Sunday, August 20, 2006

Our holiday in the Lake District - warning LOTS of photographs

We had a fantastic time & luckily the weather held until the last day of the holiday. As we drove out of the Lakes yesterday we heard that a severe weather warning for Cumbria had been issued with really didn't surprise us as the rain was torrential.

But away from the British preoccupation with the weather on back to the holiday. As predicted the first week was busier due to the family coming along too but we all had fun. They went out every day but our DD likes to stay at the campsite so we had a few 'lazy days' during which we read, played cards & I knitted

DH & BIL went up The Old Man of Coniston with Annie. Blue is a wimp who would have refused the hard climb so he didn't bother to take her.


(Click the panoramics for much larger images, beaware that the images are large but worth it..)


Click for a bigger of the view from the summit of The Old Man of Coniston
View from the Summit of the Old Man of Coniston


Click for a bigger of the view from the summit of The Old Man of Coniston
View from the Summit of the Old Man of Coniston


Annie at the Top of the Old Man of Coniston
Annie at the Top of the Old Man of Coniston


Poor Annie struggled coming down & found the lack of a pathway frightening. DH resorting to carrying her part of the way which isn't easy as she's not a small dog.

Annie Knackered
Annie knackered after walking up The Old Man of Coniston


As DH was out all day DD & I went to Ulverston with Blue. We quickly found Spinning A Yarn which has to rival Heirs & Graces as my favourite Yarn shop. I drooled over many yarns including Noro Tao & a locally produced 2 ply Alpaca. But I'd already ordered my August yarn before I went away so I was good & didn't buy anything. However DD purchased two balls of Noro Kureyon as she wants to try felting. Has anyone got any suggestions as to what pattern she could use with 100g?

On another day all 9 of us went to the Sellafield Vistors Centre. The younger kids had fun but the rest of us were bored silly so it's just as well the entry was free.

nieces & nephew at the Sellafield Visitors Centre
Brains of the future

DH & BIL were disappointed that they couldn't go on a tour of the power plant but with the security scare that the country is undergoing at the moment we could totally understand why. They had to make do with this:

Sellafield Nuclear Power Plant
Sellafield Nuclear Power Plant


The countryside is absolutely fantastic & I was far more impressed with the scenery on the journey back to the campsite as we went over Wrynose Pass & Hardknott Pass (known locally as 'The Struggle':

Wrynose Pass
Wrynose Pass




(Click the panoramic for a much larger image, beaware that the image is large but worth it..)


Click for a bigger of the view of Hardknott Pass
Hardknotts Pass


The local inhabitents were extremely hardy:

Herdwick Ewe on Wrynose Pass
Herdwick Ewe on Wrynose Pass


and her lamb was very cute:

Herdwick Lamb
Herdwick Lamb


In the second week we spent a day on Lake Windermere on the boats which we last did 3 years ago.

boat on Windermere
boat on Windermere


Steam boat on Lake Windermere
Steam boat on Lake Windermere


A bouy on Lake Windermere
A bouy on Lake Windermere


dogs on a boat
Airedales on Lake Windermere


red headband
knitting on Lake Windermere


We also went to Aria Force a beautiful Waterfall maintained by the National Trust:

Aria Force Waterfall
Aria Force Waterfall


Aria Force Waterfall
Aria Force Waterfall


Tree roots
Tree roots


We visited another National Trust property Townend which is the most stunningly preserved house. Daisy I agree with you about the library. Photographs were by appointment only so you'll have to go yourself to find out about it's charm.

So that's all folks until the next installment of our holiday - the knitting related purchases which will be coming soon......

10 comments:

Daisy said...

Wow, looks like you had a fab holiday! And much more self-restraint than me - not buying yarn at the Ulverston shop!
I'm glad you liked Townend, I thought it was fab!

amore said...

Your photos are great, I especially like the tree roots- I find them facinating. The Herdwick lamb is so cute. Wrynose pass is awesome. Im glad you had a lovely holiday.

Devorah said...

It looks like your holiday was fantastic. I, too, love the tree roots!

RoxyK said...

Sounds like you had a great time. What lovely photos - my fav is Wrynose Pass. It looks just like a painting, and I love the name ;)

Lyndsey-Jane said...

oops, i left my comment on the wrong post. It was supposed to be here.

Carol said...

The panoramas are definitely worth enlarging. I like Annie at the top of the Old Man of Coniston.

I originally came to see your Lady Eleanor which by the way is beautiful. I think I'm going to fringe mine, but using a different yarn.

hellomango said...

Lovely photos, I like the tree roots too! Sounds like you had a great holiday!

Steph said...

Looks like a wonderful holiday. What amazing tree roots! They remind me of an aran cable..

Nic said...

It looks like you had a great holiday. We are going away camping with family on Thursday and I'm thinking it wil be 'fun'. I quite like my space and being able to do or not do as we want, still it will be nice.
We took a group of venture scouts to The Lakes a few years ago and it really was The Struggle when we took a delapidated mini-bus up there!!
Glad you got some knitting done.
Nic

Piglottie said...

Glad you had a great holiday. The photos are brilliant - just the sort of inspiration I need at the moment for my writing.