Second Fun Friday

ILAM

9th November 2018

 

First Fridays seem to be turning into second Fridays as first Fridays seem to be popular days for people doing other things! so here we are on the second Friday of the month meeting at Ilam at 11.03 as 11am at Ilam is a bit confusing.

We don't have Helen J to organise the weather for us but we have our fingers crossed that the rain will stay away. 

Maggie, Lynn and Charlotte aren't able to join in the fun today and Helen J is presumably fast asleep on the other side of the world.

Bob and Betty seem very pleased to see each other again but they are both a little bit disappointed when they are put back in their respective vehicles whilst the rest of us go for coffee.

 

We certainly aren't going to lose Julia today!

 

In an attempt to be well organised and efficient Helen M has printed off the walk leaflet - however on closer examination it seems that we have step 1 of the walk and then step 7,the other steps are presumably still in the printer! thankfully Alison has picked up a leaflet and is quickly given the responsibility of walk leader.

What a very responsible dog owner - just don't forget where you have left that little parcel Jo.

We are all trying to remember when the last time we visited Ilam was - Alison has a distant memory of a school trip which no one Lee can remember - apart from Julia none of us have visited recently which seems a bit of an oversight as it has much to recommend it.

 

After a bit of a false start we set off on the correct path - hard to miss when we were on the right side of the river and look we spotted some seagulls in the distance - but then we all heard a voice from very far away say 'There's no such thing as a seagull'

 

Not sure what the languages are or why those ones have been chosen.

Come on Pam its this way.....

.........not this way, although it looks quite tempting

 

For some reason Pam kept very quiet about the fact that she had a proper map in her bag - obviously reluctant to take responsibility

Bob watching the birdie and Betty ignoring it completely - or perhaps she had spotted the dipper which we kept seeing (has to be bird of the day as it is about the only one that we have spotted!)

 

 

There's no doubting who the figure in the distance is

Having reached the stepping stones the question is are we brave enough to cross them with two lively dogs in tow

Of course we are brave enough - and it was all going so well until Betty fell in and had to be rescued by Julia and we had just been talking about the risk assessment we should have completed.

On the way back the rain caught up with us but at least we had managed to stay dry for mot of the time and even though it was grey and damp everywhere looked very beautiful.

Back at the start we said goodbye to Jo and Bob who had to be elsewhere and with a soggy Betty safely in the van we headed to the  café for lunch, cauliflower and stilton soup all round.

Up coming travel plans were discussed and minor scandals were touched upon.

We had hoped to do the short walk round the grounds after lunch but decided to save it for another time 

The tables on the lawn outside looked lovely and we resolved to make this a venue for a hummer visit when we can make the most of them.