Lowesby - Hungarton - Cold Newton - Lowesby

Led by Barry with me and Gordon. Fine, but cold. Snow or mud underfoot, quite deep drifts.Just over 7 miles, but it felt like more! 506 feet of climbing.


Another of my favourite parts of Leicestershire, showing a more forbidding face than usual.

Lowesby is a small village just off the road between Tilton and Melton.

Lowesby green with church

We walk down the hill, leaving the phone box, post box and village pump behind us. The church standson our right.

Barry investigates the village pump

The road drops sharply for about a hundred feet, then rises again. Just before a sign for Hanmer Lodge Farm our footpath turns to the right. The snow has settled in the furrows of the fields, making an embroidered pattern.

Field tapestry

We walk across the fields. Drifted snow and mud make this quite a workout. The path is well signed with yellow posts. Thank you Leicestershire! Down to the left hand corner of the first field, then we keep the hedge on our left. Our path turns slightly to our left (slightly north of west) and we cross a minor road - Park Road on the map, near some farm buildings. The path takes us through a short wooded area.

near Inkerman Lodge

We wonder if this carriage was once used on the nearby dismantled railway.

Emergency shelters or des res in the woods

Our way ahead is quite clear - between two hedges. The snow has not melted in here, but someone has left footprints ahead of us.

Gordon picks his way through the snow

can't go right

can't go left

must be this way

We cross a couple of open fields, then a small road, and we walk with the hedge and stream on our right making for Hungarton. The ground is churned up near the village. Snow-cleaned boots or not, we plough through.

hell's bells . . .

. . . and Hungarton church clock strikes eleven

Calves and sheep are under shelter.

A farmer with a sense of humour - I didn't notice the reg until I saw the photo.

The Shire Horse?

One forlorn daffodil

We decide to look at the church - it's locked, but we can't resist the stone benches in the porch, and we've not walked quite three miles yet.

Old church porch - fine shelter for an early break

The church dates from around 1290 and is the oldest building in the village. Lots of houses sport an eighteenth century date.

The Old Rectory Hungarton

Another millennium village sign - with Quenby Hall, Longhorn cattle and Hungarton church and village hall.

ornament on post (1)

We walk through the village, past the village hall, and start along the road towards Quenby Hall, before cutting across country on a footpath with the hedge on our left. Fine views back to Hungarton all the way up the hill. We're pleased to see that the path skirts the ploughed field.

Hungarton, seen from the drive to Quenby Hall

Quenby Hall must have one the most splendid settings in the county, perched high on the hill with wide views all round. It's recently been on sale for £11 million and there's some other info. Out of my range, alas. Rather sad, really, as it did have an organic longhorn herd and a cheese-making business. It claims to be the place where Stilton cheese originated.

High Jacobean architecture - Quenby Hall

We pass the house turning to our right and following the line of the ha ha wall round to the other side.

from the other side

I can't find any details about this mini-obelisk, and the Latin inscription is worn. I made out EDITHAE OPTIMAE UXORE . . .
We continue along the drive past a couple of fields to a gateway where we turn right, cutting off the corner of a small field, through a gate and head south west downhill, to the opposite corner of the field near some woodland. There's a way marker, and a local map.and an empty.

ornament on post (2)

We cross the bridge over the dismantled railway and take the path towards Cold Newton Lodge.

dismantled railway

There's a way marker by a pile of building rubble, perhaps from railway days.

ornament on post (3)

The path is going south-east now, with the hedge on our left. We go into the next field and veer a bit to far to the right, but it doesn't take long to get back on track - the gate is just round a bend in the hedge. At Cold Newton Lodge we turn left, and follow the footpath north-east all the way past Sludge Hall, along a track to the minor road leading to Cold Newton - Enderbys Lane. We turn left.

Sludge Hall - good name today?

Just before Cold Newton we take a footpath uphill to the right.

Nah, I don't think they're going to feed us!

This emerges on the road, not far from Hanmers Lodge Farm, and we're almost back. We just have to walk downhill and then up into Lowesby.

Back to Lowesby

We saw a hare, quite a few birds, including a robin, at least one lapwing and red kites on the way back.

Finally, Bike Riding Weather (for a day)

The summer has not been conducive for bike riding. The heat and humidity has been nasty. If it's not too hot in the morning, its pea-soup fog. Last Wednesday I was able to get out for a 14 mile ride. This morning, I wore my bibs and brought the hybrid on the car for my trip to Panera for "breakfast".
Was hoping John or Dennis might ride, too. John was planning antenna work and Dennis also had other plans. So, I drove over to Lake Manawa for my ride.
Rode up the East side of Lake Manawa on the new section of Veteran's Memorial Trail. At Leach Camper, I crossed Indian Creek on Highway 92. Back onto the trail almost to Veteran's Memorial (South Omaha) Bridge.
"Trail Closed" signs and barricades where down or moved to the side at S 24th St and at the OHV park. Rode past the National Guard trailer in the parking lot. It was the first time for me riding over to the bridge so was a little confused when the trail dropped down into the river and had to walk over to the bridge. (Upper photo).
Rode on over the bridge. Wanted to find that spot under the bridge that Jodi and Greg like (Bridge Trolls). I found it and shot the lower photo there. Spend some time exploring the trails there at S. 13th St and Veteran's Memorial.

