammers down (fantastic thunderstorm last night) my lads are gently recovering from their adventures.

Like I said - it's good to have them home.

Walking on the longest day

Thank you for your lovely comments about our solstice wild camping - it was a truly magical experience only made all the more special by the appearance of the owl and the shooting stars and the mist first thing in the morning.

Thank you too Cathy - The House with the Blue Door for asking how my exams went - well, like all exams they were quite stressful and I am extremely glad that they are over and done with. I won't know my results for some time as once they are marked they are sent off to be externally invigilated and the board only meet every 8 weeks - so I wait!


Back to my summer solstice waffle - We had arrived at our solstice wild camping hill later than we had intended as we'd had just completed a wonderful walk earlier in the day.

The four of us and Getting-old-Giddy-dog parked in the lea of Pen-y-Ghent - one of the first hills I walked up when I originally arrived in the UK. It amazed me then and still amazes me now with its arresting profile.

It was a most deliciously sunny day and at every stream the dog dipped her toes and her tongue in - occasionally lying down for a bit of a wallow.

It felt like we were the only ones on the hills and of course I had to bring some knitting along. The meadows were filled with wild flowers and at one point we came across a swathe of brilliant orange. We were captivated by the vivid colour of the (I presume) eascaped garden mimulus.

On one of our stops we sat deep in a meadow and I was mesmerised by the most delicate seed heads of the quaking grass (Briza maxima) - perfect little flattened heads twinkling in the breeze.

Eldest read his book, entertained by a different means, I returned to the view and the quaking grass.

By the end of our walk the sun was going low and we had a date with a hill and a sunset. Time to leave.

Solstice magic

We walked as quickly as we could up a densely covered heathery hill, racing to catch the last rays of the dying summer solstice sun.  We sat in silence as we watched the colours of the sky turn intensely orange, highlighting the dramatic heavy clouds. Then gradually the sun slipped down and the sky began to pale.

We returned down the slope to where were had planned to set up camp and in the fading light laid out the sleeping bags ready. Our mattress was going to be the thick mounds of scented heathers.

 Further down, where the car was parked we fired up the kelly (if there is one thing you buy yourself this year - make it this) and drank hot chocolate and greedily ate ginger cake.

It never really got dark that night as we lay in our sleeping bags. Whispering to each other as we watched shooting stars and satellites cross the steely grey blue sky. Then as I began to drift off at about 2am, Eldest whispered 'owl!'

I opened by eyes and was met by the dark shadow of a barn owl as it silently flew just over head. The down draft of its wings wafting my fringe - what a thrill of magic!

The moon appeared about 3am and I took photos of it as Himself lay watching it rise.

Himself later watched the sun rise as we all slept, taking pictures first of the sun itself then of the mist as it filled the valleys, leaving us marooned on our 'island' hill.

Breakfast was piping hot mugs of coffee and steaming pots of porridge.

Our experience was magical and we all felt elated afterwards, making plans to repeat our micro-adventure - Oh wild camping - you were amazing. Thank you.