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After my delivery shift I was in Fotheringay, so I took the opportunity to re-visit St Mary & All Saints, a very large and noble edifice. The whole area is utterly gorgeous, as I hope these photos attest.

I always park up near the narrow little bridge. Somewhere round here would be a pretty idyllic picnic spot. Must do that!

Also visible, just about, from this parking place, is the mound of what I assume was once Fotheringay Castle.

I don’t know much about the local history. But the green plaque, shown elsewhere in this post, indicates royal connections.

So… to the church. For some unknown reason(s), I didn’t get a decent pic of the whole edifice, up close. So the above will have to do. I kind of hoped the sun behind it would create a ‘divine rays’ effect…

The interior, whilst lovely, is almost disappointingly plain. At least on first glance. But, as ever, take a while and look closely. And you are rewarded. For starters there’s the fabulous King’s College Chapel style roof, in the tower. Very grand. And very beautiful.

The pulpit is very pretty, and has its own miniature tracery roof, internally. And there are some impressive monuments, flanking the altar.

At this point, I didst ‘give wind’, as Teresa would day. And, lo… I didst follow through, a little. Panic stations! Unlike in many churches these days, I was unable to find a thunderbox.

Exit, ignominiously… waddling. Fortunately I was equipped to deal with this awkward scenario. Lessons? Be prepared.

The walk to and from the main road to the church is delightful. Through an avenue of terrific trees. In strong sunshine, like today, the dappled light is glorious.

Also in Fotheringay…

I’ve definitely stopped at St Leonards before. But was it open then? I can’t recall! Being unsure, I took a(nother?) look.

Fairly run of the mill, perhaps? But still worth the visit.

St Nicholas, at Gunby, is hidden by trees, making it look a little intriguing. I thought I’d investigate. Locked, sadly. Maybe another time?

Not far from here is an interesting looking timber merchants:

When we visited Teresa’s family, we also re-visited this ol’ haunt.

A place Teresa used to come as a child. And somewhere she’s bought me once or twice in the past as well.

She remembered her way around very impressively. And we were blessed with wonderful weather.

It’s a very lovely place, indeed. With rolling meadowlands, and ancient woodlands.

And there are lakes. And a herd of free roaming cattle. I think the walls (and occasional very tight ‘gates’) are there to contain the cows.

We saw plenty of folk – though not too many – enjoying this gorgeous green space whilst we were there.

The Giant Oak

Teresa also took us back to The Aulde Tree, still huge and venerable. But now it has an iron ring around it.

Leaving the woods…

Finally the time came to head back to the car. On the way back to where we parked we came across a lone wandering Canada Goose.

All in all, an utterly gorgeous place. And lovely to return to, all these years later.

Yesterday and today we were down in The Smoke, visiting Teresa’s mum, Jean, and sister, Ruth. We stayed at a B&B/Hotel, very close to Heathrow, in Hounslow.

There was a bit of a carry on over our accommodation. But, to cut a long story short, we wound up staying in a nicer place. So all’s we’ll that ends well.

On the Saturday evening, after stopping in at our accommodation, we headed back up to Weston Drive, Stanmore. Picking up Teresa’s kinfolk, we all went off to a Sri Lankan restaurant, for dinner. Lovely! (Thanks, Ruth)

We went down Saturday, stayed near Heathrow overnight, and on Sunday went to Bentley Priory woods, and then to Teresa’s family home again.

At the latter we helped Jean and Ruth de-clutter a bit; loading up a car’s worth of stuff for disposal. We left about 4 pm.

Noooo!!!

Another great musical legend shuffles off this mortal coil.

A Hard Road was the Mayall album that burned into my musical subconscious as a youngster. I think we only had it on cassette. I just loved it to death. The variety on the album is staggering. From boisterous uptempo rollickers, to fabulous moody numbers, like The Super-Natural, the downright spooky There’s Always Work, and this gem:

Of course, dad had a vinyl copy of The Blues Breakers. And it’s a brilliant album. But Hard Road tops it, for me.

Here are a few images of Mayall, looking damnably cool.

I’m listening to Hard Road again, thinking of the genius that was John Mayall, and digging each and every track.

I’ve been meaning to get the The First Generation 1965-1974 boxed set for aeons. But it’s always been to expensive. And now he’s dead? It’ll probably only go up!

Unfortunately St Andrew’s (above) was locked. As was St Pega’s, Peakirk (below).

Between shifts I nipped home, cooked lunch, and had a very brief snooze. Before embarking on shifts two and three.

Sutton St James, has an unusual gun and WWII/British army memorabilia shop. Sadly due to close this winter.

It gone 10 pm, now. I’m utterly exhausted. Time to sleep, methinks.