Wolds Diary: Escapes along the back roads but no more chocolate for now

I had been escaping from it all by walking the dogs and I have seen a lot of the surrounding villages and explored bits I didn’t even know existed.

Between two of the villages just north of Pocklington is a small hilly ridge that is completely covered in oil seed rape in full bloom making the skyline a brilliant yellow.

Then in the woods nearby the ground is covered with bluebells just to add to the colourful scenery.

This is contrasted by miles of blossoming may trees and blackthorn in the hedgerows and then there is the pink of flowering cherries just to make the scenery more wonderful. The leaves are sprouting from every plant and I never cease to wonder at how colourful our world can be.

I got to explore a new bit of Yorkshire one evening, having been invited to talk to the Preston WI. Not the one in Lancashire but the one to the east of Hull. This is a very pleasant village with a fine church and some good hostelries, one of which I visited for a coffee as I arrived far too early for the talk and needed to kill some time.

I was most impressed with the size of the WI group, and that many of them had their branch jackets on.

They were a really good audience and laughed a great deal. I really enjoyed their company and decided to return home, not through the city of Hull as I had gone but on the back roads, heading initially towards Bridlington.

It was about here I got a bit lost and ended up on a narrow country lane, finally realizing I was a bit off the track as I began driving down a private drive to a place to Burton Constable.

I retreated, even though it looked beautiful and by means of an alternate route ended up in Beverley and so then on, as I knew the way home.

I only saw a couple of wild animals, and a fox by the roadside and later some rabbits munching on the verge.

Yorkshire is such a huge county that I expect I shall be amazed and delighted with finding new bits of it for many years to come.

A friend of mine wanted to collect some manure from the farm of a friend of hers. I suggested my car was probably the more appropriate vehicle for transporting it as her car is more respectable (cleaner) than mine.

We duly filled bags and pots which whiffed dreadfully and took them to our respective homes. While we were at the farm a pair of red kites were hovering close overhead and my friend was astounded at their beauty. We could see them very clearly and watched them for quite a while. As this farm is on the route to several walks I often take the dogs on, I almost know this pair.

My friend and I both like gardening. Her garden is much bigger than mine and she is a much better gardener. All I really want is to grow veg in mine and to have a small orchard at the back for the dogs to play in and fruit in the autumn.

I needed to pop into York to pick up some ties a lady had put by for me at the Age UK shop in Walmgate. The park and ride bus stops right outside which was very advantageous. They are such nice staff there. I had spent the morning walking miles in Pocklington delivering election leaflets and then on the way back I got some pet food and them stopped off to deliver more leaflets in a small village before getting home to watch an election debate on the telly. I woke up in time to go to bed!

My doctor has suggested a diet to help lose a lot of weight and it is, so I am told, very efficient. It means I cannot have fat or much sugar and worst of all chocolate! It makes life pretty boring but I seldom do things by halves so I am trying to stick to it. I am saving a box of chocolates I have been given for a special occasion.

She has also referred me to a cardiologist, after some more tests. Someone was saying ‘poor me’ but I can’t complain, I have been disgustingly healthy all my life so I suppose it is only fair that I have my share of things to worry about!