Day 22 – End of the adventure

The last few days have been busy as I have journeyed home but there has been no time to blog.   I packed and cleared out of our Shetland home at 10.00 am on Sunday.   I had 7 hours to fill before I could head towards the ferry.    I realised that I should have put some more fuel in the car on Saturday because at 9.50 on Sunday morning,  I could not find a garage open which meant I had to reduce how much driving I did to make sure I could get to the ferry.   The car said I had about 120 miles of fuel (only a vague amount because it can be fairly flexible about when it tells you it has 110 or any other amount!)

I was going to Sandness via Walls so I decided to stop at Walls which the guide book said was an interesting place.   Not so sure about that!   I parked by the public loos and then we went off for a walk in the gloom.   On the way over, I did stop at one point and take a couple of photos.   They ended up being the only photos I took until I want to ‘Afternoon Tea’.

 

The weather was overcast and windy but when Dexter and I set out for a walk, it was ok.   I headed off in one direction from the car in Walls and we walked along the road towards the coast.    We walked as far as we could until the road ran out and then walked back which took us an hour and it was nearly lunch time.   We got back to the car and so I ate the sandwich I had brought and read my book while Dexter lay in the back.   I had not seen anywhere on the way to stop and therefore, go back to.  

After an hour, I decided to walk in a different direction and we started doing that until 45 minutes out, it started to rain.   By the time we got back, my jeans were quite wet so I sat with a towel on my lap to mop up some of the wet.   Dexter was back in the back and then we set off the ‘Afternoon Tea’ that was laid on by the Shetland Guild of Spinners, Weavers, Dyers and Knitters in Tingwall.  By the time I got there, it was heaving with people with a wonderful spread and a lovely exhibition put on by members.    One of my teachers, Hazel Tindall, had some items in the exhibition but there were plenty of other beautiful items.   I met up with two members of the Kennet Valley guild and had tea with them.  

By the time I left, I had time to find somewhere to feed Dexter before going to the ferry.  Finding somewhere to feed Dexter was the challenge!   By this time, it was very, very windy and raining and there are not many sheltered car parks in Lerwick.   I went back to the Community Centre and managed to park out of the wind by parking close to the building.    I fed Dexter including giving him a travel sickness pill and then we went for a wet walk around Lerwick so he could relieve himself before the journey.   I joined the queue about 5.10pm and when we got to the front of the queue we were loaded straight onto the ferry.

Since we were not sailing until 7.00pm I stayed in the car with Dexter until 6.15 and then put him in the kennel with his bed and some water and I went up to my cabin.   We were told that we were going to have a fairly rough crossing to Aberdeen and they estimated we may be up to 1 hour late docking in Aberdeen.   I lay down on the bed and, other than getting up to do my teeth etc, I stayed there until 6.00 am.   I’m not sure I slept a lot but I rested as the boat moved like a roller coaster for most of the night.   There was only one time that I was rolled into the wall of the cabin and items rolled off the table.  I had tried to make sure everything was secure before we set out so there wasn’t much to roll off.

We arrived in Aberdeen and it was clear and sunny.   I didn’t know where I could park so I decided to park in the ‘breakfast’ area and take Dexter for a quick walk to relieve himself.   He had not messed his kennel which meant he had crossed his legs for 15 hours!    We had a quick walk and came back to find I was about to be locked in but after explaining why I had parked there, the guy on the gate let me out.   It was a good thing because we then spent over an hour getting out of Aberdeen.   It started off fine with me sailing out towards the north and then about 5 miles from Aberdeen airport at 7.30 in the morning, I hit traffic and we crawled for the next hour.     I was very grateful I had given Dexter a quick walk because I didn’t see anywhere to stop the car until after the airport.

Having finally got through the traffic, I drove to Inverurie and stopped there to take Dexter for a walk.   We managed to find a nice walk along the river and through some woods but I forgot to take my phone so no photos.   Eventually we got to Mosstodloch where my friend, Sandra lives.   She has two miniature dachshunds, one of which is 6 months old.    Dexter had the most wonderful time with them and Sandra’s daughter, Angela kept them all occupied all day including taking them for walks.

