October started with a batch of rehearsals for me, then on the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th performances of ‘Tomb with a View’. I was playing a crusty old solicitor called Penworthy. I had struggled somewhat with the lines, but I was pleased that I got through it. I had some good feedback, but wasn’t entirely happy with my performances. ‘Big John’ had come across to see the show, and then on Sunday we went across to Bletchley Park with our ‘reusable’ tickets to see some of the items we missed earlier in the year.

We got back in time for a ‘family lunch’ although it was later than lunch, and we celebrated Treicia’s Mums (Granny) birthday.  Monday I was at the dentists early on, then onto MK to pick up my car after repair… it was a quiet afternoon, then the phone rang…. Nikki had had an accident. Her horse Diaz had come down on her and she had broken her leg! She had been taken to John Ratcliffe hospital in Oxford. After a long wait she was put in a temp cast and sent home.

Tuesday morning Tricia took her back to the hospital. Two attempts to plaster her up failed to be done successfully, and it was then decided that an Op to put in a rod would be required. So, she was found a bed for the night and booked in for the Wednesday. On Wednesday Tricia was also putting on a demo of some old WW2 recipes (potato peel pie anyone?) for the History club. The news that the op had gone ok came through from Matt, and Tricia’s demo went well.

Thursday evening Tricia and me went across to the hospital to see Nikki. All was going well, and on Friday she was discharged. Saturday evening was the annual ‘Poetry Evening’. It wasn’t so well attended this year, but was still a bit of fun. Sunday morning Tricia and I did prayers at the church.

The following week, my boss was over from Houston, which required a ‘team meal’ on Tuesday evening. Which was fine, but it was in Richmond and was a pain to get to in the rush hour, and then quite a trek getting home.

Friday 19^th was Ellie’s birthday. I picked her up in Lincoln, and we drove back and then went for a meal at the Pilgrim with the Robinsons, Matt etc. Saturday I went off to football with Bob… West Ham v Totts. A close’ish game we lost 0-1. We arrived back, and both went directly to Peter and Jane’s for a ‘games night’… and it was a late night. On Sunday we packed Ellie into the car, collected Pat and Clive and drove up to Lincoln. We had lunch with Ellie then drove onto Field Dalling where we stayed at Sara’s mums house for a few days.

Thursday I was in the BP Swindon doing a presentation, but back on leave again on the Friday. Tricia and Sara had a Charity Art exhibition on, and I helped with the set up, before it opened Friday evening. They had a successful few days, Tricia selling one of her paintings. Saturday evening West Ham were winning by a goal at Leicester, before conceding an equaliser late on. I was bit down about this… till the news came through that the Leicester owner’s helicopter crashed leaving the ground. Killing him and all those on board. A horrible event, and put the football into perspective.

Sunday morning, after benefiting an extra hour in bed courtesy of the clock change, Tricia and me went across the wedding venue Amy and Rob are looking to use next November. After some considerable time looking and going through all sorts of questions, we went across and had lunch at Akemans just off the A41. To round off October, it was a winning visit to the pub quiz on the Tuesday… and then Wednesday evening Bob and I went off in good spirits to see West Ham v the Totts again in the League Cup. A 1-3 defeat… Halloween stuff alright.

So September 1^st was a Saturday… Tricia was away near Chepstow and Tintern with the girls, Ellie was working… and I was off to watch West Ham v Wolves with Bob. The opening to the season was now starting to look disastrous, three defeats on the trot. Surely we could pick up points against a recently promoted team…. Well, after a fairly toothless performance it was 0-0 in injury time at the end of the game, when West Ham screwed up, and effectively gave a goal away. A 0-1 defeat. It was a depressing trip home. Normally Bob and myself can find a positive, or something to laugh about. Not this time. 4 defeats on the go, and it was hard to see us getting a point against anyone.

The following week I was at Greenwich giving a presentation on the Wednesday, and then on the Thursday was in the school for a Governors meeting to start the new academic year. I stood down from being Chair of the Governing Board. Four years had been quite enough. Friday was Ellie’s last day at M&S, and we had a buffet meal in the evening with family and friends over to wish her all the best at Uni. There was a special guest… Reg the dog, soon to be joining us came over the evening. Sunday the 9^th, Tricia and me went for tea at Chicheley Hall (near Newport Pagnall)… this was a birthday present for Tricia. Bit of an odd place, but the tea was nice enough.

