The stable block at Hylands House

Paper Mill Lock from the Tea Room

View looking inland from the sea wall  at Goldhanger (Joyce's Farm )

The General Arms in Little Baddow

After the Birmingham conference I went to see my parents in Essex. Although Essex gets a bad name and it certainly doesn't compare to the West Coast of Scotland, I have a great affection for its more rural parts. I love to go for a country walk with my  Mum and Dad and then visit  an ancient pub for lunch and a pint of ale. One of our favourites is  the Chequers in Goldhanger. A short walk from the village takes one to the sea wall and the marshes which are always beautiful and often very bracing.My parents like birdwatching and there are a profusion of waders and other sea birds to see. The smell of the salt and the mud,the cries of the birds , the ever present wind and the big open sky are very evocative for me.

After our walk which unusually was in warm sunshine, we had lunch in the front bar of the pub which was built in the 16th century. I then ran back to Maldon on the sea wall which is a lovely way to approach the old town. It is only at the end that you have to cross roads and endure the traffic.

On another day we went to Hylands House near Chelmsford which had an open day . There was a lot of information  on World War 1 when the house was used as a hospital. A band played war time tunes and there were people dressed in infantry uniforms. Rather chillingly they had rifles and machine guns that were actually used in the conflict. There was also some rare Suffolk Punch horses, a collection of artist studios and a second hand bookshop. I had a great time in the bookshop finding a book illustrated by Alan Lee, a book about the nature artist C. F. Tunnicliffe and one by Edith Holden similar to her famous ' Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady'.

Now we're back in Scotland and work is full on . I have had no time to sketch apart for one view yesterday whilst I was waiting for the Corran Ferry.

It was a beautiful day and it was a shame to have to rush rather than enjoy the gorgeous views.

Birmingham

Last week I went to a conference  in Birmingham. Large cities in the Midlands are not my normal habitat but in  fact I enjoyed my stay. A revelation was the the canal network. Apparently Birmingham has more canals than Venice. The canals are a secret, hidden world often below street level with wharves bridges and lots of locks ( but a distinct lack of gondolas) .
 Back in Fort William the Neptune's Staircase is famous for being a large number of locks close together, but in Birmingham the rise and number of locks far exceed this. The difference is the canals are much narrower with single lock gates. I found the waterways a fantastic place to sketch . The combination of the reflections in the water , the many bridges( each one unique), and the varied  brick and stone work was immensely appealing. Of course even with a good sprinkling of modern litter  the canals look picturesque now, but in their heyday they would have been grimy and dirty with far worse pollution.

Not much sketching done this week but here's a painting I did for my etsy shop. It's an evening view from the boat returning from the Isle of Eigg with the sun going down behind the island. The island on the right is Rum. Going to Eigg is always an adventure;quite apart from the stunning scenery  there is an abundance of wildlife,once I saw an otter swimming just beyond the jetty, last time I saw minke wales and dolphins.

Rob Piercy Gallery

The day after the Ring of Fire Race we went to Porthmadog to see Rob Piercy's gallery. He paints mainly in watercolour and in my opinion is one of the best landscape watercolourists in Britain. It was a real treat to see so many of his pictures together. He specializes in moody mountain scenes of Snowdonia done with a muted  palette. There were also some mixed media , oils and some pencil drawings.
After that we drove to Llanberis to see the mountains and also to The Royal Victoria Hotel which has a list on the wall of past winners of the Snowdon  Mountain Race , H's name  being among them.
 From there we had the long trek back to Scotland.

Ring of Fire Race

We're just back from the Ring of Fire - a fantastic race over three days around the coast of the Island of Anglesey in North Wales. My chances of finishing seemed very slim as my back was still giving me a lot of trouble. Even another trip to the osteopath on Wednesday didn't make much difference.
 I decided to start anyway and get as far as I could.
 The fun commenced at 1PM on Friday from the Country Park. My back was sore from the first step . Fairly despondent I limped along near the back. H. was soon away and out of sight and I was glad to see her running well. However before long I realised that it hurt just as much to run slowly as at normal speed. I became frustrated at being trapped at the back of a long crocodile of slower runners and started to overtake people when I had the chance. Eventually I caught up with a group of faster runners and was pleased to be able to stay with them .To my surprise they stopped longer than me at checkpoint 2 and I was able get ahead. By now the landscape had become far more dramatic - rolling grassland then steep cliffs down to the sea. I began to wonder how far ahead H could be until I finally spotted her just cresting the next hill. It took some work to catch up but by now I was running fairly well and enjoying myself despite my sore back and lack of fitness. We ran together for the rest of the day and indeed for the rest of the race which is quite unusual for us but a lovely thing to do.
By the time we had covered the increasingly hilly 35.7 miles to Almwych we were both tired and it was pouring with rain. I was incredibly happy to have survived the first day and to have enjoyed rather than just endured the stunning coastal route. In the Leisure Centre the canteen ladies were serving huge plates of lasagne and salad for a mere £4.50. I demolished one and helped H with hers, then had hot shower.The sports hall was soon full of tired runners sorting out their gear and setting up beds . Sleeping arrangements were very variable from  proper fold up beds through camp beds to nothing but the hard floor. My back was really painful, lying down being particularly sore  . At one point I was stuck on my back unable to sit up or turn over until H helped me. Fortunately I was able to get a massage which eased things a little.
Day 2 started with my alarm going off at 4.30. Slightly refreshed after 4 hours sleep we packed up and ate breakfast The race started at 6 AM- we had up to 22 hours to cover the next 65.9 miles of the coastal path. The scenery wasn't quite as stunning being flatter and incorporating more road- probably a good thing given the distance. We started off O.K. but our lack of fitness and the effects of the previous day took their toll , soon we were reduced to a slow jog and walking all the hills. I found the last 10 miles or so very tough- in the dark with some tricky navigation to boot.  All volunteers on the checkpoints were superb; friendly and helpful. For some reason I never quite understood there were some really nice guys  dressed in lurid skin tight lycra body suits (maybe I was hallucinating- I was certainly tired enough  )at the check points, anyway they cheered us up no end and couldn't do enough to help holding things and filling water bottles.
 At the end we received a rapturous welcome in Aberffraw  and were plied with pasta and hot drinks. The second nights accommodation was more basic- there was no showers and less room but also less runners as some had dropped out. After a few hours rest we rose bleary eyed to pack and get ready for the 6 AM start. The race organisers must have been even more sleep deprived but were everywhere making cups of tea and being incredibly cheery.
 I was amazed to find I could still run after a fashion. At the first checkpoint of the day at Rhosneigr we were offered sausage or bacon baps which really touched the spot. Once we got back onto Holy Island and towards Trearddur Bay the scenery became spectacular, cliffs, golden beaches and sea stacks. The sun came out and it was a gorgeous day. Ever so slowly we ticked off the miles and Holyhead mountain came closer. Eventually we were on the final descent to the finish in Holyhead Country Park. We were both ecstatic to get there. At 135 miles it is the longest race we've done albeit over 3 days. It was a superb event and very well organised ,definitely one to do again. I did take my sketch book but I must confess to have been too tired after each day to draw.