More birthday celebrations

Tom and Lucie came this weekend, Sélène too. We went to a restaurant in Sherwood on Saturday (27 Sep 2008) evening.

Drink! Feck! Girls!

Seen in Leclerc, St Astier 24110 Xmas 2007.





Father Jack.

Jon and Rachael's visit 18-21 Sep 2008: Money grows on trees!

Jon and Rachael (and Assumpta) came up from Sussex for a long weekend the Thursday before last. They brought wonderful weather with them!

We all went to Dovedale on the Friday and had a long walk, almost to Milldale, which tired Assumpta! The stepping stones were flooded and we couldn't cross the river there, altho I did see one person chance it (and he got soaked). Along the way we found tree stumps with coins hammered into them; a curious Derbyshire custom, it seems. Anyone know why?

On the Saturday we visited Chatsworth House, my first proper visit there (in over 18 years of living in Derbyshire - how bad is that?) We saw the big baby sculpture in the grounds, one of many in a current outdoor exhibition of sculptures. The interior of the house was beautiful too.

J and R treated Sylvie and me to a meal to celebrate our birthdays. This is a good time of the year!

HINTONS

These are three Hintons that I have seen over the last couple of years.

Hinton (Please drive carefully) was seen north of Bath, just off the A46 near J18 on the M4. This used to be Avon, Gloucestershire before that; who knows what county now! It was evening when I saw this sign. I was on my way by car to Bath, where I stayed at the really good youth hostel (licenced bar with local ales). The next day I cycled in north Wiltshire.

Hinton on the Green is near Evesham, Worcestershire. I passed by here quite recently by car, between leaving Stow on the Wold YHA and starting a cycle ride from King's Norton to Stratford on Avon.

Little Hinton is near Swindon, Wiltshire. I came across it after cycling the Ridgway (Berks/Oxon/Wilts) and before going on to Marlborough.

The Oxford Dictionary of English Placenames says of the name Hinton: "a common name." There are two sources: Hean-tune ( = high farm) or Higna-tune ( = monks' or nuns' farm). It seems that the first Hinton above is of the first derivation and the other two of the second. All of the 'high farms' are in the Wessex area, due to Anglo-Saxon dialect (elsewhere the form is Heaton, Heighton, Hampton, etc), while the monks' farms are in Wessex or further afield (Herefordshire, Shopshire, Northampton and even Cambridge).

Send me your pictures of other Hintons when you come across them in your travels!

TOM AND LUCIE'S WEDDING 6 SEP 2008

Earlier this month Tom and Lucie got married at their old college in Oxford. Everyone had a really brilliant time. Here are just a few pics that I took. The official photographer took a few hundred!

ENGLISH JOURNEY BY BICYCLE

On 16 Sep I went to Kendal to ride NCR6 – yes, our Route 6! This goes all the way up to Carlisle, much the same as the A6 trunk road. I took this to Windermere (pic 1) in pouring rain, making frequent stops for cups of tea and shelter. The route uses mostly minor roads and was less hilly than I had expected. At Windermere the ferry had broken down (pic 2) so I decided to return to Kendal by an alternative route, via a gated road from Bowness to Ings, passing through some striking scenery (pic 3). On my way home in the car, I stopped off at the western terminus of the Trans-Pennine Trail, at Southport. I had never seen this before but I found this to be quite a pleasant path, next to the dunes (and the main road, unfortunately) and I rode a few miles of this before it turned off into the Merseyside hinterland. Pics 4-6show giant weather vane, fishy sculpture and NCR signing at the TPT terminus.

My other cycling in September has been documented on the Derby Rangers' blog. Let’s see what October will bring!

ENGLISH JOURNEY BY BIKE CONTINUED

On 14 Sep I went to Sibford Ferris in Oxfordshire, where I picked up NCR5 and rode to just north of Woodstock. This route, as I remembered from the last time I was in these parts, is quite hilly and passes through some rather pretty countryside. Mostly it is on country lanes with a few traffic-free sections. The route by-passes Banbury where I saw this interesting white windmill (pic 1). I returned from Woodstock by Chipping Norton (pic 2 is of the Bliss Tweed Mill), the Rollright Stones (pic 3) and Hook Norton, where I sampled some of the beers at the Pear Tree Inn (pic 4), which are brewed at he local microbrewery down the road.

I stayed on this occasion at Stow-on-the-Wold YHA and spent the evening at the Queen’s Head supping a few pints with another similarly-aged cyclist who was riding from Market Harborough to North Devon over four days. This was the first time I had stayed at this hostel since 1969 and I believe I slept in the same dormitory as on that occasion, but this time the warden didn’t have to repeatedly wake me in the morning because I had drunk too much cider the night before!

The next day I rode from King’s Norton (guillotine lock gates – pic 5) , just south of Birmingham, to Stratford on Avon via Bromsgrove and Redditch. For me, this was the best cycling I’ve done so far this month, even with some indifferent signing in places. The route out of Birmingham on the Rea Valley Trail (Heron – pic 6) and the Arrow Valley Park trail south of Redditch together contained relatively long traffic-free tracts. After Bromsgrove, the route crosses the Worces and Staffs Canal somewhere along the famous Tardebigge Flight (pic 7), probably the longest flight of locks on the canal system. The lanes of Warwickshire were quiet and included, near Coughton, a footbridge over the River Arrow next to a ford (pic 8). The road was flooded and therefore impassable, but not for bikes which can use the footbridge. The route passes by Mary Arden’s house (pic 9) and entry to Stratford is on the canal towpath. Wonderful! I took a train back to Birmingham.

To be continued ...