Joan and Ted Johnson’s
Web Pages
DIARY
2007
A bit of advertising! Kate’s parents, Maureen and Dave, have
started doing Bed and Breakfast at Great Ellingham Hall. Yours truly has done the website. If you fancy a break in the
29 December. Well December flew by. We prepared food until the freezer was full,
finished all the shopping in time, enjoyed some meals out and before we knew it
all the family had descended. Everyone
arrived on the 22nd so we began our celebrations early.
|
|
|
|
|
The Santa
Express |
Christmas
Morning |
|
|
|
|
|
It was so lovely to have everyone here
though disappointing that the tummy bug which is apparently doing the rounds
had affected Danny and at different times most of the rest of them. Fortunately it was short lived. Nevertheless the children enjoyed a ride on
The Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway Santa Special. They each got a nice present from Santa. They certainly enjoyed all the present
opening on Christmas Day. We had our
friends round for lunch on Boxing Day and later that day Keith, Kate and the
children departed for
02 December. It’s been a busy time. While the kitchen was being finished we had a
lovely couple of days near Scarborough, staying with Phil and Ros. The weather was horrible but we had a good
day out to York and the Railway Museum.
We came home to find everything completed and tried to find homes for
all our things and get back to normal.
(We keep forgetting where we’ve put things!) We are really pleased with the kitchen though
and it wasn’t too painful an experience.
Since then we’ve had a week-end with Keith and the family and we’ve also
had a couple of nights in Norfolk staying with Kate’s parents on our way down
to Folkestone and Calais for the wine trip.
In between times Joan is particularly busy at Court as our co-ordinator
is off sick so what with trying to organise Christmas it may be that there
won’t be a lot else added to this page just now.
11 November. Our old kitchen is sitting in a skip
outside. It’s quite sad really. We have a new floor but nothing else in the
room so it can only get better from now on!
06 November. Have been working on the
03 November. It’s been Daniel’s first Birthday. Where did that year go then?
|
|
|
|
02 November. During the past week we’ve had a lovely day
at Stamford Bridge with our old neighbours, Brian and Helen, we’ve been to
Lincoln for the Ramblers’ Association area meeting, Barry and Pat have been for
the day and Ted has led a Wednesday walk from Ruckland. 48 people turned out – well it was a glorious
day! Now we’re preparing for a new
kitchen. I’m quite excited about this
but wondering how I shall get through the next three or four weeks before it is
completed. We have stripped off the
wallpaper and the electrician has been to wire the ceiling ready and so we just
have a dim light bulb. Next week the
plasterer will be here and the old kitchen will be ripped out. I always really liked this kitchen – was
still calling it “my new kitchen” but in fact it’s nearly 25 years old so it
was high time for major surgery!
22 October. Another busy week has just passed by. Where does the time go? Last Monday was our wedding anniversary and
we spent the day in Grimsby and did a bit of shopping, then went out for a meal
at the Oriental Express. Tuesday was
Joan’s court day, and Wednesday our weekly walk. Thursday was Joan’s birthday and one or two
friends popped in before Yoga. On Friday
we were up really early to drive to Monyash to meet up with some walking
friends.
Twelve of us had a wonderful week-end –
the weather couldn’t have been better. We stayed at Hartington Youth Hostel and
did three superb walks. On Friday we
walked from Monyash on Saturday from Hartington and on Sunday from Calver,
going up onto Froggatt Edge. The walks
were all delightful.
14 October. Well it’s been a busy couple of weeks since
we got home. The sale of the Sidney’s
house finally completed, thanks to Helen’s pestering the solicitor while we
were in South Africa. The RA AGM went
well. The cheese and wine afterwards was
a great success anyway and we’re still involved as much as ever for another
year. We’ve done a couple of Wednesday
walks and Joan has got back to court and also joined a yoga class. Today we’ve done a recce for a walk which Ted
will lead from Ruckland at the end of the month. Gradually things are beginning to feel normal
again. We’ve started work on all those
photos!
