Birmingham to Calias Lane (via the Canal)

Strictly speaking this is two buildings in Birmingham, one in Leamington Spa and a stretch of canal that happened to be nicely framed by a tree. I've walked three stages of the canal now, and the next (Calias Lane to Long Buckby) gets me past the long stretch without a train station, and as the days are getting shorter as well it should all become much more manageable without my having to be too hot on timings or stop overnight. I started in February, so it was a bit of a muddy one but thankfully no actual rain.  

I've been attending an art class as well. Oil painting, which is incredibly messy (I always manage to get paint on my face and fingers) but good fun. It's an evening class and the teacher keeps saying it's not long enough to paint in really, but I think most of us don't expect to turn out a Rembrandt - just learn some more techniques and restrict the mess to somewhere that doesn't have a carpet. 

Anyway this is the painting I'm happiest with so far. 

Tilbury and the Thames

The Affair on Thor's Head - E C R Lorac

 

The Affair on Thor’s Head (1932) is the second of E C R Lorac’s books featuring Scotland Yard’s Robert MacDonald. Called out this time to the coast after a hut burns down and the original  theory – that the old man that lived there came back from drinking and had an accident with his stove - won’t fly.

Instead the charred body appears to be that of a visiting sailor come out of the past to right a wrong. We know this because he got chatting to a local doctor up on Thor's Head earlier that day when both men had stopped to admire the view (incidentally Lorac waxes as lyrical on the fineness of the man as the view, and does a lovely job of both) and told him about his pursuit of a swindler from a voyage he took 25 years or so before, and about an injury that happened to his arm on that trip. 

So when the skeleton is examined the doctor naturally recognises the injury. Hence murder and MacDonald, following up what seem like dead leads from that horrendous sea trip 25 years before; involving alcoholics, con artists, a mad lady (although she may be the same as the alcoholic, I’m a little unclear) a newly married man slowly dying but determined to see St Helens, a doctor who took the post because he thought it would be a rest (hah!), and such atrocious weather that it was believed the ship might never make port.

Just as well that it was such a memorable trip though, as otherwise it seems unlikely that MacDonald would be able to jog the memories of all the various people whose memory he has to jog to get to the bottom of things. This could be very tedious but somehow manages not to be, and while the book is currently out of print (I read it in the British Library) I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was republished in the next few years – it seems a much more polished book than the first (The Murder on the Burrows) and has a great sense of place. 

I do struggle to believe anyone wouldn’t spot the murderer by the halfway point, even with the red herrings and distractions like people wandering around at night despite having rocks heaved at their heads or being shot at. Not to mention local prejudices, liaisons, lifeguard outposts and two young students who want to try their hand at amateur detection – but MacDonald is painstaking and undistracted and I was always sure he was working on the right lines. It becomes not whodunnit but how to prove it. 

Incidentally I’m resolved not to comment again on how often Lorac or one of her characters talks about MacDonald’s Scottishness and the supposed attributes of Scots, but will quote one final paragraph on the matter and for future books (and my own amusement) content myself with a rough tally.

'You forget he's a Scot, and Scotsmen are the least foolhardy race under heaven'. Said, I believe, just before MacDonald was lowered down a cliff face late at night to look for a corpse and not long after someone bunged that rock at him. Just saying. 

Missed one - Losing track of tracking

Extraordinarily one of the books I forgot in my New Year roundup (I’ve amended this now) was one of my very favourites. This is for 2 reasons – the first is it’s a library book and has gone back, and the other is that although I dearly love a spreadsheet 2024 was the year I got fed up of them.

For example, at some point in 2023 I had thought it might be fun to map my food shopping against the WW2 rations. I was already doing a 66 clothes coupons challenge online, and it had made me much more aware of, and therefore better at, buying things that fit me and would last, and with consideration that I already had, for example, over 20 tops and who knows how many socks.

Food rationing though was much more work. Even though I gave myself a certain amount of leeway - partly because as I don’t eat meat I was already restricted and partly because I belong to another challenge about grocery spending, which I expected to align with rationing (more ingredients and fewer packets) but found only sometimes did. Again the budget I have for food is reasonably generous, so none of this should have been hard to do. 

At first some stuff worked really well – I realised there was no point in my buying semi skimmed milk as I merely used more of it, and I was encouraged to cut down on confectionary (or at least keep it within reasonable bounds, by adding my confectionary and sugar ration and reasoning that I could count confectionary against both) and made me realise I’m probably not eating enough eggs (and that may contribute to the fact I have recently been iron deficient.   I’ve also since found out from someone doing something similar (but more strictly) that I needn’t have counted marmite in my tins and things.

I think I’ve also mentioned that I was decluttering 52 net items last year – more stuff out than in. That sounds easy, and again is great in some ways – it really does discourage buying things that are neither use nor ornament (not my saying).

But it wasn't the doing that was the problem - I wasn't too rigid on any of it. It was the logging it all that became a pain.

Plus I keep a budget and I log walks (copied from my fitbit stats when I wear it, which isn’t always, and estimated on the old 20 minutes = 1 mile rule). 

And of course there's the little widget on this blog for books I enjoyed (not the same as everything actually read).

