Flaming June A Belated Post.

Hello! I'm still playing catch up so here without any further ado is June.

 June started with a day off and a day out with Soo. She came over to mine and we headed out for a walk and to check out the newly opened café part of The George pub in Upton. 

On arrival it turned out, they had a lunchtime deal on for a ciabatta sandwich, slice of cake and hot drink for £10. I chose the tuna salad and Soo the local ham, cheese, and chutney. As we hadn’t really  been able to decide we went half and half on both the sandwiches and the cake (blueberry for me and apple and cinnamon for Soo) 

The sandwiches were huge I almost couldn’t fit the cake, almost. Sorry no pictures as we were too busy eating!

It was a lovely walk, and on the waddle back home we plotted going away for a weekend with our other halves. Something we had wanted to do last year but somehow the dates wouldn’t work. Discussing places we would like to go, we both settled on Lyme Regis, somewhere I have never been but wanted to, and somewhere Soo had only passed through.

 

I can confirm we did actually manage to make it happen! but more on that in a later post.

 

On Saturday 7th I was up bright and early (not an easy thing for me on a weekend!) and off into Oxford suitably bedecked to take part in the Oxford Pride parade. The morning started with a quick change into one of our staff group t-shirts before heading to breakfast at Worcester College. Before I left the office I had the foresight to take a handful of the plastic rain coats we have there for when we run events with me, the weather forecast that morning was not meant to be ideal. 

Sure enough, it started raining and basically ping ponged between drizzly and torrential for the rest of the day, so they were most welcome. 

The parade itself was much smaller than previous years, I don’t think the weather helped, but it was great fun with such a wonderful atmosphere. I’ve only ever attended as a spectator before and I must admit it’s a very different feeling to be in the thick of it. I didn’t stay for the whole evening’s events instead I went home, got into some dry clothes and chilled with a large glass of wine.

 

The following Monday we were out for a family dinner. My cousin’s daughter Chiara had got married and come over to the UK for her honeymoon. She and her husband were staying with my Mum for a few days before heading up to Scotland, where they hired a car and did a mini tour before flying home from Edinburgh. It was actually surprisingly difficult to find somewhere open on a Monday, but we ended up at a pub near my Mum’s where the food was delicious.  

 

Saturday the 14th was another one of those weird coincidence days where I had planned to be in London meeting Charlotte and Alex and it turned out Himself was also going for the day to meet his friend Paul, the third time this has happened this year now! So we were both up early, breakfasted and on the train to London. As usual I met Charlotte at Paddington and we then headed off to St James Park to rendezvous at the main gate with Alex before taking in the rose gardens, somewhere that Alex goes every year in June when they are at their peak. 

It was a gorgeous day, and the rose gardens were glorious, very busy,  but so beautiful.

We spent a long time ambling about catching up on news and taking pictures. 

We got chatting to a fascinating old lady by one of the ponds who used to be in the diplomatic service and had been all over the world, I could have listened to her stories for ages, but we had a lunch reservation to meet. 

I also did my good deed for the day when I spotted an envelope marked important on the floor that someone had obviously lost so I popped it into a post-box so it would get back to them. Mind you, as Charlotte pointed out, it might have been a deliberate loss and I might be doubling their distress by sending it to them a second time. You just never know! 

 

We headed to Marylebone where Alex had booked a table in a tiny Greek restaurant. Sadly it was so hot I couldn’t face more than a haloumi and salad wrap so didn’t really do the food justice. I was intrigued by a tiny old lady sat alone at a table across from me. The whole table was covered in mezze dishes which she tucked into with such obvious pleasure, all washed down with a huge glass of wine. We speculated as to whether that was maybe her monthly treat to herself, she was clearly getting such joy from it. Once replete we ambled out and had a blissful browse in Daunts Book Shop.

Somewhere I am ashamed to say I have heard of, but never been to before. OF COURSE I bought a book!

 

Another to add to the ever expanding, teetering pile by the bed.

 

The plan was to head to the Wallace Collection Museum next, again somewhere I had heard of but never been. By now the day was brutally hot and by the time we got there we were all flagging and Alex admitted to really not feeling very well at all. We looked for the café there, but it turned out to be an enclosed room with a glass roof! 

