New camera and The Levels

These are the pics that I promised last time, but they wouldn't upload! I just went for a stroll locally and experimented. I am quite pleased with the sharpness of the results and hope you agree.


Sunday, we did our usual  afternoon walk. We have been trying to get down to the levels all winter to witness the starling murmeations. Yet again, we got it wrong! Em was on her way back from London, so we had a deadline to be home for. Had we been able to stay just a few minutes more, we would have seen them, they were just flying in as we drove onto the main road home! However, I did take some photos.


The history of the levels, as the Somerset wetlands and reed beds are known, is anceint. There is a walkway, built by neolithic man, some 6 000 years ago that was found close to where we walked. The Romans harvested peat, this practice was carried on until very recently/ Origionally, the black material was cut and laid in the air to dry, before being used as fuel.


At present, you can see the reconstruction of a couple of Celtic round houses next to the car park. These would have been a great teaching resource for local school visits, had the site not been closed by the council. (I will climb off mt soapbox now)


The peat was laterly gathered for compost. However, now it is deemed to be detrimental to the ecology of the wetlands. Certain areas look as though the peat has been harvested, but on a much smaller scale. Most people now use more ecofriendly compost, such as that made from shoddy (otherwise known as dags, or the skirt of the fleece which id often the dirtiest, containing plenty of  'vegetable matter' as I heard one pocaster call sheep droppings lately.




There are bits of machinery all over the place, ready to dig out the black peat to mantain the ditches!




The levels is a super area for wildlife. This swan was finding so much food, it nearly toppled over!

 

All the way along our walk were tranquil pools where the rain had filled the man-made peat voids.



The reed beds attract many rare birds, such as bitterns (11 pairs bred here last year), there was even a single pair of Little Bitterns recorded last year, the only pair to breed in the whole of the UK! We also get several types of warbler nesting in the reeds. Each winter, the reeds have to be cleared to a certain extent to keep the pools from filling with vegetation. This also improves the habitat for rare moths found on the site.




The path through the reserve is the site of a disused railway.



New Camera!

Sorry I haven't posted here as often as I would have liked recently.

This is mainly due to the fact that I've had my Dad staying for a couple of weeks. There are problems, but much too much to mention here! He is home for the moment and I am on half term! So I am enjoying a bit of me time for a couple of days!

We still plan to walk on Sunday afternoons. So I should have a report for you on Monday. Especially as I now have a new little camera of my own, thanks to Dad!

Steve had a birthday last Tuesday and he now has a new library! I gave him a book on one of his favourite subjects, railway history. My Dad gave him a whole set of HD Westercott's walking guides. They were written back in the 1960's or so, but he had already owned the walker's handbook, written byu the same person, but used until it fell to bits! So now we have many other places to explore! It will be a bit like Micheal Portillo's BBC series where he takes the train and uses a rather ancient Bradshaw Guide, written back in the day when Sherlock Holms and Dr Watson were solving crimes! So as you can imagine, a few things have changed!

Firstly, the camera, I have tried it out, here are a few of my results:
Having trouble loading............. I will post asap

Rained off!

Sorry to everyone who was expecting to see some pics of our Sunday walk this week, rain stopped play! Next week will be slightly different because my Dad is coming to stay. We are collecting him the day after his birthday, but he has invited us out for a birthday meal. You never know, there might be some pictures of a meal out with the birthday boy/father!

As you know, another of  my passions is knitting. I have been using alpaca blended with BFL (blue faced Liecester) and marino, just lately. I had no idea of its history in Great Britian! I thought you might be interested in this..................

I have just been watching a TV programme, here in UK. It is called Great British Railway Journeys ( shown on BBC 2, series 2 episode 3).(this programme will beavailable at www.bbc.co.uk/iPlayer for the next 7 days from the date of this post! The presenter, ex MP Michael Portillo, took a trip round Yorkshire, stopping off at Saltaire. There he visited a mill where flax was origionally produced. This was until the owner, a Sir Titus Salt discovered the alpaca! Take a look at this letter:
http://www.saltairevillage.info/news-00004-thewinningpost...

