Mendip goes home for Christmas!

[Mendip]

Thanks Chitty!

Happy New Year to you and everyone from the Mendip family!

[Neverna]

for now just me and a Green Goblin!

This is the best cider I've ever tried and I'd recommend it to anyone if you can find it.

I like cider but I am not a fan of Thatchers cider. However, I'll give the Green Goblin a try if I can find some.

[Dillinger]

This is the best cider I've ever tried and I'd recommend it to anyone if you can find it

It was on special at the Robin Hood on Sukhumvit for years..150 baht a pint on draught. Probably still is

[Mendip]

^ I'll have to check that out, I've got a taste for it now!

New Years Day in Somerset... a trip into Bristol to see me big sister. Well dreary...

(not me sister... the weather! I get on well with big sis)

This was about midday!





And the bridge itself! Isambard Kingdom Brunel's finest piece of work... but it was grey and drizzly and I couldn't be arsed to get out the car. So an action shot crossing the Clifton Gorge...

And if yer wondering why there's all the Buddhist paraphernalia hanging from the rear view mirror, coincidentally the guy we borrowed the car from has a Thai daughter-in-law. I can tolerate this for a couple of weeks here, but back home this stuff goes in the glove box. Drives me nuts jangling around when you go over pot holes.



And today we went to Noah's ArK Zoo Park. Nev suggested there were some reindeer here, so it seemed like a good idea... Thanks Nev!

There were some meerkats... wondering what they'd done to deserve being in a Somerset zoo in the winter. In year's gone by I would probably have given my ferrets a go here!



Some guinea fowl. Noisy buggers, which surprised me - I've been thinking of getting a few to live with our chickens at home.



A lion, also wondering why he couldn't have ended up in a zoo in a country with a decent climate. The daughter's smile had come back, but only due to the bribery of an ice cream.



An elephant. And a hippo for that matter, although to be fair I shouldn't be casting many stones just now... after this Christmas I'm living in a very glass house!



And a couple of camels... but I'd got the hump by this point!



To be honest we'd all had enough... grey, wet and cold. After 20 years in SE Asia I've lost my tolerance for this weather.

The high point for me daughter!



So we left. On the way out we spotted some deer next to the car park... finally the elusive reindeer... the reason we came! But the fooker ducked his head down when I took the pic.



Then we saw a sign that said they were red deer. Me daughter piped up that all the reindeer were up at the North Pole with santa anyway, so of course there were none at the zoo. I wish she could have told us a few hours before, then we could have had a pub lunch instead! Sorry Nev, thanks for your suggestion... but...

In fact, the only good thing for me was this dove cote. I've decided this is gonna be my next project back in Korat. We get loads of pigeons nesting on the aircon units and shitting down the side of the house. I don't like to hurt them, so a nice new home in the garden may encourage them to move?



And on the way home we took in Clevedon seafront. The famous pier, built in the 1860s and described by Sir John Betjeman as, 'the most beautiful pier in England'!

In 1970 it famously collapsed during stress testing by the fire brigade (well, it was big news round here anyway!). Seems to have been rebuilt now.

That's Wales on the horizon. Thankfully the daughter didn't fancy trudging along the beach through the shingle. Cos neither did I!



And another of Clevedon beach! Observant readers will have no doubt spotted Steep Holm and Flat Holm on the horizon, in front of Wales.

[klong toey]

Nice thread thanks for posting cant green you so have a bottle or 3 of Katy instead ,

[OhOh]

Thanks for your very full report of your recent visit home.

Yes, it is vital that you illustrate to your daughter and possibly your wife, that there are other types of countries on the globe.That have different cultures and live in different environments. i don't know if they has visited the area before.

Also to show that they have another "family" that welcomes them and enjoys their company. I would suspect for many Thais that in itself is an experience well worth trying to understand and file away for future reference. I hope your daughter has many memories and information squirrelled36 away to show her classmates.

You have also brought up memories of many who originates in the UK the lives that many of us have experienced through their lives. Although Western Super Mare may not be the ultimate destination.Most have visited such "resorts" in the past.

It's useful to all of us to look back from where we came and remember all the happy times we experienced in the past.

So, once again thanks for the bringing back memories from are visits in the past to that particular part of the UK.

