Birthdays

April is the months of birthdays, starting with a big one for Walter.   Namely his 70th.   And like cheese and wine, which improves when left to mature, 70 years means that Walter is right in his prime.    Of course Walter also loves cheese and wine, and it has obviously been good for his health.   So it will be carry eating and drinking, with some travelling thrown in of course.

Walter's 70th birthday dinner, NZ lamb, slow roasted in the oven, with all the trimmings.   The second lamb roast in 10 days.  Very tasty.

 The very flat birthday cake.   I had thrown the appropriate cake tin into the recycling bin the previous night, and the rubbish men had emptied it, so had to make do with a large tin.  But the taste of the cake was delicious, and that is what is important.   The flat cake was easier to cut into slices too.  Very efficient.

 Steve's birthday dinner, delicious beef and ale pie followed by delicious profiteroles.  Very sophisticated.   Emma has excelled in her culinary skills.

 And yesterday another birthday dinner, mainly for Walter, but also for Steve and Patrick.   The three 'boys' all race to blow out the three candles.    And guess what, slow roasted lamb again, but local organic lamb this time.   And those delicious profiteroles too.

 And then the sun came out.

But there will be no more lamb on the menu for a while.   We are a bit over slow roasted lamb, even the local organic type.

House renovations and clean up completed

Celebrations are now in order.   We have achieved it.   We have got our maisonette in order, and it looks great.  We are very proud of our endeavours. 

We have a beautifully renovated bedroom with a new ceiling, a renovated cupboard in the kitchen, reorganised kitchen cupboards and drawers, an extension on the bookshelves in the study, and a new bench and shelves for the laptop and the associated technological accessories.  We have also tidied and cleaned out all the other cupboards in the house, including the dreaded job of cleaning out the cupboard under the outside stairs, which is damp and full of cob webs.   

We can now sit back and enjoy our hard work, and Patrick's work on achieving miracles with the ceiling and walls of our bedroom.    We still need to replace the ceiling and shower in the bathroom, and take the kitchen cupboard doors to a spray painter in order to achieve a uniform colour and look in the kitchen.   But these jobs are minor compared to the work completed during the past two months.  

Walter measuring up the new shelves for the kitchen cupboard.   He is smiling too, which is great, as he is working on his birthday.   I was keen to get the cupboard finished before the family came to dinner.   

 The booze has been taken out of the washing basket, which had been left in a very hot conservatory for two weeks.   Does alcohol explode?    Luckily the bottles were still intact when we arrived back from Holland.  The neighbours may have been covered in exploding alcohol.   Well I am guilty of emptying some of the bottles down the drain (not down my throat, honestly) as they were either unidentified and mysterious bottles bought in Italy and France, or they contained only small amounts of alcohol.   The drains smelled very sweet afterwards.  The bottles on this shelf have all been washed and polished.  And ready to drink.

 The empty cupboard with the frame in place.   I am very impressed with Walter's work.   Unfortunately Walter did not finish in time for his birthday dinner, so I moved everything from the dining table and found places for them around the house.   A bit of double handling there.  

 Finally everything is in the cupboard, so neat and tidy too.   The shelves to the right (not seen in this picture) are very deep, so these shelves can hold lots of kitchen necessities, as well as the booze.   When we moved into the house, 20 years ago, the hot water tank was housed in this cupboard.   But of course we now have a small combi boiler in the kitchen for the hot water and central heating.  And a lovely big cupboard.

 The renovated bedroom with its lovely white ceiling and walls, and laminated floor.   The pictures have been  cleaned and hung back in the room, with some changes though.   We need to keep the lines clean and simple.   'House and Garden' or 'Home Beautiful', here we come!

 The books are no longer stacked in front of each other, in a frantic attempt to house our books, with the end result being a cluttered and untidy bookshelf. I must admit I did move quite a few books to the bookshelves in the spare room and the shelves in the lounge room, but the extra space has been well used.

We managed to find a narrow bookshelf, from Ikea of course, which fits perfectly on top of our old bookcase.  And I can see that there is room left, so we can buy more books.   Good news there.

