What's happened to the weather?

One of the reasons we chose to go back to Madeira for a second time was because our holiday in Sardinia last year was interrupted by poor weather whereas our memories of Madeira were of wall to wall sunshine. Sadly the sunshine has only been seen briefly so far, whilst we descended the steps of the plane, so our plans to relax by the pool have had to be put on hold. Instead, we spent the day exploring the sights of Funchal, learning a little of the history of Madeira and doing some shopping.

One famous early resident of Madeira was Christopher Columbus, who lived on the island for several years and married the daughter of the governor of neighbouring Porto Santo. His statue now looks out to sea, overlooking Funchal harbour.




Madeira is colourful in spring, and the Bird of Paradise flower (Strelitzia reginae) abounds throughout the many parks and gardens around the city. They are common to warmer countries and are plentiful on the island, so much so that the airport is happy to arrange to box up bunches of the flowers for visitors to take home.

The cloud refused to lift throughout the day, meaning we had to research several cafes, shops and bars during the afternoon, so the day wasn't wasted!




By evening, even though the rain stayed away, the cloud remained stubborn, giving the night-time view from our balcony a rather dramatic look.

Holiday time!

After counting down for weeks our holiday has finally come round and we started our journey with a breakfast pastry at the airport. We were on our way to Madeira, where we'd enjoyed a fabulous holiday a couple of years earlier, and we were even going back to the same hotel, the Casino Park in Funchal.











The early morning flight meant we were on our hotel room apartment looking out to sea by early afternoon, and the only disappointment was that the sun, which was shining brightly as we landed at the airport, had disappeared behind a veil of cloud.

In the evening we headed down the hill into the centre of town and found a small Italian restaurant, where we indulged in pizza and tiramasu as well as sampling a bottle of wine. Setting a marker down for the week ahead...

Helping Beryl & Terry celebrate their Ruby Anniversary

Although we were due to go away on a week's holiday, our flights weren't scheduled until Monday which meant we were free to join my Aunty Beryl and Uncle Terry for a meal out to celebrate their ruby wedding anniversary.

It was also an opportunity to catch up with cousins Neil and Kay and take some rare family photos too!


Beryl and Terry elected to visit the Clog & Billycock, over in Pleasington, just on the outskirts of town, and this was our first visit since it was taken over and refurbished by celebrity chefs Nigel Howarth and Craig Bancroft from Northcote Manor. Years ago the Clog was a run-down locals' pub but the conversion has transformed it into an impresssive modern restaurant. The menu is packed with traditional pub fayre with a modern slant and the food was sensational.


After a lovely meal we returned for the traditional cake cutting photos, capping off an enjoyable evening.

Celebrating Jules' 40th Birthday

Yesterday we met up with friends to celebrate Julie's 40th birthday at Rogan's in Cartmel village. We had a great afternoon, the food was fantastic and we even had a duck race in the nearby beck before the day was out!

We had the top floor of the restaurant to ourselves and even a smaller room where the children could be kept entertained.

Julie had several heart-felt thank yous to share and even though it was her birthday, it was Julie who was giving out the presents!

Anne received a big bouquet and an even bigger hug.

Craig has so many stories to share about his sister!

Stewart ran the quiz to see how much Julie's friends really knew about her.

Ken had the job to catch the ducks in the river at the end of the duck race.

A cloudspotter - it's official!

Last year I stumbled across the website of the Cloud Appreciation Society (I don't know how, it just kind of happened, and yes, they really do exist!). I guess there are worse sites to stumble across whilst surfing the web, and any case, I admire their stance against 'blue-sky thinking'.

But anyway, their devotion to, erm, clouds, means they actively encourage people to submit their classy cloud photos to their gallery.

Although clouds weren't intentionally the subject of this photo, taken whilst on holiday last year in Northumberland, it seemed to fit the bill, so I sent it to them. It's taken them a while to upload it, but it's now online here.

Steve and Claire and baby Leia

Our friends Steve and Claire became proud parents six weeks ago when little baby Leia was born, and we'd arranged to pay them a visit once they'd got back into a routine.

We don't get to see Steve and Claire very often so it was great to catch up and see the baby, and also to see their new house too. Leia wasn't especially keen to smile particularly for the camera but I did manage some shots of her with Mum and then with Dad:

A good effort, but not quite

I had some disappointing, if not entirely unexpected news today - the two pictures I'd submitted into a magazine competition (of Darwen Tower and of the Wainwright Bridge in the centre of Blackburn), had not made it through to the final stages.

