North Lakes Hotel And Spa Penrith

After making arrangements by text last night my friend Steve (from Crewe this time - I know a lot of Steve's) caught a train to Penrith with his family to arrive around 8am to collect my car. Joanna brought me back to Appleby and that little task was sorted. Typical of me to be finishing off such a large task at the last minute but it all got sorted and that's the main thing.

It is now the time to be assembling my stuff into ...

... by the time we were ready to leave, the wind had picked up & the rain was coming down sideways. When we crossed the border we were all leaning the bikes at 45 degrees just to go in a straight line and trying to brace for the gale force gusts!

So by the time we reached Haywick the weather had deteriorated & group decision was made for safety reasons to not continue to Glasgow but instead ride down to Martyn's sisters house in Warcop, Westmorland.
Appleby, England, United Kingdom charliebears

... chill me out. I got home about lunch time and Sarah and little munchkin (aka Sophia) turned up and spent a few hours with me which was lovely. I was chuffed that Sar came through to see me and when they left there were a few tears :o( I’ll miss her a lot, I feel like I’ve just got her back in my life and now Im off again and its gona at least 6 months till I see her again. Sarah I know you’ll be ...

... town. We were able to drive the Ambleside and Crook and saw some of the stunning country side. Many stone cottages and fences, lovely valleys and hills. Unfortunatley it was not the weather for any walking which is one of the main attractions of the area.
Had a very relaxing weekend and a stunning meal at Postillion resturant. 28 years! where has it gone.

... affair. This is good though, as the next time I am here will be on the day of my last injections - which is also day before I depart - so there will be precious little time for social arrangements.

This evening marked precisely 2 weeks to departure - awesome! XD

Yet more car trouble was on the horizon for Sunday morning. Sherpa had managed to turn his car on, then somehow knock the locking system as he was getting out, just as the door blew shut. Sherpa was now locked out of his running car. Several resourceful hikers spent some considerable time trying to poke the switch on the dashboard with a long pole through the bent window seal. Fun.
Hawkshead, England, United Kingdom rachelkw

... churning streams and modified our route. The back road to Little Langdale took us around in a circle. It circumvented Little Langdale Tarn. The entire route wouldn't be more than 2-3 miles, but in our present state, that was quite far enough. The road was flooded in places - easily calf deep. Eartha avoided the worst of it, by walking along the top of a dry stone wall (dry? Ha!) while I made a foolhardy dash for it through the flood. Needless to say I got even ...

... thinking that my LR is broken and I might have to call the AA to get me home. Eat first. I went out to have a look and now that the engine is cold and it's daylight it is easy to see what the problem is. The exhaust bolts have worked their way loose and it has come apart. 2 new bolts and I am back on the road. I am off to Hadrian's Wall today so only a short drive (and everything is OK with the LR, touch wood). I have driven to a place ...

... car when they went for tea again, and dropped the other girls off at their house. Another delicious dinner, more wine, chocolate, and murder mystery television by the fire, and an early night because we had to pack. The smaller dog, Vic, had taken a liking to me by this point and Margaret kept saying that he would be "gutted" when I left... it's so hard to leave the puppies behind!! However, we did watch a little news and the weather report mentioned that Shap (where ...

... of the lake and I strolled around for 10 minutes or so. I assume that was Windermere, but I am not sure. I upload a few picture from there and if you know where it is, please tell me. Anyway, on our way back, we dropped by Lakeside Motor Museum. I was not interested antique cars exhibited in the museum, but John really was.