Sunny Weather

For the first time ever we enjoyed a fortnight of continuous fine weather.  This was very helpful on a walking holiday, but also meant that rest days were few and far between.

We walked ourselves in on Latterbarrow and Hawkshead Moor, both walks that could be accessed from the house.

This antique piece of farm machinery is a cutter-bar, once in annual use on my parents' farm to mow the hay grass.  Mowing was followed by days, if not weeks, of turning the swathes, rowing them up. piling the dried grass into pikes in the field and then leading the pikes in to the barn with a pike-lifter.  Even then, each forkful had to be hefted by hand up on to the mows.  Hundreds of hours of back-breaking manual labour.

So, on the third day we set out for Claife Heights and the Sawreys, home of Beatrix Potter.  This was woodland walking leading out to views over Windermere.

On the path, playing dead and looking like an old twig, this slow-worm.

The views eventually opened out to reveal Windermere and Bowness, across the lake.

We felt pleased to be isolated from the crowds and noise of those streets.

Lush country led down into Far Sawrey and we followed the path to Near Sawrey, where the Potter industry was in full swing.  Timed tickets were needed to access Hill Top and people had clearly come from across the world to visit.  We had already decided to take a short-cut up the road to Hawkshead, but then we noticed that enticing thing, a bus stop.  A bus was due within the next ten minutes and we very much enjoyed the views of Esthwaite from the bus window