Kite Flying On The Knott

Wayne and Lois bought Ian a kite for his birthday and today we took it to The Knott near Birch Vale and flew it in a rather high wind - it went too fast to take any pictures of it flying but I did take a picture of the view...

Tiahna

This little kitty, Tiahna, is the reason for Ian and I being in the Peaks last weekend and not the Lakes - Ian found her collapsed on Thursday morning and we didn't think she would survive the trip to the vets let alone anything else - a suspected glancing blow by a car and a chest injury was the diagnosis, she was at the vets until Monday night and is now at home in Siula's crate - much to Siula's disgust as she likes to use the crate as her bed.

My other cats are Jessica, Paithan and Murphy .....

The White Peak

Ian and I took a sight seeing trip into the White Peak today via an air conditioned car rather than our feet!

As normal on a hot day we took the dogs swimming - this was Vicarage Quarry, Clough Brook, Nr Macclesfield Forrest and Miller's Dale Nr Blackwell

The day was nicely rounded off by cooking steak on the BBQ for tea - served (of course) with a beer and a glass of chilled wine!

The Day The Reservoir Ran Dry

We woke up today to no water - the reservoir supplying the village and surrounding areas had run dry during the night and so we took all out camping containers, cycling bottles, sig bottles, camelbaks and flasks to Ian's parents a few villages away and on a different supply to fill up.

The evening brought a short burst of rain but enough for Jessica and David next door to fill their water pistols to play with the dogs.......

and the water board managed to connect us to another supply.

Evening At Birch Vale

Ian getting his bike ready for a ride and the BBQ flaming nicely preparing itself to cook our tea.

It's been a cool 22 today - what am I saying 'cool' - usually we'd consider this temperature sweltering but compared to the recent 32 it's a nice relief.

Peat Fires on Bleaklow

The temperature today is a nice steamy 22 and Ian and I went for an early stroll over the moors to find that fire warnings had been put out on the footpaths stating that due to the high risk of fire the moors were now closed.

Ian then phoned me from the car on his way to work to say that Bleaklow (above) had fire fighters and water helicopters out trying to prevent the moors going up in smoke.

How do Peat fires burn? an extract from burning bogs how can a wetland burn despite rains and constant watering by fire fighters?

Bog fires involve a fine, dusty fuel with a potentially huge surface area. Fire needs fuel, oxygen, and heat, the classic fire triangle.

A mass of peat can only smolder because the air can't penetrate. But that same fuel can literally explode if it is blown into the air to increase the surface area exposed to oxygen.

Bog fires can smolder for years because of the fine-textured fuel and can suddenly explode for the same reason!

A peat fire can appear to be dormant and then leap out onto dry ground, burning in three dimensions.

The Dales Way - Lincoln's Inn Bridge

Another day of 32!!

So whilst the rest of South Cumbria crowded onto Windermere or into the river at Devils Bridge, Kirkby Lonsdale, Ian the dogs and I decided the pool at Lincolns Inn Bridge would be a far quieter place to go to cool down. It's right on the Dales Way Walk but we certainly weren't doing any walking in this is heat.

The only people we met were 3 Dales Way Walkers who wandered past.

Birch Vale BBQ

So what do we do in England when the heat hits 32?

We light 2 fires just to increase the temperature towards boiling point and then cook over them!

A cold guinness and some chilled wine certainly went down well with the meal and as for a cool evening - no chance!

Portsmouth - Harbour Cruise

We took the harbour cruise today - I was so glad to be on the boat because of the breeze - today was just a bit too humid for me and the temperature was rolling into 32+......

Then we went to Jackie's for the afternoon (suprisingly she didn't have a hang over) before returning up north to the still hot 29 at 6pm dropping to 26 by about 9!

Do you think the dogs missed us.

Portsmouth - the Dockyards

We decided to walk around the sea front to the Dockyards today via Southsea Castle and visit the Spinnaker Tower on route.....

The spinnaker Tower is well worth a visit - as long a you like heights - funnily enough walking over the glass floor on the 1st decking area didn't give me vertigo whereas stepping on ladder or looking over a cliff would have done!!!

The cost of this was £5.95 and isn't included in the dockyard ticket but well worth it.

From there we walked down Gunwarf which reminded both Ian and I of Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia - probably because it's the only place like this we've been to before and it happened to also be about 30c!!!

The main thing that struck me as strange was the odd lack of Christmas trees around (being in Australia has definitely warped my mind!!!)

At the dockyards we bought a ticket which let us into several attractions which is well worth it if you are going to visit more that one place - the individual costs of the attractions were between £5 & £7 but the ticket let you into well over 6 things for £16 and filled in 2 days without seeing everything.

Our first port of call (excuse the pun) was Victory and we spent well over an hour on board her.

