Further on I crossed the river Bela which was a fine sight in full flow between lusciously green fields.
At 2.8 miles this was my longest venture so far, and the knee seemed to hold up well. The main thing is that I just couldn't have done that walk before the operation.
Modest as this short trip was, I was elated to be walking in our rewarding countryside again exploring new locations, and having surprise encounters.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Sunday - one day later.
Uplifted by yesterday's jaunt I was off again. I parked the car at Dallam Bridge (yes, I am driving again). I walked over Dallam deer park to Beetham.
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Dallam Bridge |
At Beetham I stopped at The Old Post Office Tea Rooms for soup, tea and a chocolate brownie. The tea shop owner is a young girl and a keen outdoor type providing a friendly welcome, with good food, and proclaiming "dogs welcome". I chatted here with the girl and her mum and heard about a backpacking trip round the Isle of Man - sounds interesting - must look it up.
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| The tea rooms at Beetham - always worth a visit. |
This trip was just 4 miles which is a half decent afternoon's walk, so things are progressing. Watch out, I may be following Mick and Gayle on The Pacific Coast Trail before long.
Soup, tea and a chocolate brownie. Aarghh. Such pansy fare. No, I'm not suggesting you should search out Dry Martinis. But why not pork scratchings, raw meat hacked from the haunch of a red deer and a pint of Irn Bru. It doesn't have to be true, you know. Insist on truth and your next publication could well be Round The Arnside Golf Course In A Middle-Class Sort of Way.
ReplyDeleteDon't let L de P wind you up! [I realize it's tongue in cheek.]
ReplyDeleteThink you are doing great.
You are helping to keep the local paths open - think of it that way.
Don't forget to report any obstructions to http://mario.lancashire.gov.uk
I'm just back from a couple of weeks in a very hot and sunny Lot valley.
Missed all the rain.
Well done sir, good to see progress. had my pre op today, so hopefully not long to wait.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget your bike rides
PS The walk around the I O M is brilliant.A world that time has passed by, except in TT week.
ReplyDeleteAileen Evans [the wife of Brian Evans] has written a guide book in the Cicerone series.
l da P - fortunately Arnside doesn't have a golf course.
ReplyDeleteI question your use of caps (Dry Martini) in that context, presuming you refer to the generic term for that concoction, which if done properly should be made with Noilly Prat, and not Martini.
JP - Thanks for your support against my captious journalist brother.
I had a look at Aileen's Isle of Man guide on Cicerone's web site and see it was only published in 2010 so it should be reasonably accurate - some of their guides are woefully out of date.
Welshpaddler - Good luck with your op.
At first I could not bend the knee enough to pedal my road bike, although I was doing ok with the exercise bike. About ten days ago I found I could just turn the pedals on the road bike with a fair amount of discomfort, and I have not tried again, but since then I lowered the seat on the exercise bike and I know I have more bend on the knee, so I will be giving it another try soon. I suspect that once I can walk good distances I will revert back to walking again which is my overall preference, although I hope to continue using the bike as well.
You're so literal. Who cares if Arnside hasn't a golf course: we're in cyberspace where lying, exaggeration and hyperbole are all trusty friends in getting one's message across. Notice, people are sympathetic to your situation; perhaps they'd be even more so if you revealed that halfway round your circuit you unscrewed the bottom half of your leg to let it rest. And, just to forestall you, I'm well aware such a practice is only possible under specialised circumstances (eg, with puppets).
ReplyDeleteThe world is full of people who want to tell me about booze, apparently blind to the fact that I hold a Nobel Prize in boozing. Yes I know the vermouth of choice is Noilly Prat but, it seems, Martini (the company) got there first and no one has subsequently thought it necessary to rename the cocktail a Dry Pratsie. In fact, in the land where the DM was created, the adjective "dry" was dropped aeons ago but I felt I had to spell things out for Conrad Walks. As to capitals there might be a case for using them (via subtle pronunciation over the bar) as a means of avoiding being served up with a glassful of vermouth as happened to me in Huddersfield.
All of which leaves you evading my charge that you go for the pansy food. Remind yourself that brownies belong to the genus cookie (a word I could never get on with) and ask whether a grown man who would, I hope, reject candy (another of those words) wouldn't be similarly putting his intellect at risk by chewing on yet more childish foodstuff.
l da P - The primary aim of this blog was to describe my outdoor activities to like minded people, hopefully leading to an exchange of experiences and information, and if others happen to find it of some interest so be it.
ReplyDeleteIdeally my trips may include some event or encounter that will be interesting. If there is no such event the post will be brief, or I will try to interweave some other slant, and in any case I will attempt to keep within a three hundred words. If there is some event of note or amusement I am not averse to some dramatisation or self deprecation, but not outright fantasy.
At my age I think it is too late to consider the effects of what I eat on my intellect and I will continue to eat what I like when I like without worrying about decline in my mental powers or having sleepless nights because I think some people may be referring to me as a pansy.
I do wholeheartedly agree with your dislike of the words candy and cookies. Candy reminds me of Kendal Mint Cake which for me is inedible due to its overpowering ability to penetrate tooth enamel and find the sensitive nerves within, despite its claim to have been a major factor in conquering Everest.
How about appealing to unlike-minded people?
ReplyDeleteIf I appealed to the unlike-minded in the sense of attracting interest or enjoyment, it would mean I had written something they favoured and I didn’t, but purporting to support myself, which would be a betrayal of my own stance, but I suppose you mean directing something at them to provoke, purely to instigate an intellectual discussion. The trouble is that few people would rise to the challenge of rhetoric, instead they would react aggressively, and not constructively, or they would just take their bat home, and you would have lumbered yourself with an enemy having gained nothing for yourself. In any case, this sort of thing is not in my nature - I will go a long way to avoid an argument and put the lid on for a long time, but when I can’t withhold it any longer I go off like an exploding pressure cooker. I am also a woeful fence sitter, and would probably find myself persuaded by their argument in the end if they did enter into meaningful discussion.
ReplyDeleteIn my previous response I outlined the aims of my blog, and they have been generally satisfied over the years, but this may not be apparent from just reading Conrad Walks. Most of the people who comment have their own blogs, and I comment on theirs. A meaningful amount of Information and discussion is exchanged arising from my blogging activity that is not always apparent from my blog.
I’m just off for another walk, and may well be calling at a tea room if one presents itself.
for my part, i read your web log as a sort of vicarious out-door enjoyment - thus let my literary critical faculties, such as they are these days, go for a gentle stroll - but in another direction - to meet up with them afterwards
ReplyDeleteluckily your blog won't allow my comments to be published (shades of Randolph Churchill and the Times) so neither you nor your disciples need worry about either their syntax or content.
Keep on the walking - I need the exercise!