Spirit Trail Day 1 & 2- Hello Stranger...

Well, we did it, we finally met. After around 5 years chatting on social media and several months of intense planning for the trip I finally met my hiking partner for the next 2 weeks.  Karen is absolutely lovely though frankly I'm just pleased she didn't turn out to be a 20 stone biker named Barry from Milton Keynes.

There was no time to mess around with slow introductions - within an hour of her arrival we were off to Ulverston for the start of our trek and a meeting with the lovely guys at Shed 1 Distillery.   They're often asked why they don't do distillery tours - the answer is quite simple - you see that photo below - it's an aerial photo of their distillery.  The entire distillery.  There's a reason they're called Shed 1 and it's because despite winning awards for their excellent gins, they distil everything in a 25 litre still in the shed in their back garden.

We had a fabulous time sampling 3 of their brews and learning all about the botanicals they use and where they source them (mainly Cumbria).  Our trip was beginning very well indeed...

From there it was over to Cumbria Crystal who have very kindly agreed to give us two absolutely beautiful crystal goblets for our trip - the perfect G&T demands the perfect glass.  You can find them in Ulverston opposite Booth's and the factory shop is open 7 days a week.  If you visit Mon - Fri you can watch the experts blowing the glass in the factory - but please do remember it's a working factory and the glass blowers are performing an immensely skilled task so it's best not to distract them.

Their finished products are unashamedly top end and can be seen in all the British embassies around the world as well as in James Bond films and Downton Abbey (amongst many others).  Here's the VERY best bit though - from October through to 22nd December you can book to go in and blow your own crystal bauble for your Christmas tree.  How cool is that?  We already have our session booked!  You can book yours HERE - do it soon as they're bound to sell out really quickly.

The crystal goblets are absolutely beautiful and I know they will be perfect for our many G&Ts - we've got them wrapped up like footballs so we don't damage them!

After all of that excitement it was time to check into our hotel for the night - Virginia House in the centre of Ulverston.  This little gem has a well deserved reputation for fine dining and the fact that it has one of the best gin bars in Cumbria didn't influence our decision at all.  Honest...

Craig and Louise are the perfect hosts and the food was absolutely superb - really imaginative and utterly delicious.  I mean this in a really good way, but the whole thing was like getting to taste all the amazing food they make in a Masterchef final.

Following such a fine feed - and perhaps the occasional gin (just to be polite!) we slept like logs and devoured a huge breakfast this morning before setting off.  Craig and Louise waved us off and, as we took our very first steps, the very first drops of rain began to fall...

So how was the first hike?  Well, it rained. And rained.  And then rained a little more.  There was also a howling gale as we made our way up over the back of Hoad Hill - but the problem with putting two resolutely positive people together is that we refused to acknowledge that we were either cold or wet.  "Well it could be worse..."  "And at least it's not..." were the main topics of conversation

"At least there are no bears..."

"At least it's not snowing..."

The first day was just a short hop to Greenodd as I had a commitment to honour with the Arthur Ransome Trust - I was reading a chapter in a marathon reading of Swallows and Amazons.  Such a shame the weather wasn't playing ball, but it was still an excellent event!

Tomorrow we're back on the road again so join us (or even watch out for us!) as we make our way from Greenodd to Cartmel.  Here's hoping for sunnier skies!

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

We have been incredibly lucky to receive superb support from a whole range of folks on this adventure.  Please could you take a moment to take a look at their websites and follow them on social media.  They really are all VERY lovely people.  😀

Shed 1 Gin

@Shed1Gin

Shed 1 Gin on Facebook

Cumbria Crystal

@CumbriaCrystal

Cumbria Crystal on Facebook

Cumbria Crystal on Pinterest

Virginia House

@VirginiaHouse24

Virginia House on Facebook

Virginia House on Instagram

Potty Picnics Part 2

"There's 36  miles to Coniston, we've got a full tank of gas, half the contents of Booth's on the back seat, it's sunny out and we're wearing sunglasses."

In Potty Picnics Part 1 we carried a full afternoon tea to to the top of Harter Fell  - this time we had a lovely Hilux car to play with for the weekend (HUGE thanks to Vantage Motors) which was rather too cumbersome to carry to the top of anywhere.

Having toured the Lake District (and beyond) thoroughly for a few days, we decided to round off the weekend with afternoon tea, in the back of the Hilux, in Walna Scar car park - obvious really.

The car park was fuller than we'd ever seen it with cars strewn everywhere and we didn't feel at all incongruous setting up a table and chairs in the back of the truck...

We thought we were slightly deranged but several folks stopped to chat and told us it was the most civilised thing they'd seen all day. (Or maybe they were just being nice hoping we'd toss them a scone...)

We even found a new friend, but he soon lost interest when he realised the smoked salmon was all gone, and in his haste to depart he forgot to tell us his name.