When you have read that, take a look at these pics!
The last 2 of the mill, contain alpacas!
http://www.eriding.net/media/saltaire.shtml

We were not the first to see the importance of apaca fleece! I was very excited by this find!

Another Hill Walk

Today's walk was slightly different, in that Brean is a big tourist area. Our other walks so far, may be visited by holiday-makers, but are slightly off the beaten track. Brean Down is the last of the Mendip Hills before you reach the Bristol Channel Our path today was well worn and defined without being way marked. From the summit Bristol can be seen in the distance, along with the Severn Bridge, which is a gateway to Wales.Looking inland,you can see right over the Levels.



Looking towards the beginning of our walk



If you look between the two larger buildings, you can just see the steps that have been cut into the rock for walkers. You can also see the zig-zag path where the steps continue almost to the top of hill. Once you reach the top, there is a walk of about 2 miles.
Looking inland, both Brent Knoll and Crook Peak are visible. Below, in the centre is Brent Knoll. In the distance to the left, is Glastonbury Tor.



Looking inland towards the Levels

 We visited towards late afternoon, otherwise we would have taken a shot of the fort, right at the end of the headland. The fort was built back in the 1850's under the rule of Napoleon 111. It is one of four forts built to protect the Bristol Channel from invasion from the French. Although well armoured, no shots were ever fired from the fort. However, at 5am on July 6th, 1900, there was a huge explosion .  Gunner Haines had fired his rifle into the ventilator of the  magazine of the large No. 3 gun,resulting his death. One wonders what led him to do such a rather stupid thing! 



Looking towards Weston-Super-Mare

 If you zoom in on the picture above, you can see Weston-Super-Mare. You can clearly see the old pier, to the left. In the centre is the new pier, the old one burnt down just over 2 years ago, follow the coastline along to the right and you will see the the wheel. It is owned by the same company as the new pier and was built as an extra attraction while the pier was being rebuilt. My Dad was staying with us just before the fire and we visited the pier the day after. Dad had become very excited when he realized how close Weston was by train, he said he remembered as a boy, rollerskating down the prom and visiting the pier! The reason for the fire was given as a fault in the fish and chip bar on the board walk. The smoke from the fire could be seen as far away as Bridgwater and even further afield!

Looking across the Bristol Channel to Wales. Zoom in and you can see The Millennium Stadium (rugby)in Cardiff.

The sunsetting over Brean Sands

Then we had a quick dash back to the car park which closes at 5pm. If you don't get back before closing, there is a £75 fine to retrieve your car!
Where to next week?

A New Year's Resolution

HAPPY 2011!!!

Brent Knoll

New Year's Resolution? Proposed by DD#3's boyfriend - that we walk a hill every Sunday afternoon during 2011 and accepted by all of us! You read it here, so you will be able to see if we kept to this!


Yesterday we went for a walk that we have been promising ourselves we would do for more than 5 years! Not far from the motorway, is a hill called Brent Knoll. It appears to stick up in the middle of nowhere. It is 449ft high. It was known by the Romans as the Mount of Frogs. Knoll means 'a smooth mound'. The top of the hill has an indentation and I remember asking Steve, if he thought it could have been some sort of fort at some time. Having read up on the history, it seems that both Bronze Age and people of the Iron Age used it for its advantage of hight. There is a ridge around the edge of the summit and slight mounds towards the centre. Roman coins were found there, in an urn, in 1610.


The light changed as we were there mid afternoon. As the sun lowered the views became dimmer. I would like to go again as spring comes along, as I am sure the views in sunlight must be stunning! You can see across the Bristol Channel to Wales, Exmoor, the Mendips, the Poldens and the Quantock Hills.






