QC Blogging day

Times Quick Cryptic No 1169 by Rongo - Salad Days

A fresh and simple mixed salad from Rongo, the god of cultivated plants*, today. One or two crunchy bits, but nothing meaty, only a bit of fish. A good mix of clue flavours and nicely dressed with some smooth surfaces. Easily digestible, I'm expecting some fast times today from the experts - about 6:30 for me and I'm always slower when I do it online. I'll leaf you to work out my Clue Of the Day! Thanks Rongo for the light summery fare, very fitting for the last day of August, and the subtle reminder to watch our waistlines. (I think I might just have imagined that - I'd better get my coat and get back to my refurbished hut). How did you all like it?

*No, I didn't know that either until I looked it up as I wrote this introduction!

( See the answers here.... )

Needham Market Double Walk

"We will be meeting at Needham Lakes next Wednesday (Aug 29th) at 10.30am. I'll be leading a 4.5 mile walk to begin and then another 5 mile loop after a stop at our cars or maybe Alder Carr Farm shop? You are free to do the first walk or both.", said the invite from Joyce.

It was pouring with rain. "Where are my waterproof trousers?", I asked Mrs Interred. I had searched the reorganised garage in vain. "I think I threw them out", was the answer. No matter. I would just wear my shorts - it wasn't cold.

Needham Lake is a free countryside attraction centred around a flooded gravel pit close to Needham Market . It was over 10 years since I first visited with the family, as you can see here, but I never had done any of the River Gipping walk.

We met as planned, although we had to go searching for Roland, who had parked in the area used for Car Boot sales.We started with a loop through the town and then south before turning north-east, visiting St. Andrews Church, Darmsden, crossing the railway line, and returning along the lovely River Gipping. Along the way, the rain stopped and we were able to take our waterproofs off.

We ate our picnic lunch back at the lake car-park (we weren't going to sit on the wet benches at the picnic tables). Needham Lake is allegedly the second most visited completely free attraction in Suffolk. We wondered how there could be any evidence for that - maybe an online survey? We liked that the car park was free. We did not like that the picnic site had no bins any more. How odd!

We then did our second loop heading along the river and then North-East past the (closed) Fen Alder Carr Nature Reserve. It rained off and on as we did our second loop, but we didn't mind. After a delightful stretch through the wood and along a wide bridleway alongside some fields we re-crossed the A14 and visited Alder Carr Farm Shop for tea. I'd already stopped there on my way to the rendezvous and had a delicious pasty from the shop for my lunch. From there we crossed the river by the impressive Hawks Mill. and returned through the back streets of the town and the Nature Reserve by the lake.

Here is a view of our route.

Here are a few photos from along the way.



The lake in the rain



The Cattle Tunnel was an interesting way of crossing the railway line into the town



This is Darmsden Church. I took one of the leaflets...

The River Gipping



There were lots of these rather pretty flowers along the river. They turned out to be Himalayan Balsam. "Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) is a relative of the busy Lizzie, but reaches well over head height, and is a major weed problem, especially on riverbanks and waste land, but can also invade gardens. It grows rapidly and spreads quickly, smothering other vegetation as it goes." Oh dear.



No bins... at a picnic site?



Along with blackberries, damsons, sloes and hops, we found these lovely red berries on our afternoon walk. What were they? I used this site to check, and they look like cranberries to me. Am I right?



St. Marys Creeting Church




It may have been grey adn a bit rainy, but we still got some lovely vistas.



We loved this broad path. "Doesn't that look like they are having a nice country stroll", said Roland.



We came across these lovely looking apples. I tried one, but I took one that wasn't quite ripe. Very tasty, though.


We enjoyed our tea stop at Alder Carr Farm shop.



The rather impressive Hawks Mill.



And then we were back where we started at the lake!. A great double walk. Thanks Joyce for leading us and Nicky and Roland for the additional company.

I took quite a few more photos - and you can see all of them individually here.  The slide show below shows them all in sequence.

Created with flickr slideshow.

You can also see more details of our route on MapMyWalk.

Bury St. Edmunds Food and Drink Festival

An annual event on the Sunday and Monday of the August Bank Holiday weekend, we enjoy going to this every year. We were pleased to find the Transylvanian chimney cake again, some excellent beers from Beautiful Beers and I tried some Venezuelan street food for the first time. It was also good to catch up with the folk from the East Coast Chilli Company and restock with some of their delicious hot sauces. There were also some very nice chilli plants for sale... but we have plenty of our own already! More on that anon.We also learned a lot about liquorice, and I bought some to take home.

You can see some of my photos here....

A yummy day!

Melford Hall Walk

A Friday afternoon stroll.... This one is not too taxing. It is ages since we visited Melford Hall. We wondered if there were any walks there. Actually a lot of the grounds are private, but we were able to visit the gardens and then do the Melford Hall Park Walk.

This was our route viewed from above...

We had nice views of the Hall and the Church. You can see my pictures here....

A short one for the book, I think.

Marbella Walking Festival

I'm off to this Spanish Walking Festival!

As the site says...