Sandra and I left Angela and went into Elgin to visit Johnstons of Elgin where we had lunch before going on a tour of the mill.  Johnstons are the only mill in the UK that does every process from fibre through to finished item.   They make luxury goods using cashmere, alpaca, vicuna and merino lambswool.   The fibre is dyed before being spun (about 90% is done before being spun) and is then carded.   Their carding machines take the fibre through lots of carding rollers and it ends as a very fine roving.   Their rovings are about the size of my spun wool!  

The rovings are then spun and wound onto cones before being wound on large machines into warps.   There are various looms and unfortunately, we were not able to spend enough time looking at the weaving on the Jacquard loom before being moved on to the finishing.    They check the fabric and repair it, finish it and then cut it.    The whole process was fascinating so I was grateful that Sandra had organised it.    Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos at any point.

They have a lovely shop for their beautiful items.   They do woven fabric in Elgin and knitwear in Hawick.    Sandra then took the pretty route home to give me a chance to see the area.    After dinner and a very good night’s sleep, we set off in the morning for Dunbar to visit my cousin, Fran and her husband, Derek.

I was supposed to go down the A9 but my satnav thought the quickest, shortest route was over the hills via Lecht, Glenshee and the Braemar!   It was very pretty but definitely not fast and we ended up stopping in Braemar for a walk and lunch.   Dexter had a walk and swim in the River Dee and I had lunch in Braemar before heading on to Dunbar.   We eventually arrived there late in the afternoon.

Fran and Derek moved to Crowhill about 18 months ago and they have been building an extension.   Apparently on Sunday, the extension was still a building site.   36 hours later it was habitable other than no plumbing in the kitchen!  Nothing like a deadline to make you do stuff.  All the kitchen items were moved from my bedroom and the living room into the kitchen and put away – amazing…… apparently it was very close to being a visit to a local hotel.  

Derek and I took Dexter off to the beach and, given it is secluded and long, I risked letting Dexter off the lead.   He ran off and came back, he ran off and ran into a field before coming back and then he ran off, up a bank and into a field heading for the A1……….not so good.   I chased him up the bank and tried to see where he had run.   Eventually, about 5 minutes later (probably less but it felt like hours), Derek spotted him on the beach trying to find us.    After that, he was put on a lead.   We then walked along part of the path that Derek and Fran look after as wardens and back to the car.

In the morning, lots more walks and a visit to Dunbar to see the bridge to nowhere!   Back to the house to get ready for dinner with their neighbours and more walks.   It was a lovely break before heading home. 

The journey home was uneventful and we stopped a couple of times to break up the journey before getting home.   Dexter inspected the garden before settling down, happy to be home.    I am unpacked but it will take a few days to get sorted out and back to normal.

 

Advertisements

Day 17 – Visiting the Makers Market

The weather was sooo much better today and I decided to take Dexter to the headland.  He had to be kept on a very short lead but when I looked down to think about taking a photo, there were seals lying on the rocks.   I managed to catch them without Dexter disappearing and then walked on and saw more in a little cove further on.   It was a beautiful morning and a great walk despite walking into a bit of peat bog over the top of my welly.

Shetland Wool Week were holding a Makers Market today so I went to Jamieson and Smiths to buy some yarn before going to the Market.   Dexter stayed in the car while I was shopping.   I did very well and was not tempted by anything more expensive than some Chilli Tomato Pesto!   In addition to the two rooms of stalls, there was a hall with food in it which was interesting.   There had been a Taste of Scotland event last week and the food stalls had been heaving so the stall holders were a bit confused about the lack of people.   I explained that most people were there to buy yarn or textile goods.   The only daft thing was that the most popular stall was right by the door so by the time 20 people had gone into the hall there was a complete log jam and no-one else could get into the hall.  It was sorted out eventually.

Dexter and I took a walk around Lerwick but I didn’t spend much because Dexter wasn’t allowed into any shops apart from Vaila, the Shetland Organics gallery and store.    They were very happy to have Dexter in the store and looked after him while I looked around.  I would have been tempted but the yarn was very expensive at £5.00 for 25g.

Lunch at home and then we went off to Sumburgh Head to have a walk around the cliffs.  

We had wonderful views all the way round and Dexter seems to have tired!  Amazingly we got about 20 metres from the sheep and Dexter showed no inclination to chase them.   Not sure what it is about some of the sheep that he gets very excited and others, he will walk beside me.