[Mendip]

Our penultimate day, and one of the most important day trips of the holiday...

Yes, all the rest are imposters. I've never understood why Cornish pasties have to come from Cornwall, Melton Mowbray's pork pies have to come from Melton Mowbray, yet every man and his dog can make cheddar cheese. You can get Cornish cheddar, Welsh cheddar, Scottish cheddar, Canadian cheddar and even Australian cheddar ffs... how can that be?



We even got a smile from the daughter as she realised what a momentous place she was standing by.



Cheddar cheese was invented in Cheddar back to at least the 12th century. The caves around Cheddar Gorge are perfect temperature and humidity for maturing what most people reckon as the best cheese on the entire planet.



And inside... welcome to cheese Valhalla!





Cave matured cheddar replicates the underground maturing process from several hundred years ago.





And what better present for your sweetheart!



And a bit of history...





Eventually I reluctantly left, but hang on, what is this right next door...



Not so much interest here from the daughter, but my interest was certainly piqued!



Legbender Cider! How can you not go in!

[Mendip]

So, we carry on to pick up a curry on the way home (another item crossed off the holiday list), and while I'm waiting for it all to be set out I peruse my cider collection...

Nice thread thanks for posting cant green you so have a bottle or 3 of Katy instead ,

I don't mind if I do, thanks klong toey! I'd forgotten about Katy...



I'd forgotten about the 7.4% as well...



Oh dear... I'm supposed to be meeting a mate for a walk up Crook Peak on the Mendips at 8am in the morning...

But once you've got a taste! How can you not drink Legbender Cider!



And the day's haul!



And a lamb rogan josh and lamb bunha for dessert! It don't get much better than that!



And what a perfect cheese to reflect a multicultural marriage between Somerset and Isaan...

The slow matured, smooth, handsome cheddar combined with a hot, fiery chilli, slightly prone to nagging...

[Dillinger]

^ i see chronic heartburn

[Mendip]

Heartburn with a hint of heart attack about 8:30am tomorrow... half way up the hills!

[Dillinger]

^ just had a look at that 7km circular walk and feel like I've just trekked up and down it myself now

Says it can get a bit steep with loads of prickly bushes. Don't forget your longjohns, mucker. Looking forward to your pics

[OhOh]

How was the curry taken by your wife and daughter?

[Mendip]

How was the curry taken by your wife and daughter?

The wife loves Indian food and was the instigator in this... well I was corrected at the curry house and it was Bangladeshi. Very good.

My wife spent many years in Oz and developed a taste for alternatives to Thai food, lamb in particular. Last night it was a toss up between fish and chips or a curry, the last two outstanding meals on my list. I was happy to go along with the wife's choice of two lamb curry dishes!

The daughter won't touch anything with any spice whatsoever, whether Thai or Indian, so for her it was a couple of king prawns with rice.

[Mendip]

This morning the alarm went off at 8am and I had a Whatsapp message from my mate saying that his wife had been sick all night and he'd had no sleep, so couldn't make the walk up Crook Peak. My first reaction was, 'Thank fuk for that!' I told the daughter lying next to me, and she said. 'but we can still go Papa...' Bugger... so off we went.

The start of the walk at 8am - no rain! The daughter really should have looked happier as it was all her fault we were there.



Six minutes into the walk and I was starting to regret three weeks of cider abuse. The first ascent through the woods is a steep one and I was struggling to keep up!



After that first hill we passed this beautiful house along a level bit of ground. I've often thought if I ever came back to live in the UK this would be the kind of house I could stay in. It looks like an old farmhouse and has loads of outbuildings behind. I'd need a lot more money of course.



And then a second ascent. Steep and muddy... and I was floundering around and gasping by this point. The daughter set the pace...



The view from this slope as the sun tried to poke out through the clouds... Cheddar Reservoir on the left and Glastonbury Tor was visible but not a good pic.

[Mendip]

At the top of the second steep hill we stopped for a photo opportunity at the trig point. Crook Peak, our destination, is at the right of the view.



While we were here this guy and his dog joined us. He was walking with ski sticks and it looked pretty bizarre, but his dog was lovely.



After this, the daughter took off running after ski walking man leaving me alone. He set a hard pace and she fell by the wayside and almost threw up... which made me secretly smile! Ha, the tortoise and the hare!

