For newcomers

At the bottom of each post there is the word "comments". If you click on it you will see comments made by followers, and if you follow the instructions you may also comment and I always welcome that. I have found many people overlook this part of the blog which is often more interesting than the original post!

My blog nick-name is SIR HUGH. I'm not from the aristocracy - my middle name is Hugh which relates to the list of 282 hills in Scotland compiled by Sir Hugh Munro in 1891. I climbed my last one (Sgurr Mor) on 28th June 2009

****************************

Tuesday 9 April 2013

Thumbs up for Starbucks

Yesterday I rang to book my site at Cheltenham which got my holiday off to a good start, hearing a cheery Gloucestershire accent. This morning whilst hitching up the caravan I forcibly brought the car boot lid down on my head and although very painful I did avoid one of those profusely bleeding scalp wounds.
Onwards to a stop on the M6 at Keele Services (because they have Waitrose). I bought a sandwich and a Starbucks coffee to take back to the car where I managed to spill the whole of the coffee into the rear footwell. I went back to buy another cup and casually mentioned my mini disaster to the girl who promptly offered me a free replacement, and asked if I needed anything to clean up the car, and all this while they were very busy - it was worth my irritation at the incident to have this update of faith in human nature.
The footpath to Cleeve Hill, my first Marilyn of this trip, goes straight out of my caravan site. I set off at 2:20 and had a stiff climb up to the ridge where cropped turf makes for perfect walking initially on the Gustav Holst Trail, and later The Cotswold Way - unfortunately the eclectic bundle of music on my gadgets does not include anything by Gustav.Views of Cheltenham and its racecourse below were impressive. There is a circular stone construction on the highest point and a kilometre further the trig point and viewfinder. On the return journey I walked under a line of crumbling crags that Gimmer tells me he climbed on during his uni days - rather him than than me, they looked like piles of crumbling cinder toffee.
I omitted to take many pics with the iPhone/iPad and will try to remedy this in future, but it is quite a faff taking pics with those gadgets and the proper camera, and at the moment I have no way of getting camera pictures onto the blog.
The site is a farm CL* and the farmer was not in when I arrived and nobody has been to collect any money so far.
* i will explain this once only, herwith, during this trip. CLs are small caravan sites licensed by the Caravan Club to provide a maximum of 5 pitches only, and usually they have limited facilities, although many do now have mains electric hook ups as does this one. They are often on farms and tend to be quiet and peaceful, and less expensive than the main sites.
.

3 comments:

  1. You're just spitting distance away, among the Cleeves. Occasional Speeder managed the Bishops Cleeve branch of Cheltenham & Gloucester BS before she went on to greater things. I managed to miss the post, obviously some months back, when you defined a Marilyn AND HAVE NO DESIRE TO KNOW WHAT IT IS. It is certain to be some sort of techno-OS-anti-climax compared with the fancy I have of you lurching round the country falling into the arms of a series of MM look-alikes.

    I know what I have revealed will have set fire to your pants in your desire to tell me, but I would far rather remain in SUBLIME IGNORANCE.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know you are dying to be enlightened really but you don't want me to think so. If you can't bear it ny longer you could have a secret peep at Wikipedia.

    I am just having breakfast at the cafe in Cleeve within a hundred yards of the Cheltenham and Gloucester branch..
    I'm on the way to Bredon Hill which i seem to think also has musical connections.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My sister in law lives in Cheltenham and I have been up Cleeve Hill - no sign of marilyn though.

    ReplyDelete