 

I won’t blog tomorrow because we leave Shetland and I’ll be on the ferry to Aberdeen.   On Monday, I’m off to see Sandra who was on the Weaving

Day 16 A day spent in Hoswick

Today, Friday was a busy day with two course both in Hoswick.   Plan A had been to stay in the area all day even though one finished at 1.00 pm and the next started at 6.30 pm but the weather was so awful, I decided to come home.   It was only 20 minutes drive away and given the wet weather, it was a much better bet.

For his early morning walk, Dexter and I stuck to the roads hoping for a little shelter from the houses – it sort of worked but he still needed to be dried off and my first set of wet weather gear was well and truly soaked and needed drying out.   We set off for the class in plenty of time and had a 30 minute walk around Hoswick before the class started.

My first class was Design – The Hard Part and was run by Niela Kalra who designs knitwear for Nielanell which is contemporary knitwear from Shetland but is not Fair Isle or Lace knitting.   She gave us an exercise where we picked ‘feelings/emotion’ from an envelope and then had to draw it immediately.  Examples were fear, emptiness,  happiness, comfortable.  We had about 5 minutes.   We then had to guess each other’s ‘feeling/emotion’.   Then we did it again.   What surprised me was the most of the class were speaking English as a second language and their understanding was amazing – we had someone from Netherlands, two from Iceland, Germany, Norway, US, Scotland and me from England.

After the feelings we then had to produce a 3D item to demonstrate an action eg movement -clockwork timepiece,  movement – ballroom dancing, touch – the feel of a burn.  The  last one was to produce a 3D item from a concept such as democracy, racism immigration, exile, justice.

Once we had done these – which had make us work hard, Niela explained her design process.   She works from an idea eg a memory and then makes a map of things from that memory and these may then turn into shapes/colours/function/scale.    It was definitely thought provoking.

After the class, someone at the Visitor Centre told me about a walk they used to do with their dog and so, despite the wind and rain, we did the walk which went up the hill and then back down again.   Good thing I have two sets of wet weather gear with me.   Once we had done that, I drove home for lunch and a rest before going back later in the day.  

Hoswick Visitor Centre has some old weaving equipment – a warp maker, a bobbin winder and an old Hattersley loom.

Fortunately by then it had stopped raining heavily, just light drizzle so I took Dexter for another walk before leaving him while I did a class on the Perfect Finish.   Wilma Malcomson who was teaching us was excellent.  She has been making knitwear for many years and when she was younger she used to get a bag of wool each week and had to knit 12 jumpers a week.   They were machine knitted and perfectly finished.    Now she runs her own business making sweaters as the Shetland Designer.   What a lovely lady!    The other surprise was that I was sitting next to Lesley Carroll who used to be a member of the Braid Society.   She got hooked on knitting a couple of years ago and has let her membership lapse but she is planning to come to Japan in 2019.   Lesley is from the USA and has been coming to Shetland Wool Week for a few years – she loves it.   It was great to catch up.  On my other side was someone who lives in Skipton and is a member of the Bowland Guild!

By the time I got home, both of us were tired and went to bed pretty quickly.

Day 15 – Learning to use a Knitting Belt

We woke to another windy day and I decided to take Dexter for a longish walk this morning because he was going to be left while I went for a class.   Given yesterday’s behaviour and the very windy weather, we did a short walk around the coast and then walked to the Clickminin Broch which is the remains of a tower in the middle of a loch on the way into Lerwick.   This didn’t take long so we walked around the loch as far as we could and then walked home.  On the way, I saw a wonderful garden and could not believe the number of plants still in flower.

I left Dexter in the kitchen and went into Lerwick for a 2 hour class on how to use a knitting belt.   This is a padded belt that you wear around your waist or hip and you poke your knitting needle into it to support the right hand needle.   Women in Shetland have knitted with a knitting belt for generations and I didn’t think I would do more than just try it but it was very interesting.   Using the knitting belt my knitting tension was much, much better which surprised me and I also learnt the process they use for knitting which is different to the way I knit.   I grasped it pretty well but knitting with two colours is going to take more practice!   I have now bought a knitting belt and appropriate knitting needles so I shall be interested in experimenting more.  The tutor, Hazel Tindall showed us some of her Fair Isle cushions at the end to show us the effect of using different colours with the same pattern.

