Farewell and down memory lane

My second cousin (yet another Simon) is heading off to do voluntary service in Ethiopia for a year starting on Thursday next week.



I took the day off work today and my Mum, a family friend (Shirley), Simon and I met up for a farewell walk in the village where we all used to live - Shipham, in Somerset.

We walked from Shipham to Blackdown the highest point in the Mendips and back down to Rowberrow for a pub lunch at the Swann Inn.



It's a shame it was so overcast. On this picture in the distance you can see the Bristol Channel and Wales. Holm Island is in the foreground.



This view is out the other side of Blackdown toward Bristol and Clevedon.

We had a wonderful walk and all agreed we'd do it again when Simon comes back in a years time.



I remember this pretty little house in Rowberrow from when I was a child. It still looks exactly as I remember it the last time I saw it about 28 years ago!

Our old house where I lived from 5 until I was 13 has changed a lot, and there are many new houses in the village. I recognised a few people still, even after all this time.

Oddly my colleague Tim who I started HF with, knows this tiny Mendip village as he and his good friend Mike used to meet up here at a small hotel. There have been many coincidences like that in getting HF going. Tim had no idea I'd grown up here.