Walking in the Shadows

Random musings from Warwickshire on life in general... Things that make me laugh, make me cry, things that wind me up beyond all endurance - and everything in between.

Bank Holiday escape

What a bank holiday weekend.  I didn't want it to end, as it was such a good time.  My partner had been on about going to Chatsworth as he really enjoys that sort of thing, and as I’ve never been, thought it would be an ideal escape for the pair of us.

As he lives north of me, it made sense for me to drive up and pick him up, which wasn’t an issue for either of us.  OK – it was for me – I had to get up at 06:00 to leave at 07:00 as I was picking my partner up at 08:00.

Good thing I did leave early – I managed to get lost.  Damn sat nav.  But, once I got to my partner’s house, it was quite easy to get back en-route – especially as he took a different route to the sat nav – one that avoided the town centres until we got to the Ashbourne road.

The trip was reasonably uneventful and we stopped in Buxton as the pair of us needed a break, and something to munch.  We went into The Tradesman's Entrance, and had a “late” breakfast.  It was really good, and quite reasonable, and I have to admit that it served as a good stopping point.

Then it was back on the road to Chatsworth House.  Now I’d seen the signs for Chatsworth numerous times when I’d been going to the Peak Shopping Village at Rowsley, but never thought to go there.

Well I am very glad that I did. It’s beautiful.  OK – the house is undergoing major restoration (should be finished November next year according to the website Chatsworth House - The Masterplan) but that didn’t detract from the beauty of the house.

The house and gardens are well worth visiting, and like an idiot, I didn’t take my camera with me.  Doh.  But, the website does have some beautiful photos on it, and certainly explains it better than I ever could - Chatsworth - The House.  Whilst we were inside the house, the heavens opened, and I have to admit that I was very glad that we had decided to do the inside tour first - I would have hated to be walking around the house squelching.

The gardens are also something very special, and again, I am kicking myself for not taking the camera.  The scenery was spectacular (OK – slightly spoilt by the scaffolding and the modern “art” that was in the gardens – but otherwise it was something special. 

There was one feature that my partner wanted to show me – and it was a gravity powered water “fountain” called “Revelation.  The detail was incredible, and the information that I managed to find (courtesy of a plaque by the sculpture / fountain) stated:

Moved by the weight of water and gravity from the lakes above, the inner sphere is filled with water causing it to descend.  This makes the outer leaves close over it as if protectively holding a secret.  A syphon then discharges the water. The lightened sphere rises. The leaves open out to reveal the preciously held secret before the cycle begins again'.


This YouTube video shows it far better than I can describe it - Revelation video


Main gate to the Stables at Chatsworth House
Then it was up to the Stables.  This area has been converted, meaning that it was a sort of shopping / eating area.  OK – the usual complaint (damned expensive on the food – the drinks weren’t too bad) but at least we managed to find somewhere to sit and plan the next part of the journey – to our overnight stay.

That wasn’t too bad – apart from the sat nav getting confused again.  (Easier to blame the sat nav than my not listening to the directions as usual!)

Dinner wasn’t bad, and it gave us a chance to have a break and plan the options for the following day.  Namely the Blue John Caverns.

Now the route to the cavern is spectacular – if you’re not driving.  And more to the point, if you go the bus / coach route, it’s a darn sight easier.  However, I decided to go the car route, and wished I hadn’t.

It was damned narrow in places, and I did most of the drive with the door mirrors folded in on the car.  But, once we’d parked we decided to have a quick coffee at the Blue John Café. The coffee was pretty good by my standards, and certainly reasonably priced.

Then it was the walk to the cavern.  It’s down quite a steep slope (but the scenery makes up for it) and the entrance doesn’t look anything special…  Now I did notice that there was a sign advising people that the cavern wasn’t suitable for pregnant women, people with cardiac problems or respiratory issues.

I know my partner didn’t spot that bit about the respiratory issues (or if he did, he didn’t mention it) and we then headed down into the cavern.  Now as he’s taller than me (OK – I know that’s not difficult when you’re just over 5ft tall) but it meant he had to duck down in places and I didn’t.

It was well illuminated, and in places you did get wet, as it’s a limestone cavern.  Again, I wish I had taken the camera with me, bit daft of me, but I suspect that the photos wouldn’t have shown very much – other than a lot of mist!

The fun started on the way back up.  It’s a deep cavern – like about 300 feet down type deep, and it’s a steep slope.  Not too bad on the way down, but the way up….  Well that was where I should have heeded the warning about the respiratory issues....

Yep – I had an asthma attack.  About 150 feet below the ground.  Not fun, I will admit, and my partner was worried about me.  My blue inhaler kicked in, and I will admit to thanking my lucky stars that it did so, as I really didn’t fancy the cave rescue option.

So I sat quietly for a bit, and then we headed back to the car.  My partner was a real sweetheart, and he went to the café to get a coffee whilst I sat in the car trying to plot a better route to the main road – preferably one that didn’t use the horrible route I’d driven in.