By the time the class finished it was raining as well as being very windy so walking into the town centre was a bit of a battle but necessary to buy the requisite belt and needles.   I also visited the book shop which was easier to do without Dexter.  I ventured into a pop-up shop called Bakka run by Mary Macgregor.   Her scarves are Fair Isle patterns in fine wool knitted on a knitting machine and they feel wonderful but were too expensive for me at £180.  It turns out that she has produced a book on Fair Isle patterns that was a very reasonable price so I ended up buying that.

I ventured back to the house and had a quick lunch before deciding to take Dexter to Scalloway.  Plan A had been to take him for a long walk near Sandwick but the weather was so awful and the wind is blowing from the South so I thought it might be particularly unpleasant.   I thought that going somewhere with buildings may provide some protection.   Scalloway has a castle and a marina and is the ancient capital of Shetland but didn’t have much else to commend it after an hours walk around it.   I decided not to go into the castle or museum because that would have meant leaving a wet Dexter in the car.

 

It looked to be improving weatherwise so I decided to drive to Burra and the guidebook had said there were two good beaches.  I drove to Bannaminn but the wind and rain were so hard I turned around and drove back to Meal Beach which was in a protected bay.    We had a great walk on Meal Beach with no rain at all.   We were even joined by a seal but getting a picture was a little tricky, particularly since I only had my phone.   You can just see his head bobbing in the sea.

The colours of the sea were amazing and Dexter had fun, he especially likes seaweed!   He did try chasing some birds into the sea but quickly went out of his depth and came back pretty quickly although he was on a long line because I don’t quite trust him……

 

Tomorrow we have a long day at Hoswick because I am taking two classes, one in the morning and one in the evening and I’m hoping to take Dexter for a long walk in the afternoon.  That will be the last of my classes so I will then have two more days to do a bit more exploring.

 

 

Day 14 – Visiting the Lighthouse at Bressay

After a good sleep, it was up and a walk followed by a reasonably easy morning since I didn’t have to catch the ferry to Bressay (pronounce Bressa in Shetland) until 11.00 am.   He had been very good yesterday on a short lead so I took the long line for Dexter this morning to give him a bit more room to run. 

What a mistake! No sooner had I put it on than he ran over the stile we need to cross.  I called him and he came straight back which is unusual!   Following a treat and a controlled crossing we went into an open area and then the trouble began.   Dexter saw the sheep before I did and ran.   I called him and he pulled on the lead and then just when I thought he was coming back, he bolted again with me hanging on for grim death and landing on my back in the wet grass.    Dexter came racing back to see if it was a game and tried to jump on me.   No real harm done other than rope burns on my hand and a wet bum but it did mean we turned around, he had his very short leather lead attached and we had a walk along the road.    Poor old Dexter doesn’t learn that it makes life more miserable when he continues to chase sheep!

The weather today was still dry but very misty so still not great for photos.    I went down to the ferry terminal in Lerwick but stopped at the shops on the way down and saw the helicopter hovering.  Not sure whether it was a real rescue or a practice but it hovered for at least 5 minutes.    Long enough for me to park, get the camera out, take a photo and walk into the shop.

At the ferry terminal it was not clear where to go so I ended up driving in front of all the queue before I worked out we were supposed to stop in the ‘Do Not Park’ lanes.  Not sure about the logic there and a few more signs would have helped.   The ferry journey was 5 minutes and the cost was the same as for the two ferries yesterday – another bit of strange logic and apparently the locals from Bressay regularly complain!

I followed the bus that had been sent for the pedestrian passengers to the lighthouse where we were welcomed by a committee of people.   There were 8 of us on the Weaving Stories session and there were lots more who were having a tour of Bressay.    We were taken into the engine room where they now house a large wooden loom that came from a Shetland Tweed weaver and has been renovated by a volunteer.   It is a 4 shaft countermarched loom with a fly shuttle system that does not work.   The heddles were interesting because they were string with metal eyes and the back beam did not have a break, just two rocks to keep it in place!  

There is a sample warp on the loom so we were able to weave a few picks each.   Given it is a manual fly shuttle beater with metal shuttle boxes, the beater is very heavy but other than that, it was easy to weave.   Typically the weaver would stand to the loom resting against a rest but the loom is not against a wall so the rest moves!   This meant we had to weave standing at the loom which reminded me of the Rio Grande looms where the weaver stands to the loom.

