Melon and stuff

I made this pretty melon starter thing today. It is very soothing for the developing sore throat. The Covid test is negative. So far. James was doing a lot of coughing when he was here so I suspect I got something from him. He’s had Covid fairly recently and was negative when he came.

The dentist fixed my fang (£65 NHS) then we called on Andrea and Pete with cake. She tripped on a pavement a couple of weeks ago and broke her glasses and 2 bones in shoulder/upper arm. So far they’re waiting to see if it will heal in a sling without an operation. She’s feeling very vulnerable and fragile. These things do set us over 70s back.

On our way back Mr C dropped me off at the Debdon road end again and I took the route back via Rickety Gate and the top carriage drive, only 4.5 miles but it adds up. I’m 200 miles into my (virtual) walk from Lands End.

Thank you for sending links to vegan recipes - I feel a dope - when I saw them
I realised we eat a lot of vegan food anyway! Puddings might be a challenge but it’ll be fun finding out.

We have booked an Intrepid trip to Iceland for the jubilee escape. (But also Mr C’s birthday). Doing our own thing was going to be far too expensive - the 4 x 4 car hire, the fact we are over 75, the food and accommodation. We used this company for the Gibb River Road in Northern Australia and they were basic but knowledgeable. We are also booking ferries from Shields to Amsterdam with the van Aug/sept for 31 days, the max our insurance will allow us to be away. The aim is to hurtle through Germany and get a ferry to Sweden, drive north quickly and cross into Norway to visit Lofoten islands. Then drive back south via Denmark. Of course we’ll not see half of what we want but it’s the best we can do given time constraints