Curry Night

We had a lovely evening yesterday with friends, sharing a homemade curry from the Hairy Bikers Curry Book.  We made a “light” korma so that it would be mild enough for our guests. It definitely tasted as good as the photo looked.  The onion and tomato pickle was also delicious with poppadoms so we’ll definitely be trying some other recipes. The homemade naan bread recipe looked fairly simple to make so I think we may try that soon. I especially enjoy fish curries and there are several recipes in the book so they are also on the “must try” list.

Hot and Spicy!

Nerea and Andy gave me a very acceptable birthday present today; The Hairy Bikers Curry Cookbook.  It’d been recommended to me by a friend and I fully intended to buy a copy when I was next in town but now, there’s no need.  We’re trying a Chicken Korma this evening as we have friends coming for a bite to eat and they are not into the wildly hot versions of curry that we’d normally eat! But no matter. The illustrations look good enough to eat so if the recipes taste as good as they look, it’ll become a family favourite.  

Above Ullswater

Ullswater

Today was one of those barmy autumn days when summer returned for a brief moment. Molly and I set out to climb Sheffield and Heron Pike above Ullswater returning via Glenridding Dodd, finding several caches along the route.  It was unbelievably warm and before I reached Seldom Seen cottages, I’d needed to divest myself of a layer of clothing.  It was a steady pull along Glencoyne to the Sheffield Pike summit but we were rewarded with superb views. Although I didn’t experience the solitude of other recent walks in Scotland, it was a wonderful day to be in the hills

Catstycam and Helvellyn

Towards Red Screes

By the Marker post

From Glenridding Dodd

Looking back to the fell from Mossdale Beck

My bag for a lifetime

I’m not a handbag person but some weeks ago I decided that my tatty old nylon handbag had to be replaced.  The zips had finally given up the ghost and the miscellaneous stains mapping its surface were too much for even me to tolerate!  I had an idea of the bag I coveted, for 10 years ago, I had visited Henry Tomkins’ leather workshop in Camden.  A short google later and I had “dream bag” in my sights, for Henry is still working his magic with leather.  My Hunter is now as beloved as an old friend. I’m finally content!

Edinburgh again

I made a flying visit to Edinburgh on Monday evening, returning home after a meeting on Tuesday.  Despite arriving in the dusk, I still found time, along with my bemused colleague, to find a couple of geocaches.  I would have liked to have found more, as I love the city and some cache owners have put considerable effort into their cache hides and pages when sharing their local heritage.  But, the longevity and popularity of the caches will mean that they are likely to be there for another day when I‘m not visiting for work and have time to cache

S. U. W.

Since Molly and I ventured into the hills above Moffat, the Southern Upland Way is on our list of “must dos”.  We walked up the Selcoth Burn valley before stopping off for a late lunch by the sheep fold.  A steep pull up the zig-zags to the top of Croft Head was rewarded with a stunning panorama. After finding the cache, we made an uneventful descent by a more direct route with equally superb views and before long we were back on the metalled track. Surprisingly, we didn't meet anyone on the entire walk despite the wonderful scenery and tranquility.

Jervaulx Abbey - a hidden gem

Yorkshire is full of surprises and one of them was revealed to me when I passed a sign for Jervaulx Abbey some weeks ago, on my way to a meeting.  I’d never heard of this beautiful, ruined Cistercian Abbey so pulled into the tea room car park and made my way across the park to the Abbey grounds. Inevitably, I checked to see if there was a geocache and indeed there was, so during my exploration of the ruins, I was able to indulge my hobby.  This was a truly spiritual place with an overwhelming sense of peace and tranquility

Not terribly dashing

Despite recent rain, Dash Falls were not terribly impressive last weekend when Molly and I visited on our way up Great Calva.  The last time we were there (in our pre-caching days), the water was thundering down, or so it seemed.  Perhaps it’s another of those rose coloured memories that lose clarity with age? But irrespective of that, the earth cache close by was interesting and the physical cache, an easy find.  We were warmed up nicely for our “follow the fence” route to the summit where after a spot of bog hopping, a geocache was waiting among the rocks

Dash Falls

Towards Binsey

Found it!

Bog hopping

On the summit

Summit views

Summit Views

Binsey

Like looking down the barrel of a gun - A.Wainwright

Music in the Hills

Despite the dreich weather in southern Scotland yesterday, we found ourselves in the forest above Phaup Burn. Accompanied only by the sound of occasional birdsong and the musical tinkling of hidden streams, the wind song was muted by the army of conifers.  But what a different story once we left the forest tracks behind!  The keening and moaning of the wind in the low cloud provided an eerie soundtrack to the first stage of our trudge up to the unseen summit of Skelf Hill. But once on the summit, the banchees were shrieking, as in in protest at our visit

Towards the forest

The wind begins to moan

The banshee is shrieking

Molly doesn't like the wind

Not a favourite

Nottingham isn’t my favourite city.  I’ve visited the city twice now and although I’ve enjoyed my geocaching adventures, especially along the canal and castle area, I haven’t developed a “feel” for it. Despite it being a student city, it doesn’t feel as vibrant as other university towns.  This may be because the university isn’t city centre based but I also think that the city doesn’t exploit its historical past (real or fabled), sufficiently.  There are indications that the lace industry heritage is being celebrated but as a casual visitor, I feel more could be done, even in times of austerity

Sky Mirror

Street Art

Council House

Cloughie

The Canal

Time to let go!

We really must conduct another book audit.  We still have far too many and in amongst the old favourites are some that we’ll never read again.  Earlier this year I sorted out some of Nerea’s books as I’d rather they were read and enjoyed by other children than keep them on a shelf for “the future”, but it was a hard task and I kept more than I “released”. I don’t know why I find it so difficult as I’m not overly sentimental.  Maybe it’s the associated nostalgia or emotional investment with a good read, but either way, I struggle