We had a look at the small exhibition of tweed weaving and knitting.  Unfortunately all the weaving is behind glass but there was a particularly attractive weave structure on a suit so I took a few photos, of which I think one of them is usable.

This was followed by coffee and cake!    Dexter and I then took a walk.   I had planned to walk to the top of the hill behind the lighthouse but the wind was blowing so strongly and Dexter was trying so hard to get to the sheep that I abandoned that idea and went for a walk along the road back towards the ferry terminal.   The weather was dry but very misty so photos were pretty awful.   The main thing that did show through the mist was a huge cruise ship that dwarfed everything else.    I still don’t like cruise ships (see picture at the top) and it was anchored out in the harbour so you could see the small boats taking passengers into Lerwick.

We set off back to Lerwick and arrived at the ferry to see the ferry leaving the dock so we had an hour to wait.   I had a look at the small museum that is at the ferry terminal with some history of Bressay and lots of pictures of a farmer transferring sheep across to the small island of Noss with a net thrown over the sheep to keep them in the boat.   They now use inflatable boats to do the trip and still  transfer sheep over to Noss.

Once back on the mainland, I visited the Shetland Textile museum which is housed in a Bod.  A Bod was a boarding house for fishermen and so the exhibits are in various rooms.   They have a loom that was the same style as the one seen on Bressay with examples of old and new tweed.  

There was some lace knitting and also Fair Isle knitting.   One lady was spinning and there were two ladies knitting Fair Isle using a knitting belt.   One of them, Barbara Cheyne, was very interesting and we had a long chat about knitting with a belt and also about the colours on Fair Isle and how traditionally, blend of colours was done to make the interesting yoke patterns.    One thing that was obvious is that the star and tree pattern which is traditional has the shaping in the tree which reduces in size as the knitting goes towards the neck.    It makes a very simple way to decrease stitches.   

Dexter then had a lazy evening with no more walks – he only had 3 hours of walking!  

Day 13 – Travelling to Unst

Today was my first class of Shetland Wool Week and, when I had booked it, I didn’t realise that it was in Unst which is the most northerly island and two ferry journeys from Lerwick.   Dexter and I were up very early to leave at 7.15 for the 8.15 ferry from Toft.   This included a quick walk before we left because the next chance was going to be when we got to Haroldwick, Unst.

We arrived for the ferry in good time and were duly loaded onto the ferry that was not very busy.   The ferry took 20 minutes and I paid £13.30.  I wasn’t sure what I was paying for but it turned out to be the price of the return trip to Unst ie all four ferries.   Once we got onto Yell, we drove through the island until we reached Belmont.   The weather was overcast and the scenery on Yell was very unexciting so I had no reason to stop, even if I had found a stopping point.   It is undulating with moorland, very like the Isle of Lewis, no trees and not really anything to distinguish it.  It is also very sparsely populated with virtually no houses on the route.

When we arrived at the Belmont ferry terminal/port we had half an hour to waste so I took Dexter for a short walk and took a photo of the ferry.   There wasn’t much else of interest there and the weather was not conducive either so I did not bother trying to capture the grey sky, flat sea and flat land.  The ferry journey took about 10 minutes.

From the arrival on Unst, it took about 20 minutes to drive to the Unst Heritage Centre at Haroldwick where we arrived about 10 am and so Dexter and I went off for a walk.   We walked toward Haroldwick where we found Saxa Vord which was an RAF station that had been abandoned in 2006.  Apparently it is reopening as an early warning centre with RAF staff being stationed there once they have renovated some of the buildings.    We did also see some sheep close by worthy of photographing since the sheep in Unst have some of the finest fleece.

 

Once back at the Heritage Centre, I went into the class which was full of folk from around the world and found that two people I knew were also in the class, Maggie from Kennet Valley Guild and Susannah who had attended the knitting retreat that we ran in Masham in February.   That was a surprise.

The class was on colour in Fair Isle and we had three photographs to provide us with colour inspiration.   We were then shown lots of samples of different colourways and how, when the colours are varied, the patterns looked completely different.   We could either knit small samples or make a mobile phone cover if we knew which colours we wanted to use.    I selected a picture of the sea and chose two shades of blue, white (because there was no light sandy colour) and a brown to reflect the earth.   I knitted four samples of different combinations to show how different the effects of colour can be.   I liked the one with the brown background best.

