3 Apr 2016

Keswick

31st March to 3rd April 2016

So much for Spring.  Thoughts of barbecues and sitting outside the caravan were quickly set aside after a look at the weather forecast, which couldn't really have been any worse.

Having paid in full, and with no chance of a refund, we set off for Castlerigg Hall, determined to enjoy ourselves and hoping the weather wouldn't be as bad as they were predicting.

Thursday

It was!

It was ok when we arrived on our pitch with a view...


The blue sky was short lived, although it did remain nice for the remainder of the day.



We managed to have lunch sitting outside the caravan, and then headed into Keswick.  The usual route down the hill was closed, due to a collapsed bridge, thanks to the recent floods, but we made it.  Had a quick look around the town, then dinner in a Mexican tapas restaurant, followed by drinks in a couple of pubs.  Scored 23/40 in a pub quiz, but at least we didn't come last!  Of course, we forgot to take torches, so had to walk back in the dark, first using a torch app on J's phone, then a bright picture on the camera to light the way.

Friday


It was only raining a bit when we woke up, so we decided to make the most of the morning.  We drove to Dodd forest, hoping to see ospreys from one of two viewing points. No chance.  The nest was pointed out to us by osprey watch volunteers but we didn't see any birds on it or in flight.  It was a murky day.

A replica of the osprey's nest

We did manage to get to the summit of Dodd, 502 metres, so another Wainwright ticked off.




Stopped off at Booth's on the way back.  Badly affected by recent flooding, they had almost no frozen goods, but they did have nice beers and a bottle of Blackberry gin for J, which she had enjoyed in a pub the night before.

It started to rain heavily mid afternoon and it didn't stop.  Too wet to venture out, we spent the night in the caravan listening to the radio above the sound of the rain.

Saturday

Light rain when we woke up.  We had planned to drive to nearby Grange, then get a bus to Honister slate mine and walk back to the car, but we thought better of it.  We'll save that walk for another day.

We still drove to Grange, but then did a low level circular wall to Derwentwater and back.  It rained most of the time, sometimes heavily, and we got soaked.

A dead sheep in the swollen river at Grange bridge





In the evening we had dinner in the onsite restaurant and then a drink in the nearby Heights hotel, a place we have enjoyed in the past but which was a bit lacking in atmosphere tonight.

Sunday

Had a bit of a scare on the way home, when D noticed something flapping around in his door mirror.   We pulled into Lancaster services, but it was just the flap that covers the water inlet point, so no harm done.

Coming soon...

Nothing booked, we are going on a cruise around Italy soon so it might be a while before we get back in the caravan.

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