John - Archived Entries for 2022 / 9

Try to pretend you don't want one of these tweed caps.

Dr John Hawkins

Welcome to my bit of the Maison de Stuff, home to a huge load of pictures, and my daily blog.

My email address is as above - I've put it in an image in a vein attempt to reduce the amount of spam I get.

John's Journal / Blog: Main Index
Archives
RSS
John's Pictures: Main Index
Main Index (text only)
Categories
Recent Updates
RSS
John's Travel: Main Index
Places
Map
RSS
Other Related Sites:: Maison de Stuff
Stuffware
Exif.org
Chiesan
Celtlands

Recent Entries:: Early Morning Walk Along The Wansdyke
Wansdyke Path
Szechuan
The Pineapple
Thursday
Olivo
Tuesday
Monday
An Early Morning Walk Through Dunstable and Luton
Starting the Icknield Way Path
Indecision
Thursday
A Bit More Rain
Rain, and Dinner with Al
Rain
Tapping the Admiral
Dinner at The Petersham
Everflyht on Ditchling Beacon
Thursday
The Heath Again
Morris Dancing and Insulated Backpack
Monday
Sunday
Breaky Bottom
Lunch at the Bridge Inn
Finishing the Wessex Ridgeway
Cerne Abbas to Lewesdon Hill
Cerne Abbas
Farewell Lunch
Sunday

Early Morning Walk Along The Wansdyke: [Monday 29th August 2022]
Up at first light and walked (most of) the remainder of the Wansdyke Path, before heading off to Bishops Cannings to get a bus to Swindon, then from there a train home to London.

[No comments]
Wansdyke Path: [Sunday 28th August 2022]
Fortunately yesterday's squandering of the day did not make the weekend as a whole a complete dead loss, given the bank holiday, so I could start today on an overnight adventure as though it were Saturday. I decided to walk the Wansdyke Path, which would get me back to the area around Avebury which I'm so fond of, and provide an opportunity to do a bit more exploring in West Woods, plus also perhaps fulfil my long standing ambition of sleeping in a ditch...

[No comments]
Szechuan: [Saturday 27th August 2022]
Mostly squandered the day, feeling too tired and lazy to get out into the countryside for a walk as I should have done. Ordered some fiery Szechuan food for dinner.
[No comments]
The Pineapple: [Friday 26th August 2022]
Should have done something more constructive this evening, but just went and sat in the Pineapple and chewed the cud with various regulars.
[No comments]
Thursday: [Thursday 25th August 2022]
Yet another evening on the heath, but yet another impressive sunset, so it's a bit hard to keep away at the moment!
[No comments]
Olivo: [Wednesday 24th August 2022]
Found myself hankering for a pizza at Oliveto this evening, so later on got the tube down to Victoria, but alas no room at the inn, so went to Olivo instead.
[No comments]
Tuesday: [Tuesday 23rd August 2022]
Yet another evening on the heath. Rather a nice sunset this evening I thought.
[No comments]
Monday: [Monday 22nd August]
[No comments]
An Early Morning Walk Through Dunstable and Luton: [Sunday 21st August 2022]
Slightly surreal end to my mini overnight adventure, with a walk through Dunstable and Luton - including the fascinating "Guided Busway", then a train back home from Luton. Spent most of the rest of the day trying not to fall asleep on the sofa.
[No comments]
Starting the Icknield Way Path: [Saturday 20th August 2022]
Yesterday's indecision lingered on into today. I felt I ought to make use of my free time while the girls were in Japan to do another walk and possibly a wild camp, but there was another train strike on, which rather limited the options a bit. After much deliberation I eventually discovered the trains to Tring were still running, so I could have a go at extending my walk along the Ridgeway in the other direction, along the Icknield Way Path, which starts at Ivinghoe Beacon and heads north east from there.

