A month packed with amazing natural experiences.
The month started with a quite lovely trip up to Keswick, back to the fabulous Lodore Falls hotel. We had planned to tackle Skiddaw, but with low thick cloud clinging to all the higher summits we decided to save those views for a better day.
Instead we took the bus up to Keswick centre, walked round the northern end of Derwent Water through Portinscale, up over Cat Bells and then continued on along Bull Crag, across Maiden Moor, reaching High Spy and then down to Grange village for a quick pint before back to the hotel.
Just a brilliant walk, gorgeous views below the cloud cover and a visit to the Lodore Falls spa on our return. Food for the soul.
I took a trip with mates to watch the mighty Shaymen in Halifax. A great game, winning 3-2 after going two behind. The Piece Hall en route was looking spectacular, they really have done a brilliant renovation and regeneration job.
Mid-month we experienced the thrill of the Northern Lights – you can read more on the dedicated post but here’s a bonus photo. It really was an incredible experience, and largely thanks to my brilliant wife who was following all the info on when and where.
I unfortunately came down with a bug that wiped me out for a few days, curtailing a potentially interesting work trip. On a more positive note, it’s that time of year when fungi do their thing, so here’s a bubbling bloom of mushrooms found in the border just down our road.
We saw ex-PM Teresa May talk at the Ilkley Literature Festival – I’d have preferred a longer slot than the hour to go into more detail as some many interesting topics were covered. She spoke mainly around the theme of her new book, abuses of power. Clearly as a senior and very experienced politician she has a slick way of discussing the issues but I did feel that when pushed on the question what she herself did at the heart of these scandals, her answers were a little evasive at times.
I guess the sheer scale of the machine of state is hard for even the most accomplished people to push against; but the question lingers, for some of the issues, as to whether she was the one pushing back or the one driving the machine.
Books read this month: