Insurance lives up to its awful reputation.

 15th February 2025

I bought a secondhand Kia Sportage from Lloyds Motors, South Lakes four months ago. It was sold with a guarantee.

The petrol gauge stopped working so I claimed through Lloyds and they booked me in and provided a courtesy car. I then received an email from Mechanical Breakdown & General Insurance Services Ltd (MB&G) saying my claim had been declined. It seems Lloyds outsource their guarantees to this company. A loose nut had been found in the sender unit. This was not a matter of wear and tear. I rang Lloyds and told them I was coming to see somebody senior straightaway. When I arrived I was ready for confrontation, but a charming lady Service Manager had seen me come into the showroom and immediately told me not to worry, they had agreed to honor the guarantee themselves and the work was done free of charge.

Generalisation can be dangerous but from my experience insurance companies have been the worst service sector I have had to deal with in my long life. They do have an appalling reputation.

Ellerside and How Barrow north of Cartmel

 Wednesday 29th January 2025

A real gem of a walk today.

But, from Grange-over-Sands the way to Cartmel had a "Road closed" sign. I have seen so many of these over the years and my estimate is that on more than fifty percent you find you can get through, so I carried on for nearly a mile only to find the road was blocked. So the return to Grange and a long detour on narrow roads and no passing places provided much suspense. I eventually approached Beck Side from the north.

This was one of those rare good single day forecasts in the midst of doom and gloom. The blue skies and sunshine lived up to the prediction. The whole of this fringe of the Lake District area is superb limestone walking country and it was so good to be out there. Tarmac uphill and then good tracks had me up to the Ellerside ridge. You approach a distant wall and a well constructed stile. As you gain the top of the stile you have a dramatic surprise view of the estuary below and the whole Coniston range dotted with snow in the distance - brilliant!

Walking on the ridge is of the best with cropped turf and good paths with rocky limestone outcrops and continuing views in all directions - classic ridge walking.

The map showed that How Barrow trig was on the other side of a wall from the public footpath and I was concerned it may not be accessible, but there was an open gateway leading to the summit - I have not shown that short diversion on the map below. The summit provided the perfect location and timing for my sandwich and coffee. I took in this ambiance and valued being  privileged at the age of 85 to still get out and be reasonably "on high" in such best of surroundings.

I descended and took paths back on good paths through fields. At one point I chatted with a guy working for the land owner on improving the land drainage and  similar after neglect by a previous owner. This chap was driving a Kubota tracked digger which he said the new owner had bought for him without hesitation to enable reaching into  deeper water courses. His young Labrador came at me barking as we met but I could tell it was all show and we became instant friends through obligatory stick throwing.

On the way in I had bought a  pork pie from the legendary Higginsons butchers in Grange and back home after a hot bath, and the pie making the base of an enjoyable meal, followed by some benign tele. watching, and a drop red rounded off as good a day as I have had for a while.

There is much satisfaction from those sybaritic pleasures after they have been earned by some  good quality exertion. 

 Blogger would not let me delete the underlining on some captions despite "Clear Formatting" etc.

Worth clicking photos to enlarge.

Quiet tarmac to start with but with expansive views

Over Ridge, and "Lonesome Pine"

My trig point was on the lefthand end of the skyline ridge, 

Speel Bank, this more modern house and just up the hill the old farmhouse

Topping out on to the Ellerside Ridge with superb views of the Coniston range and from the stile the full surprise drama pf the Cartmel estuary

A genuine surpise view from standing on this stile. The photo below is a zoom to the crag on the skyline

The Old Man of Coniston

All the photos on this Ellerside ridge were looking back because I was walking directly into the sun

First view of How Barrow trig

The Coniston range from How Barrow trig

Still good walking on the way back

You don't have to listen to it al

Yealand Conyers and St. John's Church

Sunday 12th January 2025 

Looking at the OS map recently, as I often do, I noticed a church less than four miles from home that I had never even driven past. It is situated on a little used link road. It makes for more interest when one has an objective for a walk. I had previously plotted a little route of less than three miles, and with a snap decision off I went on Sunday morning.

From Yealand Redmayne I walked anti-clockwise through s mixture of woodland, and limestone dotted open areas. The weather was dismal reducing distant views to a subdued purple haze, but the immediate ambience was all delight, and a little gem of walk. Recent snow and freezing temperatures had just subsided the day before and any areas of mud on the well established paths were still not quite thawed making for comfortable going.

As it happened there were two churches, the first being St. Mary's Catholic Church at Yealand Conyers. This was built by the Gillow family of furniture making fame and present incumbents of the nearby Leighton Hall and estate.

The church was built in 1852 for Richard Gillow of nearby Leighton Hall, and designed by the Lancaster architect E. G. Paley.^[4] It cost between £1,100 and £1,200

Courtesy of Wikipedia.

A short stretch of road going north from Yealand passed a Quaker meeting house and then a path across fields and downhill to a row of isolated farm buildings. They had been renovated to two quality dwellings with fittingly a new high end Porsche sports car and a top of the range Range Rover parked up.  

A short lane lead to tarmac and straight across to the short link road containing my objective: St. John's C of E church. I looked inside and the lights were still on from a service earlier this morning and an elderly lady was bustling about tidying up. I didn't want to intrude too much but managed a quick photo without being noticed. The church had obviously been heated, and that lighting had a warm glow. All was cosy and much more homely than one normally encounters in a church. I retreated and had a look round the extensive graveyard. There were number of war graves including two twenty four year olds who had died in the early part of 1914. stirring my emotions.

