Up early, food and clothes loaded, but no filling of my water tank - seems to me He's really forgetting His jobs.
Anyway, She gets in and off we go - South down the A1 and then West on the A66 - heading for the Lakes methinks. After about 15 miles or so, we pull off the A66 and into
Mainsgill farm shop/cafe where they go off to scoff sausages and lovely thick bacon leaving me looking at a couple of cows, about six emus, five alpacas and a camel!!
Traffic is crawling when we rejoin the A66 - pesky roadworks - still, we'd probably grumble even more if they didn't get done ;-)
About an hour later we pull over into a laybay and He leans out of one of my windows to snap snow-capped Blencathra - a lovely sight indeed.
About 20 minutes later they park me up at
Keswick Rugby Club and go off for a wander round the town - leaving me wondering what's going on...food and clothes stowed on board but no water in my tank...are we staying or are we going back home later today?
When they get back they're mithering on about not being able to get the right size of merino wool 'no stink' legless undies, and maybe they'll find some in Ambleside (He did, She didn't) - Aha, me thinks,
Skelwith Fold here we come and, sure as eggs is eggs, about half an hour later I'm proven right.
After checking in, instead of going straight to a pitch, they pull into a motorhome service area - Clever thinking...travel lighter without filling my water tank and do the job when they get here. So, He gets out and after about 10 minutes trying to get the cap off my water tank amidst a lot of grunting, groaning, twisting, turning and a fair bit of under-the-breath swearing, He asks Her to have a go at it. She fails as well, so, scratching their heads and muttering about having to walk to the water taps every time they want a cuppa and how come I had never done this to them before (As if it was My fault!!!), we leave the service area and go and find our pitch. After we've parked up and He's hooked me up to the leccy he decides to go and ask a neighbour if he knows how to unfasten my filler cap... Neighbour does it first time and says that if they have any more problems to just knock on the door... How embarrassing (for Him!!!). So then He unhooks me and back we go to the service area and fill up. When we get back to the pitch, She gets Her iTouch thingy out and and uses the spirit level app to see if I'm level - I'm slightly unbalanced (physically, not mentally...well, maybe that as well ;-) ) so they use some lovely yellow plastic ramps to even me up - Nice!
After tea, they went out for a starlight walk to Skelwith Fold Village and decided to take a shortcut back through the woods that surround the caravan park. Big mistake, - unclear paths, soggy ground underfoot and underpowered windy-up torch - but after a bit of slip-sliding and scrambling and adding about a mile onto the trip, they get back to me safe and sound and I can finally get some sleep.
The next day, they are up early, have breakfast, don their walking gear (including Him putting on his new no-stink sheeps undies, and tell me to have a nice rest while they go off to visit Lily Tarn and Loughrigg Fell en route to Grasmere. When they get back they rave on about how great a walk it had been and how nice it was to have some mucky beer in the Badger Bar at Rydal on the way back.
They also talked about the
Muntjac Deer that 'barked' at them, and how He'd wished that the battery on his camera hadn't run out - simple solution to that - buy a spare one, or stop taking so many photos!
After tea it was Series One, Episode Two of
The Sopranos before drifting off to dreamland - no starlight rambling round the woods for them tonight!
Monday 30th March and the reason for their visit become clear - it's Her birthday... She opens a card and pressie from one of their daughters, a card from her parents-in-law but absolutley NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH, ZERO from Him!! Oh-Oh!! She then gets texts from their other daughter, her Nephew and Sister who live in Australia but still NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH, ZERO from Him. Still, they get sorted and, blow me down, but doesn't He go and make breakfast this time - GUILT?? Then, having recovered from that shock, they set off to walk to Skelwith Bridge and then up over the col to Grasmere once again.
When they get back, they go off for a shower, change and set off in their glad-rags (well, clean clothes not made for walking) to some place called
Lucy4. When they return a couple of hours or so later, they rave on and on about how good the food was, especially the lamb koftas and the potatos daviso, whatever they are. After a glass of wine they went off to sleep - but still NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH, ZERO from Him - and Him wearing the 'Perfect' badge She gave Him for Christmas...not so Perfect after all eh!!
The next morning, to my suprise, they're still speaking, and after a bit of a lie-in, they pack up and, So i think, off home. but No! - instead of turning right for Ambleside we go left to Skelwith Bridge and then on to Coniston. They park me uo near the tourist information place and go for a wander round the village and then down to
Coniston Water where they are lucky enough to see the SS Gondola being put through her paces in readiness for the tourist season.
No the Gondola is not going backwards, there just happened to be a strong wind blowing against her bow today.
After Coniston we head for Hawkshead and they leave me by the Hawkshead store while they go off and visit the Beatrix Potter museum and, much to their delight they see an original painting of
Hunca Munca one of their favourite Beatrix Potter characters.
After that we set off home... but still NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH, ZERO from Him (although the
non-stink undies worked a treat, apparently).
You can see more pictures of this trip
here.
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