Brent Knoll was used for Queen Victoria's Jubliees and all other jubilees since

Glatonbury Tor, about 20 miles from the Knoll

The motorway, with traffic nose to tail. A constant humming sound, from the summit of the Knoll, about the only sound to break the silence!

Crook Peak from Brent Knoll

The distant light houses at Burnham. The nearest one is built on the side of a house and is several yards from the water. It is now surrounded by other buildings and the sea is not visible when viewed from inland. Burnham has a total of three lighthouses, the two in the picture and a light on the church tower.

Crook Peak

Today, because it was New Year Bank Holiday Monday, we took another trip to the hills, this time in snow! This is the hill we saw yesterday. It was a very steep climb at the start, but worth it when we reached the top! We left the car at the bottom in slight drizzle, but as we reached the top it became obvious that it had been snowing for a while at the higher altitude and was still doing so. 

Crook Peak dusted with snow

Looking towards Cheddar

Crook Peak is a limestone mound and is 628ft high.

 Coming down, we found an easier, less slippery path to follow. We came across a cave, on further investigation online, I discovered that this cave was not found until 1994. There are numerous (although we didn't see any!) ochre pits nearby, as ochre was mined here as late as the 1920's.

Watch this space and see where we end up next weekend!









 



2011!

Well it's arrived! Happy New Year everyone! I hope it's a good one for all of you!
I don't have any photos to share at this time. There should have been some of Coldharbour Mill today, but when we got there it was closed. O think the weather in some places further south than us have had worse weather. On the drive down we noticed piled up snow! Ours finally disappeared December 23rd. The mill had a few fundamental problems, there was a burst pipe in the cafe, rather unhelpful for making drinks and washing up! Also a frozen leat which means no water to power the waterwheel for driving the mill! So no mill trip!

However, there was a good lesson in how much people matter in all this. If we had met my friend at the mill,we would have walked round looking at machinery, watched the steam-powered engines working, but I don't think we would have chatted so much! We found a nearby pub, had a bite to eat and chatted for about four hours! It was a good time. I think that's what the phrase 'quality time' means!

Holidays!

Its very rare for Steve and I to be able to just spend time around the house. Usually we have to dash around visting friends and family or are busy with church activities when not involved with the business. Well, this Christmas, we've done the visiting bit so now we are just enjoying some time together. We have both been enjoying some seasonal TV and radio together whilst pursuing our individual crafts.

I know............I have been promising everyone a pic of Steve spinning for ages! He is practicing the rythem of the treadle here, he has a couple of Shetland fleeces to spin when he's ready. They are LUSH!

If you have access to BBC Radio 7 on iPlayer where you are, I can recommend Jagged Prayer by Robert Smith, which is quite light listening. Also the Narnian Chronicles, which I think you will proberbly already know. Cover Her Face by PD James is also available. I haven't listened to Santa__ A Life, yet, but it sounds good!

We went for a short walk today, just to get some fresh air, but it was extreemly slippery still. I think it will be better tomorrow as we have had pretty heavy rain tonight and it doesn't feel cold enough to freeze.

We are childless for the while as our 'live at home most of the time' daughters are busy out in the world. We spoke to all 3 at various times during the day. It was great to get through to China at last to speak to DD#2!  Thank goodness for the invention of video calls via the net!

          I took this pic of her while we were chatting. She looks well and I love the new haircut!

I am in the process of making a scarf from a pattern I am creating as I go along (hope it works out!), not a very good one,but it gives some idea, oh yes and I have also had my hair cut!

I hope whatever you are doing, however you are spending the remains of the Christmas break and the New Year Holiday, that you have a really good time. A Happy New Year to all!

Bad Blogger!!!

I am a bad blogger! Sorry I haven't posted for so long! I have been busy with knitting, Christmas gifts and other items!
However, today was the last day of term ans although there will be plenty going on, I won't have so many deadlines to keep to.