When I was finishing crossing the bridge, I noticed activity at the National Guard trailer and CB Police car entering the lot. Decided it was not a time to walk pass the downed "trail closed" sign I saw earlier (when I was already past point of now return). Grabbed the bike over the railing and rode along the shoulder of the road back to the trail at the motel.
At S. 24th Street, The barricade is now back up across the trail. I was not ready to end my ride, so rode over to the Trails Center. Visited there, had my bottle of G2 and headed back to the car.
With Veteran's Memorial Trail blocked at S 24th, I rode the street from JCPenny to Leach Camper. Back onto the trail (and shared "bike lane") around the East side of Manawa. Good timing, it was getting a bit warm when I ended my ride (about noon). Logged in 20+ miles in just under 2 hours. Good ride!

Two Gardeners, A Friendship in Letters

Many thanks to Tracy of Outside for suggesting Two Gardeners, and to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for starting the book club.

In 1988 Katharine S. White and Elizabeth Lawrence were included in Allen Lacy’s anthology, The American Gardener : A Sampler and one taste made me want more from these writers. A couple of their books showed up at our local library and eventually I owned several volumes of my own. My reading of Two Gardeners was less discovery than revelation, as their collected letters to each other unveiled a long relationship. I already felt affection for them - what a pleasure it was to see their connection grow once Elizabeth writes to open the conversation.

This is no vague or gushing fan letter – Elizabeth packs her first missive with information, ready to explode when Katharine opened it. I like to imagine Katharine opening the envelope, then feeling a bit overwhelmed as she learns a great deal about her unknown correspondent: Elizabeth lives in North Carolina; she is not only familiar with the New Yorker, she has connections to one of its writers; she is glad to hear about a previously unknown catalog; she offers addresses and names of other catalogs with detailed descriptions and criticisms of the covers and contents; she also establishes herself as a rose connoisseur, compliments Katharine’s husband while declaring herself a fan of Charlotte’s Web, and gives glimpses into her personal economic situation. What Elizabeth does not mention, is that she is herself a published garden writer of books as well as a newspaper column. Elizabeth didn’t seem to be good at promoting her works, and Katharine is left to discover the wealth of Elizabeth's knowledge from other sources. Katharine soon realized that her new friend was an invaluable horticultural resource.
Although that first letter arrived in May of 1958, Katharine’s literary world has influences in today’s news. The New Yorker magazine is still vibrant, the New Yorker on DVD is a popular item, and a star-studded movie of Charlotte’s Web, written by Katharine’s husband E.B. White, was released at Christmas. Garden Blogger OldRoses just reviewed a flower show with arrangements that cry out for skewering by a new Onward and Upward in the Garden article. It was fun to see names from Katharine’s letters echoing in the present day – Katharine writes of her frequent dealings with William "Bill" Shawn, the famed editor of the New Yorker – and I recently read newspaper articles about his sons, Wallace and Allen. Wallace Shawn, a writer and actor with roles in films from The Princess Bride to Woody Allen's, appeared in theater reviews this winter; Allen Shawn, composer and writer, was the subject of a recent NYTimes article in the Home & Garden section, with reviews of his latest book in another issue. (Just to keep things even more circular and gossipy – Allen is the ex-husband of a previously selected Garden Blogger Book Club author, Jamaica Kincaid. While this celebrity scoop may not rival Britney’s tattoos, it was amusing to me!)
The editor clues us in that Katharine is a decade older, a New Englander, married, divorced & remarried, a mother and grandmother with a long career in the high pressure world of literary editing, her personality infused with the editor’s emphasis on exactness, a recent transplant from the lively city to a farm in Maine.
Elizabeth is a Southerner, never-married, a dutiful daughter and affectionate aunt, living in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the first women to enter professional landscape design, which she does for a living while writing her column. Elizabeth is a much more active gardener than Katharine can be. Because this book includes some wonderful photos, we can also see differences in their looks and demeanors.

I'll have to read their individual biographies to find out more about their early lives. They’re so familiar with a broad range of literature - did they come from families where reading was respected? Was their gracefulness in manner, correctness in behavior and fluency in expressing themselves instilled from earliest childhood? When these women begin to use each other’s first names, I felt a quite Jane Austen-type thrill at this bold step toward intimacy.
The Presidential campaign of 1960 caused rifts across the country, and there’s a point where our Elizabeth and Katharine reveal their feelings about John Kennedy’s election. They accomplished this quite delicately, letting their positions be known via anecdotes and conversations couched in tactful words that would not mar their friendship. But such courtesy does not mean weakness! Both women had to be strong as they dealt with health, employment and family problems, researched relentlessly to ensure the integrity of their work, and when pain and grief laid them low, they found refuge in their conversations about gardening and garden writing.
Has much changed in the gardeners' world? Terrible and unprecedented weather events threatened their beloved plants, they worried about the ecological effects of chemicals, and bemoaned the closure of favorite nurseries. They wished for the good old days, when people respected fine, opinionated, detailed garden writing.
And even half-a-century ago, publishers chose to give contracts to writers of money-making, didactic, how-to-do-it garden books, while refusing to print reflective, specific garden writing stuffed with botanical names and references. Weren’t similar feelings about boring garden writing one of the factors leading to the establishment of GardenRant?