 And Walter no longer has a desk top computer, on top of a huge computer table, with numerous cables dangling behind it, gathering dust.   He now has a super slim line laptop, which is hooked to a larger screen above it.   He also build a bench with a shelf underneath, in order to house all the necessary technological gear, including the Wii.     Our study is the grandchildren's favourite room, as it has benches, and paper and pens and pencils, plus lots of whizzy technological toys.  They also liked the old desk top computer.  But sorry children, it has had to go, so I hope you like our new arrangement.

And now we are ready for our forthcoming guests.   Aaron, Kylie, Mia, Abi and Raphy from Holland, and Brian and Susanne from New Zealand.

Lake District - a rest from walking

The Lake District is not just about outdoor pursuits, such as walking, climbing, cycling and boating.   Although these activities feature strongly as the reason why people visit the area.    And the number of outdoor shops certainly support this reason.  However, I did see plenty of people who came to enjoy a little bit of relaxation, to party, and to eat in the numerous restaurants and pubs.  

There were only a few boats around, but from the pictures leisurely sailing is a very popular activity on the lakes.  Not quite the Mediterranean but still busy in summer.

 These two swans are so elegant.  

 The Lakes District Visitor Centre.   A very imposing building, once a grand house and gardens, and an excellent display of photographs inside the building.

We visited the Lakeland Pencil Museum in Keswick, on the edge of Derwent Water. Surprisingly, a very interesting museum, small, but full of information about the making of pencils.   What started off as a home industry two hundred years ago, is now a thriving commercial industry, that produces a wide range of high quality pencils.   The graphite for the early pencils came from a mine in Borrowdale, and the wood from cedar trees which were imported from America.   And I learnt the letters HB on the end of the pencils means Hard Black.   Obvious, but not really.   

Oh how I remember the tins of Derwent pencils.   Very precious, and I took great care of  my small tin of coloured pencils with its picture of Derwent Water and the fells on the lid.

Derwent watercolour pencils were used to illustrate the pictures for the film 'The Snowman'.

And of course there is the world's longest pencil on display.    As it is long and thin, I could not photograph the whole pencil so had to make do with the sign.

A stroll along the waters edge of Lake Windermere in order to get the best photographs.

The opposites.   Two people working hard in a kayak, while the people in the sailing boat are using an engine, and relaxing as they cruise along on the water.

This is not Holland, where everything is pristine.   These two milk trucks are rusting happily at the back of the dairy.    I love them.

A Victorian glasshouse?  No!  It is a very modern garden centre in Ambleside.   We went and had a look inside of course.   Very smart.

And so this ends our visit to the Lake District.    A beautiful area, well worth visiting.   And one that we shall return to, in the not too distant future, I hope.   Maybe to climb higher and reach the top of some of the peaks.  And to look at some of the historical sites that abound in the area.   But no walking on deadly ridges planned, not for us.   I do not want to tumble over the edge.   Not yet anyway.

Helvellyn

Helvellyn - a name straight out of The Lord of the Rings.   It has the right tone and atmosphere, and the territory to match the story, especially when there is snow, and wind and mist, plus hail and sleet.   My imagination has run wild, and I did not even attempt to climb the peak.

Helvellyn Pike, 950 metres above sea level.   New Zealanders will say, 'It is just a little hill', and yes it is in terms of the mountain ranges in New Zealand.  But the ridges which lead to this peak need to be seen, in order to understand that it is no ordinary peak.  Google Helvellyn Pike, Cumbria, and look at the main ridge leading to it, called Striding Edge.   A ridge that has a very narrow path along the top and steep sides.   One slip of the boot, and over you go, and it has happened.

Thank goodness Emma and Steve, did not attempt the ridge.    One look at it, and Steve said, 'no way'.  So they climbed a lesser peak, which gave them fantastic views of the surrounding fells and peaks, so they were happy.

The path up, was steep in places but easy walking, relatively.   A view of the fells with a beck running through them.

