Swan Windermere

... this, my greatest adventure.

2. Hip flask - A hip flask filled with Laphroig single malt (another favourite of JWP). Again, there are certainly lighter weight receptecle's I could have taken, but this flask was a present from my sister and a hip flask (filled with the local spirit) is surely a must for any serious traveller! I'm sure John Wayne used to navigate the wild west by just swigging from a hip flask and scanning the ...

Well after a good nights sleep, well I did but Martyn woke up complaining bitterly that he was kept awake by another form of wind from Leigh? we woke up to.. yes you guessed it, RAIN! but with the added benefit of of strong winds with gusts up to gale force strength..nice!

Once everyone had checked out of the Motel we set off for Glasgow on the scenic route via Otterburn & Haywick, stopping for breakfast at the very friendly Percy Arms in Otterburn ...

... this so if you haven’t already downloaded Skype get it done girl!!! :o)
Mum made me a corking tea, Gammon baby!! Cheers for that Mum. I managed to eat it considering I’d lost my appetite, I couldn’t see that go to waste lol. An early evening visit to my Nan to see how she was (she’s smoking again…tut tut!!) but she’s doing good.
I had a few visitors over the course ...

Ingnoring most advice we did head off for our anniversary weekend to the Lake District. Cumbria had just experience record rainfall of 400+ mm of rain in 24 hours and amny parts of the area were severly flooded. We had a great run up on the M6 on Friday afternoon and settled into Elim House. In the moring we went down to see the lake which was now creeping ...

... back to Hawkshead.

We had planned to stop in Ambleside on the way home to see the Roman ruin "Galava", which unfortunately turned out to be a muddy field with some ridges in. Most disappointing, and it started to rain again as we walked back to the car, leading to a damp drive home. On a positive note, we did get home in a record four hours, just in time for Eartha to watch Dr Who.

... were inside the hut. I could phone people, but there was little or no signal and even if they had the key I was still stuck outside because they were no doubt miles away. We could stand outside in the rain for a few hours and catch pneumonia. Or we could break in.

I surveyed the hut. The upstairs window was open. I might be able to climb it but it was very wet. On the other hand, Eartha could climb it because I could hold her up nearly that high. I ...

... grids and past a lethal looking ford. The potholes were serious puddles. I'm sure my right headlamp dipped underwater as we drove through one of them.

Finally we arrived and dragged our bedding in as fast as we could before it succumbed to the wet onslaught. Vince was sitting infront of the open fire, doing a cross-word. The rest of the ridiculously hardy BMC had walked to the pub (20 minutes ...

Tow truck 2, turns up at 15:29 and we are off again for the next leg of the journey, Stirling Services to Lancaster Services. This journey takes around 4 hours and I have a nice chat with the driver, Jim all the way. We phone ahead and arrange the next tow truck to meet us at Lancaster at 19:15, guess what? Yes, it wasn't there and I am told it won't be there until 20:15 and it finally arrives at 20:30

... were also staying at the Keswick YHA...let's just say these guys had much more experience than we did and they were going to be doing the same trail - we joked with them that they would be waving at us from the top of the mountain while we still trying to get up the steep slope at the bottom - little did we know that this scenario would in fact come true in about half an hours time! We have decided that the 'Mountain God' (as we have come to call him/her) must have been ...

Lake District was the northernmost area we visited. That's probably why the Lake District is one of the best attractions of U.K. John told me the story of Beatrix Potter, the author of Peter Rabbit.
Actually, I don't remember which lake I visited, because John took me there. I still remember I took a boat to the opposite ...