27 Sept 2010

The eagle has landed!

Waterfoot Park, Pooley Bridge.

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One of our favourite sites.  The touring area is quite small and it always seems to be quiet and peaceful, maybe because no tents are allowed!  Excellent toilets and showers, a small shop, a bar, and only a short walk to Pooley Bridge.  The only criticism of this site is that the hardstanding part of some pitches is very narrow.

Day 1

An early start meant we arrived before 2pm and there were plenty of pitches to choose from.  No booking in, you find a pitch and then pay later, when the bar or shop is open.

The first pitch sloped a bit so we quickly moved to another, which was much better.

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Didn’t take long to get set up, so we headed off to Pooley Bridge for tea and cakes, followed by a couple of drinks in the Pooley Bridge Inn.

No eating out this weekend, so we headed back to the caravan for dinner.  A bit of a scare when we discovered that the fridge wasn’t working, but soon realised we were running it off the battery…rookie error!

Day 2

A classic walk in the Haweswater area today…D’s favourite place in the Lakes.

Rough Crag – High Street – Thornthwaite Beacon – Nan Bield Pass…high point 828 metres, about 6.5 miles.

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This is the home of England’s only golden eagle, a solitary male who has been looking for a mate for a few years now.  We’ve been here many time but never seen it, but we think we did today.  A big bird, flying high, a long way away, and gone before we could get the binoculars out.  No pic to prove it but here’s one I wish I’d taken!

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Saw some other interesting wildlife too.

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Tasty treats for Bear Grylls, but we had even tastier chicken paste sandwiches!

Even the rocks were smiling!

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Made it to the top of High Street and tucked into our sandwiches as we sheltered behind a wall.

“Way aye what a fookin view” we heard from the other side of the wall.  He wasn’t wrong.

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Next stop, Thornthwaite Beacon.

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Pretty cold, so we didn’t linger too long, and headed off down the Nan Bield Pass to Haweswater.

Near the bottom, several cyclists raced past us.

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One fell off, got back up, went a bit further, then fell off again.  He didn’t move for ages and we feared the worst, but he was ok.

Stopped off at the Haweswater Hotel for tea on the way back, but after waiting for about twenty minutes we gave up, got a refund and left!

Dinner in the caravan again.  Just managed to cook the pasta before the gas ran out!  We’ve had the same bottle for two years so we suspected that it was probably quite low!

Headed off for the warmth of Pooley Bridge and decided to try a different pub tonight.  Regretted it instantly, no real ale, loud dance music!

Went back to the Pooley Bridge Inn, much nicer.  Got chatting to a couple of locals, one of whom was from Liverpool.  Talked about the decline of L8.

Day 3

Pretty uneventful journey home.

Coming soon

Work, work, work, work, work…don’t you just hate it when work gets in the way of life!  Probably wont be able to get away until November now, when the clocks will have gone back and it will be dark by 4pm and cold and wet and miserable…!!!

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