Easter Meanderings

We've had a fantastic Easter break! Feeling fit and chirpy now -- ready to cope even with what the University might throw at us!

Good Friday was a beautiful day. We ambled about in the sunshine, pottered on the allotment, got the potato beds ready, bumbled about, then we went home for lunch and sat outside in the courtyard eating crumpets and drinking wine in the sunshine and generally pottering. Then Gareth came around in the evening for Good Friday Fish Pie (haddock, smoked haddock, salmon, prawns in a cheese sauce and topped with mashed potato. Was rather spectacular).

The adventures really started on Saturday though. We were off to the Lake District and had decided not to go up the motorway but to saunter up the A1 through the Dales and make our way across from up north. As we were trundling along I thought -- hmm; we'll be passing Barnard Castle at about lunchtime. Let's call in there. When we went to Teesdale last December we drove by it and thought it looked quite interesting. So we called in. And it's a lovely little town. There's a beautiful bridge, a fabulous ruined castle. Lots of pubs. Many shops. The sun shone. We had roast vegetable sandwiches and a walk in the castle grounds and collected the bridge. Was a good place to break the trip.

And so to Haweswater, across country. It was a beautiful drive, and Haweswater is in an isolated, beautiful, quiet corner of the Lakes. The only building on the lakeshore is the hotel. The road runs down one side of the lake to an RSPB bird reserve and there's nothing else. The other side only has walking tracks. The hotel (www.haweswaterhotel.com) was built in the 1930s. And, in fact, our stay there was very much a throw back to the walking parties that the well-to-do held in the late 20s and 30s. The decor was in keeping. There was a lounge with an open log fire, a bar with armchairs and little tables. The dining room was equally in keeping. There are no televisions or telephones in the rooms, and very little radio signal. And the family and staff were friendly and helpful. There were a cat and a dog as well. We had a self contained flat with and excellently equipped kitchen (nothing 1930s about the kitchen!) though I fear that the hot water boiler is probably original. The amount of hot water available was meagre indeed! The whole visit reminded me enormously of an Agatha Christie film -- but without the bodies!!

So we walked. We walked along the lake heading south for 3 or 4 miles, along some fairly precarious bits of path off the road, then some much better paths once you reach the reserve and head around the otherside. The only reason we didn't complete the whole 12 mile walk was because the weather was looking a bit dodgy -- and that we weren't properly equipped for it. No sandwiches. Not enough water. So we turned back and went back to the hotel for lunch and a pint. Then we went back out and walked along the road and some bits of track towards the dam and beyond. Another 8 miles, there and back. By the end of the day I had walked 29029 steps. Was sooooooooooo sad not to have reached 30000! Because it was Easter Sunday we dined in the restaurant. Fantastic food. The battered tuna strips I had for an entree were amazing. The steak was very tasty but rather over cooked for me. The chocolate and raspberry trifle (it was Easter Sunday, remember) was exquisite. Really, really enjoyed it. Was remarkably stiff going back up the stairs to the second floor flat, though!

On Monday we took ourselves to Buttermere. I felt we needed a nice gentle walk to iron out the kinks inherited from Sunday's 12 or 13 miles. I knew Buttermere was fairly gentle -- I've walked it with Jack. In fact, it was the last walk I ever did with Jack, after he had become unable to balance properly or to walk any great distance, and before he had his strokes. Anyway, my Pub Round Walks of the Lake District book said it had a degree of difficulty of 1! It is quite a pleasant walk, about 4.5 miles on good tracks. The guidebook says it takes about two hours. We only had just enough change for the car park for two hours. We frog marched it! Well, perhaps not quite frog marching, but we walked it in 1 hour and 40 minutes. Brisk then. And half way around we were hit by a 5 minute hail storm with tiny tiny hail stones bounding off my face. I really need a spring/autumn waterproof jacket. I've only got my winter waxed jacket and a raincoat. I've added it to my shopping list. In the meantime, the walk was fantastic. After the hailstorm had passed the sun came out again and Buttermere gleamed and it was all good and very invigorating. We moved the car to the pub car park and had lunch there. The Bridge Inn. Nice food. Nice atmosphere. Nice cider. A good find.