The following Friday Tricia was off to Devon for a walking weekend. On Saturday I took Ellie and Matt down to Bracknell to visit Nan and Grandad, Robbie and Amy came across as well. Then on Sunday, it was Ellie’s big day… off to Uni. She had been out with Matt (boyfriend) the night before for a farewell meal. We set off, with the car bursting, at about 9:30am. When we got there her flatmates helped get her belongings in. We had some lunch and then I headed back. The last one gone … What was good on the way back was listening to West Ham finally get off the mark with a good away win at Everton. I got home, and as Tricia I arrived back I was out to rehearsal.

On Monday, the 17^th Reg arrived. We were all set up for him, but our plan for having his ‘cage’ in the conservatory didn’t work well, as he constantly barked at the cats. I moved him into the study… and he went off to sleep! Good boy… a quiet night after all. Tuesday was Tricia’s watercolour groups ‘Art Preview’… all the groups great work on display. Tricia provided the food.

Wednesday I was off to Madrid, with presentations to do in the BP Madrid office on the Thursday. It was nice and warm in Madrid. A lovely hotel , I went for a walk before going to join colleagues for a meal. On the way back we were slowed down by the hordes pouring out of the Bernabeu after Real Madrid had played AS Roma. Thursday I completed my presentations and went back to the airport. But, due to the bad weather in England, my flight got delayed, and we didn’t take off till 10:30pm. My hand luggage had to go in the hold, and I had the hump about that as well. It was a bumpy final part of the flight due to the stormy weather, but credit to the pilot, we got down safely. The drive home was difficult, debris in the form of branches from trees across the road and lots of surface water… after driving through one vast puddle I incurred some underside damage. At one point I had to track back due to a tree across the road… I limped home, very late.

Friday morning I inspected the damage… a plastic cover dragging on the ground. I pushed it back into place, and set off for Brighton to pick Bard up for the weekend. Along the M25 I could hear it dragging again…. So, I pulled into the services and purchased some parcel tape, and effected a temporary repair. After picking up Bard we drove to Bracknell and looked at some old haunts, and inspected the new town centre. We arrived in North Marston around 7pm. After a meal Tricia was off to Luton airport to pick up Jan from Scotland. On the Saturday we had some old Brakenhale friends across… 41 years since we had met in the 6^th form. Deb with Carlos, Tina with Ransford, Wendy with Rob, and Janet and Noele. Lots of laughter at old photos and old stories.

Sunday, and Bard came with Bob and me on the train to London. We said farewell at a tube stop, and Bob and me then went on to see West Ham v Chelsea. A good game, Chelsea had the most chances, but the best of the game fell to West Ham.. and we failed to take it. 0-0. But I was happy with the point. After our start to the season, a point at home to Chelsea was quite an achievement.

The next week I was a bit under the weather… I seemed to have picked up some sort of virus. Tricia was the same. Friday was not a good day. Tricia’s Mum and Dad were away at Lesleys, and their home got burgled. I helped David with some of the clean up. Friday morning I had been in at the school for class visits… a funny feeling of starting to wind down my governor duties. In the evening we had curry night at the Grays.

Saturday… lunchtime football. West Ham v Man Utd. 3-1 to West Ham, absolutely brilliant. Where was this a month ago ? Best game since becoming a ST holder. In the evening Tricia and me met up with Juliet and John at the Woolpack for a meal. On Sunday, Tricia’s Mum and Dad, still shaken up from the burglary came over for lunch, and Jan and Jan came as well. The afternoon was consumed with watching the outcome of the Ryder Cup. Europe won! A good sporting weekend.

So Saturday 18^th August saw the first home game of the new football season for West Ham. Bob and myself went off all full of optimism and hope for the new season. After all, new manager with a good track record, and lots of new players, over £100m spent, there had to be cause for optimism. In the stadium itself, I did start to wonder about the ‘team’ I was supporting… there were 8 new players! And it showed. As with the opening day 4-0 stuffing by Liverpool, West Ham were largely disjointed, and despite taking a 1-0 lead ended up losing 1-2.

