John and Mark in Blue Mountains National Park (near Glenbrook, NSW)

Mark and John have recently been with us in NSW, having spent the previous three weeks in New Zealand.

The first couple of pictures were taken on the day when we visited the Blue Mountains National Park, which is less than 10km from our house in Mount Riverview.  We went to Euroka Clearing, hoping to see kangaroos in the wild, but they weren’t there (apparently this clearing is becoming too busy with tourists camping overnight there, and they are not as commonly seen as they once were).

Mind you, M&J had seen the wallaby which comes to visit our garden sometimes in the early morning, so at least they saw some native fauna in the wild.

This picture, taken by John, is in our front courtyard.  Mark is the shortest Coulshed,  Nick (188cm) is the tallest.

John and Mark had to go to some StPaul’s activities.  This is Andrew playing the trumpet for the school group at a local shopping centre.

This is Nick, receiving the award for the top academic pupil in his (final) year at the school.

The fully-restored NSW Garratt at Canberra Railway Station

We also visited Canberra – Mark, John and myself.  Being train enthusiasts, we went to the  NSW train museum on the way down (at Thirlmere) and then visited the Canberra Railway station, where they have restored to working order a standard-gauge 4-8-4+4-8-4 Garratt.  A truly gigantic angine, which will be such a magnificent sight when pulling trains once more.  Actually it is magnificent just standing there ….

After the excitement of the meal at l’Enclume, all the rest of the journey through England Wales and the Netherlands was routine, I suppose.

However it was really nice to see lots of old UK friends.  Here are a couple of pictures of those who came to Cark.

This picture was taken in Cartmel village, outside the suberb cheese shop/delicatessen that is there.

From there I travelled by train to Shropshire, to visit Mark, Karen and their two children.

Lovely countriside there, and I went on an excellent bike ride with Jamie, using Laura’s bike, a lovely pink-and-purple number ….

From there it was on to Cardiff, there to visit Joe and Alan, in their lovely Art Deco house, then via Kingham (the Wilkie family) and back to London, to catch up with Tim, who took this photograph:

From there it was on to Amsterdam, and the ostensible reason for the journey to Europe, the European Cardiac Society Meeting.

Actually, despite the appearance of these photographs, I did spend a very useful few days at the conference, which will significantly change several aspects of cardiac care in Penrith, NSW!

This was a much-anticipated event which actually lived up to my expectations.

Cream cheese wafer

The ambience at l’Enclume was good and the organisation superb.  They coped amazingly well with our party: the seven guests included a highly-allergic coeliac disease sufferer, someone highly allergic to fish and nuts, two vegetarians/pisctatorians (I think that’s what the head waiter described us as – people who don’t eat meat, but do eat everything else).

Oyster pebbles

There were over twenty courses.  The first one (I had to put the third one at the top because it was so spectacular) was oyster pebbles! The oyster pebbles were fish-flavoured marange, which was a light grey colour, with creamed oysters within.

Icicles with shiso vinegar

The “icicles” were little radishes with special sweet vinegar

Dock pudding with nettle, Smoked eel with lovage

These were an example of how they coped with vegetarians, non-fish eaters, etc.

Ragstone cheese, malt and artichoke

Wafers with calamint and dill

Ragstone cheese is a goats cheese.  The ingredients are mostly local, or obtained locally.

Pea and calamint crab sack

I asked the waiter what these were, and had to be told that the “sacks” were ceramic, and it would be better if I didn’t try to eat them.  I’m not sure what “calamint” is, but the overall taste sensation was, well, sensational.

Cod “yolk” with watercress runner beans, salt and vinegar

Atlas carrots, chicken of the woods truffle and nasturtium

Atlas carrots are a local variety.  “Chicken of the woods” is a type of mushroom.

Valley venison, charcoal oil, mustard and fennel

This was one of the dishes that I did not taste, but John told me it was one of the highlights for him.

This was the vegetarian version, with beetroot. It was an excellent substitute.

Grilled scallop and cauliflower

Scallop and grilled cauliflower – who would think of putting these together? It worked well.

Valley offerings

A selection of edible flowers from the area around Cartmel!

Wild bass, sandwort and thyme, grilled courgette with cockle

Blueberry gooseberry and honey wine

Plum, malt and caramel.

Anise hyssop, raspberry, milk skin

Sweet clover, cherries, cider and hazelnut

Sea buckthorn, sweet cheese, woodruff

One of the few things which didn’t work: most of these tiny “ice creams” were fine, but sea buckthorn was not particularly nice.  I don’t know what it is.  The ice creams were about 3cm long, and mounted in a large pebble with six holes bored in it.

I’m staying in Cark with Mark and John, in their very nice house.  See pictures:

We went out yesterday to visit Gleason Mill, an old water mill on the Furness Peninsula.  Very interesting.

We also went to Furness Abbey.  Torn down in Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the monasteries.

Unfortunately it is cracking, and there are huge constructions to hold it up.

Nevertheless an impressive sight, and site.

I (David) am in England at the moment, though the rest of the family are at home.  I am visiting my brothers prior to the European Cardiac Society conference in Amsterdam.

We are in the Lake District, and had an excellent walk yesterday.  John came with me as I climbed Harter Fell from Seathwaite.

It was a hot (!) day for England.

We had an excellent walk over to the Esk Valley, where we met Mark, who had driven around.

Beautiful views over the English lakes from the summit of Harter Fell.