Drove to Borrowdale in the Lake District with our bikes for a 4 night stay. Horrendous conditions with atrocious rain on our drive. For our first charging stop there were no chargers available; the second one was still being built. Finally found a new charging station. Got to Borrowdale at 4.15. The weather was good! Lovely room overlooking fells and fields with sheep.
For dinner had chicken liver parfait and duck with blackened sweetcorn.
Weds Oct 2
Slept badly, too hot. We were first down to breakfast. The weather has dramatically improved, sunny intervals, 12 degrees. Did a lovely bike ride, 25 miles, straight out of the hotel along lanes and through Manesty and Braithwaite to Whinlatter where we had coffee, then past Buttermere Lake and up the very steep and curving Honister Pass (top pic). Had a hot chocolate in the cafe at the top of the pass.
Had bath. Had cheese souffle and tastes of pork.
Thurs Oct 3
Even better weather than yesterday. Sunny all day. Did one of our favourite rides, 44 miles via Threlkeld, Mungrisedale, Caldbeck, Braithwaite. Stopped at Caldbeck where there's a watermill cafe and delightful shop called The Woolclip. Had soup and a cheese scone. The Wool Clip is a co-operative of craftspeople making items from wool. Bought 2 flower brooches and a journal.
Plaice & crab starter and beef blade for dinner.
Fri Oct 4
Sunny start. Did a walk along Derwentwater, had coffee in Lingholme, where we saw the alpacas, and continued the walk to Keswick, 7 miles. Once there, J got the bus back while I had a look round the shops and got a later bus. For dinner had a pork belly starter and then sea bass with Thai flavours plus raspberry creme brulee.
Sat Oct 5
The Northern Lights had been predicted but didn't materialise. Long drive home today. Started with eggs Benedict as I won't have lunch. J has a cold. Did an EV charge at usual at Markham Moor. I drove the rest of the way. Quiet roads, sunny. Home by 4.
Sunday Oct 6
J's birthday. Did a workout. Had an early lunch at Larkshall with J's children and their children. Had Scotch egg starter and roast pork. Johnnie Walker announced his retirement. Watched The Resident. Below: Olive, age 2, with her ice cream.
Mon Oct 7
Lovely day. Did walk in the forest. Was nearly out of forest when a big dog ran up to me growling. Ugh.
Dug the dahlias out of the front containers. Can't believe tiny weeds have sprouted all over the rose bed. Wrote blog post. Started watching Showtrial (BBC iPlayer).
Tues Oct 8
Got a short notice slot for Pilates and walked over. Different teacher, enjoyed it. Went to superstore afterwards.
Weds Oct 9
Delivery from Damart, a gifted dress. See it here. Have decided to try to go to gym more often. Got in for LBT (legs bums tums). Quite brutal. Walked there and back. Forgot to take a towel so couldn't use gym as planned. Started writing books post.
Thurs Oct 10
Went in town (London, 25 mins from home on the train). Saw the Now You See Us exhibition at Tate Britain, in its last few days. Very good. Wrote a post about it here.
On the walk to Victoria popped into a shop called Retromania and bought a Paul Costelloe jacket for £25.
Fri Oct 11
Not a very enjoyable day. Was going to do a walk with J before Pilates but he was on the phone with BT for over an hour sorting out issues with new hub and transfer to EE. In the end I went on my own and did a shorter walk. Then had a dental appointment. I've asked for 2 crowns to be re-done as I wasn't happy with them. Temporaries again for 3 weeks.
Sat Oct 12
Sorted out my now 2 Kettlewell coour club events. Lightroom have moved the start of the Vogue: Inventing the Runway exhibition, which was a pain. Having to use Facebook events is annoying because not everybody seems to see updates and you can't always message people, depending on their settings.
Did an urban walk to Waitrose to buy a few bits. Surprised at how many businesses have closed in Buckhurst Hill. Sold some old jewellery.
Sunday Oct 13
Rest day. Had the shopping delivered. Roast chicken. Started new Cate Blanchett drama - Disclaimer - but not impressed. Looks beautiful but acting and dialogue stilted and flashbacks annoying.
Mon Oct 14
Did Pilates. Rainy day. Wrote 2 blog posts.
Tues Oct 15
Overcast, not cold. Did Body Conditioning for the first time. Tough! Certainly got the heart rate up. The instructor often uses the dreaded step apparently, so may not do it again!
Weds Oct 16
Did early walk as I had a 1pm slot at the National Gallery to see a members' preview of the upcoming Constable / Haywain exhibition. I've never been a particular fan of Constable, although I like his contemporary, Gainsborough. The Haywain was quite radical at the time. Below: close-up.
