Thursday 16 August: Sunshine and showers. We’re out in the car, exploring Skye’s north-western arms. At Trumpan, at the end of the road, there’s a ruined church overlooking Ardmore point, with views to Dunvegan Head. Later, we’ll drive past the throngs of tourists at Dunvegan Castle, and onto the low cliffs overlooking the loch, where we can watch the seals on the rocks below. Unlike the poor visitors in the open boats, we can scuttle back to the car when the showers blow across…
We were at our “northern office” last week. Throughout the summer, we’ve been wishing for rain. On the long drive up, it rained, inevitably. The forecast for Skye wasn’t at all good – plenty of rain, and, when it wasn’t raining, there were heavy showers around, with a good chance of a soaking if we strayed far from shelter (so we didn’t…). Windy too – no, we didn’t suffer from the midges on this trip.
We’d arrived on the Monday – on Tuesday evening, it was dry enough for a short walk down the road. Wednesday started dry, but the clouds soon carried out their threat. Then, almost on the dot of 7pm, the sky cleared and the sun was out.
Tuesday 7 August: A gentle stroll around the lake on a warm afternoon. The grounds are not as green as they should be, and one or two of the trees are beginning to look prematurely autumnal. We could do with a drop of rain.
A happy consequence of the weather: it’s warm enough to justify ice cream afterwards…
Sunday 5 August: Broseley Festival of Motorcycling. I’m not sure what the purpose of this event is – just fun, I suspect. It certainly appeared to be fun, on this warm and sunny day (must have been really warm in those black jackets…). It was certainly quite a spectacle, seeing them all (getting on for 200) arriving and parking in Broseley High Street, after a short ride from the Woodbridge at Coalport, via Ironbridge and Much Wenlock. All very friendly too – no “show-offs” and a generally sedate rumble of engines.
Broseley Festival of Motorcycling
Saturday 4 August: We’ll pay a visit to Shirley’s bone and flint mill at Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent. Afterwards, we’ll take a look at the museum at Apedale Heritage Centre, just a few miles away near Newcastle-under-Lyme. We could always have a ride on the railway too… Lunch? Oatcakes, of course!
Friday 3rd August: We were here on a cold day in March, when there was a welcoming fire in the grate. Today, the dark shady corners of this old house are pleasantly cool on a warm afternoon.
Saturday 28 July – a visit to Threlkeld Quarry for their steam gala. The previous day had been very warm and sunny – today was cool, wet and windy, but at least we could see the steam. Visit “Threlkeld Gala” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries for the full story and more pictures.
We’re at Attingham, where there will be some colour, and some cooler shady places where we can wander. It’s more colourful than we expected! The deer have found some shade under the trees in the park, and we’ll find some cool at the end of our walk – we’ve earned ice-creams, though we haven’t walked far today.
Just published to Geoff’s Rail Diaries – more photos and an account of Saturday’s visit to the Apedale Valley Railway, for their third (and last?) “Tracks to the Trenches” event. Visit “Apedale: best of three” – now!
It’s a regular: walk down to Coalport, for tea and cake. But it’s too warm for tea and cake – we’ll have ice creams instead. We’ll vary our return route too – Corbett’s Dingle (locally known simply as “the dingle”) can be impossibly muddy, but today it’s dry, and pleasantly cool and shady on this warm afternoon.
geoffspages.blog 