A post about sticks and swine. Post 1200!

Last weekend my brother and I took our older brother's hounds for a long walk. We were staying in Herefordshire and nipped over the border into Gloucestershire and the Forest of Dean. We visited a good walking spot called Speculation, in the Cannop Valley.

The walk is based around old railway lines built to service mines (the digging out sort, not the kaaabbboooom type) .

Just as we started out, I heard some careful snuffling and foraging about and to my delight, this magnificent wild pig emerged just going about her business. She was about three times the size of Quaddy (the black labrador in the video). Amazingly the dogs did not even get a sniff of her but when they barked, she just trotted away to another part of the forest. You can just about see her here.

Later in the walk it was the usual blend of sticks, barking, finding water to sit in and general gooning about. And digitalis digitalis.

The wood pile

My parents' superstar neighbours are moving house :-(

This is a real shame as they are the best neighbours a couple could have. It is also sad because the move has been rather prompted by rapaciously money-grabbing folks in the village creating  havoc converting a barn just nearby. Loads of stress, noise, invasion of privacy and unfriendliness.

In helping them move, and ahead of my brother's wedding (of which, more soon) we were in the village this weekend. My bro' and I helped the neighbours relocate their mahoosive wood pile to the new village. Three chaps in a van unsupervised. Here are some action shots and some wood pile progress. I'd say we hand balled a couple of tons in and out of the van on a 24 degrees Friday. It was great fun with a sense of satisfaction.

Toby the  dog liked taking stuff OUT of the van just when he could reach it after we had put it in!

Chicken links and Happy Birthday

My brother's wedding tomorrow.

I will be wearing my very favourite cuff links, bought for me in affection (thank you and happy, happy birthday to you for today x ), and kept that way too.  

I will also have this glass Chicken in my pocket for the day, a link to a terrific young man who bought it for me in his thoughtful and observant way a little time back.

And this day prior to the wedding? A quiet pint out for the groom and his two brothers , then a walk up Coppett Hill near Goodrich to watch the sun set. That part with the hounds, and wrapping up at about 9.00 pm.

In preparation for this evening , my other brother and I shifted about a ton and a half of firewood across Herefordshire!

Father's day

It is Father's day in the UK today and in all these countries below as well.

Just off the phone to my Dad and looking forward to seeing him this coming Thursday  (for my brother's wedding a couple of days later!)

Afghanistan Albania Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Aruba Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belize Bermuda Brunei Darussalam Canada Cambodia Chile People's Republic of China** Colombia Costa Rica

Cuba[ Curaçao Cyprus Czech Republic Dominica Ecuador Ethiopia France Ghana Greece Guyana Hong Kong Hungary India Ireland Jamaica Japan Kenya Kosovo

Kuwait Laos Macau Madagascar Malaysia Maldives Malta Mauritius Mexico Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Netherlands Nigeria Oman Pakistan Panama[ Paraguay Peru Philippines

Puerto Rico Qatar Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Singapore Slovakia South Africa Sri Lanka Suriname Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey United Kingdom United States Venezuela Vietnam Zambia Zimbabwe

Potato Rosti...could do better.

Today I was taken with the idea of making a potato rosti.

I had a couple of spuds left and they were coming to  the end of their usefulness, so I went for it via a quick You Tube tutorial first. You Tube is great for that sort of thing.

Armed with a knife, a grater , an onion, butter, cumin and some bacon I set out on course. If I'm honest it was a fail and I wouldn't have served it to a guest, but the taste and the principle is in the bag for next time.

Didn't squeeze enough starch out and made the rosti too thick. Enjoyed it though!

Prep' stage

Shredding potato and onion

Making the rosti

And hereafter it went a bit Pete Tong!

Next time?

Welsh flowers and a train.

This week my work took me to the RSPB reserve in Newport. I was along to sit on an interview panel and to shortlist candidates for a vacancy at another one of my sites. Busy enough day but I squeezed in a 35 minute walk around the reserve. It seems almost ignorant not to when each of the sites I work with is such a pleasant spectacle.

So, here are sone of the things I encountered during the day:

Southern Marsh Orchid

Something in the pea family, akin to Sweet Pea

Oak Eggar Caterpillar

And a fine Class 43!

Thursday Sunshine. And planes!

I thought today would inspire a post about the World Cup . I am not a huge football fan but I am excited about a month of football.

But no, today's post is just about the weather and the view I encountered on heading into the garden this morning. I am at my folks' house and I stepped out to fill up the bird feeders at 07.00. The grass was still wet with due and there were fox or badger trails right across the garden, stopping at the suet ball feeder, and that was picked clean! 

Weatherman says it will hit 24 degrees in some places today and that's pretty much top of the range! 

Complex engineering...

So here we both are, attempting to master a potato ricer (a modern form of mashing)...

We got there in the end and the resulting shepherd's pie was great.

The Lock and Weir for trains and beer.

Having taken a long ride yesterday, neither of us had particularly planned to do so today. However, the sun came out nice and early and it stayed and the day was made.

Different route today but towards Bath in the end, just like yesterday.

Today my bro' and I  headed out along the river Avon path towards The Lock and Weir pub, a route I used to do regularly with old BSFivers (Walshy, Mrs Walshy, Bag and Seamus).

This took us out of Barton Hill, through St Annes and Hanham on onwards towards Keynsham (the factory shown here is the old Cadbury place, soon to become 700 houses).

We arrived at The Lock and Weir at half eleven, some time before it opened so we went on a little bit and then circled back for a pint of Otter.

A really enjoyable ride with a mix of  easy paths, sliding mud, horses, dogs, ducks, trains and ale.

The plan mid week is to get to the other side of the river and get closer to the railway line.