My partner offered to drive, as he was worried about the after effects of the asthma attack.  Now had it been the 207, I would have had no objections, as it was the older car – but the 208?  No chance in hell.  Call me a control freak, but there was no way I was relinquishing the control of my new car to anyone.

We found a route on the map showing a road heading towards Sparrowpit (or Sparrowspit as my partner insisted on calling it!), meaning that we avoided the really grotty road in, and it meant that we could start heading back towards Ashbourne and home.

Now as the pair of us hadn’t eaten, we decided to find a pub en-route home so we could have a break and something to eat. Now as my partner knew the area pretty well, I trusted his judgement on the place to eat.  And as we got closer to Ashbourne, there were fewer options, until we spotted the Bentley Brook Inn.

Once we’d had a very late lunch (OK – an early dinner) it was back on the road to my partner’s home, and then onto home for me.  I dropped him off, and he made me promise that I would let him know that I was home OK, as he admitted that he worried about me driving such a distance.

I got home OK, and admitted that I was wiped out. Needless to say my partner was less than impressed with me, and made sure that I knew how he felt – even to the extent that he told me that the next time we went away for the weekend, he was driving and that we would explore no more caverns...

If anything, this weekend has brought the pair of us closer, and made me realise just what a gem I have found.

Guess I should call this quits – I do need to get some sleep.

Back when I get the inclination…

Karen

I tell myself
Hey only fools rush in and only time will tell
If we stand the test of time
All I know
You've got to run to win and 
I'll be damned if
I'll get hung up on the line

Tuesday


Thought for the day


Monday...

Sometimes, I get something that just has me howling with laughter, and this was one of them:



This sums me up


Within the sound of silence

Is how I am feeling at the moment. My partner is stressed out of his head due to the situation that he has found himself in, and has retreated into his shell, leaving me very hurt, confused and more than a little upset.

I understand the reasons for him going quiet – he maintains that it’s better to keep quiet than say something that he may come to regret later.  But this doesn’t make me feel any better, as I am feeling incredibly vulnerable at the moment.

Simply because I feel powerless to help him, and seeing (and hearing) him so down really hurts me, and I know that there is nothing I can do to help him, other than provide a shoulder for him to lean on and a refuge for when things get rough.

So, until he manages to get things straight in his own head, all I can do is keep on providing the love and support that he needs, and pray that things get better for him (and us) soon.

Guess I should call this quits – I do need to try and get some sleep tonight, as I am at work tomorrow, not that my heart is in it…..

Karen

I tell myself
Hey only fools rush in and only time will tell
If we stand the test of time
All I know
You've got to run to win and 
I'll be damned if
I'll get hung up on the line

A new beginning....

I've been really lucky and been seeing a really sweet guy, and things are going OK.  Not perfect (what relationship is?) but we seem to be getting along OK.

He's been through hell with an ex partner (he was asked to help her get clean - drink related I hasten to add) by her daughter, and he agreed – and this is the tale so far…. 

We were planning on meeting up at the beginning of June, and I got a text from him about two weeks before we were due to meet up, saying that he would have to cancel, as he didn't think things were stable enough with this woman for him to leave her to her own devices.  

OK - I  admit that I was less than impressed, but didn't think too much of it, as I knew he was trying to help her through rehab and make sure that she stayed on the wagon.

That seemed to be going OK; as she was 60 days without a drink he thought that there was light at the end of the tunnel. There was - some b'stard with a flame thrower.  

He got a call from her whilst he was at work, and shot out of his office as he thought her life was in danger (she'd tried to commit suicide several times before).  I didn’t hear from him for a while and thought “Rats to you.  I’m obviously not good enough for you to talk to”.

I then get a text from him a couple of days later, and wasn’t too impressed – I thought it was a bit rich considering he’d not contacted me for a while.  

Then he told me the reason – he’d been arrested and charged with criminal damage for trying to get into the house to make sure that she was OK and hadn’t tried to take an overdose, and as a result of trying to help her, he spent 2 ½ days in there with no way to contact anyone

Needless to say I was stunned with that, and we got talking again and we agreed to reinstate the plans to meet up the beginning of June.  We kept in touch via text and phone (lost count of the time that we spent talking) and he finally plucked the courage to ask me out, so that meant that when we met up it would be a first date. 

I’ve never felt so comfortable with someone – and I was more than happy to be with him, as he was so sweet to be with – showing real concern when my knee cracked and caused me to squeak (and occasionally curse) and making me feel like a princess, as well as making me giggle and feel incredibly relaxed.

He was honest with me about the circumstances he found himself in (his ex had taken him to the cleaners) and that he was facing this charge despite the fact that he thought her life had been in danger.  He kept saying that he shouldn’t have gotten involved and seemed to take small comfort when I pointed out that hindsight was 20/20 vision. 