02 October. Since we came home we’ve had a week-end with
Keith and Kate and we’ve been preparing for our RA AGM later this week. It seems ages since the holiday and we’ve yet
to start looking at the photos.
27 August – 26
September. We’ve had such an amazing
month’s holiday. We went by train to
Manchester on the Bank Holiday Monday and stayed overnight, then flew out to
Cape Town via Doha. Journey went well
and Maggie and Alvan picked us up at Cape Town on the Wednesday morning.
They are currently in rented
accommodation on a wine farm at Kuils River, about half an hours drive from the
airport. We spent our first few days
there and had trips to Hermanus to see the whales, to Kirstenbosch Botanical
Gardens in Cape Town and to several wine estates for tastings.
The next Monday we set off to drive along
the Garden Route to a time share at Keurbooms River, near Plettenberg Bay. Here we had a very relaxing few days. The beautiful beach was a short walk away and
here we walked for miles along the sands and watched whales and dolphins. We also had a day around Knysna.
After a couple of nights at Port
Elizabeth we set off for our great adventure – The Wild Coast Meander. We drove to The Meander Inn in East London
and met up with other friends of Maggie and Alvan – Sue and Glen, Linda and
Steve and Sue and Ken. The next day we
were all taken to The Kob Inn, a four hour drive away and about 30K from a
decent road, down a rough dirt track. We
certainly saw rural Africa on this journey.
Now we were on the Wild Coast, where we were to spend the next few days
walking from hotel to hotel. It was an
amazing experience. We had an English
speaking guide and porters to carry our back packs. This is a very valuable source of employment
for the local Xhosa communities. Most of
the porters were ladies and we were asked to keep our packs under 10k in
weight. The coast was certainly
wild. There were huge breakers and parts
of the coast were very rocky. We had to
cross a river estuary, wading up to our thighs, dodge the waves along the beach
and cross other rivers by boat. We saw
dolphins swimming in formation, whales, cows on the beach, lots of bird
life. Much of the walking was on sand on
the most beautiful beaches. There were a few local fishermen but otherwise
there was no-one and the coast was totally unspoiled.
After this experience we made our way
back to Kuils River, stopping for a night in Port Elizabeth and then another in
Wilderness on the Garden Route.
Wilderness was a beautiful spot and we had time to stroll beside the
lagoon to the fabulous beach. Back at
Kuils River, we still had a few more days’ holiday and we went to see the
flowers on the west coast at Darling, did a few more wine tastings, went to the
V and A waterfront in Cape Town and went up Table Mountain – this time in the
cable car. Seven years ago we had walked
up.
We can’t believe how quickly it all
went. Unfortunately our journey home was
a bit of a nightmare as our plane had an oil leak and we were delayed in Cape
Town for 7½ hours while it was fixed and then someone from Doha had to
authorise it to fly. We missed our
connecting flight to Manchester by about 4 hours and were rerouted via
Heathrow. In fact we were only nine
hours late landing so I guess it could have been worse. We missed a train by seconds which was really
annoying but we did at least get home on the day we expected to – just late in
the day. Photographs taken this holiday
number 681. Click here for just a few.
|
25 August. All the family were home last week-end –
18th. We’d planned to take the
children on the beach but it wasn’t really nice enough. Still we had a good
weekend and went on the little train and Alice had a few rides. It was good to have everyone here together. This weekend we’ve had the weather –
glorious sunshine. Ted’s been to
Lincoln and the result was good! |
|
15 August. We did complete the Use Your Paths Challenge
for our area!! A few other people got
involved and helped it along. Some of the
paths we walked most recently were really badly overgrown as they’re not walked
so frequently. Anyway we now have a
certificate from HQ to mark the fact that we did it.
