After a crazy week sorting out various things, selling 2 cars and buying 1 replacement we set out for our holiday to Keswick in the Lakes. 11 of us all in total, us 4 and 7 friends, all in all 4 cars, us in the one we bought at 5pm on the Friday night! Almost there and a great start to the week, we got a puncture coming off the M6 on the slip road - yes, we had a spare tyre but no wheel spanner thingy! - Great. The Police turned up and said we were in a dangerous position and needed to move speedily, so after several calls to Green Flag to get recovered they tell me I should have rung and changed the vehicle over and that I'm not covered in that car, so £105 later they took us to the tyre shop which had closed 10 minutes earlier (another £45 call out charge to open up for us) and we got a new tyre!! Great start to the week. Moral of the story is either don't buy a car the day before you go away for a week and if you do, make sure it has all the tools in it. Also, change over your breakdown cover as soon as you get the vehicle otherwise you'll get stung with a hefty bill!
We've been going to the Lakes now for 20 odd years, we have stayed all over the place but never before in Keswick, we've visited it many a time. It's a lovely place, we stayed in a large house just outside of the town, a 15 minute downhill walk from the town centre. The weather was very varied, snow, rain, sleet, hail, sun - we had it all throughout the week, but it didn't stop the climbers amongst us (not me!) going out and enjoying their days - they just had to go prepared for every eventuality! John & Hamish took it is a training ground for their trip to climb Kilimanjaro next month. I used the week as reading time and wandering time - time to stroll, reflect, talk to God and listen to my music, weather dependent of course!
We had a nice afternoon walk round Grasmere - a great little village with lovely tea shops and a nice little garden centre. We saw the Church there and the Wordsworth gradens and walkway, although we didn't go in them. Another afternoon was spent in the Grizedale Forest - doing a trail looking for some of the 90 sculptures - we didn't find too many of them but then we did go for a short route!
We drove to Ashness Bridge through the woods and to Watendlath - all very scenic.
On Lake Thirlmere there's a building that has intrigued me for years - so close to the lake yet deserted or so we thought. We decided to take a walk around it and check it out. It's actually a water pumping station for Manchester. It's been overhauled lately and all the trees and surrounding area chopped back. Its a fabulous building and I reckon one day it will feature on Grand Designs when its surplus to requirements!