He admitted that he was worried about this court case, as his ex had made a statement alleging some rather nasty treatment of her and her youngest son, and was worried that I would walk out on him as he felt that her job would go against him in court, and that he wouldn’t be believed when he tried to tell the court what actually happened.

I will admit I did have doubts (not helped by someone who claimed to be a friend (or in this case fiend)) and when I went away on holiday, I will admit to spending quite a bit of time on my knees in prayer in the cathedral asking for help for the man that I love.

When I got back, I will admit it was a case of absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I was only too glad to see him again.  Yes, we still had the court case hanging over our relationship, but there was no way that I was going to walk away from someone who was making me so happy.

The day of the court case came, and I had made arrangements to meet up with my partner, as he didn’t want to be in the area after the case, and said that if I’d not heard from him by 17:00, then it had gone badly wrong.

I left the office at 16:00, and driving to where we were staying overnight, I ended up having to turn off the touchscreen, as I kept looking at the clock and was getting more and more worried the closer the time got to 17:00 – with no contact.

Murphy’s Law states that if it can go wrong, it does, and in this case, it was my mobile network that gave me the problems.  Because I was travelling the back route to our overnight location, my phone signal was somewhat intermittent, meaning that my dratted phone rang once and then cut out.

I managed to stop and see who had called me – it was my partner.  So, as I have Bluetooth on the car, I tried to call him back – and the damn network either wouldn’t connect, or would drop the call - before I manage to speak to him.  When I did manage to get the call to connect, his line was engaged, and his voice mail didn’t kick in, meaning that I was left fearing the worst.

I got a text just after I arrived at our accommodation asking me to call him.  I will admit that I feared the worst and called him back.  Only to nearly drop my phone when I heard him say that he was not guilty – it was the verdict that everyone had been telling him to expect, but the statement that his ex and her son had made could have made life so difficult for him.

I will admit that I was shaking by the time I got to the room, and was only too happy when my partner finally arrived. We decamped to the pub, and he told me what happened in court.  I won’t elaborate on what happened, but all I will say is that the solicitor was worth his weight in platinum (or printer ink – that’s far more expensive!)

I won’t say that it was the most restful night’s sleep I’ve had – (and no – it wasn’t for those reasons) but more because it was damned hot and my partner was somewhat wound up from the court case (with good reason!)


So, we muddled along and we had a weekend away booked for Worcester (Henwick House). It was really good – the scenery was delightful, and the memory that sticks with me from that was watching a pair of green woodpeckers on the grass about 20 feet away from our bedroom window and also watching the rabbits frolic on the grass at the top end of the garden.

The local pub - The Blue Bell  was really good.  The beer was a good price, and the food?  Well put it like this.  There were no complaints from either my partner (who is a foodie by his own admission) or myself.

On the Friday night, we opted to have the pie of the day – which was Steak and Ale.  I opted for mash and mushy peas, where as my partner opted for mash and ordinary peas (he’s not a mushy pea fan apparently!)

Put it this way.  The pie was more filling than pastry (a really nice surprise) and very tasty. 

Image from the Blue Bell website


We headed into Worcester on Saturday.  Neither of us realised that there was a food festival on, and we decided a look around once we’d been to the Royal Worcester porcelain museum and the Cathedral.

I won’t say that it was massive – busy, yes.  And expensive.  I seem to recall one stand charging something like £9 for a burger, where other stands were charging £3.  I still smile when I think of the comment of one local woman “what makes them think that people are going to pay that for a burger?  What’s it got in it?  Gold flakes?”  But there were plenty of people buying the burgers!

The only downside to Worcester as a destination is the parking.  It’s expensive.  And for some reason (known only to the county council) they have stopped the park and ride.  

Meaning that you have to struggle to get parked in one of the multi-storey car parks, and pay a stupid amount for the privilege of being crammed into a tiny parking space and stuck in traffic. 

Now I don’t have anything against public transport, but coming in from a rural location (Callow End), the public transport leaves a lot to be desired.  So the only option for visitors like us was to drive into the centre. 

Aside from that grump, my other grump is about Great Malvern.  Now you say Malvern to most people, and they instantly think Morgan cars (OK – I do), little tourist places and lots of little antique shops to peruse.

Now I won’t say that the scenery isn’t spectacular – it is.  What was disappointing was the lack of places to visit on a Sunday.  Now had I been there in the depths of winter (end January) I would have expected it to be all closed up.  But the end of July?  Something (or someone) is seriously missing a trick.

There were plenty of people walking about, and vey few things for them to do.  OK – we visited the Malvern museum, which is located in the abbey gate house:


We also visited the beautiful Malvern Priory:








Put it this way - if this is a Priory, then some cathedrals need to start worrying.

Ah well, guess I should call it quits, I do need to get some sleep...

Karen

Hold on, there's a new way a-coming
Looks like it's arriving tonight
There's no more hiding or running
There's no more walking on ice