FOOT(INGS) LOOSE

As a nation we may have no confidence in our Prime Minister but I have every confidence that our builders are going to give us an extension worth every penny quoted judging by how organised they are and how much they’ve accomplished by the end of week one. 

A dirt mountain the size of a miniature Mount Everest sits in the middle of the garden.  Every time I look out of the patio doors, I think ‘Close Encounters’ especially that bit where Richard Dreyfuss obsessively sculpts a mountain out of mashed potato.  I’m half expecting Mount Chi to erupt any minute!

 

Mount Chi - could blow any minute!

The mechanical excavator which only just squeezed through the alleyway made short work of digging out a deep trench for the foundation.  Fortunately for us, the Building Inspector decreed that no reinforcing or underpinning is required as that could have bumped up our bill enormously but for now, moving swiftly on.

 

Eating through the dirt at the rate of knots

Not only do we have a volcano on the lawn but we’ve also acquired a metre deep moat extending out from the back of the kitchen perfect for hiding dead bodies prior to concreting.  

dirt mountain with a side of moat

Sensing danger and a murderous glint in my eye, the other half has been maintaining a low profile under guise of tidying up the garage.  If only he were minted, the temptation to dispose of him ‘Mafia style’ under a ton of ready mix might have been too great to resist but for now, the penniless pauper is safe.

 

Sleeps with the fishes or in this case, ants & cheesy bugs

A truck containing a mammoth supply of ready mixed concrete promptly arrived the following day, blocking in the neighbourhood Book Club in the bottom of the cul-de-sac.  It proceeded to dump its load into the waiting wheelbarrows of our builders who then tipped the stuff into the gaping trench.  Father and son worked like trojans as a whirlwind tag team to get the stuff quickly from front drive to back garden.  A heroic effort by any means.

 

Monster concrete delivery

Several hours later, trench full of concrete and Book Club released from their parking purgatory. 

 

Level markers in the trench

Adding the concrete

Leave to dry under cover so no-one falls in

Mount Chi now has to be moved from back garden to front driveway ready to be collected by the grab lorry but footings completed and ready for the next phase which is laying the foundation blocks.

Here today, gone tomorrow

Footings dried solid after a day or two

STUMPED

Cast your mind back to November 2021 when we chopped down the crab apple tree (post – Don’t Get Crabby).  Most of the tree except a stump was removed at the time.  To kill the stump, we drilled lots of holes in the top and filled them with water hoping that the damp, cold, wintry British weather would permeate the stump and cause the wood to naturally rot.

 

November 21 - removing the crab apple tree

What were we thinking?  Unsurprisingly, the tree didn’t die out because nature always finds a way and this year’s winter was quite mild so 6 months down the line, we’re having to dig out the stumpy remains of the crab apple.

 

Bet you thought I was dead

It’s hard work digging out a tree stump.  Not sure how much professional companies charge for this sort of job but whatever it is, they deserve every penny. I won’t be giving up my day job to become a stump remover that’s for sure.

 

Digging out stumps is hard work

Not budging an inch

Blackie supervises proceedings from the safety of a nearby wheelbarrow whilst our fat mog, Bertie, is happily snoring under the bed.

 

Any Dreamies under that tree stump?

With stump gone and roots cut back as much as possible, I only hope we won’t see any further evidence at a later date of crab apple growth in the lawn.  Plants are incredibly resilient.

 

I think we got most of it out

Next job on the list – fit solar pond pump in new pond.  Relatively easy unlike tree stump removal, not a drop of sweat on the brow.  Now we have a lovely fountain in the middle of our new pond and what’s more, it’s all powered for FREE!

 

Solar powered pond pump & plants

Stump gone, fountain flowing and the general area at the back of the house cleared, its time for a cuppa and to let the builders prepare for the first phase of our extension build – the footings.  More about this in the next post.

Clearing the garden ready for the builders

All set for work to begin

THE EVE OF CONSTRUCTION

Dawn breaks.  Birds sing.  The cat has been making a right pain of itself since 5 am, meowing loudly for breakfast in spite of the newly acquired mechanised feeders programmed for 5.30 am to prevent this very unwelcomed daily kitty wake up call.

Breakfast time!

 

Dinner is served

I wouldn’t mind since we get up at 6.30 am anyway to ready ourselves for work but having broken our sleep, the bugger then disappears for hours on end for a cat nap!