As I returned the church lady was just emerging and we had a little chat about, guess what, the weather and also her approval of my use of trekking poles.

A short lane and a couple of fields including the only stile on this walk which had been well supplied with gates had me back to the car. All in all a most enjoyable little outing.

From the car. The footpath lead off left from that furthest point on the road

St. Mary's Catholic Church

Yealand Conyers

High quality dwelling conversions

St. John's Church

ARTICLE: Allan Austin Obituary – A Prophet of Purism

https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/allan_austin_obituary__a_prophet_of_purism-16128

Fairy Steps, the climb RR refers to below. This is before he was involved with detaching and falling with the large flake. I think it is the one highlighted.

Shopping in Arnside and NHS run around

Monday 6th January 2024.

Yesterday (Monday) I needed to buy a card to send to my great niece on the occasion of her engagement. The snow had gone, the sun shone, so I opted for some exercise. Walking down to the village developed into an idea to photo record all the retail shops and other resident benefits. Little did I realize that I would have a second tour round the village later in the day.

Off I went down Briery Bank and along Black Dyke Road to arrive at the first establishment on my list.

Mobility shop supplying our less mobile residents with those little vehicles that we see dodging about the village. But also they have a comprehensive stock of household and DIY well beyond what one might expect in a village of our size.

Specialist outfit exclusively for preparation of rally cars

A recent change of use. This was previously the Jazz Café catching travelers alighting from the station across the road. Haircutting has moved on since I was a lad.

Arnside fish and chips. The café is seen on the front, outsales up the side.
This is a "destination" for folks from far and wide. They also do home deliveries, but this is now becoming an expensive luxury. A far cry from visits to the local chippy where I lived in Bradford after Cubs and buying a bag  of chips (with scraps) for a few pence.

Phil is a long established ladies hairdresser with strong family connections in the village

Hackney and Leigh estate agents.

Ian Bullough is the proprietor of this convenience store and POST OFFICE. Ian also owns a second convenience store higher up the village that we refer to as The Top Shop.

Ye Old Fighting Cocks pub

For years this was an eccentric junk shop but now converted to a sort of art gallery

An exclusive gallery for the arts in general. The building was renovated to a high standard. I'm not sure how much custom they get - all a bit of a mystery 

A much more down to earth gallery selling mainly paintings from local artists

When I came to Arnside this was combined with a thriving post office but now mostly tacky gifts and ice cream. The post office was transferred to the previously mentioned Londis and Ian Bullough

Not sure what goes on here. It is only manned occasionally.

Good quality gift shop and large range of ice creams. Proprietrors well known to us as friends

Good quality ladies used clothing. Well established

Café. Believe it or not, I have never been in

Pizza restaurant and wine bar. Established a year or so ago. Well patronised.

Another well established gift shop. Good quality. Some good local art as well

The Country Shop. Well established high class ladies and gents clothing. The son of the owners is also employed there and is known as friend of my son, they are all part of a loose knit group of friends in the village. Paul is a keen wind and kite surfer, seen out on the Leven estuary opposite the shop  whenever the opportunity arises; he also sails a yacht based in Scotland.

Pharmacy. Recently changed hands. We all hope it will prosper under new owners

Bakery and café

The Albion pub. Very popular. Also serves food. Good for sitting outside in summer with views over the water

Fairly recently re-opened as a vintage/curio/bric-a-brac shop.

Arnside Women's Institute Venue for a wide variety of uses

Arnside surgery. Now part of group with other surgeries at Milnthorpe and Carnforth. Appointments can be allocated to any of these. That is ok if you have transport and gives the practice more options and versatility for appointment making.

Ian Bullough's Top Shop. Ten minutes walk from my house and very well stocked. A great facility for the village.

Arnside Dental Practice. My son and I  have now found a dentist in Lancaster providing NHS service

That was my trip round the village in the morning. I have missed the excellent Arnside Institute. founded on a wealthy legacy with a number of meeting rooms, and used for many varied activities on a regular basis including a library, all kept at  a high standard of upkeep and a marvelous facility for the village. We also have a fire station and the Beach Café about quarreler of a mile down the shoreline.

On this day I was having a problem with my eye, red and watering. My son had noticed it getting worse over the last few days. I was also concerned because it is the same eye that had a detached retina about nine months ago. 

Lunchtime - I phone the GP for an appointment. 9th in the queue. When it gets down to "you are next" it then defaults back to 8th in the queue. This happens several times. I was on the phone for 30 mins. timed on my iPhone.

I drive to the GP's surgery. The receptionist does say she believes me but insists there is nothing wrong with their system. She looks at my eye and says the practice does not deal with this. There is a special arrangement via NHS for you to see the local optician (Baverstocks in Milnthorpe).

I ring Baverstocks. They say that the NHS arrangement has now changed and I must see a pharmacist first, and if that doesn't work then get my referral back to them

I drive to the pharmacist. Taking into account my medical history, age, etc. and the deteroration, he says I must see a GP and he is referring me back to the practice.

I drive back to the surgery.

After some resistance from reception she informs me I will get a call from the doctor this pm

I get the call for an appointment at the Carnforth surgery for 5:15. Good job I can drive.

I have been in Arnside at this surgery for twenty years with always exemplary service. but I guess they are under more and more pressure these days. Shame.