Just routine

The last day or so I have received a couple of complaints about the lack of input to "The Trail", well I have been sometimes lazy and others busy, you know, just routine. We left Staffordshire and headed off for Wales about a month ago, the nearer to the coast we got, the wilder the weather became. Had we made a mistake? As things turned out, not at all. The first hour on the site we sat indoors while the rain hammered the roof then for three weeks we could almost count the rain drops. We were back on the Lleyn peninsula, a favourite place for us. During the first day or two we met a guy called "Mac", a real gentleman who spent a great deal of his time giving me tuition with my fly fishing technique and half the contents of his fly box. We spent many happy hours together, enjoying our pass time and putting the world to rights. About a week into our stay, we were joined by our good friend Andy from Yorkshire. The same day, our friend Damon and his wife Erica arrived from Bolton in their 1966 Ford Cortina 1600E which had been restored to a very high standard. It was great to see everyone again. Over the week, we spent much time together, had loads of laughs and of course a little fishing.

Last Thursday we departed Wales bound for Malpas in Cheshire. We went to the vintage vehicle rally where we had a good few days before moving here to Shrewsbury. Odd days here and there, I have tried to extend my leather work ability, specially the tooling process. I have made a few belts, they fascinate me somewhat and every stage is a challenge for me.This is one that I attempted, in a traditional design, of the style that is used in America. The pattern repeats about every eight inches and is 1 1/2 inches wide. I have to say, I did not find it easy, sitting in the sunshine, ten feet from the river and listening to the trout splash every now and again as they snapped up some tasty unfortunate fly. From start to finish, this belt took about 25 hours to complete. This next belt is a pictorial carving making a continually changing North American scene as it is viewed along its length. I do not feel that the photograph does it justice, as it looks a little "flat" seen in this way. I made this belt because Pat kept on at me to give it a try, as it happens, I think that it has turned out OK. I haven't posted pictures of it's full length, but here is a little more.

The nights here have been punctuated by the heavy throb of low flying Chinook helicopters, I wish they would come over in the daylight, I love to see this aircraft. Yesterday we had home made apple pie and custard, which was made with apples that Pat took from an adjacent tree. Trouble is, she made so much that we could not eat it all and so she gave half of it away and for my evening meal today, I ate the last of the trout that I had in the freezer box. So that's it, you're up to date.