 

They're up, I can go back to sleep now

I’ve barely slept.  The excitement that finally our extension build is going to begin today keeping me from sinking into the arms of Morpheus.  I’ve been in and out of a dreamless sleep more times than a sausage being dipped in ketchup.  It’s now 07.32 am so only another 28 minutes to go before they arrive. 

Clock watching isn’t going to make them arrive any quicker so I’m off to get another cup of tea then wake the cat.  Now where is that furry blighter?

You know you love me really

KINGLEY VALE WALK

Cheers to her Majesty for doing such a grand job over the past 70 years and for allowing us plebs to have an extra day off work.  God save the Queen!

 

God Save The Queen 

If you’re not into all that royal malarkey then a walk on the wild side may be just what the doctor ordered. There’s only so much Union Jack bunting or trooping of colour you can take before your brain is reduced to a porridge-like mush.  Kingley Vale in the South Downs National Park is wild enough to prevent this from happening.

 

Kingley Vale circular walk

There’s a circular walk of several miles we did a few weeks back that begins from a small car park at West Stoke.  Due to the popularity of this trail, you need to get to the car park before 9 am to be sure of finding a parking space. 

Remember to turn left and walk clockwise

We’re fairly hardy walkers but there are parts of this trail that were definitely not for the faint hearted and should not be attempted by anyone who isn’t relatively fit or is unsteady on their feet.  We’ll come to the reason why later on. 

Starting at the West Stoke car park there is a good wide and flat track bordered by lush fields that leads almost to the edge of the ancient Yew Forest for which Kingley Vale is famous. 

 

Lush green fields 

Nice flat path leading out from the car park

So peaceful early in the morning

Entering the Yew tree grove, I was instantly transported to the Forest of Fangorn that most magical woodland featured in the epic Tolkien tale ‘Lord of The Rings’. 

Entering the 'Forest of Fangorn'

'I almost felt I liked the place' - The Lord of The Rings

Are these really yew trees or Ents?  

They might reach out and grab you

Ancient yew trees all gnarly and twisty

Hundreds of years old

And still standing after all that time

The yew kraken awakes!

That one over there definitely looks like a Treebeard to me.

 

“The world is changing: I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, and I smell it in the air.” - Treebeard from The Lord of The Rings

You could easily spend hours wandering under the canopy admiring all the grotesquely twisted tree limbs, chasing stray sunlight filtering through the dense foliage whilst breathing in that lovely earthy smell of damp, decaying wood.  There certainly is a strange magic about this place.

 

Weird woody magic

Leaving the yew tree grove, the trail eventually begins a steady ascent opening outwards into a wide expanse of green hilly terrain and this is where you begin to realise that you’re not as young as you once were and that you should maybe stop snaffling Pringles whilst watching telly.

 

Steady uphill climb

Are we nearly there yet?

Not another person in sight

Eventually you reach a very steep staircase set into the hillside and it’s at this point when it dawns on you that you should have turned left before entering the forest.  

We should have turned left

Anyone with an ounce of sense would have turned away now but not us, we huffed and we puffed like that big bad wolf all the way to the top.  There’s a lot of stairs and this is the reason why you need to be fairly fit to do this part of the walk.

 

Climbing the staircase is very hard work but worth the views

From the top of the staircase, you can see for miles in every direction and it’s not long before your eyes are drawn to a couple of green boob shaped mounds rising from the grass known as The Devil’s Humps. 

 

You can see for miles

View from the top of the staircase

The Devil's Humps

There’s a lot of folklore surrounding these ‘Humps’ which according to local legend are supposed to be the graves of Viking kings defeated by the brave men of Chichester, warrior kings that allegedly haunt the woods at night.  Creepy!  But here in the bright sunlight these burial mounds are about as ghostly as a green jelly although believe me, jellies can be quite scary with all that ghoulish wibble, wobble going on.

 

It's all downhill from here

The walk is downhill from now onwards but the track is flinty, rutted and uneven so a good pair of walking shoes/boots is recommended unless you want to end up with a badly twisted ankle.

 

Fields and wild flowers

In almost a blink of an eye, you’re back at the car park and all that nasty hilly climb stuff is long forgotten though a twinge or two in the old knees might serve as a reminder later on.  Well worth a day out.

Lots of wild thistles everywhere

Nature finds a way