The following week was a flurry of activity for Tricia in preparing for Guy’s 90^th birthday party. Guy had been chopping and changing his mind on a number of things… gradually driving Tricia nuts. It was a Greek themed evening, and went well. But it was hard work…..

Saturday was a slow start to the day, with work going on washing up, putting items away from the night before.  In the evening we went for a curry night at Pete and Sara’s. No Gray’s as they were away on hols. It was nice to have the extra day for the weekend, Monday being the Bank Holiday.

Tricia had a light week the following week. She went off to Buckingham Palace with Janet on the Tuesday the 28^th. Thursday she was at the County Show with Sally and Janet, and then on Friday went away for the ‘girly’ weekend with Sara, Sally and Cathy.

Of course whilst we had been away walking… other things had been happening. Nikki and Ellie had been in Morocco, when Ellie was back she was at school prize giving where she picked up a couple of awards. Sadly though, Nikki also had to deal with one of her horses, Murphy, being put down. His arthritis had reached a point where the vet advised that he needed to be allowed to leave the world. Sad day.

On Friday 20th, Tricia and Ellie took Isobel to ‘fairies and dragons’ at Woburn for a birthday treat. On Sunday 22nd we had a family dinner, bbq’d chicken and salad. Gran and Gramps, Nikki and Matt, Robbie and Amy came over. Clive, who was on his own as Pat was down in Bournemouth and Alex away came and joined us. Thursday 26th Tricia had a funeral in the morning. One of the ladies in her art class had unexpectedly passed away whilst we were doing the coast to coast. Then in the afternoon she had to take her Dad to Amersham hospital for a minor op. Friday 27th we hosted curry night – we had hoped to sit outside, but after weeks of dry weather, it rained…

Thursday 2nd August…. not a day Tricia was looking forward to, as she had to have oral surgery for the infection that had been bothering her for a month or so.  The surgery went well, but she will be on antibiotics for a while, and limited on what she can eat. Friday 3rd I dropped Robbie and Amy off at Heathrow as they went off on their Munich holiday. During the trip Robbie proposed to Amy… and she said yes!

Sunday 12th we had a family lunch again… Nikki was over, but no Matt as he was away in Cumbria. Amy and Robbie were away for the weekend, but Ellie had her boyfriend Matt over.

This last week had plenty happening…. the shower pump failed, we got Stephen Gurney  in to put in a replacement. Roy was in resealing the bath after a leak, and repairing the dining room ceiling… and he fixed a fence panel for us. Tricia had her bank accounts hacked, but fortunately TSB sorted out within 24 hours.

Ellie had her A level results this week, she did ok, and is off to Lincoln Uni. It was also our 32nd wedding anniversary :-). Tricia and I went for a meal at the Pilgrim to celebrate.

Saturday 14th…. the weather was beautiful. After a few cooler days, the thermostat was back up. We started with a decent breakfast, followed by a walk down to the bay again… and I purchased a ‘coast to coast’ polo shirt. Back up the hill, and all into Clive’s car. Clive driving, Tricia navigating, me in the back with Pat, and off to Whitby.

We parked up at Whitby Abbey, and looked at the old ruin… feel familiar I asked Pat. Whack. Ouch. A nice coffee and piece of gluten free cake, and we walked to a nearby church… St Mary’s, that overlooked the bay. The church graveyard was apparently used as a setting in the novel Dracula… I made a comment about the living dead, looked at Pat, Whack. Ouch. Feeling battered we walked the 199 steps down into Whitby and the old town… lovely shops but every other one seemed to sell Jet.

Having finished in Whitby we then went out to Grosmont to look at the trains, before returning to Robin Hoods Bay… we dined at the Victoria Hotel. A pleasant day.

Sunday was a slowish start, breakfast, packing and then a reluctant getting into the car and a steady trip back. We stopped for lunch at Belton House near Grantham. We walked the grounds in the baking sun… Then back in the car for the last part of the journey, and home for around 6pm. Ellie had done tea for us. Good girl.

