Lake Buttermere

The lake district is known for 'walking' and that is just what we did.  Our first was a short sojourn of a couple of hours around the Lake (the day after a wedding is meant for nothing but a stroll).  Pretty scenery.

A trip to the coast (to see what the beach side towns were like - say no more) and a wander around Cockermouth - home to the enormous flood in 2009.  We strolled the town (bought some travel books to start to enjoy the thought of our upcoming holiday) and then went down Cockermouths memory lane.  Some well known and, some not so well known people grew up in Cockermouth (perhaps there is something in all the fresh air and walking through countryside that inspires the brain, or maybe it was the Quaker background that many seemed to have been born into)..

• Robinson Mitchell - the first person to open an auction mart
• William Wordsworth - poet whom I wrote about in an earlier blog
• Fearon Farrows - he catalogued over 300 stars and built the first astronomical observatory in the southern hemisphere (South Africa)
• John Dalton - scientist who came up with Daltons Law and developed the modern atomic theory
• Fletcher Christian - say no more.

The next day we climbed Haystacks - we did well going up - passed a family with young kids and a man that looked about 70 and managed to keep up with some others more our age.  At the top we did some scrambling for the first time over here (hands and knees up rock faces, with no clear path - just someone further ahead leading the way).  Quite challenging. At the top was some lovely scenery, tarns, lunch and the path downwards (which we didn't enjoy - shingle at a sharp gradient).

On the way back home, we had a quick stop in Shrewsbury to see Marianne, Steve and little James. I have a lovely photo of James but can't find it so will post it when I do!!