The feedback slip was encouraging though, the pictures hadn't been rejected because of "poor interpretation of the the theme" or "Poor camera technique, ie poorly exposed or out of focus", or even "Technically good but lacks impact". The ticked box said "Excellent entry but not quite good enough to be shortlisted" - some praise given that the standard is undoubtedly high.

The successful pictures will be in Practical Photography next month and it will be interesting to see the winning pictures. Better luck next time!

Exploring Glasson

The weather on Good Friday spoilt our plans to take a walk around the reservoirs in Roddlesworth Woods, between Tockholes and Abbey Village near where we live. It's a popular place for walking and we were keen to go and stretch our legs there, but the rain arrived at just the wrong time, so we stayed indoors instead. Fortunately the weather on Easter Sunday, particularly on the coast was much improved, that's where we headed.

These days Glasson is popular with tourists, especially when the weather is good. The boats in the marina are always colourful, there are a number of shops, pubs and cafes on the quayside and there are plenty of options for walks if you want to stretch your legs. We arrived just before noon and the car park was already filling up.

After lunch on a picnic table overlooking the water, we headed off away from the boats by following the route of the old railway line, which curves alongside the Lune for about a mile or so to a bridge over the water at Condor Green. The railway connecting Glasson to Lancaster was built in 1883 and carried cargoes of china clay, molasses and timber brought into Glasson from across the Empire. The railway closed in the '60s and the old track bed is now part of the Lancashire Coastal Way path and cycleway.

Our route took us past the Stork pub at Condor Green, an old coaching house dating from 1660. These days it's very popular with walkers and bikers, and there were plenty folk outside today enjoying refreshments in the sunshine. From here we crossed fields to eventually reach the canal for the walk back to the marina.

The canal came to Glasson in 1826 and it quickly boosted trade at the docks, which peaked in 1840 whe over 180 ships used the canal*. The canal is a spur from the main line of the Lancaster Canal and is around 5 miles in length. Although trade declined considerably in the 20th century, there was still plenty of shipping using Glasson right up to the 1970s. Nowadays though, the canal branch is used by leisure boats, and today we watched the Loie Fuller, a barge registered in Watford, navigate the two sets of locks between Galgate and the marina.

On our return to the marina, we took a stroll down to the commercial part of the docks, where tucked away behind the Dalton Arms is the well respected Port of Lancaster Smokehouse, which sells a range of tasty smoked produce such as fish, bacon, cheese and garlic, as well plenty of preserves and biscuits. Before heading back to the car with our shopping, we walked round to the seaboard side of the docks, where upon climbing a very gentle hill, the views across to Sunderland Point and beyond to the sea are superb.

A lovely day out in great weather, and we had our smoked treats to take back home with us too!


* Taken from a small booklet "Glasson Dock Through the Ages" published in 1980 and available from the cafe in the village.

Clitheroe in the sunshine

The old market town of Clitheroe is always a pleasant place to visit, set in a fantasic location not far from the river Ribble, with views to Pendle Hill on one side and the Bowland fells on the other. We weren't there for a walk today though - instead Carole wanted to take a look at the shops and just generally chill out.

Whilst Carole was checking out the clothes, I took a stroll to the park by the castle, and looked for a view of the main street.

Later we both explored the park some more and I persuaded Carole to take a (rare for this blog) photo of me.

A walk on the Wyre side

The fair weather today allowed us to embark on a Sunday afternoon stroll with Mum & Dad, but instead of jumping in the car we decided to take a stroll around the area local to where they live.

The River Wyre flows down from the Bowland hills to Garstang, and after this it meanders slowly to the sea near Fleetwood. This last stretch is very flat and ideal for a less-than-strenuous walk.



The church of St Helen in Churchtown was, according to Wikipedia, known as 'the cathedral of the Fylde' and is noted for having a lepers' window as well as a grave marker for the village's only Black Plague victim. Pity we didn't know all this beforehand - we might have got the photos!

Churchtown also contains the Horns Inn, who serve excellent food which we regularly check out. There is another pub in the village though, the Punchbowl, which is quite close to the church, and it looked especially inviting to four thirsty walkers.







On the way back, we again encountered a heron (we saw one on the Ribble the other week), who was happy to pose for the camera whilst he was looking for a meal in the river.