Friday the 13th, and the final day for walking. A nice breakfast, we set off on our final day… 19 miles scheduled for today. We walked down through Graisdale, stopping off at the Beggars Bridge. Apparently built by a Thomas Ferris in 1619. Ferris was a poor man who wanted to wed the daughter of a wealthy local squire. In order to win her hand, he planned to set sail from Whitby to make his fortune. On the night that he left, the river was high after rain, and he was unable to make a last visit to his intended. He eventually returned from his travels a rich man and, after marrying the squire’s daughter, built Beggar’s Bridge so that no other lovers would be separated as they were. Well done Thomas.

Up through some woods we headed towards Egton Bridge, passing the inn the Swiss Ladies stayed at the night before. It was then onto Grosmont… Grosmont has the North Yorks Moor steam railway running through it, and as luck would have it, there were a couple of trains in station. Brilliant. We stopped and watched. Then it was the long steep climb out of Grosmont. We had heard a few walkers talk of the climb out of Grosmont with some trepidation… but after starting this walk in the Lake District, this was no problem for me and Tricia, we were walking fit and we just marched up :-).

We carried on through Littlebeck, and down toward ‘Falling Foss’ … we stopped and had lunch here. A pleasant stop… but I was starting to weary of walking and just wanted to finish the walk now. Up and out across Sneaton Moor, it was a long drag, heading towards Hawsker, but never really seeming to get nearer. Eventually we reached the coast… hoorah, and circled south along the coast towards Robin Hoods Bay. We arrived around 5pm’ish, and walked down to the front where we were greeted by Pat and Clive who had driven all the way up to meet us at the end. Prosecco followed. 🙂

We walked back up and found the guest house. After showers it was off for a meal at the Wayfarer. A wonderful meal with Pat & Clive, and we were joined at the end by Sybille and Cornelia. We bid our farewells, they were both off early in the morning.

We had done it… 192 miles plus all the detours and off C2C trail walking… I was tired and footsore :-).

Well it turned out Dave wasn’t an axe murderer. We woke up next morning, all in one piece and still alive. It was an odd breakfast…. the man’s ‘touch’ was evident in the way the places were laid out. Anyone want to eat their breakfast cereal with a serving spoon? No gluten free bread today :-(. Dave, the Neil Young, aged rocker wannabe, drove us back out to where we finished the previous night… and we started out again.

It was a bit cooler and overcast, but that was quite a relief. We started up.. as we always seemed to do, and were quickly joined by our Swiss Lady companions. They offered commiserations on the football… I just tried to keep pace with the fleet footed Sybille. I am sure there is some mountain goat in her DNA. We reached the top, and I tried to pretend I was ok and that I wasn’t just about to have a heart attack. We walked Carr Ridge, the Ladies then moved on and Tricia and I carried on at our own pace. Across Farndale moor and then High Blakey Moor, we arrived at our lunch destination, the Lion Inn. The Swiss Ladies were there, already one pint down, we sat in a  group with them, two men doing the C2C, and Stefan and Ilona from Stuttgart. We had some lunch, which was basically an under cooked baked potato… mine was with tuna and salad. I made the mistake of not eating my salad, and got lectured by Sybille, so ended up eating the salad.

We then ventured out, up the road to ‘Fat Betty’, a stone just off the path, where tradition states you can leave some food and pick some up… odd. Anyway, sweets were placed of Fat Betty. The two ladies had their sandwiches here, Tricia and I moved on, knowing they would catch us up at some point. Which they did as we walked Glaisdale Rigg… we walked at pace (of course) with them, and came down into Glaisdale just after 4pm. Just over 18 miles in the day.

We stayed at ‘Greenhowe B&B’ and didn’t venture out again. A lovely room at the top of the house, our evening meal was in the B&B, a relaxing evening.

The breakfast at the Blue Bell Inn was ok, but the fun and games started when we couldn’t get into our room after breakfast. The key just getting stuck. Some time later a member of staff managed to sort the issue out. Eventually we got going, but not until Tricia changed boots for walking shoes. We run into the Sybille and Cornelia the Swiss Ladies, and walked with them for a while, as we climbed. They detoured into Osmotherly, Tricia and me just headed on the Cleveland Way, which the C2C had joined up with. Up to Beacon Hill, and then out onto Scarth Wood Moor. Onwards we  went up Knolls End, sat and had some lunch, and pressed on to Lordstones Cafe.

