The Cranleigh Bowness-on-Windermere

After spending Christams day with family in Chelmsford we took a short trip to test drive our Kombi van who has adopted the name 'Grandpa'. And if you want to really test drive a kombi van than take it to the Lake District at Christmas. Nothing like -1 degree temperatures to weed out any faults.

The surrounding scenery turns to white snow...

Full of vaccination bugs now with more to come - and heads bursting with info gleaned from guide books, on-line forums and internet research.

Applications sent off for Indian Visas - thats an evenings 'entertainment' in itself! Best tackled with a sense of humour, unlimited patience and a large glass of wine.

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 so...

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 ...

What a lovely day I've had.
I was a tad sleepy this morning as I didn’t sleep well last night and also probably due to the fact of yet another late night out with Rachel partying on sat, but what a fun night! I must admit the flight has been playing on my mind ALOT and I’ve had the shakes BAD but I went into town this morning an...

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 n...

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 po...

The day dawned bright and sunny. Actually, that's a total lie. The storm had settled down into heavy rain and the tops of the surrounding fells were clagged up with cloud. The path outside the hut had a small stream running down it. Even the good, rugged people of the BMC made a slow getaway in serious waterproofs.Eartha and I were the last to l...

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 ...

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 side of the lake and...