Ski walking man carried on oblivious. He looked well strange walking along with ski sticks, but who am I to judge... he was a hell of a lot fitter then me.



Our destination getting closer...



And the sun came out!



And off she went again...



I was floundering along behind, and no time to stop at this stone bench for a breather. A nice epitaph for someone. Poor bugger... I was close to joining him at this point.



And Glastonbury Tor illuminated by the sun on the horizon. A good photographer with a decent camera could have probably made something out of this view!

[Mendip]

^ just had a look at that 7km circular walk and feel like I've just trekked up and down it myself now

Says it can get a bit steep with loads of prickly bushes. Don't forget your longjohns, mucker. Looking forward to your pics

No heartburn, even at this altitude!

I was steep in places and there were plenty of prickly bramble bushes... many years ago up here I found a sheep stuck by it's fleece all tangled up in a bramble bush. There were plenty of sheep about today, but none stuck in bramble bushes, which saved me that particular moral dilemma... mind you bestiality is one thing, but shagging a sheep in front of your 8 year old daughter is frowned on, even in Somerset, so it probably wouldn't have been an option anyway.

A view down past the flock of sheep to the beautiful little village of Cross. Frankie Howerd used to live somewhere down there.



And a few more lovely ewes... the daughter looking slightly bemused at my interest in the sheep...



And after I'd drifted away thinking about the sheep... I looked round and she was off again... the end in sight!



Time for just a brief look at this tree. The perennial westerly's bend over these wizened trees up on the top of the Mendips, completely deforming their growth.



And off she went again...

[Mendip]

The final ascent of Crook Peak...







Well done daughter! I would say that even though I was completely fukked, this was my most enjoyable couple of hours of our Christmas Holiday. A great way to spend our last morning.



The bare rock at the summit of Crook Peak is Carboniferous limestone, around 350 million odd years old. Limestone is laid down in warm, tropical seas... that's what I love about geology, it really makes you think.

And the obligatory selfie from Crook Peak summit, around 200m above sea level!

Bugger... my hat seemed to have slipped down.



Back in the day, I used to do this 7km walk in around 1 hour 20 minutes. In the interests of staying alive I took it a bit easier today and we arrived back at the car park two hours after leaving. Not too bad considering I was slowed down by my young daughter!

And to give some idea of the enormity of our achievement... a few views from back down in the atmosphere...







And a well-earned cider tonight! This was our last night in Somerset and we fly out tomorrow morning. I'd packed my Thatchers glass so was trying to get used to a Leo glass again in preparation for next week.

While finishing up various bottles and tins of cider tonight I've been warming to the thought of getting fit again... I really enjoyed our walk today!

[naptownmike]

Looks like a great walk.

Have a safe trip home.
Thanks for all the pictures.

[happynz]

Echoing naptownmike...cheers for all the pix and commentary.

[Bettyboo]

There appears to be some glass abuses going on here... But, that cheese is extremely exciting (and the pork pie, and the legbender).

I would not have done this with a heavy head:



^ looks horrific, torturous.

Looking forward to tomorrow's fish and chips - a nice large cod with ample chips, please (no peas...).

[OhOh]

I told the daughter lying next to me, and she said. 'but we can still go Papa...' Bugger... so off we went.

A subtle hint to stop both you visiting another "watering hole"?

Safe trip hope, what airline are you flying with?

[Chittychangchang]

Can we have mushy peas instead of garden peas and maybe a hint of gravy

[Dillinger]

Mushy peas, lashings of salt and vinegar, chip shop curry sauce, 2 slices of bread and butter, a scallop and pickled egg please Mendy.

Safe trip back

[Mendip]

Bugger... you've just reminded me... I've just boarded at Bristol and forgot my cans of mushy peas!

[NamPikToot]

The trouble with getting Cheddar recognised is its too late..the yanks have it and they'll never agree, and besides what Sausages says the EU has fook all say on the Global stage, less than the UK.

If you notice the successful ones are those that are specialist and confined to a select country already..Pasties & Pork pies ain't really had the global take up. Besides the EU looked after its Frenchie and Yerman foods first, prolly coz they couldn't understand why anyone would eat anything from Britain..