[No comments]
Indecision: [Friday 19th August 2022]
I couldn't quite decide what I wanted to do this evening. I felt like a change of scenery, so I got the train down to Blackfriars, thinking I might sit for a while by the "beach" there - but it was high tide, and somehow I didn't really feel like lingering. So in the end I went back home and went to the heath after all.
[1 comment]
Thursday: [Thursday 18th August 2022]
I was getting bored of toast every morning for breakfast and had a hankering for a Full English (or some vegetarian approximation thereof). I was too lazy to travel any great distance though, so just went to the nearest greasy spoon, which isn't really that great. In the evening to the heath yet again, and we seemed to be back to summery weather after the last few days of occasional showers.
[No comments]
A Bit More Rain: [Wednesday 17th August 2022]
Rained a bit more in the daytime, and I headed to the heath in the evening hoping for a damp and atmospheric time but alas the skies had started to clear by then.
[No comments]
Rain, and Dinner with Al: [Tuesday 16th August 2022]
Rained in the daytime. Old friend Al was in town, and we met up for dinner at the Delaunay this evening.
[No comments]
Rain: [Monday 15th August 2022]
Finally rained this evening after a long hot, dry spell.
[No comments]
Tapping the Admiral: [Sunday 14th August 2022]
With the Pineapple closed for a few days, and nothing better planned this weekend, I decided to finally try out its sister pub (owned by the same people), The Tapping the Admiral. This was fortuitious in a way as they offer Sunday roasts (the Pineapple is always Thai food), although, nice though it was, it was realistically far too hot to be eating that kind of food. I seemed to be rather gluttonous this weekend, as I also had a takeaway pizza for dinner in the evening.
[No comments]
Dinner at The Petersham: [Saturday 13th August 2022]
I would have gone for another walk this weekend, but alas plans were scuppered by rail strikes, so instead I stayed close to home. Spent the morning and early afternoon at home, some of that time editing the video from yesterday. Around 4pm I thought I'd pop down to the Pineapple to get me out of the house, but was surprised to find they'd had to close for a few days after an accident. I was given a free beer outside as a consolation prize though, so that was nice. As it was now approaching two weeks of mostly cooking for myself I fancied a bit of a change this evening, and decided to go out for a swanky meal at a restaurant. I chose the Petersham in Covent Garden, which had a very Italian leaning vegetarian tasting menu. Although the atmosphere was a bit banal, the food was mostly very good.
[No comments]
Everflyht on Ditchling Beacon: [Friday 12th August 2022]
With the threat of train strikes looming this weekend, it seemed my best bet for an outing from London would be this evening. I thought it would be fun to have some wine from Everflhyt, a new vineyard near Ditchling, on the top of Ditchling Beacon, overlooking the vineyard. So that's what I did.

[No comments]
Thursday: [Thursday 11th August]
[No comments]
The Heath Again: [Wednesday 10th August 2022]
Another evening on the heath. Enjoying the fact that at this time of year I can do a full day's work, have dinner, and still get to the heath in plenty of time to catch the sunset afterwards. Rather busy on the heath this evening though!
[No comments]
Morris Dancing and Insulated Backpack: [Tuesday 9th August 2022]
Went to the Pineapple for a bit, to catch some of the morris dancing. After that headed to the heath to try out the insulated backpack I'd taken delivery of today, to see how it did at keeping wine cool.

[No comments]
Monday: [Monday 8th August]
[No comments]
Sunday: [Sunday 7th August]
[No comments]
Breaky Bottom: [Saturday 6th August 2022]
A trip down to Breaky Bottom to visit Peter and sample his newest releases.

[No comments]
Lunch at the Bridge Inn: [Friday 5th August 2022]
Morning in Starcross, then lunch at the Bridge Inn, before getting the train back to London.
[No comments]
Finishing the Wessex Ridgeway: [Thursday 4th August 2022]
The final push to complete my walk along the Wessex Ridgeway. I made it to Lyme Regis by lunchtime, and from there took a bus and a train to Starcross to visit Dad.
[No comments]
Cerne Abbas to Lewesdon Hill: [Wednesday 3rd August 2022]
Did the bulk of the remainder of the walk along the Wessex Ridgeway today, almost 20 miles, from Cerne Abbas, via Maiden Newton and Beaminster, and ending for the day at Lewesdon Hill.

I didn't take a huge number of photos during todays walk, especially in the daytime, as I was a bit more focused on take video footage.
[No comments]
Cerne Abbas: [Tuesday 2nd August 2022]
The girls headed off to Japan this morning, and in the afternoon I took a train down to Dorchester, then a bus to Cerne Abbas, where I stayed a night ahead of completing my walk along the Wessex Ridgeway.

As I had an evening to spare in Cerne Abbas, I decided to cook dinner on Giant Hill, at least ever so slightly channelling Keith Floyd I think.

[No comments]
Farewell Lunch: [Monday 1st August 2022]
Farewell lunch at the Pineapple for Chie and Erika before they headed off to Japan the following day.
[No comments]
Sunday: [Sunday 31st July 2022]
Quiet day at home spending time with the girls ahead of their trip to Japan.
[No comments]