Jeni and I set off to drive from Lancashire to Cumbria in light drizzle which quickly became torrential rain, and by the time we reached the sign announcing we were in the Lake District we could barely see it through the blinding rain – even with the wipers on full speed I couldn’t see a thing. It gradually eased off and I decided to make a short diversion at Ambleside and take Jeni to Coniston Water where I first met her Dad. However, Fate decreed otherwise as, after negotiating several floods across the road, we came to one that I deemed too deep to try and we turned round and headed back to Ambleside for a lunchtime pasty. There was water everywhere; surging down the fellsides, across the roads, over walls, through walls – it was awesome!
We eventually found our way to the hill farm in north Cumbria, overlooking the Solway Firth and about fifteen minutes from Cockermouth, that was to be our home for the next two weeks. We were greeted by our host who then introduced us to Emma, a WWOOFer from Hong Kong, and she showed us around the farm. The ‘blurb’ on the WWOOF website was slightly inaccurate as things have changed since it was last updated, in that they are no longer going to be open to the public or concentrating on Rare Breeds. The farm is mainly devoted to milking goats and one of our regular jobs was to feed the young kids three times a day. They also had some Tamworth pigs that we had to feed and muck out every day – this was quite a challenge, the knack was to feed them and then nip over the barrier, scrape up all the dirty bedding and remove it and then nip back over the barrier before they finished! Jeni and I were amazed at how Emma, a city girl with no experience of animals at all, had managed by herself for a week before we arrived.
It was a strange set up on the farm as our host, who had had a hip and knee replacement done in the last year, spent all day in the farm office working on his computer and his wife spent all day in the cheese dairy making cheese, so we never saw them during the day at all. We did our regular chores and then had to find Michael, the stockman, to see if he needed anything else doing, otherwise we just mooched about until the next feed time. Another odd thing was that despite dropping subtle hints and then outright asking, we never got to taste or see any of the cheese that was made on the farm!
During our first week there, Jeni became ill with a mystery illness that seemed to drop on her from out of the ether – in the morning we were all mucking out a stable with gusto and in the afternoon she retired to bed feeling exhausted and complaining of pains in her chest and never really picked up again. After the weekend she went to see a doctor in the nearby town who thought that she might have pulled some muscles and prescribed Ibuprofen (with little or no effect) but this wouldn’t have accounted for the sheer exhaustion she was feeling all the time – every day became a harder and harder challenge.
After much discussion and heart searching Jeni decided that she would probably have to go back to Mum’s and try to get some detailed medical investigations done, but that she would travel with me into Scotland first and see if things improved.
We did have a couple of good experiences while we were there: the first was when we took Emma and went off to explore a bit of the area. We went to Maryport, just along the coast, which is pretty rundown now but has a fantastic Aquarium where I got to stroke some rays and poke about in their ‘rockpool’ setting! We then went on to Whitehaven which is much more affluent-looking with an impressive marina. We took Emma for a ‘typical’ English tea in a very nice cafe (Cafe West – if you’re ever in the area). For £5 we had a round of sandwiches, a large scone with butter, jam and cream, and a piece of cake! Poor Emma was suffering from a surfeit of cream afterwards and we had to walk around for a bit until she felt better! The second was when Jeni and I went for a walk in the woodlands on the farm and saw, at very close quarters, a red squirrel. We stood and watched him for ages as he posed on a gate post and had a bit of a wash and brush up.
We left Cumbria on Saturday, 4th June and drove to Thornhill north of Dumfries, to our next hosts. Their smallholding is just outside a small hamlet and consists of an impressive double fronted Victorian house and a marvellous stable block, complete with original stalls and loose boxes that are all listed. They no longer have any ponies but they do have some Shetland sheep and a large vegetable garden.
On the day after we arrived they took us to Appleby Horse Fair, back down in Westmoreland, where we had a lovely day watching the gypsies and travellers showing off their horses (and themselves) along the ‘flashing lane’ which is an area of roadway cordoned off so that they can drive their ponies at breakneck speed up and down to show off their paces. They also take them down to the river in the centre of Appleby and ride them bareback into the deepest part to bathe them – I can’t imagine why they’d want to – the weather was distinctly chilly and the water must have been freezing – all very macho! Later on we went to have refreshments in the church and found that there was a christening going on. It was the christening of the head traveller’s grandchild and was being filmed by Channel 4 for their documentary series ‘My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding’ which will be shown next year sometime.
Jeni and I have been working in the vegetable garden planting out peas and beans and salad vegetables, but we realised that she was no better and so, with heavy hearts we said goodbye to each other yesterday and our hosts took her to catch a coach to Cheltenham from Dumfries (I couldn’t take her as I have been laid low with a ghastly cold – the first I’ve had for over a year) a journey of over eight hours.
I shall continue the Scottish leg alone for the time being, but there is now a question mark over the whole enterprise as my wonderfully, trouble-free tenant has given in her notice and, if the agents can’t find another tenant, I will not be able to continue after the end of August, as I will have no funds available.
I hope that my next blog is more upbeat, and that I can give you good news of Jeni.
No comments:
Post a Comment