Thurs Oct 17
Did walk with J and then spent rest of day in garden. Lovely weather. Was supposed to be planting bulbs but spent a lot of time digging up violets, which have spread everywhere. Started season 2 The Resident. Fell downstairs after slipping on a sock. Sore backside. Eating pineapple, which has bromelin (nature's Ibruprofen).
Fri Oct 18
Foggy start. Squirrel has so far not dug up pots. J hit his head on a shelf on the garage. It was a surface wound but bleeding quite heavily. He had a lie down, so we didn't do Pilates. A new dehumidifier arrived.
Sat Oct 19
Overcast in morning. Did short forest walk. Sun came out after lunch. Weeded drive. New humidifier switched on. Started rewatching The Diplomat (Netflix) in readiness for the new series on Oct 31.
Sunday Oct 20
Did a quick photo in bedroom to preview my 7 day skirt challenge which starts tomorrow. Windy with showers. Roast chicken. Dehumidifier was full of water so definitely working.
Mon Oct 21
Overcast. Did 5 mile walk with J. First day of skirt challenge. We saw the longhorns being lured to the Plains by herdspeople with boxes rattling. Had a chat with one of them. Most of the herd will now go to their winter quarters. Some of the cows will be pregnant. Around 12 will stay on the Plains for winter, unless conditions get too bad.
Tues Oct 22
Quite warm, a bit of sun pm. Planted more bulbs and weeded. Walked to Woodford to give blood, 1st time since 1998. I stopped back then because my low blood pressure meant it took too long. This time it went well, bag filled up in 5 mins. If I donate every 4 months I'll be able to carry on until I'm 70.
Weds Oct 23
Sunny spells, warm. We went to the Postal Museum, had a ride on the mail train and then lunch. The mail train was fun. It's a tiny underground train that in its heyday was handling 3 million letters a day. It ceased operating in 2003. The train has been adapted to carry passengers.
I had 3 compliments about the outfit I was wearing, purple and green outfit. Very unusual, as I am mostly invisible these days. Below: squeezed into the Mail Train.
Thurs Oct 24
Beautiful day. Did walk in forest, saw 12 cows on Plains. Booked for opening of the refurbished Royal Forest. It's been taken over by the Heartwood group, whose assets include Raymond Blanc's brasseries. Did some gardening, still have bulbs to plant but need more compost. Started Territory, Netflix. Australian, very good.
Fri Oct 25
Very grey. Took photos of 3 skirt outfits to complete the challenge. Behind me the wretched squirrel was inspecting my pots! Went to Pilates.
Saturday Oct 26
Grey day. chance of showers. Met some of the Kettlewell ladies for a sale at the former Truman Brewery in Brick Lane by SmaartWorks. This is a charity, supported by Kettlewell, which provides young women with clothes suitable for job interviews and work. The sale was clothes which have been donated, many by brands, which are not suitable for that purpose.
Had a great time browsing the rails and picked up a cute Karen Millen red pinafore dress.
Sunday Oct 27
A bright warm day. Shopping was delivered. Finished planting the tulips (90 bulbs). Have dusted containers with hot chilli powder, which seems to deter the squirrels and foxes. Johnnie Walker's last Sounds of the 70s. I had a hanky handy but it wasn't a tear jerker.
Monday Oct 28
Warm, overcast. We drove over to High Beech to do a walk in a different part of the forest. Came across location units and two posh loos. Forest colours are spectacular.
Hope you enjoyed my review of the month. How was your October?
These are the fabulous sites I link with.
.jpg "Books in October: Is This Mutton")
Dear friends. It's time for another Tell Us About challenge, where 10 bloggers from around the world respond to a prompt each month.
I'm thrilled that we're back to full strength with the addition of US blogger Anne M Bray.
This month we're ruminating over Schooldays, a prompt set by Penny from Frugal Fashion Shopper.
We can approach the topic from any angle we choose. I imagined there would be several reminiscences about schooldays so I decided instead to pick just a few comedic moments from school - and Sunday school (which counts as a school), including one from my mum.
Gifted Fashion
Dear friends. A striped knitted dress is your best friend, when you find the right one. That's an important caveat, because they're often a fine, clingy knit that highlights the lumps and bumps. I don't know about you, but I've got to an age now where I refuse to wear "control pants."
I'm glad to say I've found the perfect striped knitted dress, and it's from Damart.
And Wow on Wednesday
Dear friends. Meet Sally Millington, a 45 year old woman who has been setting herself 52 challenges a year since 2018.
In addition to completing 336 challenges (so far), Sally also has a side activity of running every single day. She recently passed the milestone of 700 consecutive days.
The challenges range from physical, creative, relaxing to travel related and some Sally describes as plain daft. Here are 5 of the challenges to show how varied they are. We also have some tips on how you can become an everyday adventurer, like Sally.
