Following on from Blog 50, here is a slightly shortened version of my diary for the third quarter of 2023:
Friday, 7th July – Parked at Helsington church and explored the southern part of Helsington Barrows. Saw a six-spot burnet moth on a thistle. There was a lot of thunder and lightning in the evening.
Wednesday, 12th July – Looked up the Dovecote Press in the internet and found that it is still run by David Burnett, who was in charge when they published my books about Dorset in the 1980s.
Monday, 17th July – Received a recent photograph of members of the Old Harlovians, including Michael Dyke, who looked more like the boy I knew than anyone else in the photograph, and Andrew James, who stayed with my family at Buckhurst Hill in 1952.
Thursday, 20th July – Walked along the Pennine Way from Dufton to Great Rundale Beck. I found the first part of this route so beautiful I had to keep stopping to take photographs.
Tuesday, 8th August – Walked along the Pennine Way from Cronkley to Sayer Hill and took two beautiful photographs of Gayle.
Wednesday, 9th August – Found the key that I lost on 8th June while I was looking for something else. It was right at the bottom of the inside pocket of my large rucksack.
Saturday, 12th August – Set off in pouring rain for the start of the Wainwright Society walk to Beacon Fell, but I got lost and arrived half an hour late. I was able to meet the group near Beacon Tarn and join them for the last part of the walk. Other people could smell the bog myrtle, but I couldn’t, which means that I must have lost my sense of smell.
Sunday, 13th August – Sent my introduction to the latest re-print of Pennine Way Companion to David Claxton.
Wednesday, 16th August – Went for a walk in Brigsteer Woods and came across a hide overlooking a lake, neither of which are shown on my Ordnance Survey map. Found the spring that is named on the map as Simm Well. I have now been at 21 Anchorite Place longer than at any other address.
Tuesday, 22nd August – Received a complimentary book about the North West Way by Steve Garrill, whom I met in June.
Wednesday, 23rd August – Discovered photographs of myself in the book about the North West Way that were taken less than three months ago.
Thursday, 24th August – Walked through Honeybee Wood from Brigsteer to Barrowfield Farm and returned along the south ridge of Scout Scar. Found a shrub with spherical white berries that I later identified as snowberry.
Saturday, 26th August – Received an email including the names of all the people who were in my year at Buckhurst Hill County High School. Fifty-two of them are known to be still alive, and twenty-nine are known to have died.
Sunday, 27th August – Walked along Great Langdale from Oak Howe to the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel with Chris and Priscilla. Priscilla identified a Rose of Sharon with her equipment, and later she identified a Belted Galloway cow who had just given birth, but she didn’t need any equipment for that because there are similar cows on her farm. A few yards from where we parked Chris discovered a place that he wanted to photograph.
Monday, 28th August – Went up Dodd with Chris and Priscilla using the route from the north-west that is shown on Clive’s version of The Northern Fells but not on mine. We all agreed that the new path should not have been added because it is difficult to use, and I could not find the viewpoint that Clive mentioned. We came down by a much easier route.
We have now finished the walks that I planned on 1st January 2022.
Thursday, 31st August – Went for a walk in Back Spring near Brigsteer Woods. I found it difficult to follow the rides shown on the map.
Tuesday, 5th September – Went for a walk on Hay Fell, which I can see from my windows.
Friday, 8th September – Went for a walk from Brigsteer to Wells Garth and beyond. There were a lot of speckled wood butterflies about.
Sunday, 10th September – Went to a Wainwright meeting in the Octagon Theatre in Grassington and met some interesting people. One of my books was the prize in a raffle. On my way there I passed a beautiful vintage Rolls-Royce and later an enormous number of scooters. On my way home I drove through rain that was more intense than any I have experienced since 1990.
Saturday, 16th September – Went on a Wainwright Society walk through the lanes of Kirkby Lonsdale and along the River Lune to the Devil’s Bridge and Whittington.
Wednesday, 20th September – The river was higher than I have seen it since I bought my camera, so I went up Scout Scar to photographs the Lyth Valley, but the best photograph I got was looking north from the north end of Scout Scar. When I got back I photographed the river where it flows through Kendal.
Thursday, 21st September – Discovered a recent article in Facebook about our walk on Whitbarrow with text and photographs that I hadn’t seen before.
Saturday, 23rd September – Walked along the top of Cunswick Scar from the north and down to Cunswick Tarn. Succeeded in obtaining a satisfactory photograph of a comma butterfly. Usually I can’t focus on anything so small. I also succeeded in using the ticket machine in Booth’s car park.
Received a letter with a Charles III stamp on it for the first time. It was printed on the envelope rather than stuck on.
Tuesday, 26th September – Finished reading my diary from 1954 to 2023. I can’t imagine life without a diary: I can’t understand why everybody doesn’t keep one.
Wednesday, 27th September – A new radio quiz has recently started called the Perfect Pub Quiz in which the talking between the questions actually makes the programme more enjoyable. Another new radio series that I am enjoying is Love Letters to London by Graham McPherson.
Tursday, 28th September – Read in the Wainwright Facebook site that the tree in Sycamore Gap that I mentioned in my introduction to Pennine Way Companion is no longer there. Made the necessary change to the introduction and sent it to the secretary of the Wainwright Society. I don’t know whether the change will be in time.
Saturday, 30th September – Went on a Wainwright Society walk from Low Borrow Bridge to the ruins of High Borrowdale. Whenever I go anywhere I usually get lost because I forget where I am. I thought that I couldn’t possibly get lost on this occasion because there is a single road from Kendal to the start of the walk, but I was stopped by roadworks with no signposted alternative route. The route I took was eighteen miles long. When I got home I worked out a route that was six miles long. It’s hard to believe that sixty years ago I won prizes for navigating. I planned to reach the start at twenty past nine, but I actually arrived at ten o’clock as the members were about to set off. They saved a parking space for me, which was remarkably considerate of them.