A lovely cafe, we caught up with the German couple (Stuttgart), and two ladies from Perth, Aus. Then the Swiss Ladies turned up. After catching up on what we had all been doing we were back on for the last leg of the day. Up Cringle End, and some stunning views, then up Coldmoor, then down and up White Hill, then down and up Clay Bank. Despite the previous day’s walk it was good to get some climbing in, the weather was good, the views fantastic… probably for me the most enjoyable section of the walk.  It was a descent down to the car park and a call to the B&B to be picked up.

Dave turned up… a very old, dusty Merc, Dave looked like he was one of the road crew for Neil Young, jeans, t-shirt, long hair with a band. Dave took us back to his B&B, an expansive place stuck in 1980 decor. After freshening up Dave took us to the local for a meal… steak night! The steak was good, and the bottle of red wine.. and the puddings were great. The football was on and the place erupted when England went one up against Croatia.

At half time Dave dropped us back. He went back to the pub… I watched Englands World Cup demise before turning in. We were the only guests in the house. Dave was pretty much running the B&B on his own. I figured he was most likely an axe murderer, even though he seemed a nice bloke, so I bolted the door.

oo’er…. Today was the day of the big hike. 23 miles today. Tricia checked out the terrain, and it looked mainly flat. We breakfasted early and got on the road around 8:30. We joined the C2C, and started out along the River Swale. Tricia had wanted to see Easby Priory, but it would have meant a few miles to detour, so we decided to press on.

The going was indeed pretty flat and we made reasonable time, up to Catterick. A Roman garrison in its time, and still a military garrison today. We caught up with a couple and a dog doing the C2C. We stopped at Bolton on Swale for a break, before pushing toward our lunchtime destination of Danny Wiske… this was one of those frustrating walks across fields where we felt we were close than we really were. Eventually we arrived on the village green where we had lunch. We were somewhat bemused to find others ahead of us… seems they took a shorted C2C route (you would think there was only one, but it seems there are alternatives)… We took the route that avoided the roads. We enjoyed lunch… boots off and aired our feet. We had done 14 miles approx, 9 left to do.

It was nearly 4pm by the time we set off for the last 9. But refreshed from the lunch and the intake of calories we went off at good pace. A couple of cold cokes from an honesty box supply of the route helped. Over a railroad, and then the A19, and we walked down into Ingleby Cross and the Bluebell Inn for the night. Footsore, tired but pleased with our trip, we showered and enjoyed an excellent meal.

There was no trouble going to sleep!

Reeth was a pleasant village for our stop over. It was a bit noisy outside overnight, people sat outside the pub late talking, and then the noise of the air con machine outside, but it was too hot to close the window. We enjoyed a good breakfast… I had the unusual option of having a gluten free cereal. Tricia had gags benedict, one of her favourites. There was a piece of classical music playing over and over again… when the lady serving cottoned onto the fact it was looping she changed the cd. First track was Only You by The Platters… it was also the second and third track. We made our exit.

We left amid roadworks, and walked for some way with toothless Carl (no front teeth) who had been doing the C2C. We passed an interesting police armored vehicle! We were then redirected by a farmer across some fields whilst he herded cattle along the track. We arrived at Marrick Priory, Tricia took a quick photo. We then had our first climb of the day, Carl fell back and had a rest, he was carrying the kitchen sink on his back (tent, camp gear etc). We proceeded across fields before joining a a road, where we descended into Marske. We stopped for a drink and a banana. We looked in on the Church of St Edmund, nice little church.

Through Marske we over on towards Richmond, we crossed ‘Paddy’s Bridge’. I don’t think my Dad knew that he had a bridge named after him! We walked through a wooded area, emerging near a farm we encountered the Sydney Trio. After a chat we pushed on, stopping on the outskirts of Richmond for a late lunch. Then we were down into Richmond itself. A place seemingly built on a few hills… after a steep climb we found our lodgings for the night. We dropped bags and went straight back out to visit Richmond castle.

In the Castle we bumped into our Swiss lady friends… and then the Sydney Trio again. Once finished I was allowed a Costa coffee… a flat white that seemed a cross between a latte and cappuccino. Worst flat white ever. We stocked up on a few provisions from the Co-Op before traipsing around to find a pub to eat in. Then back to the lodgings… and a brilliantly comfortable bed and a deep sleep.