EASTER

A week off work spent partly at home - tidying up the allotment, slating the roof of my "brew house", visiting the in laws and chasing down some of those elusive, final 2000 foot tops to complete my list. There are about 450 hills in England and Wales more than 2000 feet in height with at least 50 feet of ascent on all sides. I've done about 430 of them, but the last 20 are proving troublesome. This is because I've never approached the task in any sort of systematic way, instead I climbed hills more or less as the fancy takes me. This means that gone are the days when I'd spend a day ticking off half a dozen tops. Now I'm picking up single "outliers", overlooked on previous trips to more significant tops. Pictures here (top right) is Simon Fell in the Dales, a hill that adjoins Ingleborough. As I'd driven to Yorkshire to climb it I made (deliberately) a bit of a meal of the ascent, describing a circuitous route that crossed limestone pavements, returned via Ingleborough and Gaping Ghyll and ended with tea and cake in Clapham.

The middle of the week saw a return to the Lakes, a family trip staying in Grasmere and Patterdale YH - out via Fairfield and back via Hellvelyn. Another outlier (Seat Sandal) ticked off.

Pictured (top left) is Striding Edge.

EASTER EGG HUNT

Easter Saturday saw the "Easter Egg Hunt" around the village. This has been going for a few years now and is mainly and event for the kids. It's not until you see then rushing around the village chasing clues that will lead them to an Easter Egg that you realise how many children there are in the village nowadays.

This year, the event grew into something for "the family" as well as the children. Appealing to "the family" is a euphamism for including a barrel of beer and a barbecue. Simple,stuff - but you really can't go wrong with a barrel of local beer and a barbecue of local sausage and burgers. Inside the village hall, young mums and their children were catching up on the village news over white wine, soft drinks and home made cakes, big slabs of chocolate cake and little fancy fairy cakes. Lots of talk, lots of gossip swapped and tales told. Outside the men gathered around the barbecue, swilling pints of beer and guffawing over the indiscretions of others.There's a karaoke evening in the pub tonight - has anyone got the stamina? I haven't, must be getting old.

I should really have posted this picture earlier as it illustrates the previous post. It's a photo of Radnorshire, taken on the "Radnor Ramble" on Saturday 4th April

THE FIRST POST

Where to start? Well, it's Monday evening, 6th April - so let's review the weekend.
Saturday, I woke in a rather twee B&B in Knighton, having travelled down the evening before so as to not have to get up too early for the annual "Radnor Ramble" challenge walk. I like Radnorshire; it's an irony that you have to go to Mid Wales to experience what we think England used to be like. Rolling country with blue hills beyond, hedgerows, copses and small fields. Streams, rivers, birds and the first Spring flowers - violet, celandine, wood sorrell and primrose. It had raiend a little overnight so the air was washed clean to give limitless views in the sunshine.
A steep climb up from Knighton to Offa's Dyke, north for a few miles then down to Lloyney. Up again along the lovely broad ridge to Beacon Hill and then down to Llangunllo. More up and down over the Radnor Hills and down to the last checkpoint at Dolley Green. This was in the Baptist Church Hall. I don't know what sort of Baptists they are in Dolley Green but they seem to be Creationists and they've got the posters and leaflets to prove it. Home made cakes whilst browsing the tracts on display and then a few miles more on Offa's Dyke to return to Knighton - 25 miles in all.

I had some of Matt's home made soup and a cup of tea and then drove home. I only intended a couple of pints in the village pub (quiet as it always is on Saturday) but the Jenning's Lakeland Stunner detained me. A combination of the beer and the 25 miles had me struggling to get up on Sunday morning, but I was anxious to have a look at the cider.

You make cider (fairly obviously) in the Autumn and leave it to ferment over winter. I just use natural apple juice, with a few crab apples thrown in, and leave the natural yeats to do the work. Nothing added. It ferments at a pretty low temperature, about 15c or less, but remains dormant throughout mid winter, then kicks off again in the Spring. I'd racked it (syphoned the clear liquid off the fermentation sludge - the lees) a month or so ago, but I now wanted to bottle about 4 gallons of it. This should produce a sparking cider (as opposed to the still stuff in the jars) which should also keep well - I've made more this year.

In the kitchen garden the new stuff is starting to show. No sign of the potatoes yet, but the shallots are well established as it the garlic and the onions are showing. The peas and broad beans (sown direct for the first time this year) are appearing - but last year's curly kale is beginning to bolt and the leeks won't last much longer. I think this is the time of year that the old cottagers called the "hungry time" - the winter veg was disappearing and the spring stuff hadn't arrived.