 Out on the moorland, not far from Red Tarn.   A walk to Red Tarn is quite achievable and safe for families.   A view of the ridge and Helvellyn Pike.  However the family in front, mum and three teenagers were going to attempt the ridge, as did many other people that day.  The teenagers told their mum to enjoy the view and not to look down.   Not good advice as one needed to watch where the feet were going.  Hope they were okay.

Looking back towards Ullswater.

 A view of Red Tarn, from the peak that Emma and Steve climbed.

 A view of the ridge leading towards Helvellyn.   At this point, Steve was clinging to the last piece of bank and saying, 'No way, I am not going across there'.   And I agreed with him totally.   Even though I was not there, to give advice.

Steve looking relaxed, on the moorland, where it was lovely and flat.

Sorry, Emma, I put the photo on before I realised that I had not turned it around.  Perhaps that is how you felt after looking at the edges of Striding Edge.

And then the clouds came down, and it hailed.   'Thank goodness we were not on Helvellyn Pike, or worse still on the ridge', exclaimed Emma and Steve.    And I agreed totally.  Not that I was there.

Steve walking down the path that Walter, Jackson, Isabel and I walked up.   Apparently the large stones were quite tiring to walk down on, whereas we felt they helped us to walk up easily.   A different perspective there.

When Emma and Steve got to the carpark they went to the same cafe as us, for restorative coffees and cakes, which they enjoyed very much.  They were very happy and satisfied with the walk, as well.  I think they achieved their walk, brilliantly.

Mires Beck & Lanty's Tarn

Mires Beck and Lanty's Tarn.   Sounds impressive.   Well it was, and we loved it.   We climbed up 350 metres, on a well built and maintained path.    No clambering over huge rocks for us.

First of all we drove over a very high pass, from Windermere to Ullswater and parked in the carpark in Glenridding.   The carparks in the Lake District are not free, by the way, so it is important to always make sure a car parking ticket is purchased before each walk.   The cost is roughly about £7 per day.   A source of local income.

After packing our lunches and four bottles of water into my rucksack, we set off, the intrepid four, Walter, Nola, Jackson and Isabel.  Emma and Steve were undertaking a much more ambitious walk, but more about that later.

After leaving the carpark, and walking along a lane, we found the path that went uphill.   This path was easy to find as a) it was well built, b) it was going uphill, and c) the sign pointed to Helvellyn, the third highest peak in the Lake District.   Not that we were going there.   The pictures, seen in the travel book, of the final ascent, were very off putting, especially in the snow.   And there was snow up there.   I could see it.

The picture below shows the path as it went downhill.   The gradient here was minimal.   The best was yet to come.  We looked up and saw people way above us.   A long climb ahead.   Breathe deeply.  Or puff, puff, puff.

 We crossed a beck.   A lovely shallow stream.    The beck appeared a few times as we climbed the hill, or at least I think it was the same beck.   Mires Beck?

 One of our many, many rest stops on the way up.   Any excuse for a chocolate stop.

 A view over the open fells.

 An even better view of Ullswater, and its surrounding fell land.   The ever changing colours, caused by the sunlight and clouds, were magnificent.

 And finally we are at the top, and it is lunchtime.   I found a very comfortable spot on mossy grass surrounded by a curved rock.   Just like an armchair.   Walter, Jackson and Isabel perched on rocks.  And the views were just amazing.   One could sit there all day.  Luckily we did not do so, otherwise we would have been very wet people.

 So up or down?  The path continues up beside the wall, and climbs up onto moorland and Red Tarn.   Not too far, a mother, father and young son informed me.   They were heading for Red Tarn.  But not for us this time.  We followed the wall down, via the grassy slope.   Keep the wall on your right, the instructions said.   And we did.   Just as well we could use the wall as a guide, as the paths went every where, mostly sheep tracks I think.  

 And before we left we took one last look at the view of the Helvellyn range.   Can we see Steve and Emma up there?  Walter was sure he could see people walking along the top.   And not shown in the picture but right at my feet, is a dead sheep, only wool and bones now.   Jackson and Isabel were fascinated.    Sorry I forgot to take a photo.