Anyway sometime last autumn food ration logging started to become a chore and went to the wall. Logging of books read and those enjoyed slid, I overspent on my clothes coupons (although I did hold back on buying some new boots until the New Year when they reset), threw some food spends in the Christmas budget to make things add up, and on the whole I felt all this gave me a bit of balance and chance to consider what, if any, of this I want to continue:

• A budget – yes, definitely. Recording my projected spend and what goes in and out is useful and allows me to save. 
• Clothes rationing – yes, I like the group I belong to and there are sound environmental reasons for buying fewer, better, clothes. I can also still buy secondhand.
• Decluttering. Yes. It will be one in one out though, which will make it easier to keep a tally without having to log everything. Again the group is nice, and there’s no judgement.
• Spending on food – within reason. I may go over on occasion and that’s fine.
• Food rationing – hard no. It was an interesting intellectual exercise but I should have stopped way before I did.
• Books – yes. Again if I miss the odd one that’s fine.
• Walking. Probably not. Given the purpose is to walk more I've decided it’s more effective to plan some walks (which I have done. I'm restarting my Grand Union canal walk in February). 
• Books enjoyed. I’ll get back to you. I may take out the months and just make it ‘books I really enjoyed’ and only include things I really, really did.

And if I decide it's still too much like hard work I can pare back down again. 

Happy New Year 2025

As usual, here is a round up of the books I read this year. I did slightly lose track in November, but I think I've got them all.

Accident by Design - E C R Lorac

There's a Porpoise Close Behind Us - Noel Langley

We Had to Take Down This Post - Hanna Bervoets

Murder in Vienna - E C R Lorac

Marple - Various

The Green Mirror - Hugh Walpole

No Time Like the Future - Michael J Fox

Death Came Softly - E C R Lorac

A Time in Rome - Elizabeth Bowen

Around the World in 80 Trains - Monisha Rajesh

Spoon Fed - Tim Spector

Shroud of Darkness - E C R Lorac

Ropes End, Rogues End - E C R Lorac

The Moon and Sixpence - W S Maugham

The Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey

No Signposts in the Sea - Vita Sackville West

A House Unlocked - Penelope Lively

The Last Escape - E C R Lorac

London Particular - Christianna Brand

Shroud for a Nightingale - P D James

The Christmas Guest - Peter Swanson

Letters of Travel - Rudyard Kipling

Bandits in a Landscape - William Gaunt

Last Will and Testament - Elizabeth Ferrars

Frog in the Throat - Elizabeth Ferrars

Beware of the Dog - Elizabeth Ferrars

Witness Before the Fact - Elizabeth Ferrars

Skeleton Staff - Elizabeth Ferrars

Death Mask - Ellis Peters

The Sentimental Novelist -  Ophan Pamuk

The Death of Mr Dodsley - John Ferguson

Thinner than Water - E X Ferrars

No Rest for the Wicked - E X Ferrars

The Killing Pool - Ross MacDonald

Less - Patrick Grant

Case in the Clinic - E C R  Lorac

The Arvon Book of Crime Writing - Various

The Island of Sheep - John Buchan

Strange Waters - Jackie Taylor

A Breeze of Morning - Charles Morgan

Space Invaders - Nina Fernandez

The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman

Pure Joy - Danielle Steel

A Spot of Folly - Ruth Rendell

Fly Country - Anthony Lang

Full Dark House - Christopher Fowler

Banking on Death - Emma Lathem

Marple - Anne Hart

Death in Fancy Dress - Anthony Gilbert

Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio - Amara Lakhous

The Small World of Murder - Elizabeth Ferrars

The Bother At the Barbican - Guy Cullingford

N is for Noose - Sue Grafton

L'art de la Simplicite - Dominique Loreau

Phantoms on the Bookshelves - Jacques Bonnet

Other People's Shoes - Harriet Walter

Alive, Alive Oh - Diana Athill

Towards Zero - Agatha Christie

Death Goes on Skis - Nancy Spain

Tour de Force - Christianna Brand

The Dressing Room Murder - J S Fletcher

Dead Man's Folly - Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot's Christmas - Agatha Christie

The Belting Inheritance - Julian Symons

On the Other Side - Mathilde Wolff-Monckberg

The Water Room - Christopher Fowler

Deep Waters - Various

Call for the Dead - John LeCarre

Dramatic Murder - Elizabeth Anthony

The Secret History of Our Streets - Joseph Buleman

Mrs McGinty's Dead - Agatha Christic

Murder After Christmas - Rupert Latimer

Strange Tide - Christopher Fowler

Who Killed Father Christmas? - Various

Lots of Crime as always, and a brief dip into spy stories. Of the crime stories I read Christopher Fowler and Richard Osman for the first time, and can see what the fuss is about. I also read some British Library Crime books of short stories that went largely in one eye and other the other, and some longer ones which again varied. 

Stand out books were Around the World in 80 Trains - I now want to read Rajesh' other book (I think there's only one as yet) - and The Island of Sheep, which shouldn't have been my sort of thing at all but was just so well written it pulled me in anyway. 

