Monday, August 17, 2003

Greetings All,

An extremely nice two days in the Dale. If anything, Saturday was too hot. Both days had magnificent sunsets and probably sunrises too which we did not see. We are still getting a bit more than 12 hours a day of sunshine here in the north. Temperatures have been running in the mid to high 70's during the day with some breeze and scattered clouds.

Saturday we awoke to a glorious morning and left Burnbrae a bit after 9:00 a.m. and took the road out of St. John's Chapel over the moors to the south through Langdon Beck. We had decided to visit High Force, billed as the largest waterfall in England - at least for volume of water. It is quite a site though much like a very miniature Niagara Falls on the River Tees. As we pulled into the parking lot and paid our pound we saw a number of the local constabulary and some marquees set up already. This was a weekend of kite flying exhibitions and contests. There was even a group of about 15 Scottish pipers in Black Watch outfits tuning up for the opening festivities. The hike down and back to high force took only about 40 minutes and we were still about an hour early before things began so we opted to continue driving along the Tees to the town of Middleton-on-Tees. A picturesque town, we stopped for sausages in a pie crust, visited the local iron monger and stopped in a very nice antique shop and found a nice Arts & Crafts copper and brass bucket and had a great chat with the owners. In the small town square sits a wrought iron fountain given by the employees of the London Lead Company about 1875, quite nice.

It was nearly noon when we decided todrive north over the moors out of town. Everywhere in the north now the heather is in full bloom, some hills are 100% lavender in color and the only contrast is the sheep grazing around the heather looking for grass. It was a 15 mile drive north into Stanhope and then back along the Wear River into Daddry Shield and the Mine House where we stopped to help prep for the afternoons BBQ. Byron and I were in charge of getting the fire started, no mean feat without lighter fluid but perseverance pays off and around 2:15 we actually had coals for me to cook over. There were about 20 of us and a good time had by all. For me the outstanding portion of the meal was a great trifle made by Sandra Beadle. Byron who had never tasted trifle tried it late in the evening and polished off the final 40% of the bowl, he is not much for sweets and does not like chocolate but this hit the spot. Ralph Sutcliffe had stopped by and by the evening between the sun, which had worn us all out, and the wine he decided it was best to stay overnight.

Sunday morning dawned a bit cooler and after breakfast, Ralph left and we drove on up to the mine house around 11:00 a.m. Sunday's project was to build a small 8'x10' shed. So while Kerith and Jonina slaved over a 1000 piece puzzle in the sun room Byron and I worked at putting together a shed, thankfully, our landlords had extra nails and felt tacks and by about 3:30 in the afternoon it was assembled, as was the puzzle. We were all too tired to do anything but decide to drive down the the Mill Race Inn in Wolsingham around 6:30 and have dinner.

Mick Sutcliffe and his nephew are due in today for a look around the mine, it has been four years since Mick was underground so this will be a bit of a revelation for him as to what we've been doing. It is cool and overcast this morning and looks like we have the threat of showers.

That's it from this place way north of Lake Woebegone.

Cal & Kerith

Go Back