There are also no pictures of Lanty's Tarn, due to bypassing it, accidentally.   We became a little confused by the number of tracks, and followed the wrong one.   Typical.

And finally the walk was over, and we went into a cafe for coffee and hot chocolate.   Jackson had an extra large cup.   He felt like he deserved it.

And he did too.

Brant Fell, a local walk

Our third walk was local, up onto Brant Fell, a rise of only160m.   A short walk too, only 5.7 km.   Easy.   Especially after Catbells.    

We started off in a picturesque town on the edge of Lake Windermere, called Bowness-on-Windermere.   After walking up a very steep cobbled street, we entered the woods and then onto the path which took us up to open fell land.   

We were without Donna, Patrick, Scott, Lucy and Molly as they had travelled back to London the previous day, in horrendous traffic.  

The first view of Lake Windermere.

Striding forward and upwards.

Walter and I looking very much in control of this walk.   No mud on the trousers either.

A small peak, but still a peak.   Jackson braving the wind, or getting read to fly off the edge.   I am not sure which option he had in mind.

Another and higher view of Lake Windermere.    The storm clouds held off shedding their rain, thank goodness.

A kissing gate.   There were lots of these gates on the path.    Tradition has it that a girl kisses her suitor (no boyfriend labels in olden days) every time he held the gate open for her.

The steps of the stile are build into the stone wall.   Very practical.

This poor little lamb appears to have lost its mummy.   Hope she was found.   We worried about it for ages afterwards.

We took this walk in our stride.   But a big walk to come the next day.   Hope we are ready.

Catbells

Today we are attempting the Catbells walk, beside Derwent Water, not far from Keswick.  All thirteen of us, including a four year old.   We have checked the map, and description of the walk and it is definitely suitable for young children, and the not so young.   

But first a check in the lounge room, and yes Easter Bunny has left a huge pile of goodies, and some for Oma and Opa too.   Lucky us.  And Easter Bunny has also left a cactus plant for Jackson.   A very inventive Easter Bunny.

So with plenty of chocolate in our stomachs, and some in our ruck sacks for later, we set off for Catbells.  The volume of traffic was considerable, including some interesting farm tractors.   This one had a large bale of hay on the front as well as the back.   At least it was balanced.  And the clouds were almost on the ground.  

When we arrived we found that the car parks were full to overflowing.   Everyone was out walking, or so it seemed.  We were lucky to find a park, perhaps not ideal as far as the farmer was concerned, as it was beside a farm gate.

So off we went, and joined the stream of walkers heading towards the top.   At this point the walk looked fairly innocuous.

And the view over Derwent Water, very picturesque, and mysterious with the low cloud.

But what is this ahead.   A bank of slippery rocks, and people trying to negotiate them, or walk around them.  And it is all very slippery.

I will admit that I was terrified.   I have not walked up anything but minor hills for some time and here I was trying to clamber up slippery rocks, with the help of Steve and some other kind walkers.  But I managed, just.   As I was catching my breathe, the others started to walk back down towards me and said it was just too dangerous for young children.   The wind was freezing and the clouds were obstructing the peak.   So we then had to negotiate the slippery rocks again, going downhill this time, which was worse than going uphill.                                

At last it is lunch time, by the shore of Derwent Water.  Part of Catbells can be seen through the trees.   Very pleasant sitting by the water.   Much better than scrambling over rocks, and wondering if you are going to get blown off the peak.   What about the other hundred or so people who carried on walking up the hill, they must be made of sterner stuff than us.

Oh dear, it looks as if I have had a problem with mud.  Sliding over?   Maybe.   No one else has muddy trousers.

The children throwing stones into the lake.   A child's pastime.

And time to get the camera out.   Emma preparing to take some perfect pictures.   And she does too.

Walter looking relaxed, or relieved that he survived the attempted walk up Catbells.

And there is always another walk, another day.   And the rain is holding off so far.  Cold but beautiful.