Then we went to visit Jack and Margaret. We drove across country, calling at Cleator Moor for evening supplies, and had a good mosey around more lakes and looked at lots of fells. I found Margaret and Jack without very much difficulty -- I haven't been in the Lake District since I was there for Jack's funeral which was 3 and a bit years back, so wasn't absolutely certain where they were. More or less where I'd left them, really. They seem very peaceful in their beautiful churchyard. We left them some carnations and went for a wander through the village. Gosforth hasn't changed much. The new owners of the house have renamed it Garden House and I'm not sure Margaret would think much to the state of the garden. But it is fairly early in the gardening season I suppose -- most gardens are still a bit untidy after the winter. And where there was a garden centre next door there is now an "estate" of very swanky houses. Apart from that, little else seems to have changed. All the shops are still there. Back in the car, we made our way back to Haweswater via Coniston and Windermere and cheerily ate chicken and veg and noodles washed down with lots of white wine. A mere 17000 steps today

We have seen so many birds. We've seen chaffinches and great tits and blue tits and dunnocks and robins and sparrows and geese and -- oh all sorts. And we have seen **EAGLES** There are one or two breeding pairs of eagles in England, based in the Lakes and we have seen one of them. On Easter Sunday evening, about half seven, soaring high above the fells, playing on the thermals. I've never seen wild golden eagles before, playing on the thermals. Was fantastic. We saw some deer too -- but they're not birds! Cute though. We didn't see any red squirrels, though I'm told there are some around Haweswater.

Yesterday we came home. But we made a day of it. But no walking. Am toooooo stiff in my hips and knees, Must walk more often! A touring day then. First we went to Hawkshead where we visited the Hawkshead clothes shop. We buy lots of our clothes from Hawkshead but usually over the internet. The alarming discovery was that they have a HUGE clearance floor upstairs. We seem accidentally to have come away with a big bag full of stuff. I've also got my hiking jacket. It came with a detachable fleece lining and is a proper waterproof jacket as against a raincoat. It's a pretty little village, is Hawkshead. We pottered about and looked at the shops and the houses and the various buildings. Had lunch in a smoke free pub -- it's so nice to walk into a pub which smells of beer and food and wood smoke and not all-pervasively of cigarette smoke. Then we took ourselves across country to Wensleydale, getting only slightly misplaced in Kendal -- followed the signs to the wrong Motorway junction and had to make our way back to where we wanted to be along tiny roads not all of which were marked on my map! A visit to the Hawes cheese shop to re-stock the freezer supplies. A potter in the market and in the food shops. A cup of tea. Then we came home. Only 10008 steps today -- but that's not bad when you think we were mostly in the car.

Lots of people tried to kill us today. Several cars strayed onto our side of the narrow country lanes. We came face to face with a bus at one point -- that was fun, though I don't suppose you could argue that the bus driver actually tried to kill us. We just had to squish up nice and tightly to the field hedge. But the lorry driver who drove right out of a station car park without even looking to see if we were there tried quite hard. Fortunately The Builder got us out the way. I'm not sure that that lorry driver did see us even then! Fortunately, however, we eventually managed to get home without mishap.

Was a great little holiday. My walking boots are now satisfactorily muddy. My legs are nicely tired. I didn't get to church on Easter Sunday but did manage to convince our little radio to work long enough for me to listen to the Radio 4 Sunday Service (I seem to have become one of their regular congregation members. I almost always listen and nearly always really enjoy it.) We've collected various bridges and a castle and loads of lakes. We had a fantastic Easter feast. The weather was mostly harmless. And I've seen eagles. What more could you ask for?