We beat a hasty retreat and instead decamped to a nearby restaurant. Here we found a shady table for restorative cold drinks and in Alex’s case a couple of paracetamol.

Once rested and refreshed we headed back to the Wallace Collection and had a steady amble around. 

Housed in the former home of the Seymour family it is a beautiful building with some glorious chandeliers.

The collection  is primarily a collection of French 18th-century paintings, furniture, arms and armour and porcelain. It certainly is a very eclectic mix and if I'm honest not really to my taste, particularly the porcelain (or china as I accidentally called it at one point which Charlotte thought was hilarious.) but I’m glad I went. 

After we had looked our fill, we ambled back to Marylebone for tea and a piece of cake, then walked Alex in the general direction of her train finding the most amazing little haberdashery/millinery shop V V Rouleaux which none of us could resist a browse round. It was tiny, absolutely packed with people and every kind of ribbon and notion you can imagine, what a treasure trove.

Finally we were back at Paddington where I was due to meet Himself, only he wasn’t there. 

Charlotte jumped on her train and Himself finally rang me to say he was currently sitting in the Wetherspoons at St Pancras because Paul had missed his train and that I should come and meet him there.

Sigh.

I walked to the end of Paddington station and up the stairs to reach the underground to take me to St Pancras where I joined them in a well-deserved beer.

Once Paul was safely on the next train we decided to try and find the pub I had seen when I was in London in March with Charlotte. 

It was called The Monkey Puzzle and I knew it was near Paddington, so we got off the tube at Oxford Circus and walked. It was considerably longer to get there than expected, I actually ended up clocking over 16 miles in all that day!

It was certainly a pub of two faces. On one side, the quirky sign and pretty enclosed garden complete with monkey puzzle tree that was what had caught my attention when out with Charlotte. 

From the other it was one of those bleak 1960’s flat roofed estate pubs surounded by tower blocks, that you see in BBC crime dramas from the 1970's!

We had thought we might eat there, but on examination the menu was sparce. 

We bought drinks and found a table which happened to be opposite the door to the kitchen. I couldn’t decide what looked worse, the food coming out of the kitchen or expression on the face of the girl who was bringing it out. She was clearly deeply unimpressed by what was on offer, and making absolutely no effort to hide her disdain. It was very entertaining watching her face as she collected each order. We ended up sharing a bowl of chips, drank up and left. The garden did look lovely and if we could have got a table out there (it was packed) I might have a slightly better impression I think.

Luckily on my travels around Marylebone I had bought us a posh pastry for breakfast the next day, so we just scarfed them on the train home instead!

 

The next two weeks were very busy workwise. Not only was I covering for my boss whilst she was on holiday, I was also helping another team to interview for a staff vacancy which meant lots of reviewing of applications and then 2 rounds of face-to-face interviews. 

The first weekend was the summer solstice, so I did take myself out for a walk once the mad heat was out of the day. As usual I headed to the old railway line which is now a joint footpath and cycleway.

With all the wild flowers in bloom it was beautiful and made all the more magical by the fact that as I walked there was a flock of long tailed tits flitting through the hedgerows next to me, not in their full autumnal glory at this time of year but they are one of my favourite birds.

The next Saturday I had suggested in the week walking to the next town so I could go to the fabric and craft shop there. 

It’s a pretty walk of about 9 miles and even when the temperature was due to be in the mid-thirties Himself was determined to still go so we did! 

With plenty of water and slathered in sunscreen we headed out and just took it at a slightly more leisurely pace. 

I did love this duck crossing on the road.

Is there anything more quintessentially British than people playing cricket on a roasting hot afternoon?

 Mad dogs and Englishmen.... 

I cannot lie I was a hot and sweaty mess by the time we got to the craft shop. Once I had bought everything I wanted, plus a piece of fabric that just fell into my hands, we decamped to the pub for a well-earned pint. In my case of ice cold cider. 

Because he is completely mad Himself walked me to a bus stop, saw me onto a bus home, then walked back as well!

I got home had a lovely cool shower, watered the garden and had dinner on by the time he got in. 

