Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:27
Our New Home Monday is 'wash-day'
When I was a child, my mother would without fail, wash the white cotton bed sheets on a Monday.
When I was a child, my mother would without fail, wash the white cotton bed sheets on a Monday.
We didn't have fitted sheets in those days, just the flat sheets. My mother would take the bottom sheet to wash it, and the top sheet would become the bottom sheet to be washed the following week.
Today being a Monday, I gathered all of the white cotton sheets, washed them in the automatic washing machine and pegged them on the line to dry in the glorious Queensland sunshine.
My mum didn't have the same time-saving appliances as me - she had a copper with a wood fire underneath to heat the water. she added "blue" to the water to whiten the sheets. The white cotton sheets were stirred in the hot "blue" water with a big wooden stick and when done, she lifted out the very wet sheets to wring them in a "wringer" which she turned with her hand. Later she had an electric wringer, which one day, she got her arm caught in! Ouch!
The Great Outdoors
Memories of England's Coast-to-Coast Walk
Day 16 Glaisdale – Little Beck Sunday 24th July 2005
The best thing today was lunch at the railway station at Grosmont - apple pie and a pot of tea! It was lots of fun watching the steam trains.
Here is hubby's daily diary.....
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| mother and son (calf born during the night) |
Up late through lack of
sleep from being cold and the cow in labour. Woke once again to a cold wind and an
overcast sky. After cooking breakfast, we got going at 9.00 a.m. But not without Denise enviously watching our
neighbouring camper, who was easily cooking eggs and bacon on a gas camping
stove . Denise had struggled throughout
the hike with our Trangia stove which burned the metho at an alarming rate,
giving out too much heat and coating our pots with black soot.
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| A tidy flower lined path at the camping site entrance |
The day’s hiking began with
the delightful walk along the long, flower-lined path from the camping site to
the roadside entry of the farm. It was beautifully kept by the elderly farmer
and his hard-working wife. We were very impressed with their labour of love in
keeping their farm and camping grounds so delightful - a welcome place for
campers. Out on the road, we walked past the calf who had been born earlier in
the morning, still lying on the ground with its mother standing next to it.
The countryside was fresh
and green. We passed through the pretty
villages of Glaisdale and Egton Bridge , and then through East Arncliffe Woods along
the Esk River
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| Grosmont Railway Station |
We hung around the Grosmont
railway station for 2 hours, watching steam trains come and go. We very much enjoyed lunch at the station
café – a real treat of meat pie, apple pie and icecream, and a pot of tea for
Denise and I while Jonathan had a can of cold lemonade. Such delights were
rare!
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| The steepest and longest hill in the world!! |
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| Australian hikers |
Then onto heather and moss
moorland and on towards Little Beck, a tiny village deep in a valley. We crossed miles of peat and met a large group
of hikers, some of them Australians.
This was the largest group of Coast-to-Coast hikers whom we met. They were
walking from east to west, having set out that morning from Robin Hood’s Bay.
We shared some of our experiences, and told them how awesome they would find
the hiking through the mountains in the Lake District . They were only carrying day-packs and were
staying at Bed & Breakfasts. Their tour leader said he was taking his group
east-to-west so that they would be fit by the time they reached the mountains.
We had some difficulty finding
out where to camp, and after some enquiry, we went hill climbing again, along a
road, to reach a Bed and Breakfast which we were told might take campers. We found the farm, and the very hospitable
farmer’s wife brought us cupcakes (fairy cakes which she had made that day,
with whipped cream on top) and a large pot of tea. Shower and toilet were in the farmhouse, and
instead of a shower, we had a bath – quite a
luxury for us campers!