When I look at my recent blog posts the weather seems to be a major feature. I suppose this is because since July we have had an awful lot of rain. I am now writing this latest piece after another week of mostly showery and sometimes rainy days in Parkham. On a positive note it is good that with the latest smart phone apps, forecasts can be carefully monitored, including the position and direction of rain clouds. This means that we were able to get out and walk for about an hour each day without getting wet. Before I get complaints about the unreliability of forecasts, we have in the past been caught out, particularly in the village where drizzle from low cloud appears to avoid the weather forecasting radar.
On this occasion we did not travel far and most of our walks were along the lanes around Bocombe. We grabbed a couple of hours of sunshine and headed out to Greysands one morning and on another afternoon we walked along the front and coast path at Westward Ho!. We avoid Westward Ho! in the summer months but on this occasion, there were few people around we enjoyed watching the waves breaking on the rocks at high tide.
For the two weeks prior to our visit, The Granary had been occupied by our son and daughter and their respective families. This meant that we had anticipated some clearing up when we arrived, however all was in good order, although the fridge was covered with small stickers, a gift to granny from our three year old granddaughter.
We spent time with several of our friends from the village, with the wet and cold weather we were drinking tea with hot crumpets rather that the scones and clotted cream of only a few months ago. There were also a couple of visits to The Bell where it was good to catch up with more friends but no meal on this occasion.
With the poor weather, I took the opportunity to visit the builders merchants to buy components to secure our gas bottles to the wall with a chain. This is now a safety requirement and was commented on when the gas boiler was serviced,
We drove home on a lovely sunny day and it remained so for the whole of our journey. Traffic was good and we now realise there are benefits to travelling at weekends, outside of school holidays, with far fewer heavy vehicles on the road.
In our absence, work on our new roof has progressed however, this progress has been limited by poor weather in Cheshire. We now have a Met Office warning of Storm Debi approaching, which will bring strong and disruptive winds to the region next week!