Other people chose different pictures and therefore had different colour combinations.   It is amazing how 10 different people can use the same resources and come up with 10 completely different designs and patterns.   Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to see all the samples together at the end.    During the day we had plenty of tea, coffee and cakes to keep us going.

At lunchtime, we looked around the heritage centre, particularly at the lace knitting which is the Unst speciality.   We could not take photographs because they had trouble with someone taking photographs, working out the patterns and then selling them on Ravelry without permission.   As a consequence, no-one is allowed to take photographs but they do have a couple of interesting booklets that I bought.

Once the class had finished, Dexter and I went off to Burrafirth where it looked on the map as if there was a lovely sandy beach and he could have a swim.   When we got there, there was a big sign some way from the beach (at the point of access) stating that dogs were not allowed any further so we had to find a different walk by the Loch of Cliff.   This was fine but not quite the same and since the weather was still very misty, I didn’t bother taking the cameral although the scenery was much more interesting with greater contrasts and the beautiful bay that we could not get to.

Driving back, we managed to catch an earlier ferry from Unst than the one I booked.   We got to the ferry just as they were boarding the vehicles so there was no wait.   I then followed a van at speed through Yell and caught the ferry an hour earlier than anticipated, again arriving two minutes before loading began so we made it back pretty fast.  

Day 12 – Exploring Shetland

After a great nights sleep I got up ready to go and see a little of Shetland.   Dexter and I took a walk a little further up the headland and he was fine until he saw the sheep a few yards away!  I definitely don’t need to go to the gym with Dexter on the other end of the lead.  We had a great walk and found a little cove but I decided that Dexter didn’t need a swim at that time of the morning.

We set off for the Museum of Shetland so I could have a good look around after leaving Dexter in the car.   When I had visited on Sunday, we had walked down so I had not had time to look around since I don’t like leaving Dexter tied up outside a building for long.   The photo is of the area outside the museum and a picture of one student’s final year weaving project.

A quick visit to Jamieson & Smith followed to have a look at their wool store.  I suspect a further visit will be required before I leave.

I had been told that a great place to visit was The HAPpening at Olaberry.   A hap is a shawl so it is a display of shawls of different types as well as some spinners who live at Olaberry, not to mention the cakes!  Olaberry is in the north of mainland Shetland so it also gave me a chance to check out the ferry terminal at Toft that I need for Tuesday morning.   Having found the ferry terminal, I thought I would take a B road back to the main road north and ended up at the Sullom Voe oil terminal so I had to turn around and take a road I thought was just going to a few houses but turned out to be the B road across.

I then stopped at Mavis Grind because there was a place to park and I thought Dexter could do with a break.   It turns out that Mavis Grind is the point where you can see both the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea on either side of the road or, if I were younger, I could throw a stone from one ocean to the other.   We had a fun walk and then continued on our way north reaching Olaberry just after 1pm.   It was a good time because it was not busy so I could see the shawls that were beautifully displayed and talk to the spinners.  There was one beautiful shawl that had won first prize at a show and was for sale.  It had taken 100 hours to make and was selling for £500, less than the minimum wage.

One of the spinners, Betsy Williamson was spinning yarn so fine you could almost not see it.   She spins from locks of Shetland fleece in the grease and, if necessary, oils her hands.   Sorry for the non-spinners reading this but it is an interesting item of info for the spinners.  She also knits the most beautiful shawls but does not use her handspun yarn for the shawls.   She estimated it would take her 500-600 hours to spin enough yarn for a shawl so she knits shawls with commercial lace yarn and knits scarves with her handspun yarn. 

I took Dexter for a walk down the road, in search of a bit of sea and we found a tiny beach.   On the way I spotted an area beside a field of sheep and next to the beach that was planted with cabbages.   I’m not sure who the cabbages are for – the plot was too big to just feed a family but it was an interesting observation.   The weather here is clearly quite mild because there are lots of roses still in flower as well as hebes and other annuals.   Dexter got his swim in the sea but he couldn’t go very far because there were sheep only yards away and Dexter is still fascinated by sheep so he was kept firmly on the lead.

On the way back, I popped in for another cup of coffee and a cake before setting off for home.  While I was there, I bumped into someone from the Craven Guild of Spinners who had a nightmare journey here that took two days from Manchester!  

The journey back was uneventful and I had an early night because there was an early start on Tuesday to go to Unst for a class on colour in Fair Isle knitting.