We didn't get to Piel Izland today. This morning we checked the ferryman's Facebook page and he said that all ferries today had been cancelled owing to weather conditions. That seemed rather surprising as it wasn't an especially windy or stormy day. We were disappointed.
Instead we went to Seascale Haws which is a National Trust coastal nature reserve on the edge of Duddon Sands. From the dunes of the nature reserve, you can walk out onto the vastness of the sandy estuary of The River Duddon that flows down from the hills of The Lake District. It was a lovely bracing walk and Shirley was as thrilled as I was to experience that surreal marine scenery.
We were there for two hours and afterwards we decided to drive Clint into Dalton-in-Furness in order to find somewhere for Sunday dinner. Very soon, we happened upon Hartley's Restaurant on Market Street. And as luck would have it, they had a spare table just for us. Champion!
The meal was great and for me it made a pleasant change not to have to prepare it myself. Mind you, I could teach the chef a thing or two about roasting potatoes. His were okay but mine are normally fabulous. Excuse me for boasting! Boasted potatoes.
For dessert Shirley ordered baked rice pudding with apricot compote while I had sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream.
In case you were wondering, I have dealt with the "s" key issue by typing "z" in place of "s" and then using the red squiggle to locate my intended words. It iz quite arduouz I can tell you. Why not try thiz typing method yourzelf?
Seascale Haws by Duddon Sands ?
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like summat by Tennyson or Matthew Arnold's follow-up to Dover Beach.
You and Shirley must have had a bracing walk on the estuary.
Isn't Shirl lucky to have ye ?
Not only do ye do the best roast tatties in England, ye boast about it over cyberspace.
How are your Double-Baked Cheese Souffles with Parmesan Cream or your Veal Blanquette or your Tarte Tatin, Mon Vieux?
Pride comes before a fall, laddie.
Reflect on our dear departed prime minister, Boris Jaunty.
His hour of fame is over and his Hello Magazine wifie can't boil an egg.
Boris willl be living on Lidl pizza & Iceland burgers, poor divil.
This time next year Boris will be as bald as a badger.
Haggerty
I am grossly offended that you should compare me to the empty vessel known as Joris Bohnson voted Boaster of the Year at both Eton and Oxford. He won't be as poor as you suggest when his best selling memoirs come out. Running title "I Screwed The Country And Got Away With It"
DeleteAch, I haven't achieved much in life, but at least I can say that I offended a Sheffield man.
DeleteWhat did Sheffield ever do except produce World Class Grade A steel that was the backbone of the British Industrial Revolution?
OK, your once proud city also had coal, iron, millstone, plentiful forests and five working rivers.
As for Boris Johnson's trip to Sheffield and Doncaster, he was warned by Special Branch that there would be a tall man in the crowd with a supply of rotten eggs.
Alas, you were huckled away before you could pelt the Big Bumbling Scunner.
We wish Boris a happy retirement in North Korea as Kim Jong-un's Special Hair Care Advisor.
Haggerty
Sheffield is where football (Scottish: fitba) was born and don't forget the snooker! Also your hero Roy Hattersley was born in the city.
DeleteRoy has three good articles: The Guardian online.
Delete*Goodbye to Yorkshire* I have in Penguin.
Like a chap with two mistresses, I am an honorary Yorkshireman & Lancashireman both.
Colin Welland said he couldn't respect anyone who could not distinguish one from t'other.
My strong affinity with Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire stems from my love of Sillitoe & Stanley Middleton.
Then there are the Welsh writers from R.S. Thomas to Gwyn Thomas and Menna Gallie.
Tyneside tugs at my soul too.
You can see why the Scottish Nationalists worry me.
Farewell to the United Kingdom ?
Haggerty
We would not have minded if you Americanised your writing with zeds instead of esses. It is a pity you didn't get to pay the ferryman but your walk sounds rather good.
ReplyDeleteWe hope to get over to Piel on another day but the forecast is not looking great.
DeleteThat top photo is amazing. I love beaches like that, endless and empty. No ssssses sounds simply frustrating:)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful but very dangerous when the sea creeps across those sands and then races faster than we can run.
DeleteAll that sand and you didn't build a single castle? I find walking on rippled sand uncomfortable without shoes if going for any distance. The restaurant looks cosy.
ReplyDeletere. that first photo, I bet you thought you were looking at Australia. All it needed was the addition of a kangaroo and a eucalyptus tree
DeleteBe careful on those big beaches.....don't want to see you on an episode of " Saving Lives at Sea" !!
ReplyDeleteThere were a few people driving cars on that massive beach
DeleteKeep enjoying. It really does look lovely.
ReplyDeleteIsn‘t there a walkway through the estuary? I am probably mixing things up, but I seem to remember something like that in the book The Old Ways.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThe top two photos remind me of the time, as a small child, I was taken to see the sea - at Weston-Super-Mare! The tide never came in!
Hartley's doesn't look particularly inspiring from the outside, but hidden gems often don't.
I still have the original computer that my parents first drug home and on which I learned to program in Basic. It has an "A" key that doesn't work. But is was well before the internet or even auto correct so there are no red squiggly lines to click on.
ReplyDelete