Northumbria - Week 3
A big hullo to you all. Once again, thank you to those who contacted us and letting us know what is happening in your lives, giving some recommendations for places to visit and saying a quick g’day. We love getting your messages, so please keep them coming.
The big thing here (well for Volker anyhow - Phil knows all about it and is bit blasé) is trying to get used to the time it gets dark and when it gets light again. Currently, you can still read the newspaper till almost 10.00pm outside, but it doesn’t get really dark until after 11. Then - the birds start chirping away in the morning at about 0300 as the sky begins to pale and by 0400 you could read the bits of the paper you didn’t read the previous night. All well and good as the place we are at has very dark blinds, but it doesn’t fool the dogs who want / need to perform their ablutions, chase rabbits and want a feed at 0430. By the time they have abluted & etc your wide awake and putting the kettle on for the first cup of Earl Grey. It makes for a very long day which sometimes requires a 1/2 time kip. In fact for Volker it is a hard slog with only about 4 hours of darkness. Sure takes a bit of getting used to.
Volker took the dogs for a wander over the hills and far away through a paddock with cows frolicking about one day and came a bit unstuck. A wee calf took a lot of interest in the dogs which was OK, but one of the dogs also took a bit too much interest in the calf, albeit she was on a lead, but Mummy cow didn’t see it that way. She came in to do what Mummy’s do. Only problem - Volker was in the way and copped a set of horns in the middle of the back. It was so lucky Mummy cow had her horns cut unlike some others who were sporting some very long pointed ones that could do a lot of damage. This one had 1/2 sized ones with blunt ends which still created a bit of discomfort, made for a slow painful walk back home with dogs who wanted to pull and very long night trying to get comfortable.
When we finish the gig here at Northumbria, we are contemplating walking a section of the West Highland Way in Scotland before heading to our next sit in Spain. As such, we have been looking up their website to do some planning, where we came across this little gem. It’s verbatim off the front / home page.
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Beastie Warning!
All walkers should be aware that the tick population appears to have greatly increased this year. It is recommend that you check for ticks at the end of the days walk and have a tick remover to extract the insect. Even better to check after each stop.
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WOW!! What sort of ticks are these when they command a front page headline "Beastie Warning”. These MUST be serious Scottish ticks. Our walk trail websites back home don’t even bother to mention Tiger Snakes, Death Adders, King Brown’s, Inland Taipans, Redback Spiders, Desert Scorpions etc. Some, which can either kill you in a very short period of time or at the very least, spoil your days walk, as you will probably be in a hospital. Here - TICKS get headline billing on the Home Page. We are reconsidering now if they are THAT bad. Need to do some more homework as this is worrying stuff!
Here is a domestic observation that I’m sure will ring a bell or two. Shopping in a supermarket. I thought shopping with Philomena can be bit of a challenge, but it is universal I’m now thinking. My safety net is “Yes Dear” which, as my relegated position of shopping cart pusher requires me to say frequently and hopefully at appropriately timed moments if I know what is good for me. This comes with much practice that has been gained through hard experience. But - I have noticed that in every country we have been so far, there are partners who would rather be watching the football, down at the pub, out wandering hills, watching grass grow, getting teeth pulled without anaesthetic - anywhere / anything but doing what they are doing. They are easy to spot as they all have the same bored look in their eyes and answer the same monotone equivalent of “Yes Dear". They - like me are not game enough to say anything else but! In my observations to date they say - ja meine liebe, si miei cari, oui mon cher and now here in Geordie land - aye pet.
Apart from wandering about supermarkets, we did get some other great walks in and about the Northumbrian countryside. Won’t bore you with the step by step description. If the beasties are given the all clear in Scotland, we will be doing a few days walking on the West Highland Way in July, so we have started going for longer walks to build up a bit more stamina for 6-7 hours walking on these days. In doing so we have been getting to see some more of the high moors, forests and pastures which are starting to come into flower, making for some wonderful days outs - when the weather is OK. For every good day there have been about 3 pretty miserable ones. But as Phil says - if you stay inside in Scotland when it gets wet, you would be rarely out. Seeing as we are only about 30 kms from the border, I guess it’s the same deal here, so put on a rain jacket and enjoy it. Dogs do!
One of the walks we went on was across a high moor with a flagstone pathway across a very soggy section between high points complete with burial cairns. This was an amazing piece of walking trail. Just getting the flag stones to the area, some which were about a metre square would have been a logistical nightmare as each one must weigh many, many kilograms. The whole thing was done very well. It is there to protect the delicate mosses and the peat which takes about 10 years to “grow” just 1 cm. that would otherwise get trashed and to prevent erosion from the thousands of pairs of feet that no doubt tramp across this very scenic area.
To finish off the week, we headed down to the City of Durham to get Phil’s Passport sorted out. This happened with a minimum of bureaucratic pain which was a welcome surprise and within an hour Phil was a much relieved UK National again and the required Passport should be comfortably in the mail before we head to Spain. Now she can get on with the business of applying for a return Visa so she can get back into Australia.
Durham is not a place either of us are familiar with but it seemed to be a happening town with plenty of restoration works in progress along the river front. Being a university city, the multitude of young people added that wonderful freshness that youth brings, amongst the World Heritage listed historical buildings such as the castle and the cathedral, dating back to the 11th century, both prominently overlooking the city. These building were the location for a couple of the Harry Potter as Hogwarts. It all made for a great place to wander about and it had a really good feel which we savoured over a coffee while people watching in the old part of the city.
On the way down, we saw the Angel of the North which is the tallest / biggest sculpture in the UK. From the A1 Highway this thing looks massive. On the way back we stopped and went for a stroll over and close up it is unbelievably massive. The stats for this thing are - height is 20 metres, wingspan is 54 metres, weights 200 tons (of steel). She is stuffed into an old mine shaft and has a footing of 20 metres of concrete to stop her flying away which would be a pretty scary thing to see. Wee Phil standing along side of it is even wee'er in the attached photo. It just dwarfed her. It certainly impressed us, as many others who stood looking up at her in awe with mouths wide open, which itself was an interesting sight.
So another week has past. We now head into the half way week of this house sit with more adventures planned in the following weeks which we are looking forward to. We have been in contact with the owners of the up coming sit in Spain who sent us a short movie of the area. Nice! With the passport sorted, its all systems go and we can now start planning for that leg.
Best wishes and lots of love.
Philomena & Volker