11 August. The football season has started!! We hope for better things this season. I’ve at last updated this site and put up
some Coast to Coast pictures. Click here.
|
03 – 07 August. John and Pauline have been to stay for a
few days. We were blessed with perfect
weather as we walked around Cleethorpes, spent a day at Gibralter Point and
another at Far Ings. On their last
full day we had a lovely walk from Wold Newton and rounded the day off with a
barbeque. How nice to have some summer
at last. |
|
|
29 July.
Daniel’s Christening. He was ever
so good and we had a lovely barbeque in Keith and Kate’s garden. All the grandparents and aunties and uncles
were there and it was good that the sun has started to shine again at
last. We stayed on for a couple of nights
and did a bit of babysitting. I’ve
posted a few new photos. Click here.
19 July.
What a wonderful experience we’ve just had!! After talking about it for many years we’ve finally
done Wainwright’s Coast to Coast walk – all 192 miles in 13½ days. We met lots of interesting people from all
over the world. We used the Coast to
Coast Packhorse Company to carry our bags and left our car at Kirkby Stephen,
and they took us to the beginning of the walk and ferried us back to the car at
the end. Read a bit about it here.
Now we are busy trying to get our house back to some sort of normality. While we were away we had a new boiler put in
and also new radiators in every room.
This necessitated moving furniture around and emptying cupboards,
wardrobes etc in order to do so. Happily
only one room is in a real mess but that unfortunately is the kitchen which is
now in need of major surgery. In the
short term we must live with a gaping hole where the old boiler was.
26 June.
It has been good to be home for a bit and catch up with things. We’ve done a lot of local walking in order to
complete more grid squares for the Use Your Paths Challenge. There are only 49 left to go. It’s all been
put on hold this week because of the flooding hereabouts. It’s been dreadful. One friend has had to move out of her
bungalow and others have been within ½inch of the water getting in the
house. Ever so many roads have been
closed so we’ve had a couple of days doing computer jobs and so on.
|
We went to Keith’s for the day last
Sunday and it was really nice to see everyone. We hadn’t seen the children for seven weeks
and it’s amazing how much they change in that time. |
|
|
|
|
07-10 June. These have been a busy few days. We went first of all to Wigan to see the
solicitor and then to Shevington for what should be our final trip. We spent a bit of time pottering round the
Churchyard as Helen is investigating the family tree. As well as the graves of my grandparents
which I knew were there, we also found one where one set of my great
grandparents were buried so confirmed a couple of dates. I wish I’d started on this ages ago when my
Mum was still alive!
The next day we had a house clearance
firm in to remove Sidney’s furniture and while they worked we took ourselves off
to Chester to see Maggie and Alvan, who were over from South Africa and staying
with Maggie’s sister. Once everything
was sorted out in Shevington we went over to Helen’s, where we stayed for a
couple of nights. We managed to meet up
with Sheila for a very nice meal at Ego.
We returned home via Glass Houghton so we packed plenty in to our short
stay away!
06 June.
We’ve had our annual Wednesday Coach trip and again we had a beautiful
day as 44 of us headed for Baslow. Some
of us got off the coach at Longshaw and Ted led a walk through the estate and
then to Froggatt and Curbar Edges before going via Baslow Edge and the
Wellington Monument into Baslow. Some
did a longer circular walk and others explored Chatsworth. It was a successful day. There are a few photos on the Grimsby/Louth RA website. Please note that following this link takes
you off our website. Click the back
button on your browser to return.
03 June.
Today was Joan’s Festival walk – just a short one - seven miles from
Caistor. 31 people turned up and it was
a glorious day. Afterwards we went to
Walesby, as it was Trinity Sunday, for the annual service for walkers at The Rambler’s Church. (The link is to an article that I wrote for
the Lincolnshire RA Area Newsletter.) A
cuppa at the tea rooms rounded off the day (and the festival) nicely.
01 June.
Ted’s been decorating the downstairs toilet. Meanwhile we’ve done another couple of
Festival walks. Ted led the one today
from Willingham Woods and there were 37 people out. This year’s festival seems to have gone even
better than ever.
