Onwards!

 Just a short "hop" today...down the motorway in strong crosswinds and torrential showers ...

Firstly to see a potter friend...who is nearer to seven foot than he is to six foot tall...and had the look of Gandalf from the film of Lord in the Rings...and is indeed a magical person..and his lovely wife...

Discussing Life, The Universe and Everything, as the saying goes...and especially pots of all ages....for nearly three hours....and we could have gone on!! 

At least my brother knew who I was visiting, so wouldn't be worried!!

And by where I parked was this...

Very suitable as we are at Samhain....the Celtic New Year's Eve tonight.

All Souls and All Saints Days.....the Day of the Dead in Mexico...

Wherever you go, an important celebration.

And the year begins as we sow the seeds for next year...the dormancy before the growth in Spring.

I didn't get lost

 Well .just a short diversion quickly retrieved once in each direction!

A small funeral...with less than 50 there which was surprising...Arja was a tough resilient talented woman..77 seemed far too young for her! At least half the people there were cyclists, mostly from their local club in Evesham. Not much talk...but tantalising details that you'd love to hear more about!

A rural upbringing in Finland...a talented skier...a nanny in a British Embassy in Russia (and taught herself Russian)

Tried for a similar job in Germany, ended up doing hotel work in Worcester I think? 

Married a local, one son....took up cycling...and these things happen so her second husband is from Evesham, a former professional cyclist...who introduced her to track cycling 30+ years ago...no looking back!

A talented knitter (no patterns needed) and gardener as well.

A definite no nonsense livewire too!

Naturally all the music was by Sibelius.

Back for another evening of chat and discussion by the fire...doing us both good!

And relax....

 I did get a short walk today, after the rain stopped, to the postbox....

And a friend online found this ...

And madam was definitely relaxed tonight...

And it was good to talk....we share 53 years of memories....

Gone West

 A good journey yesterday, just 160 miles....then I missed the end of the street that I'd recognise....and in an hour and ten miles of wandering around Gloucester, also missed the other end....but at last came at the latter from the other direction and recognised it!!

Now with friend.....and cat.....relaxing....all three of us !

Sadness and joy

 Morning view...I wasn't early enough to catch a view of the rabbits!!

I was early enough for the funeral....I had done much map research....and also took the advice of a cleaner at the travelodge...so with only one slight wibble off route...I was an hour early!! Which gave me half an hour to get on with a little patchwork...

This is the one that I started in February in Mātangi!!

A sad time to say farewell to a cousin of only 65 years, but many happy memories were shared.

Then giving my aunt a lift, over the causeway to Mersea Island and the family and friends drinks and sandwiches in a local hostelry in West Mersea.

Reconnecting with family...some I hadn't seen for a few years..I think the last Rixon get together I went to was 2023...and I hadn't seen my aunt since 2021.... but we both remembered well my first one in 1987!!

My aunt navigated me back to her house..we came across the causeway at high tide and it was only just halfway across the road at the lowest point.. and everyone taking turns politely to pass it. Then out towards Tiptree from Colchester, and if I remember correctly I passed the end of the road where my grandad ( her father) used to live in Colchester!! This avoided the busy A12... even busier in rush hour...I had to go on it from Feering village to return to the travelodge...and the jam into Colchester had just reached back to there!! 

Now time to plan tomorrow's weekend route to my friend's house in Gloucester ...

A quick postscript...the WiFi payment went through without fuss by paypal...so the fault is with the provider's payment system, nothing to do with the travelodge group...

Travelling...the weekend so far...

 

Saturday's sunrise....looked rather ominous, but it was dry and not so chilly as the days previous.

I took to the road just before 9 and had an easy ride...stops vaguely every hour to start with...the Co-op to shop at Thornhill, north of Dumfries, Gretna shopping outlet for another leg stretch and Marks for a couple of bras...of course the pretty blue and green reduced ones weren't in my size...just the ghastly bright pink ones!! I draw the line at pink...

Another hour to Tebay and Westmorland Services.

A  veggie hot lunch....they always have two choices!! I wandered around the shop....but no, I'm not buying chocolate at £5+ a bar... however good!

And going back to the car....this made me think of Steve and his blog....

Then two more hours to the travelodge at Crewe Barthomley, where the road to Stoke on Trent goes under the motorway .

I saw where a crash had been on the other, northbound side, police and ambulances still there..and the traffic backed up for miles, I must have travelled for well over half an hour until I turned off...and it was still nearly at a standstill.

Getting in tinternet was....a problem....I had to set up my account ( instead of Pirate) ...but to do that you needed internet to get a code they send you....and when I managed that their payment system said that my postcode isn't valid....

Read the newspaper, do the puzzles, watch TV instead....and use the 30 minutes free ( every 24 hours) in the morning...

So that was 240 miles...

I filled up the petrol tank this morning...30p a litre more than I usually pay !!!! ...and next time I come this way I'll use the service station 15 miles down the road....only 10p more than usual!!

I headed across country through Stoke on Trent, seeing all the familiar place names! 

Mainly on A roads as I didn't fancy motorways and the M25 around London!

Still mainly dual carriageway driving, with a stretch of motorway...and the further South I got, the more aggressive and unpleasant the driving!!

Another 9-3 day, with just two decent stops.just 200 miles..and now I'm west of Colchester in another small travelodge..I choose them as they are more personal and friendly and generally have easy and free parking!!

Light

 

This morning at 7.45 am....no wonder I feel reluctant to get going!! I'm looking forward to getting back to GMT time and briefly lighter mornings..still just under two months to Solstice.....time outside when weather permits is the prescription at the moment.

I've been busy organising... getting what produce that is left in safely... putting to one side things that need to go to different people... bringing in ten bags of clay to the kitchen in case of freezing temperatures that would make it unusable.

Pots cards and prints taken to the gallery 

I hope these sell after all the work 

Last minute sorting and cleaning today.

Travels southwards start tomorrow.