More miles and another closed pub

It was also dry on Sunday, and David and Alison were free, so we set off for Wendover with a picnic for another walk from the Adventurous Pub Walks in the Chilterns book.

We chose to start at Wendover Woods, and headed for the public car park there. There was clearly an event on there, because the car park was full and we had to park in the overflow area. I volunteered to get the ticket, and jogged up to the main car park, only to find that I did not have enough change, so jogged back to get the extra 50p I needed. I got back at the machine to find that I'd misread the sign, and I needed yet another 50p. So, another jog to and from the car was made. All good exercise!

The start of the route passed the Go Ape course, and the downhill mountain bike track as we headed downhill, eventually heading to Hastoe where we ate our picnics, and looked forward to a swift half or so at The Full Moon at Cholesbury. As we approached the pub from the common, we noticed that the car park was empty.

However, there was an 'A' board promising Sunday lunch and good beer. As we approached the door, we saw a sign telling us the pub was closed until further notice, so we departed somewhat despondently. As we were leaving, a man came out to tell us that the pub was under new management and would re-open in the coming week. Not much help to us.

However, The White Lion at St Leonards was not far off our route so we diverted! As we approached, we notice a 'For Sale' sign on the wall, but could soon see drinkers in the garden. Hooray! Not only was this a nice traditional  pub, but they served Tring Brewery's 'Sidepocket', which was excellent. Perfect for a rest part-way around a long walk.

Having started at the top of Wendover Woods, the last part of the walk was uphill. But we were refreshed enough to manage it.

Almost 20 miles this weekend for Rosie and me. We need to keep this up.

Back to autumn and the scales

After a week in the sun without wearing proper shoes or long trousers, it was a shock to come back to an autumnal England. It was also a shock to stand on the scales when we got back, so more exercise was prescribed.

The sun was shining on the Saturday after we got back, so a walk was inevitable and we dug out the Adventurous Pub Walks in the Chilterns book and choose the Stoke Row and Checkendon walk, starting from Maharajah's Well. 

The walk is described as a 'woodland pub crawl' as it passed four pubs. It did indeed  have plenty of nice woodland.  However, the second pub, the Dog and Duck at Highmoor was closed down and for sale. After getting a little lost about half way around the walk, we got back on track and set our sights on a light lunch at The Four Horseshoes at Checkendon. 

The village is very attractive, and the pub nice. However, when we tried to order food, we were told that there were seven orders queued in the kitchen, so there would be quite a wait.  We settled for a drink and a bag of crisps (well, we had to eat something) each and continued back to Stoke Row. We picked up some soup and  bread on the way home in the car.

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On Santorini: Perivolos to Ancient Thira

As we've done for the past few years, we're taking an early-Autumn holiday in the sun. After getting rained on last year in Turkey in October, we've come earlier this year to Santorini. It a lovely small island, with plenty to see. The weather has been hot with a gentle warm breeze - perfect for relaxation on the beach or by the pool.

We've taken an organised trip to the recently reopened archaeological site at Akrotiri, and a cruise around the caldera, including a stop to climb the active volcano (that makes four this year)  on Nea Kameni and another  to swim in the hot volcanic springs on  on Palea Kameni. We also took the local buses to the lovely Oia.

However, there's a limited amount of lazing around I can do and still get to sleep at night, so a more energetic outing was required. By chance, our resort is at Pervilos, quite close to the site of Ancient Thira - the Dorian capital of the island. The city was built to be easily defended, not easily visited. It's on top of the large hill on the coast that divides Perissa from Kamari. We're just down the coast from Perissa, but there's no road up from this side. However, a footpath was marked on the map, so we decided to try it and made an early (for holidays) start. 

After a twenty minute walk to and though Perissa, we found the path easily. It  zigzagged up the steep slope nicely. The way was clear to follow, and not too tough underfoot. The latter was important as I had only brought sandals and a newish pair of shoes, so was wearing my Merrell 'hiking sandals' and no socks. This turned out to be just fine. It took us about half an hour (mostly in the shade) to get to the 'col', where there's a narrow road down to Kamari, with just a few parking places. No wonder none of the organised coach tours go there.

We paid our €2 entry fees, and climbed some more towards the site, which runs along the ridge of the headland. Although we'd been spoiled by Akrotiri, this was a spectacular site, with some carvings still in place and the layout of plenty of buildings still evident. There were also half a dozen little cabins that, in most Greek historic sites, contain officials with whistles. They use the whistles if you stray off the defined walkways. Only one of these was staffed here - maybe it's late in the season, or maybe this is austerity in action. 

We returned to the road by the path we'd ascended and then took a different route back to Perivolos hoping but failing to find somewhere to buy a big bag of pistachio nuts - a local speciality and favourites of ours. Instead we found a bar specialising in ice cream and duly over-induldged.

So with culture and exercise done, we returned to lounge around the pool in the sunshine.

