Walk around Flamborough Head

Off on my annual walk with mate Terry last Wednesday and Thursday. This year it was the 400 feet chalk cliffs around Flamborough Head.

Here's a map of the region showing the actual route we took, straight off Terry's GPS system (click to enlarge, red arrowed line is our path). The first day, having left the cars at Bempton, we took the train to Bridlington (just off bottom of map) and walked back to Bempton.

In spite of all Terry's technology, every year we decide we know better and get lost. Disheartened with yet another diversion around Thornwick Bay and with no visible sign of Bempton on the horizon we decided to try our luck by walking inland. As we trudged along an unending road it was at this point the GPS system took its revenge, telling us we still had two and a half miles to go. We did thirteen miles that first day, much tougher than it sounds because coastal walking involves lots of steep ups and downs.

Day two saw us going by rail to Filey and walking back to Bempton again. Only eleven miles this time with quite a bit of beach walking and fantastic sights of cliffs and birds. Saw my first puffin...

here's a photo of one taken with Terry's latest bit of kit, an SLR camera. Feel I'm falling behind in the technology stakes... must think what I can aquire in time for our next get together!

Thought it might not be my finest moment when we rolled up the street to our overnight bed and breakfast at The Ship Inn past a house with its windows boarded up... but the accommodation wasn't too bad apart from me banging my head continuously off the attic bedroom roof.

Had a move around in the greenhouse to allow room for my tomatoes to grow. Took down some of the shelving and potted up my plants in bigger containers. The strawberry plants are a bit of a disappointment... some of the fruit are a funny shape and they seem to go dark and then past their best pretty quickly. Might move them out to give more room.

At last some decent rain meant I could break up the clay soil more successfully. Made progress on the bean/pea supports. My experiment to see if it was better to initially grow vegetables in the greenhouse before planting outside is proving a hit. Although I've been watering seeds planted outside every day they're only starting to show their heads, and somewhat erratically, whereas those in the greenhouse have sprung up strongly.

Noticed a distinct reduction in eggs from the feathered fiends over the last week with two eggs per day if lucky, and then a broken egg... have they become cannibals? Next the flash of a brown furry thing nipping under a plant tub. Armed with a hefty stick I whipped up the tub... to find a rat rushing around the pen tying to escape. A bit of a tap on the bonce despatched the intruder and production is back up to normal again.

Huge disappointment today. Supposed to be going with my two sons to watch England play Andorra in their world cup qualifier at Wembley, one of our special father and sons trip out together we do once or twice a year. Got the shiny tickets, aimed to set off early afternoon by train, bit of a crawl around some interesting London pubs before a serious burger for tea, then pitch up at the FANTASTIC Wembley Stadium to join 90,000 fans for a bit of heavy atmosphere.

Cue the RMT Union and their leader Bob Crow, today the most hated man in the land for the cynical way he has selected yesterday and today to disrupt the plans of many thousands of England fans by calling the London Underground workers out on strike and bringing London transport to a virtual standstill. So whilst the rest of the country's workers are taking pay cuts, if they're lucky enough to have a job, RMT members are striking for a five percent pay rise and the promise of no compulsory redundancies. Do they live on another planet?

Although we could get to the match, the fear of a poor atmosphere with few fans present and a nightmare journey home means we'll be watching on telly. Here's hoping the disappointment of thousands of families not able to get to the match weighs heavily on Mr Crow and his members in the form of many sleepless nights.