"In October the weather in the south of Spain is still perfect, no too hot and not too cold, a great time for walking. We invite you, together with walkers from all over the world, to discover the unknown sides of Marbella during Marbella 4Days Walking on 11, 12, 13 and 14 October 2018.

Parque Arroyo de la Represa, in the historic city centre, will be the starting point for the 20 and 30 km routes which will lead you through the city, the nature and along the beach. The last day, the 14th of October, you will walk the Via Gladiolo (gladiolus being the Roman symbol for victory) back to the Parque Arroyo de la Represa where you will be welcomed with loud cheers. You can participate on all four days but it is also possible to choose the days that suit you most. In short: a perfect opportunity for a holiday!

Walkers can choose the 20 or 30 km routes, it is also possible to participate on fewer than 4 days. The start of the daily walks is between 9 and 9.30hrs (30km may start at 8.30hrs) from the Parque Arroyo de la Represa and the walkers are supposed to back before 04.30 pm. On the 14th of October 2018 the last part of the route will be on the Via Gladiolo and return to Parque Arroyo de la Represa. Those who participated all 4 days will receive a medal."

I'm looking forward to it already!

Beer festival charity cheque presentations

I got an email from CAMRA:
"Dear member, 
The presentations of the charity donations from the 2018 East Anglian Beer and Cider Festival will take place on Sunday 19th August 2018 at 2pm in Oakes Barn, Bury St Edmunds. Please come along and join in the celebrations."
So I went to Oakes Barn to watch and listen.

 

...said the sign when I got there just after 2pm. But the presentations were already under way...

 ...and the Jazz didn't start until after 3pm. But it was worth the wait. Here are the band in action...

A very relaxing afternoon. And by walking there and back I got my daily steps in too!

Jumbo Blogging Day

Times Cryptic Jumbo No 1336 - 4th August

When this was published, I was in the middle of a trienniel reunion with friends who started singing together over 40 years ago, meeting for a few days to sing at the services in Southwell Minster. A couple of my fellow singers said they did the Jumbo every week and had tried this and found it hard to get started. Oo er, I thought. Then I came to solve it a couple of days later. Yes it took me a while to get started too, but in the end it was not too much harder than average, taking me a little over an hour. There is a good smattering of clever clues that were fun to decipher. COD goes to SCHILLING for the nicely misdirecting definition "out-of-date bread". So thank-you setter for an enjoyable puzzle. How did you all find it? Which clues delighted or frustrated you?

( See the answers... )

Hartest Circular Walk

After the Ramblers walk from Glemsford on Tuesday I found another nearby walk that also takes in Boxsted Church, from the AA. The write-up tells the story of the frog earring. You can see the route and read all about it here.

So I thought I'd take the family on it. Hartest is a pretty village to start from.

In the end, we decided to avoid some of the roadside walking and changed the last part to go along the river Glem.

QC Blogging Day

Times Quick Cryptic No 1159 by Tracy

A typically neat and entertaining puzzle from Tracy today. Not too hard - it took me just under my average solving time, but with plenty to think about and some educating byways of vocabulary and general knowledge. A couple of classic cryptic devices for informing those still learning the trade are included too. Just how a QC should be, I think. I enjoyed checking up on where that European river actually flowed, the origin of the generic name for a crane and the music hall song I'd never heard before... the delights of blogging, not just solving the puzzle. What fun! Thanks, Tracy. How did you all get on?

( Read more... )

 

Sloggers and Betters Weekend

This should be fun. I've signed up for the Sloggers and Betters weekend in York at the end of October - the weekend before the Times National Crossword Championships. A pub crawl on the Friday night, a Saturday get together and a Sunday recovery session.

Sloggers and Betters? It's a spoonerism. It will be a chance for the Crossword bloggers like myself  to mingle with fellow bloggers and some of the setters of the crosswords we blog about. More anon!

Oh. And that reminds me. I have tomorrow's Quick Crossword and August the 4th's Jumbo Crossword blogs to post imminently!

Suffolk Tarwebier

After 8 days initial fermentation and 9 days clarification in barrel, it was time to fill my little keg and bottles with my Tarwebier. For my label, I used a photo of the Suffolk countryside from my Acton walk. Here it is...

The strength is a bit higher than expected, but that's what I calculated from the OG and FG. Tarwebier is Flemish for Wheat Beer, or, in French, a Blanche de Bruges.... but made in Suffolk - hence the name.

The picture is a bit of a cheat, perhaps - I think it is barley rather than wheat being grown here, but it is a pretty summer landscape.

Here are the results after labelling.

 

A 2 gallon barrel and 15 33cl bottles. I might need some help to drink all of that.

I'm supposed to wait 4 weeks before drinking. I might just succumb to temptation and give it a try a bit sooner!

Bury St. Edmunds Ramblers Walk - Glemsford

I did my first Ramblers walk for a while today - a circular walk from Glemsford.
 

This was, I think, our route... my tracker went onto pause just as we started and wasn't reawakened until we got to Boxsted church so I had to reconstruct the first part.

We had a good turn out today, filling the Glemsford Library Car Park. It was lovely walking weather, much cooler than recently and stayed dry throughout. Here are Jim and Wendy telling us about the walk before we set off.