I started but didn't finish a blog post entitled 'Please Call Scotland Yard' after reading The Dressing Room Murder because the incompetence of the police officers in that case was so completely maddening. 

Some totals: I read three books in translation, 58 fiction titles and 18 non fiction. I'm not going to beat myself up, but that's less non-fiction than I'd like, or is usual, so my very relaxed reading challenge to myself is read more non fiction in 2025. 

Apart from books I'm not sure what to say about 2024. I had some good holidays, did quite a lot of walking (a rough average of 28 miles per week, although that average is very rough and it was nowhere near evenly spread) decluttered 52 things more than I acquired (this probably sounds mad, but this is a very small flat and is pretty full. I do need to keep an eye on the flow of 'stuff') and am neither sorry nor pleased to see the back of it. 

Happy New Year all. 

Cornwall

 

This is not mainly a walking blog - part 2

One of the things about doing a walking challenge – and particularly a walking challenge involving hills - is it does improve your level of fitness, even if, like me, you still come out of it in your early 50s and overweight.

How to retain that level of fitness is the next question – and the answer is clearly to keep walking (no problem, I like a good walk), and to continue to incorporate hills in that walking.

So with that loose plan in mind and no real schedule this is some of the walking I've been doing this summer. 

Early June: I revisited the last bit of the South Downs Way (Alfriston to Eastbourne) with the aunt who wasn't feeling up to the charity walk. Definitely more able to appreciate the views when I wasn't so exhausted. 

9th June I did a very familiar part of the capital ring - Streatham Common through Crystal Palace (another hill) and Grove Park. No photos from that though, it's too familiar.

I did take some nice pictures later in the month while on holiday in Cornwall. We stayed in a place called Cardignan Woods and got to Heligan and the Eden Project and Fowey.

Shortly after that I had an eye operation (all went well and my eyesight is hugely improved) and then was dog sitting. 

4th August I had a very loose plan take the tube to Camden, have a quick look in the market (I enjoy the vibe but also enjoy getting out again, the crowds are crazy at the weekend) then walk up to Archway, take the hill up to to Highgate and the ridge across to Alexandra Palace and back. 

Somehow though after a bit of meandering I found myself at Chalk Farm and decided to head up Haverstock Hill to Hampstead instead. A hill is a hill. 

Past the ponds on Hampstead and a zigzag towards Highgate (I had to use google maps for this bit, I'm not that familiar with Highgate).

Then at Highgate I picked up the parkland walk to Crouch End. This follows an abandoned railway line, and the pictures below are of the old station.

By that time I was quite tired so I picked up a bus to the nearest tube and came home. 

The week after was far less hilly. I started in Poplar and walked up the river Lea from Bow Creek nature reserve. 

My aunt’s response to this picture was that Poplar had changed. well some of it has, and a lot is still changing. In ten years it will be different again.

     

That was a very hot day - we seem to have had the odd really hot day or two this summer, but nothing consistent. Near this spot I found a community garden, a public toilet and a small cafe where they also did bottles of frozen water, which was very welcome. 

and then along the River Lea and up the canal to Stratford where I ended up outside the Abba Experience just as it was turning out. I'd seen it advertised but had no idea where it was. People looked like they'd had a great time. 

I've left some things out - a trip to Box Hill, definitely, a wander around Borough and to Elephant and Castle after meeting friends and taking in some tourist bits (the monument and something called the Southwark Needle that I must have walked past a dozen times and never noticed) a canal walk from Byfleet to Ripley, a river walk from Richmond to Kingston - I've no pictures and these weren't 'big' walks. 

The next proper walk though was Leith Hill last week. I last went up Leith Hill in March when I was 'in training' and took the longer, slower path from Dorking (incidentally I just checked google maps for the date – 9^th March - and google thinks I took a ferry to Dorking on that occasion. It occasionally has these blips. It's like a strange parallel universe.)

This time I went from Ockley, which is the steeper side. There is a footpath from the station to Ockley itself,  but you have to know it and my over-reliance on IT sent me down the road. People were very good about pulling around me and slowing down, but I did have to stop a few times or step up on a high bank. Next time I'm going somewhere unfamiliar I'll have to research it better. 

Anyway I got up the hill - quite breathless (I used the route on Fancy Free Walks, which I like because they don't try to make you install an app as so many of the sites do) - stopped for chocolate fridge cake and coffee from the small cafe (it's really just a hatch in the bottom of the tower) and then went up the tower. 

and down again. 

So that was my summer. It's feeling quite autumnal out now but I'm in Cornwall again next week, which will definitely involve some coastal walking. The plan is to get up St Michael's Mount (either the day I arrive or if I check in too late the next day) and then down to Mousehole where I haven’t been since a teenager and have an explore and a cream tea. 

Then I head across to Tintagel (taking the only sensible public transport route and arriving at 6.20 in the afternoon) visit Tintagel next day, do some more walking, and then go down to Truro for the last two days. 

I have some contingency plans around museums and galleries if the heavens open (especially in Truro, where I’ve never been and which looks rich in history) but at the moment the forecast is patchy, which is good enough. I'm never going to be too far from a cafe or a pub if I have to bail out.