A couple of weeks ago now, we had our last craft meet up of the year which was complete with nibbles and prezzies............. special thanks to Secret Santa!

As you will see, there is a birthday cake amongst the plates of goodies! Here, below, is the birthday girl!

Thank you so much for bringing your beautiful cake to share with us!

Today as it was the last day of school God provided the children with a good amount of snow to play in! This is what the Somerset high street looked like, just before we left for home:

Happy Christmas from Somerset in the UK!


It's now December 18th......... and we still have snow! It's taken everyone by surprise, we hardly ever get snow (except this and last year!) We certainly haven't had any before Christmas for a very long time!

 Not my snowmen, these! I wish they were! I passed them as I was walking back from a Christmas shopping trip.

A Sunny Saturday...........

Actually that's a lie! It poured with rain this afternoon, but we were really too busy (and indoors) to notice.
Steve's Mum and Dad came up on a coach trip, for a visit. Great to see them! And only 3 weeks to wait til we see them again! Yay!!

                                           This was a surprise I made for Mum-In-Law.

Autumn Sundays

This afternoon we returned to the beautiful place we discovered last week!

We have actually been several times before, but were restricted to the outer limits of the RSPB reserve as we had Daisy with us. Daisy was our good friend the border collie cross, who came into our lives for 5 short years, from a rescue centre. She loved life and all of us, but seemed to have a soft spot for Steve, for whome she would lie down and watch at his shop all day, unless I came to visit and take her for a walk.

Daisy came with us on a Cornish holiday and enjoyed a windy walk in St Ives. That was back in 2008.

Back to today,

 Here are some of the photos Steve took today.

The path running along the right side of the canal here, used to be the Somerset and Dorset Railway. It carried peat from what is now the wetlands and passengers, post etc., It was part of the mainline from Burnham to Evercreach Junction.

Light levels were very variable today.



At one point Steve said 'wait!' and clicked the camera. I wondered what he was doing, here is the result....................................

The Autumn Shawl!





Knit Club

Knit Club is still meeting here every first Saturday of the month and September was no exception. As you may know, I am a follower of Jacob's Reward Farm. They meet in the farm's Little Red Barn to spin, knit and partake of crafts of all kinds. Cindy and I have linked our two groups and she has been just great at sending video clips and great pics to me. She even sent a special one across for Steve to welcome him to the spinning fold.



You're a great bunch of ladies! We have also been sent the lovely green project bags and pins with the Jacobs logo embellishment on them...............thank you for those too! You can see them on Cindy's blog
http://www.jacobsreward.blogspot.com/

Cindy, here are the photos I took the last time we met:

This final shot is my lovely daughter, who as I write this is on her way back from London where she has been helping a Uni friend to set up an exhibition on Canary Warf, London. Hard to believe she is 27 isn't it?

A Visit To Wales

On September 23rd 2010, Steve and I celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary! It doesn't seem all that long ago that I walked down the aisle with my Dad and then stood next to a man who had bee at the church for the previous hour and who had become so nervous, he couldn't lok at me until the minister said'you may now kiss the bride'! He could have been marrying anyone! I am glad it was me! We have had some great times together. As every other couple, we have shared our low times, as well as the good times and of course look forward to many more happy times.


As of today, Steve is all set to create some more happiness all by himself........... as a wedding anniversary gift, I bought him his own spinning wheel!

Isn't she beautiful? We took a trip to Wales to collect her. We paid a visit to Clive and Joan's workshop. It is a handmade wheel and was owned by a lady who was really reluctant to part with it, but thank you, we are very glad you did! We were there for a couple of hours while Steve tried out the wheel, while I made friends with their little dog Billy. I am adding a link to Clive and Joan's site.
http://www.woodland-turnery.co.uk/
 We met them at Knit Camp,where their lovely daughter sat Steve down with a couple of their wheels and introduced him to spinning. We were particularly impressed, as they were both recovering from a heavy cold and this was the first time they had been at the workshop since. Just wanted to say how much we appeciated you coming out to meet us, and on a Sunday too!
Thanks to all of you for your help!