Talking of water and the garden I do have a birdbath that I have been keeping topped up in this hot weather and whilst it has mainly been pigeons and jackdaws, I was properly taken by surprise to see one of the local red kites land on the fence and then hop down onto the birdbath for a drink! 

I have seen it a couple of times now but never in time to get a picture because as soon as it sees me edging near the window it takes off! So I will share one I took out on a walk instead.

That was June, there may well have been purchases but I genuinely can't remember, I blame the heat.

I'll be back, hopefully soon, with July. 

What Glorious Month May Was.

Ahh May What a wonderful month that was.

It began with a trip to the London Museum – Docklands to see The Secrets of the Thames exhibition with Charlotte. An exhibition of over 300 items that have been lost in the Thames and rediscovered by mudlarkers, from priceless ancient artifacts to mobile phones and false teeth it was certainly an extraordinary collection!

In the 18th and 19th centuries, poor Londoners hunted the foreshores of the Thames and sold whatever they found to keep body and soul together, they became known as mudlarks. Primarily they were looking for items that had fallen off the trade barges like coal. The tidal river, the mud and disease made it a dangerous pastime. These days it’s a hobby and passion for those who scour the shoreline looking for objects and not just anyone can do it, you need a special permit from the Port Authority. This regulates how and where the mudlarks search, they must also report important finds.

 

It was a fascinating exhibition with some truly incredible objects, some so tiny you marvelled at how they had ever been found. 

There was also a whole section about the mudlarkers them selves showing pictures of their collections and notebooks.

 The museum is housed in an old warehouse, a rare intact survivor in fact so once we had looked our fill of treasures we walked to the top of the building and took in the permanent exhibition which spans the history of the building and London’s docklands. 

From 1600 to pretty much the modern day it takes in merchants and sailors, poverty, World War 2 and the formation of the Port Authority. 

The floor covering sugar and the slave trade was very informative; I found it sobering and incredibly moving.  Sailortown the recreation of what the alleyways around the docks would have looked like was like a thing out of nightmares, particularly for someone who is claustrophobic, no wonder it was so damn easy for your average unsuspecting sailor to be relieved of his wages or naïve pub goer to find themselves pressganged!

The collection of photographs and particularly the paintings by Graham Sutherland in the Docklands at War section were very powerful.

Galleries finished, the shop browsed, and some lovely moon earrings and badge purchased it was time to find lunch. 

It was a glorious hot day, so we settled on one of the many restaurants along the dockside. I was intrigued but not tempted by the floating pods complete with your own chef! We both chose fish washed down with a cheeky glass of wine before heading back into the centre of London and taking a leisurely walk back to Paddington to catch our respective trains home.

 

That weekend Himself and I went out for another long walk, this time to test out my new mini flask! As mentioned before I seem to have an in-built teaometer as Himself calls it, that without fail goes off at around the 10 mile mark meaning I get cranky in a way that can only be cured by tea, something that is rarely available in the middle of a field or up a hill!

I do have a flask, but it is huge, and I wasn’t sure about transporting it to Cornwall and also fitting it in my small walking rucksack. 

So both Himself and Soo suggested checking Mountain Warehouse for a smaller one. They had a lovely teal one in stock so we decided to try a long walk to test it out. The weather started out warm, so I left the house in a t-shirt and with no other layers, a rookie error. It got cloudy and once we climbed Blewburton Hill the wind was bloody cold. Thankfully the new flask worked and my tea, drank sitting in a tree for shelter, was piping hot.

  The Monday was a bank holiday and I went out with friends for lunch which ended up lasting most of the afternoon as well! The next day was my sister in law’s birthday so I nipped down to their house to drop in her card and present before they went out for dinner. It was Himself’s birthday at the end of the week but as we were off to Cornwall the following week we just went out for a walk to a lovely pub in a nearby village for drink or two and I cooked at home.

