Wednesday to Nenthead

Today dear readers of Wear and Dao  the old blogger and his partner joined the Wheels to Meals crew on the trip to Nenthead in Cumbria ... specifically The Hive a converted Methodist Chapel with delicious food to eat at a reasonable price. We sat at a table along with John Lloyd the minibus driver and Dennis an old friend from Stanhope. We chose vegetarian curry which was        delicious and nutritious and returned home to Stanhope via the fascinating model village nearby.

Back home in Stanhope we read for a while (A Very French Wedding by Maeve Haran), then the old blogger went walkabout for a little exercise after the filling curry lunch. Over the stepping stones I went to collect more apples to eat or cook and give to friends and strangers including a Jewish Orthodox family on holiday from Hackney in London. Since the ice cream van was open for business an ice cream with a chocolate flake was purchased, then Gillian, the Angel of Stanhope turned up and we walked along to the Stone Bridge over the River Wear and back home to Rose Terrace where we offered tea and pastries and had a good chat about philosophy as usual.

When Gillian departed we went to The Grey Bull for a pint of bitter shandy with a lime top and some cheese and onion crisps before returning home for soup with croutons and an early night to read some more and write the blog you're reading now dear readers! !

Tuesday lunch alone ...

Today, Tuesday, the old blogger was deserted by his partner who had a friend to visit up the Dale. Before she left he set out to deliver some things to Beryl at the Charity Shop at the Community Centre. Then he called in to see John at the Hub to ascertain the arrangements for tomorrow's trip to Nenthead with Wheels to Meals. Arriving home too late to see the partner depart he settled down to read his latest book (A Cat called Bob and the story of James with his struggles against heroin addiction). Another book of poetry by Jamie Tucknut a local author was on the go too, between tucking in to a coffee and croissant when a friend called Dave arrived with his collie dog called Tess. After a brief conversation Dave departed for lunch with Sandra whilst the old blogger set to preparing lunch for himself ... cheese omelette with vegetables followed by blackberry and apple crumble with custard since you ask dear readers!

The partner returned soon after the lovely lunch was finished so we sat out in the sun reading our books before walking over the stepping stones to collect more apples. Returning laden with apples we sat reading again before popping up to The Grey Bull for a pint of bitter shandy before supper of soup and booking a hotel for the forthcoming trip to France and the Eden Project in St Austell ... and writing the blog you're reading now ...

Monday on oxygen etc

Well here we are again dear readers of Wear and Dao, another Monday in and around Stanhope ... the morning started with a trip to Meadowfield to test the fitness of your old blogger with a walking test at the Oxygenation Clinic. This proved very satisfactory indeed and we went home via Tow Law to buy provisions including pain au chocolate to eat with coffee. .. delicious!

Lunch was prepared of yesterday's frittata leftovers plus runner beans provided by Andrew, who left early this morning for Oakhampton where he's working for a few days with others on the Peatland Project.

After lunch your old blogger walked into the village to see John at the Hub to find out information about Wednesday's trip to Nenthead, to no avail since John and others were in a meeting,  so he returned home via the apple tree behind the Dales Centre to provide more apples for Beryl.

Various things needed sorting out indoors including the meter readings for Octopus Energy the provider of electricity and Good Energy who pay the returns on the Feed in Tariff from the solar panels at no 5 Railway Terrace. Then there was the parking fine to pay and Brittany Ferries to book for the forthcoming trip to France to see the blogger's sister Judith Bohic nee Day.

What a life eh dear readers!

Sunday lunch with Andrew

Today, Sunday dear readers of Wear and Dao,  was another day in Stanhope in bright sunshine after yesterday's rainy day and occasional downpours ... that's what makes England the promised land as William Blake told it in his poem Jerusalem.

Our next door neighbour, Andrew, came for lunch and frittata was on the menu, involving lots of veg and four duck eggs ... dessert was blackberry and apple crumble with custard and the starter was vegetable soup ...delicious and nutritious!  Many of the vegetables came from Andrew's allotment ... such a great idea these allotments for folks with no growing space at home, like the miners in their terraced houses etc.

Before lunch we went in search of apples, in abundance at this time of the year, and found plenty behind the Dales Centre by the Church of St Thomas, we gathered plenty in to store for the winter and make apple sauce and chutney plus those we cooked with blackberries in a crumble topping with custard for lunch.

Andrew works for the A.O.N.B on the Peatland Project, which aims to restore the peatland to its former glory and maybe reforest the moors as they were hundreds of years ago.

After Andrew departed we set off in search of more apples to cook and store.

Tomorrow is another day with no fixed plans apart from a medical appointment at 9am so let's see how the day pans out shall we dear readers?

Friday to Jarrow

Another sunny day and the visit to the blogger's partner's mother took us to Jarrow in South Tyneside dear readers of Wear and Dao. First task was to do some shopping in Morrison's then on to lunch at The Red Fox. Mam is almost 90 years young and still fit and healthy despite a recent bout of Covid, whatever that is ... hmm, Sars-Cov-2 or a corona virus with symptoms like influenza but hyped up to scare the world for no good reason!

After lunch we returned to Stanhope to rest a while and pick blackberries to go with the apples of which we have many. Then we went to visit Jules and Peter to celebrate the conclusion of the sale of the Retreat House at no.5 Railway Terrace.

Tomorrow is unknown at the moment ... maybe a trip out, maybe just sort out all these apples ... who knows? But you can be sure dear readers that you'll read about it here.

Thursday to Cumbria again ...

Today dear readers of Wear and Dao,  your old blogger and his partner set off bright and early to visit the Lake District at Sizergh Castle, a National Trust place near Kendal (where they make the mint cake, a minty concoction aimed to give energy to the walkers and cyclists so often found around The Lake District).

The weather forecast was rather dull but not too much rain, which turned out about right, and the visit to Sizergh Castle was a delight, especially the apple trees bearing an abundance of fruit which we decided to pick to take home to Stanhope for apple pie or crumble with custard.

Before all this we stopped off en route for coffee and cake in Middleton in Teesdale at the wittily named Teespot. Over the hills we went along the M6 for a while before arriving at Sizergh Castle in time for lunch of chilli beans on baked potato and after more wandering about the gardens and castle itself we returned home for a pint of bitter shandy and a chat with Muna, a friend of ours ... then it was supper of soup and ready for bed a looking forward to visiting the partner's mother in Jarrow.

Wednesday 17.08.22

Today dear readers of Wear and Dao was spent at home in Stanhope, Weardale in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty just east of Cumbria with its National Park, south of Northumbria and north of North Yorkshire ditto ...

Of course the main aim today was to see our solicitor in Crook and sign the contract for the transfer of 5 Railway Terrace to Jules our dear friend and neighbour ... which was done by 3.30 pm and we returned home in the sunshine to celebrate at  the Grey Bull with a pint of bitter shandy  and get a message from Lee  that she and Martin were calling over on their motorbike to see us at Rose Terrace. .. After Lee and Martin departed it was a light supper and off to bed to read and write the blog you're reading now ...