Good times

Robin S and the best view ever from Cat Bells

How lucky we are; another fortunate Christmas, with the Pardoes coming over on Xmas eve for a nice dinner (food was not too good though, maybe I tried too hard?), off to my brother's for a major feast on Christmas day, and A's brother's for another major feast on Boxing Day. Then off to the Lake District! Borrowdale again, Greenbank again, (the guest house we rent) and all the same friends, walked up Cat Bells and Castle Crag, the weather was exceptional!! Horrid rainy weather yesterday only, when I came home by train.

The view from Borrowdale last Sunday

You can see a lot of this sort of thing from the top of CatBells.

Also, you can see Derwent Water.

Enjoyed the Lake District

When the children are little you often think holidays are almost more trouble than they are worth. There is so much clobber to take, everything is so expensive and when you are away the children so frequently go down with asthma or eczema or ear infections, and then there were the two occasions on which dear F was discovered to have head lice. Yuck!! All to be dealt with in a shack in Norfolk on a very quiet stretch of coast, or a caravan on a Welsh cliff. Oh Lord. Or, if you go with friends, where your peer group are making helpful suggestions and unintentionally suggesting you are incompetent. (Maybe it's intentional? Maybe they are right?)

But this time I enjoyed it all, and had a great feeling of being myself amongst friends and having freedom to fool around as much as I like, and I am even quite happy to deal with all the muddy and damp clothes because it is lovely when they are all put away for next time. I like having a look at the photos, of course.

Derwent Water from Cat Bells

Each hand was carved from one tree trunk - weathering away now, sadly. By Derwent water

To Watendlath

A boggy bit

Lake District again

This time we are in Borrowdale, and we are a couple of miles from Keswick. We overlook Derwent water and, on the first day we climbed Cat Bells, which is just across some boggy land from where we are staying. On the second day I stayed in and marked some work and generally made myself at home. I have seldom felt so really comfortable in a holiday home. This one has an ensuite bathroom for each room (even the cupboard room where S is sleeping) and there are two comfortable sitting rooms, though neither is big enough for all 20 of us. The views are fantastic and yesterday we climbed up beside the Loder Falls which were in full spate and very dramatic. It was quite a tough climb and because we didn't start until after the rain stopped, we were on one of the tops (Jopplety How) (no, really) admiring the view when the sun went down behind a peak and I felt we must hurry to get down and be on the road when darkness fell, which we managed to do, but only just. We all got home from walks at about the same time and changed for the big night. Then the "children" prepared a buffet and some pizzas and quiches for our party, which they did beautifully. We played charades a lot but alas, there was no music and dancing, which we have enjoyed in previous years. Peter and Danny play the ukelele and the guitar and sing when the mood takes them, which is lovely.