And the last two full days in England

were spent going to church at Kelvedon on Sunday; taking Kathy to look for those items which seemed hard to find; and a final ring at Stisted on Monday evening. Tuesday morning off to Heathrow on the A120 - M11 and M25. BA flight 289 to Phoenix was not full and had a reduced cabin crew. Spent Wednesday in Phoenix then flew Great Lakes airline to Show Low where Chris and Steve collected us; and now we're home with the cats and dogs . . .

5 June Day Thirty-Three

A visit with an old friend in Eye, Suffolk. On the way I stopped to take another picture of Dedham Vale

After detouring to Felixtowe we called on Johnny at Woodbridge (I missed a turn again) to give him a lift to Eye; he was our navigator through the beautiful Suffolk countryside. After a relaxing lunch with Corinne, Scott, Elizabeth and Jade we walked with Corinne to the parish church and up the castle hill to the folly then back to the Pest House for tea and cake.  Here is a site with an excellent review of the purpose of a pest house and  at Odiham there is a pest house open to the public.  Few examples remain.

And the view of the church from the castle mound

Interior of the parish church dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. The church underwent a major restoration in 1869 and in the last century Ninian Comper restored the rood and the east window.

On the way home Kathy had to stop for a pint at The Old Anchor, Feering

I mentioned Sir Ninian Comper, a name familiar to me from church crawling days around the fine and the humble churches of East Anglia, forgetting his is not a household name with the familiarity of modern celebrity.

4 June Day Thirty-Two

Another beautiful day to take a few more pictures of the Essex countryside.

Cressing Temple Barns

The other side of the bridge over the river Brain that I photographed last year

The old forge at Chipping 

 Hill

Cottages along Church Street, Chipping Hill

St Andrew, Belchamp St Paul. This is where I rang this evening

3 June Day Thirty-One

Shopping trip to Colchester and lunch at The Hole In The Wall on Balkerne Hill. Then, you guessed it, ringing in the evening at St George's church, Sible Hedingham.

2 June Day Thirty

Chill out day then ringing at St Nicholas, Chipping Hill, Witham in the evening. Eight; tenor 18cwt. A visiting American thought I was American. I must stop 'D'ing my 'T's and not use American idiom.

 St Nicholas, Chipping Hill, Witham. Pity about the power line . . .

Day twenty-nine

Derbyshire dales

A rainy day. Time to unwind. Lunch at The Compasses, Pattiswick. Ringing tonight? Yes, at Feering.

Days Twenty-seven; Twenty-eight

Travelled over the Pennines and skirted the Yorkshire Dales, after I missed the Wensleydale road, and down the A1(M) to Sheffield. My nephew and his wife had invited us to stop over night to break the journey back to Essex. We took them up on their kind offer and Sunday I got a rest from driving as Illyr took on a jaunt to the Peak District where I  had time to walk in the strong winds and admire the views from a portion of the Pennine Way. Well, not quite The Pennine Way but from Mam Tor.

29 May Day twenty-Six

A travel day across the Pennines and through the Yorkshire moors to Sheffield. But first I had to take my morning constitutional. This morning I visited Grasmere in the rain.

Days Twenty-Five

 Early moring walk to Rydal. Through the estate to Rydal House owned by the Diocese of Carlisle on the Coffin path;

I the crossed the road and walk up to join another footpath through the gate in the wall opposite The Badger. I took the middle path up to the Rydal Caves which remain from the quarrying of stone for the local buildings. 

I walked down to the path along the shore of Rydal Water and returned to Ambleside refreshed and ready for the pleasant drive to Gatehouse of Fleet to see Kim Ayres exhibition Staring Back.

Day Twenty-Three

After yesterday's rain today started sunny with scattered showers forecast. I took these pictures on my morning constitutional. I didn't meet any deer this morning.

After the morning walk a visit to Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's house at Near Sawrey. The Vegetable garden:

Dinner at the Indian Tandoori restaurant in Ambleside.

Day Twenty-two

Short drive to Bowness-on-Windermere yesterday but I didn't snap any pictures but this panorama.

This morning I was determined to get some shots of Ambleside sans tourists and traffic.

The oldest dwelling in Ambleside

And this is one of the perks of wandering about before the sun is shining over the hills.

After my lone jaunt on foot we went on a drive to the west coast by way of Rydal, Grasmere; by Thirlmere under Helvellyn; Keswick, Cockermouth staying inland to Cleator Moor and then stopping at Whitehaven,

St Bees, where Wainwright's Coast to Coast walk begins; it ends at Robin Hood Bay on the Yorkshire coast.

We took a detour through Seascale and then up to Wasdale Head to gaze at the rain and mist shrouded Kirk Fell, Great Gable, Lingmell and Scafell Pike;

the screes sliding into the far shore of Wast Water;

Ravenglass where I had to forego a ride on La'al Ratty if I was to get to Chapel Stile in time to ring;

and then home through Broughton-in-Furness and Coniston. We'd missed the heavy rain in Ambleside.
Then I went ringing at delightful Chapel Stile. A light easy going ring of six.