Through The Garden Gate is a collection of Charlotte Observer articles written by Elizabeth Lawrence over many years. For the book the articles are arranged by the month in which they appeared, and thus Elizabeth takes us through the cycle of the year, investigating customs, seasons and holidays, describing gardens and talking to gardeners. For a dozen years I’d been touched by her poignant July entry for the poet Robert Vernade, but not until reading Two Gardeners did I realize that Elizabeth's research for this article was blocked until Katharine used her influence. These events unfold through the letters between the two women. When I reread that story now, it still touches me, but I also treasure it because I know more about the friendship in letters between Elizabeth Lawrence and Katharine S. White.
The American Gardener : A Sampler by Allen Lacy (Editor) May 1988
Onward and upward in the garden, by Katharine Sergeant Angell White, 1979

A Southern Garden by Elizabeth Lawrence, originally published in 1941, special 50th Anniversary edition, 1991

Through the Garden Gate, Elizabeth Lawrence (Author), Bill Neal (Editor)1990

Traction

While the dirt roads I rode last weekend are losing traction in the big dry, it seems that after three years this little blog might be gaining some. I've now had to invites to write for other publications as a result of things people have read here, which is actually quite flattering -- even if I'm a little surprised to discover that people actually read the words I write here. It could be that I haven't written anything controversial for a while, or it might be the pictures from the new camera I bought in Glasgow. Having said all that, watch it all blow up in my face tomorrow.
Speaking of Glasgow, or at least Scotland, I've been busily uploading some pictures to my tour journal over the last couple of weeks, and have about 200 done (or roughly half of them). Perhaps it's time that I shared a few here. The first few are from Edinburgh, which is probably the most beautiful city I have ever visited. The entire city centre is world-heritage listed, as a result of the architecture and the history. I could have spent another week here just exploring.



Just about every town has a cathedral or ruin of some kind. This one in St Andrews near the ancient burial ground is a typical example.

The sunshine in the previous shot was an aberration -- it rained virtually everyday for the first two weeks, this scene is perhaps, more typical of the conditions.

Like any tour, it didn't take me long to find the hills, the Grampian mountains have a remote, rugged beauty all of their own. While the landscape may appear barren, just look at the colours.


The changeable weather in the north can create vistas of it's own. The sudden downpour that swept through the town of Lairg when I was there left me with a very special "two-for-one" deal.

Another Stunner!

That's probably the only way to describe what happened out at Tallebudgera Valley this morning -- simply stunning. Shortly after cresting the murderous Trees Road climb (22% and long, and I did it all without getting out of the saddle), and the twisting descent of Ducats Road, the vistas started opening up spectacularly.

What followed can only be described by the pictures presented. Needless to say, it was simply stunning.




Ultimately I started to feel like the whole valley was taunting me. Almost tempting me to take more pictures, to stay there longer (would have done had I not needed to hit that CPA study session), or perhaps gloating because I would have to return to suburbia. Eventually I did that, but the difference between suburbia and the valley was even more surprising. The coast was a full 10 degrees C warmer, just an hour later! The occasional glance over my shoulder indicated that the valley was still offering the misty vistas and the beautiful showers that had only added to the ambience of my outing.
Why can't everyday be like this?

A New Season

The trees were just starting to bud a few days before I made this image and I was hoping, as I have for the past few years, that I would be able to find an image that would convey the beginning of green-up in the northwoods. The tree is a Mountain Maple, also sometimes referred to as Moose Maple. I found this composition while spending the morning watching a Ruffed Grouse perform his spring drumming ritual. In between drumming sessions the Grouse had walked off into the woods and while waiting for him to return I was looking around at the surroundings for possible images when I spotted this new little leaf poking out from the notch in the Maple. I trained my 100-400mm lens on the leaf and made this image.

Housekeeping-A Poll

I'm conducting a poll this morning, ladies, and the reason is that as I've been working on my daily schedule for this new year, I've allotted what I thought to be a sufficient amount of time to do my housework. Unfortunately, the last two days have been almost nothing but housework. This could be because I'm still putting things away from the holidays, or it may be because we have too much stuff and I spend too much time putting it away.

While I'm willing to give it its due, I don't want to spend all my time every day doing it. There are so many other things and interests I want to pursue. A fine balance is what I wish to establish.

So here's the poll: How much time daily, on average, do you spend doing work related to the maintenance and keeping of your home? I'll not tell you now how many I spend. I don't want to influence you in any way! Your answers will be most appreciated. Thanks!