21 September 2008
Cotswold scenes: a surprisingly good haul
World Diabetes day Geocoin
Kites Nest
The Alternative Snowshill Collection 
Snowshill
Cods Wold 
Last week saw a foray into the Cotswolds for the first time since March 2007. Coincidentally, the geocaching action took place less than a coupke of miles from my only previous find in the area, at Broadway Tower. The focus of the week was strictly family / social, so geocaching was kept to the lowest possible profile. However, 2 caches were found early on in the week with the little one in tow on a beautiful morning hike in the new "Vamoose" carrier which was recently obtained.
She is seen (below) getting to grips with "The wool trade 4" cache, overlooking Snowshill. Another cache was obtained during a quiet daytime moment, and the remaining 2 caches were found on a covert nightime operation under moonlight.
Cotswold scenes: Chipping Campden
Had a lovely stop at Chipping Campden. Eat at the Bantam Tea Rooms (which have a fab website) on route to the splendid Hidcote Manor Garden.
Cotswold scenes: St Barnabas Church, Snowshill
Enjoyed my forst CofE sunday service in nearly 25 years, at St Barnabas' Church, Snowshill. The sermon was sharp and to the point - an inclusive take on the splits facing the Anglican community at present - I was very impressed.
Although I didn't tell anyone, the service marked quite a significant formal landmark in my personal faith. For the first time since confirmation in the Congregationalist church in 1989, I opted out of the communion bread and wine, choosing instead to receive a simple blessing (hands on head) from the Vicar.
Cotswold scenes: New England Coffee House
I have had a fascination with the Fosse Way, since I took a trip up to Maalies' old place in Leicester back in 2005 - stopping at Stow on the Wold for lunch. This fascination was rekindled by my 2007 jaunt. So it was nice to visit Stow, which is plonked on the old Fosse Way, for a late afternoon hot chocolate at the New England Coffee House.
Cotswold scenes: Volvo Parking Only
I am no petrolhead. It is trains, rather than cars, which usually light my fire. However, as an ABBA fan, I naturally have a sneaky admiration for the Volvo, as a teenager I was fascinated by the idea of the Volvo owners' club . This sign, spotted in Snowshill, seemed to encapsulate the class of the Cotswolds.
Grey Goo (cont. P.94)
Hot on the heels of the Western Mail billboard (below), this one from the Shropshire Star was spotted at Shrewsbury.
6 September 2008
Wet day out in Cardiff (1)
The Western Mail may have declined in recent years - but credit where it's due for this billboard! Nuff said!
Wet day out in Cardiff (2): River Taff
The River Taff usually meanders its way through Cardiff. Today, however, it was a torrent - bringing with it piles of wood and human rubbish collected on its journey through south Wales. The photo doesn't really do it justice - I should have taken a short video. Here, a big blue plastic barrel can be seen, as the taff passes by the Millenium Stadium. In order to pre-empt a comment from Maalie - I should note that he was the only member of my (immediate) family to be born on the banks of the Taff and is therefore the only genuine "Taffy" in our blog ring. Though Lorenzo, as a holder of a Welsh athletics record, may beg to differ....
Wet day out in Cardiff (3): Garlands (again)
After having my haircut, I decided to pay homage to my favourite cafe in Cardiff - Garlands, which I have previously blogged. The signage indicates that it has changed from "coffee shop" to "eatery". However nothing else has changed - excellent light meals with friendly service in a cosy place. Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and a pot of tea today!
The Jeremy Vine discussion programme on Radio 2 was on in Garlands today. It contained two excellent contributions, one by Martin Lewis, the very entertaining "Money Saving Expert", talking about energy prices. he is the reason I recently switched energy suppliers and capped my fuel bills till the end of 2009- thus avoiding the current price hikes.
The second contribution was by Stuart Hall, a colourful football pundit (who Maalie doesn't like, as a recall), who gave a monologue on the gloomy UK weather / economic outlooks in his own inimitable, poetic style. You can listen again here.
Wet day out in Cardiff (4): LaZarou barbers
In my new life, I cut my hair at LaZarou Bros in Cardiff City centre. The owners are of Cypriot/Greek background. One of the attractions of this place is the football memorabilia which covers the walls. Today I had my hair done by one of the older members of staff. A friendly discussion went something like this:
Weather-Traffic-Climate Change-Water shortages in Cyprus-Vacations-Lack of British food culture-Food culture in the Med-Wine and real ale-New potatoes and garnish-Haloumi Cheese-Mature Haloumi cheese-Family values.
Wet day out in Cardiff (5)
Under the old regime, I used to pass the Eastern side of Cardiff market on my way down to the Bay, and would occasionally stop here for a bacon roll.
In my new life, whenever I approach Cardiff market it is from the western side, where this outlet is placed. Cracking egg and bacon roll!
4 September 2008
Just chillin' @ Lorenzo's place
The long journey back from Maalie Court to Tortoiseshell's territory, was briken by a stop at Lorenzo's, and a lazy lunch at the Continental Deli. Lorenzo has already posted on some details, but here's a picture of Lorenzo taking the picture that appears on her blog!
Thanks for your hospitality, Lorenzo, and we look forward to seeing you soon. You may have read that I need a cache in Greater Manchester (and Lancashire) to join up my county map with Cumbria - surel Poynton would be the ideal base for this crucial operation...?
Maalie Court
"Pier-less Cache"
"Sylphe's Dunnerholme Cache" (My Most Northerly Find!)
Our trip to Maalie Court has already been detailed by our host, Maalie. I would like to thank Maalie for his hospitality, not least his purchase of a Macpac Vamoose carrier for my little one. Other purchases in the quaint town of Grasmere included Grasmere gingerbread. The grave of William Wordsworth was also discovered by K whilst exploring in the graveyyard of St Oswald's Church, while Maalie hid from the rain in the comfort of my car
I have already mentioned that the trip was a success from a geocaching viewpoint. With the little one in tow, caching was not really on the agenda. However, a brief break in the inclement weather coincided with an opportunity for a walk along Askam pier, to the "Pier-less Cache" site. The cache was duly grabbed after some rooting around - my first in Cumbria, and most northerly to date.
Brick on the beach at Askam
Lately, I have been suffering from an inability to settle down to sleep. On this occasion, my sleeplessness turned into a caching opportunity. "Sylphe's Dunnerholme Cache" (placed by Maalie way back in 2003) was the target, situated on Dunnerholme Rock, an uneroded limestone protrusion into the Duddon estuary. I grabbed a torch and sneaked out of the house. The walk to Dunnerholme along the beach was particularly eerie at night. The beach was rather bizarrely littered with bricks and sections of brick wall discarded from the former brickworks. It was like walking along a filmset of a sci-fi movie.
2 September 2008
1st cache in Cumbria!
Just a quick post to acknowledge the moment when a swathe of north west England on my "itsnotaboutthenumbers.com" stats turned sky blue - denoting my first cache find in Cumbria. I subsequently found a second cache, which means that the county will turn into a darker shade of blue when I input the data for the second cache.More details of the Cumbria trip to follow. Suffice to say that the Cumbria cache finds have opened up a glaring gap in my geocaching fiefdom. I now require caches both in Lancashire, AND either of Merseyside/Greater Manchester, in order to regain a contiguous caching territory on the county map.
* I've just realised that the same aim could also be acheived by the less likely scenario of bagging caches in North Yorkshire AND either of South Yorkshire/ Humberside, thus linking up with Nottinghamshire, which provided my 2nd and 3rd finds, way back when I was just starting this bloody lark.
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