25 May.
We arrived back in the UK in the middle of The Lincolnshire Wolds
Walking Festival. Ted led Derek’s walk
today as he’s not very well. It went
well but it was very wet in the morning.
15 – 22 May. Eighteen of us from our RA group have been on
a week’s holiday to Girona. It was
absolutely brilliant. We had a coach to
East Midlands Airport and flew Ryanair.
After some problems with their changing our flights soon after booking
we’d been a bit anxious, but in the event we were quite impressed with the
speed and efficiency of it all and I’m sure we’ll fly with them again! We had booked with Costa Brava Rambles who arranged
our transport in Girona, booked us into the Peninsular Hotel and took us on a
tour of the town plus three beautiful guided walks. Most of us went to the Dali Museum in
Figueras, which was quite amazing and well worth a visit. Some went to Barcelona for a day and others
had an extra walk on our own. Click here for some photos.
|
13 May.
Jim is 65! We’ve been for a celebration
lunch, with all the family (including the five grandchildren) and some other
friends. Here’s Jim with Noreen and
with four of the five grandchildren |
|
|
|
|
07 May.
Seem to have been too busy to write much recently. We’ve been trying to catch up with Ramblers’
work + get some grid squares walked for the Use Your Paths Challenge. We now have less than 200 to do. Keith, Kate and the children have been for a
week’s holiday - well more than a week actually, as they came the Friday before
last and went home this afternoon. It’s
been brilliant having Alice and Daniel for so long. They’re such a delight. We had trips out to Rand Park Farm, to Hubbards
Hills and to Normanby Hall
Country Park, where
10 April.
Well my other house is just about sorted as far as it can be for the
moment. We’ve had people over from The Museum of Transport in Manchester where
all the bus photos and some other memorabilia have gone. Since then we’ve had a brilliant Easter
week-end with Keith, Kate, Alice and Daniel staying. The weather’s been glorious and we had our
first meal outside this year. We had a
day out to Hall Farm Park at South
Kelsey near Caistor. Alice enjoyed the
animals and the tractor ride. Here are a few pictures from the
weekend.
|
25 March. Yesterday we went to Saxilby to
celebrate Ted’s brother Barry and Pat’s Silver Wedding Anniversary. They had a lovely service at St Botolph’s Church
where they renewed their marriage vows and then we had an excellent meal at
The Cross Keys at Stow. David and
Sarah were there with Cameron and Dominic, also Pat’s sons - Andrew with his
wife Kate, and Ian with Lorna and their children Niven and Garvie who were
absolutely delightful. The pictures
show Barry and Pat with the grandchildren outside Church and back at their
house where they cut the cake. |
|
|
18 March.
On Mothering Sunday we went to Helen and Mike’s and had a lovely meal
out at Ego, then went into Liverpool for a nostalgic trip round Lewis’s which
is closing down - can’t believe it. It
was the first Lewis’s store to open in 1865 and will be the last to close. Read about it on Wikipedia. From here we went to Shevington. This trip someone came from the National Tramway Museum at Crich
as
10 March.
It’s a busy time as we keep popping over to Shevington. Last week-end was lovely though because we
went via Keith and Kate’s home as on the Sunday Alice had her second birthday
party. Kate had wisely hired a hall with
lots of toys and equipment to keep 13 two year olds amused. Maureen and Dave and Andrew (Kate’s brother)
and Sarah were also there and Alice really enjoyed her day. I’ve posted just a couple of new photos from the
week-end. Meanwhile Helen and Mike have
had a lovely few days in Madrid.
26 February. The Church was absolutely packed for the
funeral at St Anne’s in Shevington. The
vicar did a really lovely service. There
were friends from the many museums and societies for which Sidney worked
tirelessly and also colleagues from his teaching days. We also found some
second cousins on his father’s side of the family. We still can’t quite believe what happened as
Sidney had been so very well and active.
21 February. Have been organising the funeral and
beginning to sort out the house. There
is such a lot to do. In between times we
had a lovely weekend with Keith and Kate.
