Nathan decided to visit us for a week whilst his Mam and sister were in Italy and his dad was busy with the harvest. Although he only travelled from Berwick I think he was struggling with jet lag as he didn’t manage to get out of bed until 11.00 – and that was only because Paul woke him.
In the Lakes we get a lot of weather and that includes a lot of rain – well you wouldn’t have lakes without the rain would you, so we decided to just do outdoor things when it was fair and if we didn’t get the indoor things done we would just do them next time Nathan was across.

Day 1
So first up we decided to go to Cathedral Quarry, this is a disused quarry that is accessed by a tunnel and has a central cave that appears to be held up with a central column, you then head through this chamber to an upper level and can exit through a quite long tunnel to the other side of the hill. Ruby Nathan and I went through the long tunnel and loved it. We then headed on to Slaters Bridge for a picnic before Nathan decided to go to the pub for a quick beer! It was then back to the car via Hodge Close quarry before heading back for a BBQ.

 

Day 2
The jet lag must still be pretty bad!
On the Sunday there were weather warnings in force over the whole of Cumbria due to the UK being hit by the tail end of Hurricane Bertha. They weren’t far wrong and Paul’s new weather station seemed to agree! (he could also have put his head out of the door and had a look!).
So we decided to go and see the Fells and Flanders exhibition in Kendal which told about the people from Cumbria who went out to fight in the First World War, it was in the museum which also featured an exhibition about the Lakes many years ago – a bit like Beamish. We also thought that we may go to see the Dales and Lakes Historic Vehicle Day at Grange over Sands if the weather improved – unfortunately that did not happen so we opted for a late Sunday Lunch.

 

Day 3
Still struggling with Jet Lag…
As weather was very changeable we headed out with the idea that we would take Ruby for a walk if nice and if not go to the Lakeland Motor Museum . The weather looked good so we headed for Scout Scar which has tremendous views of the Fells and down to Blackpool but it was very blowy and we had to keep Ruby away from the edge. There is a shelter on the top that gives 360 degree views of the Fells and the Pennines. By the time we finished we thought it was better to leave the museum till a later date as it’s not a 5 minute visit. So we headed for the old fashioned station at Lakeside and had a quick look around before heading back to the the loge. Tomorrow we will head for Honister Slate Mine to have a tour and perhaps weather permitting a trip up Castle Crag.

 

Day 4
Found the cure for Jet Lag – an alarm clock!
Earlyish start for us then off to Honister Slate mine for a mine tour deep inside the mountain. We then headed off to Castle Crag for a picnic on the top. Its strange but as the crow flies its not very far from where we live to Honister but to get there by road it is over 25 miles and takes an hour +…….

 

Day 5
Jet Lag all sorted so we headed to the  Lakeside to Haverthwaite Railway

and then returned to  Lakeland Motor Museum and Bluebird Exhibition.