Saturday 9th June 2018.."a bit of everything!!!

So today is my last full day in the Lake District and it looks like another sunny hot day, read on......

After breakfast I took Ozzie for another walk and then packed up and drove to my hiking place...I had picked a hike that first went through some waterfalls and then a steep climb so come join me....

The path at first was wide and even with some nice waterfalls views of course without rain they are not so wild right now....

It was up a gentle slope until I got to the turn off for the really steep climb

....I do feel a lot better more energy and not couching so much...

Keep looking back for great views..

I think it was about 50 minutes to reach the summit and my birthday gift from Sam and Ian proves it..

.....Claire, Mark and Tom your gifted shirt I am saving for a soccer game!!

Views from the top

My Dad used to do this all the time he was an avid hiker and he always took photos nor his back pack!!

You can see the ☁️ clouds coming in and it sure felt like it was going to ☔️ 

The return was a steep incline but glad I had the pole and I literally got to the bottom of the mountain when the heavens opened and it poured...at this time I was just hiking in shorts and I stayed that way the 15 minutes back to the car.

I know how fast the conditions can change and how cold it can get and glad I had a towel and a complete change of clothes and went into the bathroom at the car park and got changed.

Views at the base...

It was about a twenty minute drive back to Cockermouth and by the time I got there it was hot and sunny and I do not think they had any rain...so I took some time to walk around the town

 and then visited this very famous house...

Whilst I was there a woman dressed in period costume gave a speech on what life was like in the 1700’s for the rich, working class and the poor it was very interesting.

I was passing the pub where I had watched the soccer game on Thursday night and realized that the Women’s tennis final was being played so I popped in and watched that.

Came home and sat out in the garden with my book....

Janet is feeling a little better each day which is good news and Malc is enjoying his band tour in Belgium!!

My visit here has been a really spectacular trip because of great accommodations and a kind land lady, Janet for lending me Little Jan, incredible weather and the health to get up those peaks!!

Tomorrow I leave and have about a two hour drive to visit my lovely friend June, who I met on my New Zealand cruise four years ago...I last saw her two years ago...it will only be a short visit two days but look forward to catching up with her life.

Yashi Kochi!!!

Friday 8th June 2018....I see the sea...

Same intro as yesterday regards the weather...

I also mentioned yesterday that I was still not feeling great so today was going to be a rest day...well almost!!!

Took my time over breakfast and then took Ozzie for a nice walk around the village...

I figured it was time to see the sea so off I went to a small town called St.Bees...

The village of St. Bees is on the western coast of Cumbria, at the end of a long valley, four miles south of Whitehaven. It has a long sandy beach, and is a popular holiday resort. Nearby, the rocky promontory of St Bees Head, the westernmost point of Cumbria, is the start of the ‘Coast to Coast walk’.

 

Cumbria’s most westerly point, it was here that St. Bega, an Irish nun, was shipwrecked in the ninth century. Legend has it that St Bega and other surviving nuns went to Lord Egremont for land to build a priory.

 

His response was that they could have any land that was covered by snow the next day (it was midsummer at the time). Next day land between the castle and the sea was covered in snow, and so the priory was built.

 

St Bees Head, a red sandstone bluff, forms one of the most dramatic natural features along the entire coast of North West England. There are four miles of towering precipitous cliffs, of ‘St Bees sandstone’, the red stone used for so many buildings in Cumbria.

My plan was to find some pub with a good lunch menu and a large TV to watch live tennis from Paris...

This is just a tiny village but the sea front is cute...

And also there is this walk up there...

And I found a pub....

So what I decided to do was go for a short hike up the cliffs  and the top for a while then return to the pub for lunch and an afternoon of tennis 🎾 watching!!

This looks like a great hike and reminded me of my Camino days...

The only part that was up..

And then the views walking out towards the lighthouse..

After about forty minutes I stopped here for a while

Then doubled back and the views on the way back..

It felt really good to stretch my legs and I felt I had more energy and less coughing...

I caught the last set of the first Men’s semi final and it was a thriller and then saw all of the Del Potro and Rafa match which unfortunately after the first set was one sided with Rafa again in the final.

I like this shot because after September when I shall attend the US Open in New York...the French will be the only Grand slam I have not attended and yes it is on my list!!

I took the back roads back home narrow roads and great views

The big and the small..

Anyone know what kind of cow this is???

Well another good day and I feel ok after my long soak in the tub and some dinner.....

Yashi Kochi!!!