Yesterday, started out well but wasn't too hot in the end.

We were out looking at the horses being washed around 9 AM and it was a nice fine day. We walked all the way up the hill to the fair and arrived about 10:30AM. The ground was very muddy as you can see from the photos. We wandered around a little, but gave up and walked back down to the bridge and watched the horses for another hour or two until the rain came.

For Ian, I have enclosed a photo of  a pair of beautiful black horses that were pulling a four wheel carriage.  The travellers (Gypsies) don't seem to have gone in for the heavy horses such as the Clydesdales for pulling their caravans, and today they tend to use less power for their carts and caravans. In the cities people needed bigger horses to carry around carts full of beer or flour, which weighs a lot more than a caravan.   We are booked in to a B&B in Devon which is on a farm that uses such large horses, so with a bit of luck, you should see some of those photos.

It's rather unfortunate that rain and mud played such a major impact on the weekend. We were extremely lucky to arrive on Friday and have a nice fine day to wander around the horses and caravans.

At dinner last night, I started to feel a bit funny and had to leave early as I noticed the onset of another kidney stone. I had a very uncomfortable night but sometime in the early morning, the stone moved through the kidney and into the rest of the plumbing. So no blog for yesterday.

Today, I was pretty washed out, but we drove from Appleby-in-Westmorland down to Nottingham city. There we checked into the hotel and then caught up with James Spencer, a nephew of our friend Ralph. We had met James when he came to NZ about six years ago.  Since them he has completed his university studies and set himself up in a very nice apartment and works in the public relations sector. We think is is going great guns and look forward to seeing where he goes in the future.

We went to his apartment and James took us around the city on Shank's Pony. He lives within 15 minutes walking of the centre of the city so could show us the castle and some of the other interesting items. We followed that up with a nice meal at his local pub and then a quick trip back to the hotel.

On top of the kidney stone, Lynette's camera has started to play up. I have kicked and reset it, but it looks terminal, so you may have to put up with just a few photos from me until we do something about her camera.

Above and below.  Whoever said "Mud, mud, glorious mud" has obviously been to Appleby on a wet day.  Even the Toyota Landcruiser needed the services of the tractor to get out.

This magnificent pair of black horses was pulling a four wheel carriage loaded with people.

An early Wattle and daub house in Nottingham.

Looking over a portion of the city of Nottingham.