Helen and Mike were there as well so it was good to all be together at
this time. Helen has been a star. She gave me a bed for the night last Tuesday
and then came over to Sidney’s with me on the Wednesday. Since then Ted has been over so I’ve not had
to do things alone. It’s going to take a
long time to get everything sorted out.
13
February. We have very sad news. Sidney had a heart attack and
died soon after he arrived at Wigan Infirmary. I did get chance
to have a word with him on the phone before I drove over but unfortunately I
didn't get to Wigan in time. We're quite stunned. He was 75.
He'd really enjoyed Christmas, which was the last time we all saw him.
29 January - 05 February. We’ve had a really super week in Gran
Canaria, staying in Maspalomas at The Maspalomas Princess. We liked the resort even though it was quite
busy - but not as brash as its neighbour Playa del Ingles. It was rather nice to walk down to the beach
with its sand dunes passing a lagoon with lots of interesting bird life. There were coots, moorhen, heron, egret plus
waders that we couldn’t identify. Near
here we got our best ever view of a hoopoe.
Although we’ve seen them several times we’ve never before been able to
get a picture. We did one really good,
long walk from the Sunflower book, taking a taxi up to San Bartolomé, high in
the mountains and walking back to Los Palmitos.
This involved a climb of well over 1,000feet and a very steep descent of
3,000 feet but the scenery was well worth it.
We walked a long way on the coast - to San Augustin and we also did a
couple of trips out, one to Puerto de Mogán and the other an island tour in a
people carrier. This took in some very
scary hairpin bends as it climbed into the mountains. Otherwise we relaxed and strolled around the
resort. Here’s a few pictures.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lagoon - Maspalomas |
|
Hoopoe |
|
Looking to
San Augustin (from Playa del Ingles) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Above San Bartolomé |
|
Reservoir at
Ayagaures |
|
Pico de
Bandama (volcanic crater) |
28 January. Yesterday we met up again with Keith, Kate
and the children in Lincoln and went to Ask for lunch. Alice ate all her pizza with great relish. We’re not sure where she puts it all! While Ted and Keith went to watch Lincoln
City beat Peterborough Kate and I took the children to Playzone again. Alice is getting quite adventurous so Mummy
and Grandma need to be quite fit to keep up with her. Click
here for a few new photos taken at lunch.
20 January. We’re just back from a walk from Louth on a
gloriously sunny day but oh my was the wind strong!! Have started a new page of pictures of the
children - not much on it yet but watch this space!
15 January. Belated New Year Greetings. Keith, Kate, Alice and Daniel stayed until
New Year’s Day which was absolutely great.
The following weekend we went to Liverpool and took over presents that
Helen and Mike hadn’t been able to manage on the train (especially as they had
gone to Dewsbury for a couple of nights first).
We had a super weekend going out to see their recently refurbished local
and also one evening for a Mexican meal.
Helen’s new kitchen is absolutely super and looks much bigger than it
did previously.
Since then we’ve kept quite busy doing
our normal walks and also Ted has been leading some extra shorter walks in
order to complete some grid squares for the RA Use Your Paths
Challenge. We still have 374 squares
to complete before 21 September of this year so it will be quite a
challenge. Happily one or two other
members of the group have taken this on board and are at least recording where
they are walking.
We’ve been to see Miss Potter which we
enjoyed immensely and otherwise tried to get up to date with RA paperwork and
so on. I’ve been researching Walesby
Church (The Rambler’s Church on the Viking Way) for an article for The
Lincolnshire Rambler - the magazine of the RA Lincolnshire area and this has
been really interesting. We went over
the other day to take some photos and to replenish stocks of Silver Lincs Way
leaflets at the tea rooms.
We went to Lincoln for the RA quarterly
meeting on Saturday and then met up with Keith, Kate and the children for a
pizza and then while Ted and Keith went to the football, Joan, Kate and the
children went to Playzone nearby.
