We spent last weekend staying with Ros in Baildon, West Yorkshire. Since I had worked the previous night, and Chantal was in court where one of her cases was being heard, we didn’t leave until lunchtime on Friday, stopping at Go Outdoors in Loughborough for Chantal to buy a new coat.
Driving north out of Loughborough the Satnav announced that our journey would be delayed by 17 minutes. Then it announced that the delay was 20 minutes. By the time we got to the motorway it was 25 minutes, and shortly afterwards 31 minutes, although, as the Satnav comfortingly reassured us, as we joined the queue of northbound vehicles on a typical Friday afternoon M1, we were still on the fastest route. The traffic eased as we travelled further north, although the Satnav suggested a significant detour around Bradford rather than our usual more direct route. I grumbled as we lurched from queue to queue in the Bradford rush hour, but was chastened when a local radio traffic bulletin advised of long delays on our planned route, thanks to bus and a lorry becoming more intimately acquainted than is healthy.
We still arrived at Ros’s house in time for me to exercise the dogs before she arrived home from work, and left Chantal waiting in the car as I walked them down the valley next to her home, and up the far side, skirting a golf course and looking back to see my car across the valley, with just possibly some activity next to it, and realised that Ros should be home, and we retraced our steps, to find the car unpacked, and Ros ready to take her dog, Labrador cross Archie, out for a short walk in the fields, to the delight of our two.
We had a nice relaxed evening, chatting over a home cooked meal, as Ros and I emptied a bottle of wine between us, before we enjoyed a game of Rummikub, which Ros won, despite, or maybe because of, being a bit giggly.
As is usual when we stay with Ros, the weekend tended to revolve around food and dog walking, a perfect combination. On Saturday morning we walked along the top of the valley, through fields with horses, returning to the top of the village along a track that passed a field with two very amiable donkeys – oodles of photo opportunities, which all three of us took full advantage of. I got so engrossed that I returned a few minutes after we left – to retrieve a dog lead.
Ros has decided that it is time to replace her aging car, and so on Saturday afternoon we visited a couple of car show rooms, in search of Ros’s preferred option of a nearly new Suzuki Swift. None were to be found, although, as you would expect, at the Suzuki dealer we found some new cars to look at, together with a very friendly and helpful sales chap, and a mother a daughter who were also comparing models. Ros has now decided on Suzuki Splash, a somewhat taller version of the Swift – she now just has to arrange a test drive, and then be patient and wait for the right car at the right price to appear on a forecourt.
Back in Baildon we once again walked along the top of the valley, and Chantal and Ros headed off over a Lesia-proof style (Lesia is getting too old for the required scramble and leap) to investigate an old barn, where Ros had seen a Little Owl on previous walks. I walked the dogs down the valley and located a place where the wall had partially collapsed, allowing the dogs to scramble over in to the field with the barn, just as Chantal, Ros and Archie were returning to the stile at the top of the field – no Little Owl apparently.
We all met up, and continued the walk down to the river crossing stepping stones to return home through the wood on the far side.
We enjoyed dinner at a local Indian restaurant, after which, despite the darkness, it was time for more photography. Chantal and Ros set up their tripods alongside a local roundabout for some time-lapse shots, photographing passing cars to leave a trail of light on the image. Personally I would have been quite happy to return home to digest my curry in peace, especially since my tripod was back in Leicestershire, but I eventually left the car and joined them, and actually quite enjoyed myself attempting the time-lapse shots, using a convenient wall in lieu of a tripod.
Sunday morning dawned sunny and mild, and we walked the three dogs back through the riverside woods and back along the top of the valley, before relaxing in Ros’s garden with tea and cake in the warm sunshine. In the afternoon we visited Saltaire, where we spent a pleasant spring afternoon wandering around this heritage Quaker village – particularly pleasant since it was the first spring Sunday afternoon of the season, and the place was bustling with a lovely cheerful atmosphere. It was, of course, principally a photographic expedition, and Chantal and Ros explored the cobbled streets and the alleys behind the back-to-back houses, as well as the local railway station, in search of photo-opportunities. The dogs and I followed, waiting patiently as required, and taking photographs (me, not the dogs – although I suspect that by now they are trained by experience to stop at a suitable photo-opportunity) of anything that may have been missed by the ladies.
Which just left time for packing and have a cup of tea before coming home – a much faster journey home than the northbound trip just a couple of days before. See “Our Recent Photos” for photos from the weekend.
Technically we live in Oaktree House, but sadly the tree had to go.
We now have a thriving Oakstump at the front of the house.