It took me a while to pluck up the courage to ask one of the assistants exactly how the sails worked as I was sure they wouldn't know or I'd look a bit foolish but luckily I picked one who was a sailor and he not only spent ages showing me the ropes (another pun - sorry) but let me have a go at moving the yard arm of the mainsail!

We then went below decks and compared Admiral Nelson and the crews hammocks.....

From there we visited the Mary Rose but due to the preservation conditions it is being kept in we were unable to take any pictures.

This was followed by a late lunch with a view of HMS Warrior - the 1st iron clad war ship and we then spent the afternoon looking round the Royal Naval and Mary Rose Museum before walking back along the seafront to the hotel.

Portsmouth - Jackie's Birthday

Need I say more.....

Portsmouth

Ian and I drove down to Portsmouth this afternoon for Jackie's birthday party tomorrow.

We stayed in the Royal Beach Hotel on the sea front at Southsea and had a room with a view ..........

William Clough, Kinder

Ian had to go to work early today so I took the advantage of going for an early morning walk up William Clough before the heat set in - by 8.30 I was sweating buckets and the dogs were cooling off in the beck, the sun was out and by the time I got back to the car so were all the other walkers!!!

Force Four Sailing

Geoff and I went up to Killington Lake this morning but decided that as the water was white capping and gusting in all directions we'd try Windermere instead.

When we got there it was blowing a nice force 2 but by the time we'd rigged the boat it was up to about a 4/5, white capping with nasty gusts - we went out for a short but dramatic sail anyway!!!!

Misty Morning, Langdale

We woke up this morning to a very misty morning so decided the best thing to do was laze in bed for a while.....

Then after bacon butties we headed to Ambleside where we looked at various types of climbing rope as we need a new one - but haven't quite decided which to go for yet.

Sailing Muddler

Geoff, Maria and I took Muddler out today on Windermere to practice sailing round a course without a rudder and sailing in a straight line without moving the tiller from the centre position.

Once again in the evening we ended up in The Ship Inn at Bowness with John and tonight we were joined by Ric, most of the evening was spent talking about climbing.

When we got back to the tent Siula decided that this part of the tent was going to be 'her den' for the night.....

Friday Evening, Windermere

Tonight Ian and I met up with Tom, Steve and John in the Ship Inn and took some drinks to the jetty at Shepherds Marina, where John works, and enjoyed the view.

John got a call half way through the evening saying a boat had run aground in the North Lake and so Tom and I took the rescue boat to tow them off the shore.

After an evening on the lake we went and pitched the tent at Baysbrown Camp Site in Langdale.

We took the Quechua Arpenaz tent (the one used as the Mountain Mayhem mess tent) to try it out for size incase we needed it for when a group of us went camping in not so good weather and couldn't believe the size of it and the amount of indoor space we had!

Ian cooking tea and Siula...." what? all this space for me.....?????"

Dinghy Sailing, Windermere

Er..... Yes, I know the pictures not Windermere - Tony Barbara, Geoff and I were actually supposed to be sailing at Killington today but as you can see from the picture when we got there there was no wind. Geoff and I decided to drive to Windermere in the hunt of wind to sail with.

We arrived at Cockshott Woods and decided to take Muddler out on the Lake, luckily a southerly force 2 blew up and we went to Parsonage Bay to practice sailing round a triangular course and man-over-boards - not literally I'll add we threw "Bob" the buoy overboard to 'rescue' instead of a person!

Sailing Brightwater

Brightwater is a 21ft Legend yacht which Dave, Barbara, Pete and I took out for a spin on Windermere today.

The wind was a light easterly and we spent more time motoring about trying to catch the wind than sailing but it was a gorgeously hot, sunny day and made for a few relaxing hours of fun.


There was a more serious side to our venture and that was to see if the boat would be suitable for Blackwell Sailing activities.

Torside Reservoir

Ian and I took the dogs for an evening walk and swim at Torside Reservoir

and afterwards went to the Little Mill Inn at Rowarth for a drink .

The Dark Peak

It was an absolute scorcher again today so Ian and I drove over to Hathersage in The Dark Peak to shop for those bright shiney objects we all love so much (climbing gear) stopping at Shivering Mountain (Mam Tor) and Winnatts Pass on route to watch the paragliders...
we also visited Stanage Edge - a very good climbing spot - but too busy at weekends unless you want to queue!

we then took the dogs for a walk and a swim at Ladybower Reservoir - too hot to do anything else!

Sailing On Windermere

The sun was out the weather was a scorcher and Geoff, Marie and I took Muddler (which belongs to Blackwell Sailing) out for a wild spin on the Lake.

The waves were white capping in the morning but by lunch time had settled down to a nice moderate southery - with a few gusts and twists thrown in for good measure.
and after a hard days sailing all I wanted was a nice quiet bath to myself - Hey! I said to myself!!!......