Out and about in the Lake District

Last week we had my friend Jane to stay, she last came to visit over a year ago now, and over the few days she was staying with us we continued our lakeland adventures.

However, we started a bit further north of the Lake District as J and I had to go to Carlisle on the first morning.  We decided that what ever the weather we would try and get out and about and do things, so after our meeting we all went for a walk around Talkin Tarn and this little stroll around the tarn set us up for a longer walk the next day. 

So the following day Jane and I headed off into the Lake District, we drove through Windermere and Ambleside to Skelwith Bridge where our first port of call was Chesters by the River for lunch! I have not been to Chesters for a long time so it was good to return as the food is excellent and the cakes are amazing. There is a lovely shop to mooch around which sells all sorts of things - but we resisted. Instead, we decided that as the weather was looking good we would go on our walk, and have tea and cake on our return.

It was a gentle - but very muddy and wet underfoot - stroll along one side of Elter Water on part of the Cumbria Way, then over the bridge in Elterwater village, up a hill through a wooded area and followed a footpath across the fell and picked up the Cumbria Way again back to Skelwith Bridge. In total about four and a half miles - and looking forward to our tea and cake at the end. The rain held off, but it did look a bit threatening at times. When we arrived back, much to our dismay we had missed timed our walk by ten minutes as the cafe closed at 4pm weekdays.  Poor planning on my part as I must have looked at the weekend opening times :-(

But we were continuing our day out by going to Keswick to the Theatre by the Lake for an evening performance of 'Swallow and Amazons'. So we headed straight off to find cake and tea in Keswick!

The production was excellent, and we both really enjoyed it. The set and props were so imaginative and the cast brilliant - adults acting children, they got the characters spot on! This show has now finished so there will be a change of programme. 

The next day we stayed nearer to home and went to Kirkby Lonsdale for a mooch around the lovely shops - in the rain! Then went to Barbon, a village nearby, for lunch at Churchmouse Cheeses.

Over our few days together we had lots of catching up, lots of laughs and lots of good food! - and no doubt we will have further adventures again soon.

On the craft front - I have just started another pair of socks and am looking forward to seeing how the stripes work out with this wool.