 

Finally, Cornwall had arrived. As soon as Himself got told no further treatment was needed, we booked a week in his favourite place St Ives to celebrate. Sadly, the lovely little place we stayed at before is no longer available, so I trawled Aspects website for another apartment that fitted our checklist. I found the perfect apartment on our favourite side of town and with a sea view, in an old B&B that has now been converted into 6 individual self-catering flatlets. We arrived late Saturday afternoon to find the town absolutely heaving which was a surprise having deliberately booked out of season to avoid crazy busy. It turned out it was the annual food festival on the beach which we did have a wander around the next day.

We unpacked and popped out to the Co-op for bread, butter, eggs and orange juice to cover breakfast. The agency had kindly left tea, coffee and milk plus a packet of posh crisps, biscuits and a very welcome bottle of wine that got put straight in the fridge for later!

 

How's that for a view from your bedroom window?

Dinner was chips on the beach followed by a mooch out towards Zenor until the light started to fade and I thought it was prudent not to get stuck on a cliff top in the dark on our first night!

The next day after breakfast we walked to Tesco at Carbis Bay to do our food shopping for the week. It was brutally hot and I was cursing having put jeans on! I was a sticky mess and felt like climbing in the freezers by the time we got there. We got a cab back to the apartment, put away the shopping and I took the opportunity to get into more appropriate attire before we headed out to Portminster beach to check out the food festival before going for a lovely walk on the cliff tops toward Zenor.

 

The Monday was a bit grey and chilly so perfect for an exhibition I was super keen to see at the St Ives Museum ‘Sea Change - St Ives Artists 1914-1930’ 

Good lord that place is crazy. The librarian/vintage collector/history lover about died at the state of the place, and particularly the exhibits. 

The potential is enormous, but it desperately needs someone to take it in hand. They appear to have every item they have ever been given out on display, so everywhere is cluttered to the point of looking like a hoarders house.

A lot of the items are also coated in dust which can only do damage long term, and the thing we both found most confusing/distressing is there is no rhyme or reason to what is where. There is no historical timeline or delineated sections, so WW2 is mixed in with Victorian and tools next to clothing. Oh if I had the money and the time how I would love to make it what it has the potential to be!

That aside I was in seventh heaven looking at the paintings and happily took a load of pictures until we both spotted a strictly no photography sign just as we were leaving -oopps.

We had a wander around St Ives island and found a little craft fair where I bought a pair of crescent moon earrings.

We also visited pretty much all the shops. I forgot to bring body lotion so bought some made locally plus postcards and a few other bits and pieces. I also commissioned a necklace from one of my favourite shops Made by Caroline. Caroline uses reclaimed metal and resin to make unique pieces and  I always buy something from her. This time I spotted a moon brooch which I asked her to make into a necklace for me. I also bought a whale brooch and a ceramic cat brooch in another shop.

 We went out for dinner that night to Peppers the only Italian restaurant in town before heading to The Sloop Inn for a few drinks where we were kept entertained all evening by one of the bar staff who was a scouser and seemed to magically find all the customers from the North of England and then engage them in banter.

 

Tuesday was the day we had chosen to try third time lucky and see if we were finally going to get to walk the St Michael’s Way. Lunch packed, new flask full and sun cream slathered on we caught the bus to Long Rock and from there walked to Marizion and St Michael’s mount to do the walk backwards so we could finish up in Carbis Bay and from there walk the extra mile and a half to St Ives. 

There are 2 lengths of walk one just over 13 miles and one just over 10, the guidebook says it takes all day which to be honest we scoffed at as as a rule 10 miles is 3-4 hours at most even at my pace.

The guidebook of course was quite right! 

The mostly uphill terrain meant it did indeed take us pretty much all day, we did also include the recommended detour up Trencrom Hill for the views. It was also a good spot to eat lunch and crack open the flask, the contents of which I basically inhaled.

It was a wonderful walk encompassing many different landscapes, from wetlands to woodlands, open fields and farmland to craggy hills and of course the sea at each end. 

You do have to cross a rail line and a busy main road that the pilgrims wouldn’t have had to contend with, but it was well worth it. Himself now wants us to get matching tattoos of the shell emblem that denotes this pilgrim route. It’s kind of crazy to think it ties in with the Camino Trail.

Showered and changed we cracked open the bottle of fizz I had bought in the hope of celebrating finally being able to tick this one off the list.