The fells were looking magnificent, if a little busy, and we couldn't resist a quick stop at the end of Coniston Water on the way home.

No idea where Potty Picnics Part 3 might take us but we're open to suggestions.  In the meantime, here are a few more photos from the weekend (if for no other reason than to explain to Vantage Motors why the mileage is so much higher than it was when they dropped it off on Thursday evening.)  And for those who are curious, it's a Toyota Hilux Invincible X and it was AWESOME - seriously, Steve does NOT want to hand it back.

Birkrigg Common

Derwent Water

Friars Crag

NT Car Park Derwent Water

Honister Pass

Honister Pass

Wast Water

Wast Water

Beckfoot nr Silloth

Silloth sunset

Sandy tyres

The Hoad, Ulverston

Ulverston & Coniston fells from Birkrigg

Birkrigg & sheep

Let's do it

Like everyone I was hugely saddened by the death of Victoria Wood recently; gone too young at only 62.  I'm not just sad because we've lost a huge comedic talent but also enormously sad for her 2 children.  My dad died of cancer when I was just 18 (well technically it was 2 days before my 19th birthday but either way, far too young), so I know what it's like to grow up without a parent around to see you mark the important milestones in your life.

Whilst I was of course devastated by his death, it had a huge impact on my life.  From the age of 18 I was blindingly aware that life was short and unpredictable.  We grew up in a very working class house with a lot of love but not much money and I clearly remember talk about money being put aside each month into his superannuation.  I never saw the books being balanced in but I'm pretty sure that money could have been put to good use in many other ways.  One of the overwhelming things that has stayed with me is that dad saved hard for his retirement but died before he got the chance to relax and enjoy it - and the unfairness of that has always driven me.

It's driven me to not accept mediocre in life, even if that drives the people around me a little nutty.  It's driven me to dye my hair bright colours (currently purple, red and pink) because I like it that way, it's driven me to try and make the most of every single moment, to find pleasure in the simple things rather than "things" and it's what continues to drive me as we journey on in this crazy ass new life we could only have dreamed about 10 years ago.

So many times people have said to me "I'd love to do what you're doing but..." or "I'd love to dye my hair crazy colours too but..."  But what?  It's so very easy to find excuses not to do things and hard to find the reasons to drive you forward - especially when those around you are telling you you're bonkers to even consider it.  I'm not pretending for one minute that this adventure has been plain sailing - I've been redoing the blog index this week and re-reading our early blogs when things, at times, really were desperate but do you know what?  I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

So we don't have the cash to buy the latest big car but we've achieved the dream of publishing a book - and there are two more on the way over the next couple of years.  We get to walk in beautiful countryside, write and take photos and call it work - it doesn't pay the bills yet but we're getting there.  And we get to do things like we did today - Delores needed a habitation check so we dropped her off in Ulverston and set off on the bikes for a day together in the sunshine.  We peddled all the way to Roa Island and back, stopping for lunch and snacks in the sunshine.

Bardsea Church

Beautiful windows by Wilhelmina Geddes

Birkrigg double stone cricle

Gleaston Castle

Dendron Church

Road block!

Tea.  There was cake too but we ate it all...

Of course a new car would be nice - ours makes all sorts of odd knocking and grinding noises - but it gets us from A to B (most of the time!) and we're having the most amazing adventure.  As I've been writing this blog I've also heard that Prince has died - and there have been FAR too many others this year - just all so very sad,  I know she wrote it about something rather different but really - let's do it - let's stop worrying about the small stuff and go out and have an adventure or two.  You can all watch this - I'm off to buy my copy of the Woman's Weekly...

#LakeDistrictBid Advent Calendar Day 15 - Because of the quiet corners...

Millions of people visit the Lake District every year and, to be honest, it's not all that big a place and there are parts of it which get particularly busy, but no matter how busy it gets there are always some quiet tucked away corners.  Places like High Dam and Stott Park Heights, Whitbarrow Scar and the route up Wansfell from Troutbeck are some of my favourite spots to go to escape the crowds.

One of the benefits of gaining World Heritage Site Status will be a possible increase in visitors and an increase in visitors within the national park will lead to more visitors to areas just beyond the boundaries that could really benefit from the income that would generate - places like Ulverston, Barrow and Whitehaven.  I have a real soft spot for those towns with their drop dead gorgeous views and fascinating histories.  The coastline all along Morecambe Bay is so chock full of wildlife that it lured BBCs Autumnwatch back to Leighton Moss for 2 years in a row and walks along the coast are deserted even on the busiest bank holidays.

Ulverston

Just outside Barrow

Whitehaven

Whitbarrow Scar

High Dam

Roadblock between Troutbeck and Wansfell

Leighton Moss

Morecambe Bay

To learn more about the bid and to register your support with just one click (honestly, just one click, no email address needed or anything) please visit the World Heritage Bid site here.

To go back to day 1 of the advent calendar please click here.