The countryside is quite rolling and we got some lovely panoramas.

We even had to walk uphill.

Passing some lovely horses, we approached Boxsted Church.

Just before we got there we got a glimpse of Boxsted Hall, home, of the Weller-Poley family since 1392.

We stopped in the churchyard and got to explore the fine old Holy Trinity church.

I liked these windows.

The church was full of links to the Weller-Poleys. You can see a nice set of photos and some of the history of the church here. It was only talking to Ron later that I found I had missed out on the mystery of the statue in the church of Sir John Weller-Poley... the golden frog earring.

We carried on westwards to our drinks stop near Fenstead End.

I liked this small stand of trees on the skyline as we headed south.

From here it was downhill back to Glemsford. 

A great morning's walk. Thanks Jim and Wendy! You can see more of my photos on here on Flickr.

Fullers Mill Gardens

This afternoon we were headed for a walk at West Stow Country Park, but I suggested we visit Fullers Mill Garden on the way. In the end we got no further as we enjoyed exploring all the little paths and lovely flowers.

What really kept us there after we had seen most of the garden, was the adventures of a crayfish that we spotted and tracked moving up the river, fighting two others along the way and avoiding the traps set out to catch them.

A lovely afternoon out. A pity we didn't have time to stay for tea.

Here are my photos. Can you spot the crayfish in the water?

Created with flickr slideshow.

Invasion of the Triffids?

What is this invading our parched lawn?

It is some Uchiki Kuri winter squash plants, also known as Onion squash, Japanese squash, Orange Hokkaido,  or Red Kuri squash, . Those in the front garden have some nicely swelling fruits already.

"With butter-coloured flesh that is smoother than butternut squash, this teardrop-shaped squash with an intense, sunset-coloured rind has a pronounced, distinctive chestnut flavour."

A new challenge for Tassel Enterprises, then, will be what to make from them when they are ready. Kuri Squash soup, anybody?

Norwich GoGo Hares Trail

My walking friend Joyce said, "I've got a great idea for a walk this Tuesday". It turned out to be a walk around the Norwich GoGoHares City Trail.

"On the 24th June 50 hares will be placed in Norwich and a further 18 will be located around Norfolk. These hares form the city and county trails, each with it's own unique prize.
You can follow the trail using our map which is available during that week from the tourist information in Norwich and various tourist spots around the county. You can also download it from our website, or check the locations on our hares page -which will open the same week as we go live.
This year we will also have an App which can be downloaded by searching gogohares on your normal app store. The cost of this will be £1.99 and Break will benefit by £1 of the sale.
The leverets or baby hares will follow on 2nd July - 2nd September and will also feature on the map, the app and will have a souvenir poster from intu Chapelfield.
The main hares will leave our streets on 8th September, before they all appear in the city centre on 7th October ready for 4 days of an event - Hare Today Gone Tomorrow!
50 of the hares will go to auction on 11th October in the Forum, which will be a ticketed event."

As you can see from the Trail map they are well scattered around the City.

We met outside Jarrolds then headed out towards the north-west corner before heading clockwise round the outside before finishing by mopping up the remainder in the City centre.

This was the majority of the route... up until my phone lost its charge and switched itself off.

The hares were all good, but some were particularly intricate. Here are a couple of my favourites.

No. 1 - Holly Hare. The competition-winning design by schoolgirl Holly McKenna, it features pictures of herself drawing in various locations, and even in a hot air balloon.

No. 16 - Haremione. One for Harry Potter fans!

No 15 - Hare Rae Buster. The depiction of the seasons is very effective and colorful.

Here is my album of photos of all 50 and some of the leverets we saw along the way. Thanks, Joyce, for leading us round the collection - it was a great day out!

Suffolk Youth Orchestra at the Snape Proms

This is what I had to dash back from Southwell to be at. The two youngest members of the Interred family were playing in the Suffolk Youth Orchestra, freshly returned from their tour of concerts based in Palencia in Spain, in the Snape Proms.


It was a lovely evening in Snape

As the programme notes say...

"Spanish dances, an English idyll and a musical gallery tour. The annual Snape Prom is the highlight of SYO’s year in which they bring music to celebrate their brilliance and energy. A Russian’s Spanish fantasy to open – full of Iberian melodies and rhythms – is mirrored by Turina’s scintillating dances inspired by his native Andalusia. Butterworth’s wistful tone poem is an oasis of calm prior to one of the greatest of all orchestral showpieces; Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s vivid musical gallery culminates in the unforgettable grandeur of The Great Gate of Kiev."

The programme was:

Joaquin Turina Danzas Fantasticas 18’

Butterworth A Shropshire Lad 12’

Rimsky Korsakov Capriccio Espagnol 15’

Mussorgsky arr. Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition 30’

Hugely challenging music, beautifully played. A Youth Orchestra?

After that, they gave us an encore of...

Sheldon Danzas Cubanas

... in which they let their hair down and enjoyed themselves to the full, making this recording sound rather staid.

Here they are in action...

A great evening's music! Miss S says she wants to carry on playing with them even when she is at university. I'm not surprised. They are fabulous!