6 September – Lancaster and 7 September - Kendal



We drove into the big smoke to explore the city of Lancaster. Had a look at the shops and found the Library. We both joined and spent an hour or so on the internet. On the way home Brian was concerned because the car was playing up again.


We had to contact Hertz when we were in March because there appeared to be something wrong with the timing. They sent the AA man and he discovered that the car was almost out of oil. Doesn’t say much for the service supposedly performed before we rented the car. It seemed to be okay for the journey from March to Cowan Bridge but on the way back from Lancaster, a warning light kept coming on. As it was late when we got back, Brian waited until next morning to ring again. This time the AA man said that it needed a new part and as the car is still under warranty, the nearest place to repair it was Kendal. So we followed him to the Vauxhall place in Kendal, left the car for about three hours, and explored the city.


Another big centre with lots of interesting shops – I’m going back on my own next time so that I can spend some time in them! Also found the library there and joined it as well so that we can get access to the internet in Kirby Lonsdale which is the town closest to us with a Library that has computers for use by the public.


8 September – Westmorland County Show


After our sunny day on Sunday the weather reverted to what appears to be the norm around here. Cold, windy and showers. Thursday morning was no different except that the showers appeared to be heavier. However, we decided that as it was close by we should go to have a look at the Show. We left in the rain, wore our wet weather gear and were pleased we did. By the time we arrived the sun had come out, but the grounds were a sea of mud. We wandered around the various pavilions and were hugely entertained by a Kiwi doing a sheep show. He had about 7 sheep on a stage and they all danced!


We also enjoyed the grand parade which like the Sydney Easter Show commenced at 3.00 pm. There were impressive Clydesdale horses, and lots of different breeds of cows and sheep. Brian’s comment was that the experience is in the “at least you can say you have seen it” category!


9 September – Ennerdale Bridge for the Ennerdale Water walk.


Wet and cold again when we woke up, but we decided that we will just have to ignore the weather and go walking in the rain. We did wait a while to see if it would clear, but at it did not look like it, drove from Cowan Bridge to Ennerdale Bridge. This was our first stop when we did the Coast to Coast walk in 2002. On that day we walked from Ennerdale to Borrowdale a distance of about 24 kms, so we thought that the walk around the lake would be a breeze.

Not so. There was one really tough stretch which meant a slight climb up an escarpment and down again most of it on our bums. Then a comparatively flat walk along the edge of the Lake – but we had to go through lots of water. Fortunately I had my waterproof boots on, so my feet remained dry, as did my legs thanks to my waterproof trousers. Brian’s trouser are lightweight and they dry quickly so he was probably a bit more comfortable in them than his shorts. However, his shoes are not as waterproof as my boots, so his feet were very wet. The trouble with my boots is that they give me a rash and even though I have spent a lot of time walking them in, whenever I do a long walk and this was about 17kms, I end up with the rash. The end result of this adventure was that we had to drive back in the rain in the dark. Moral of the story is that we will start out earlier in future so as to avoid driving in the dark.


10 September – Heritage Open Day at Farfield Mill and a walk to an English pub with no beer


Our landlady Sandra very kindly left us a list of what is on in September and October, so Heritage Open days are in September. There were lots of buildings open this weekend, but we opted for Farfield Mill because it has a long history, and like the Majestic Theatre was preserved as a result of community involvement, fund raising etc, and is now a site for a number of traditional arts and crafts created by artists who work in the mill. There were demonstrations of lace-making, weaving, spinning, knitting, embroidery with textiles, and hand embroidery, felt making, pottery, as well as exhibitions of local artists and photographers showing works relating mainly to the moors and surrounding countryside. We arrived in time to see a series of snippets by members of the volunteers and helpers at the Mill about various aspects of working life in a large textile mill during the Industrial revolution.


I enjoyed arts and crafts, but the stories were all about how hard life was – I just can’t believe that it was as bad as they make out! Brian’s comment was another of the “at least you can…..” I’m reconciled to the fact that this is going to replace – “seen one church, you’ve seen them all”.


In the steps of the Bronte sisters


As we did not spend all morning at the Mill we returned to Cowan Bridge in time for lunch and decided to do the walk that the Bronte sisters used to have to do every Sunday when they were pupils at the Clergy Daughters School.


Charlotte Bronte used her experience at this school as the example for Lowood School in ‘Jane Eyre’ and the Rev. William Carus Wilson was the character named Mr. Brocklehurst. Every Sunday the students from the school went to Church at Tunstall, and in Jane Eyre, Charlotte wrote that ‘where a bitter wind, blowing over a range of snowy summits to the north, almost flayed the skin from our faces’.


(If you haven’t already done so, make sure you go and see the latest movie on Jane Eyre – we saw it before we left thinking it would have been finished here, but it was only released last Friday).


Unlike Charlotte Bronte, we did not do the walk in the middle of winter. It was reasonably warm with an occasional glimpse of the sun – that is until we were about half way, when it started to rain. We had a guide book as well as the Ordinance Survey map, but it still turned out to be longer than I anticipated. I thought it would take about 2.5 to 3 hours, but instead it took 4. Our plan was to have a beer at the pub in Tunstall, but when we arrived there – in the rain – the pub was closed! So we continued on and eventually the rain cleared and we arrived back very mucky. The fields were very wet, full of mud and cow and sheep shit! This time I wore my walking shoes and had very wet feet by the time we returned.


11 September. BRASS BANDS.


There was a big brass bands festival in the list of activities Sandra gave us so today we have been to the Hardraw Scar Brass Band Festival near Hawes. We listened to 7 of the 14 brass bands playing a medley of four different pieces of music – March, hymn, solo and whatever they chose as the last category. I enjoyed it very much, except that it got very cold sitting in the very windy ravine. When it started to rain, we along with just about everyone else there decided to retreat to the pub. The crowd inside was so large (you should get a beer by Tuesday said one wag) that in the end we came back to Cowan Bridge so don’t know who won the competition. Maybe it will be on the North West News tonight!


12 September


No news on the winner of the Brass Band Festival so will check on the net when we have a chance.


Today is a rest day as a low depression is due from the leftovers of Hurricane Katya and the winds are expected to reach up to 120 km per hour plus, of course, more rain