As we were leaving, Joan suggested a good place to stop for lunch. A garden centre called Secret Garden. Here's a link: http://www.secretgardenwales.co.uk/
We both recommend the Quiche and side salad!

We had a pretty uneventful journey home, but the good sunny weather and blue sky certainly helped to further the enjoyment of the day.

Keep spinning Steve!

A Fantastic Day!

      Isn't it great when you meet up for a day with a friend you haven't seen for months? Today was just such a day....... I met up with Leigh who I used to work with until she moved out of the area. We met at the bus station (we share the fact that neither of us drives) and then Dad suggested that we go to the local cafe for coffee. When Dad is staying we go there almost every day, but only when the weather's kind enough, as we invariably have his little Jack Russell, Billy, with us and of course, can only have a coffee if we sit outside.

Then after a few food purchases, we made our way home. After a light snack for lunch, Leigh said that she had been given a teacosy kit for Christmas, but that as she didn't knit she had shoved it out of the way and almost forgotten about it! So of course, as any friend would, I asked if she would like a knitting lesson. She said that she didn't think she would be able to learn, but I said, that there were few people who found they could really not do it. To cut this story short, she is one of the fastest students I have ever taught! She had it within about 10 mins! I think we were both amazed!

I think she has almost got it..................

.......................... Looking much more comfortable!

Later we had a tea which consisted of Cheese and Cucumber Flan (recipe to follow!) and salad with baked potatoes, followed by Strawberries and Clotted Cream. I provided the first course, Leigh provided the dessert......thank you, the strawbs and cream was wonderful and a real treat!
Then after sitting chatting for a while it was time to drop my lovely friend home. It is just as well Steve drives, as if we had been reliant on buses, we would have only had a couple of hours together! However, as we neared Leigh's home town, we were diverted a couple of times. After that, and a welcome stop for a very quick, qery strong coffee, we eventually arrived home at 11pm!

It was all worth it, I am thinking, as I get ready for bed. I have spent quality time with a great friend, who now has a new skill! Where will it take her? It has taken me to Scotland, Caused me to have the courage to set up my own craft group and through the crafts of both knitting and crochet,I have met and made yet more wonderful friends!

Last night something fantastic happened! Steve, who had attended Spin Night, when he accompanied me to Stirling, and been inspired by what he saw, expressed a wish to spin. So, when we arrived home, we checked out the price of wheels. We couldn't afford one right away. However, a friend, Anita, from the Group, when she heard of Steve's wish wanted to teach him. She later appeared with her daughter's wheel. That was Tuesday last week, last night everything clicked into place and Steve is now SPINNING! I am so excited as now we can manage all the processes, except sheering (and I guess that could be arranged!) towards producing our own scratch knitted garments! I am SO proud of him! Go Steve!!!

Home...........Back to Reality?

Well not quite! There was still a lot of fibre and chat going on! But before I get on to that.........


We arrived home at about 11pm Saturday night. Sunday, we had to be up with the lark, as DD#2 had to be at work half an hour's drive away and needed her Dad to take her. So we saw her safely there and called into a garden centre fpr a quick bite to eat. We then set off for Heaven's Gate, where our dearly departed dog, Daisy came from. We watched the dogs who are waiting for homes go through their agility paces. Some were very talented! I fell in love with a couple of greyhounds, and somehow managed to resist (with Steve's help!).

.http://www.maunsellock.co.uk/

Here's the link above, to the place where we often spend a Sunday afternoon so now you can picture us there most lazy Sunday afternoons! I was surprised that we weren't in any of the photos on the video. It's such a peaceful place and the little movie clip does it real justice,


The canal will still be there next weekend, the dogs were well worth the visit!