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Happisburgh - a birthday adventure and a visit to Holkham

On a previous week in Norfolk, we'd stayed on the river at Wayford Bridge and had the use of a rowing boat. This didn't have proper rowlocks (in fact, they were bowlocks) so our progress was erratic and somewhat comical. However, Rosie and I liked the fact that, at least in theory, we were able to explore waterways that were not reachable by powered boats.

It was my birthday on Thursday, so I got to choose what we did, and  decided that we should hire an indian-style canoe from Wayford Bridge. Rosie's somewhat nervous on boats, but went along with the idea. The assistant  advised us to go under the bridge and  up the North Walsham and Dilham Canal, which is beyond the limit of navigation for powered boats. 

We'd never done this before, but seemed to get the hang of it quite quickly and made good progress. Within ten minutes of setting off, I had three Kingfisher sightings (at this time, Rosie was simply willing the canoe not to sink). The canal was shallow, quite narrow and overgrown, but the water was very clean. To use a tired cliché, we really did feel 'close to nature'.

When we'd been going about an hour, we got rather closer than I cared to... we came across a herd of cows on the bank, one of which decided it needed at bathe in the canal, so it waded in just ahead of us. We'd had trouble with cows here last year on a walk with Dave. The canal was wide enough for us to manoeuvre past (with me willing the cow to still still). Shortly afterwards, we beached the canoe on the far bank from the cows and had a rest. After checking that the canal was cow-free, we paddled back. This was against the wind, and it was much harder work to steer the canoe.

Apart from a group with solo kayaks (although one had a dog as a passenger), we'd had the canal to ourselves. However, as we got close to the boathouse, we came across two older couples in canoes. They clearly had not got the hang of it. They seemed to still be at the 'having fun at being hopeless' stage. I hope it stayed fun for them.

We both enjoyed the adventure and would do it again.

It was a lovely sunny day, so naturally we needed to visit the beach for Rosie's daily dip in the North Sea. This time we took advantage of Jo and Pete's offer to park at Sandways, their cottage near Eccles, and use the gap over the dunes there. Apart from a few surfers who weren't having a very fulfilling time, there was hardly anyone around.

Jo and Pete had also invited us for dinner in Wreningham. Thanks to Pete for cooking the  barbecued leg of lamb that I love. Thanks also to Jo for the 'compiliation' CD of walking and rambling songs.

We decided to venture further afield on Friday, and headed for Holkham. We started with a walk around in the Holker Hall estate. This was pleasant enough but, truth be told, a bit boring. It was well timed, because we ended up back at the cafeteria for a late lunch. There was a great choice of savoury pies and the like from Walsingham Farms Shops. We chose and enjoyed a pasty each, and decided to visit the Farm Shop on the way back to our cottage to stock up on some treats.

Guess what we did next? Off to the beach at Holkham of course. This is an amazing place - with pines, salt marches, dunes and then a massive extent of beach. The tide goes out a very long way here, so it's quite a walk to the sea. We spent a super (and hot) couple of hours there, with the statutory dip.

The farm shop was even better than we'd hoped, so more tempting. I'm writing this on Saturday evening after having eaten the chicken and ham pie we bought there. It was exactly what a good pie should be - rich pastry, full to bursting with filling and with a lovely tarragon flavoured sauce. Looking forward to the pork pie tomorrow.

After leaving the cottage this morning, we took a final trip to the beach at Sandways for a final dip to complete Rosie's 'in the sea every day' quest.

Back to work on Monday, but not for long because we're off to Santorini the week after next!

Happisburgh - The Bure Valley

Once again we've rented a cottage at Church Farm Barns in Happisburgh (pronounced Haisbro) on the Norfolk coast.

Stuart came up with us on Saturday and stayed until early this morning. He and I took early advantage of the games barn and, after a bit of a turn-up, the natural order was reestablished with him winning at pool and me at table tennis.

The beach cricket was not competitive. At Cart Gap yesterday, our game was being watched closely by a boy who'd come to the beach with his mum.  In the spirit of the games we played when I was his age, we invited him to join in, and he was delighted to accept. He was much better than us, but seemed to enjoy himself and we played for well over an hour - his mum even joined in.

It was Rosie's Mum's birthday on Tuesday so Rosie fetched from Norwich to send the day with us. Meanwhile, I managed to fit in a solo walk that took in a decent stretch of the coast that I had almost to myself. Mary doesn't get to the beach often so we took her to Cart Gap and later to dinner at The Fur & Feathers in Woodbastwick.

After dropping Mary home and Stuart to the bus station today, we were free agents and able to walk! Rosie chose a walk from Buxton alongside the Bure Valley Railway to Coltishall, then back along the River Bure with a stop for sandwiches and  quick drink at The Rising Sun. The route back wasn't straight forward, with the path overgrown on the final stretch along the river. Nevertheless it was a nice walk on a sunny day.

We had enough time to make it to the beach in time for Rosie to keep up her record of getting into the sea every day.

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