 Wednesday, we decided to take a day off the hiking and catch a train to Truro, Cornwall’s only city. 

We started by visiting the cathedral and spent the rest of our time mooching round the town. Going on visits to other cities we figured it would take us all day and we had planned to get dinner there, but Truro is pretty small, and we found ourselves done by about 3.30pm. Not finding a pub that appealed either we headed back to the train station instead. On route there we did manage to find a huge haberdashery store which I immediately dragged Himself into and spent a blissful time looking at all things fabric and embroidery.

 

Once back in St Ives we spotted they were doing a premier of The Salt Path film that evening in the little cinema and as I was keen to see it, Himself checked availability and managed to get two tickets. Sadly, despite it’s great cast, the film was not good and varied wildly from the book (which I loved.) Also, the scene in the book that happens in St Ives, was not filmed in St Ives, so got a very disgruntled reaction from the crowd which did amuse me. We decamped to The Lifeboat for drinks before heading home for the night.

 

The next day we had decided to set aside for the other big walk we had planned, St Ives to Hayle and a pub in the little village of Phillack on the outskirts of Hayle called The Bucket of Blood! 

I can’t remember what it was we were watching on TV where it was mentioned but as soon as he heard the name Himself had to go there. 

It turned out to be a respectable 8 miles starting with part of the south west coastal path until beyond Lelant then it was a lot of road walking. We dipped into Lelant and The Badger Inn for a quick drink and so I could use toilet.

Hayle was much bigger than I expected and we called in at the huge Asda for Himself to check the range of beer, he was on the hunt for one in particular. 

There is a nature reserve and wetland at Hayle which we passed on our way, somewhere for another visit.

The Bucket of Blood was well worth the hike and the final slog uphill. It’s a gorgeous pub and one I would happily visit again, the food looked great as well. We were sorry to leave and head back into Hayle to catch the train back towards St Ives. 

Trudging up the hill to the apartment we passed a tiny shop selling ice cream from a local dairy, so I bought us both one and it’s some of the best I have ever eaten.

It certainly made the steep climb more bearable.

After dinner we went for a mooch on the beach to watch the sunset, there were an astonishing number of jellyfish but I did find some lovely bits of seaglass.

 Friday our last full day dawned all too soon. In the morning, we walked into St Ives to pick up my necklace which I was delighted with and did a bit of holiday shopping, before walking back out to the Carbis Bay Tesco as they had the cheapest fudge for Himself to buy to take into work. 

On the way back we called into The Cornish Arms for a pint as somehow we had come out in the wrong place when doing the St Michael’s way and missed passing it then which was when we had originally planned to call in for a beer.

We took our shopping back to the apartment, made up a flask of tea for me and added that and the rest of a large bottle of coke for Himself, plus the packet of posh biscuits and our books into a bag and headed to Porthmeor beach for the rest of the afternoon.

Our final dinner was an eclectic mix of everything we had left over to eat minus breakfast for the next day and things for sandwiches for the train. Needing to walk that off we went to walk on the beach so I could look for some more seaglass. 

Himself tried to persuade me to go to either the Rum and Crab Shack or The Sloop for a drink but as the next week was half term and the town was rapidly filling I didn’t fancy either.

 

We had to leave by 10.30am, so whilst I did the final breakfast washing up Himself nipped down to the bakery for cinnamon buns (my big weakness) for the journey home, and a loaf of delicious fresh bread for when we got there.

Our train journey home was thankfully painless and we back in the house by about 4.30pm. Sunday was spent doing laundry and a food shop before the next bank holiday Monday dawned.

We were up earlyish to jump on a train to Oxford and then a bus to Witney. I messaged Soo and Gav as the bus left Oxford so they could catch the same one and we messaged Melissa and Dan when we arrived so they could meet us for lunch. 

Once we were fed we left the boys to visit a few pubs whilst we checked out the places that were open for Art in Action. 

There weren’t as many as we would have liked, I think because it was the last day, so we decamped to the pub too and spent the rest of the afternoon catching up and drinking beer. I can’t think of many better ways to spend a chilly and wet bank holiday!

So that was May and what a glorious month it was.