Took some time to celebrate

We went on holiday to the Lake District. I was determined that October was too late in the year to go camping, so we threw caution to the winds and rented a holiday flat in Hawkshead for a few days. It was ideal; not too much luggage to take, and all mod cons. What was especially good, however, was the dog-friendliness of the whole area. It's an unusual pub that doesn't allow them in, even when people are having meals. It made a refreshing change not to be treated like a leper simply for bringing our family with us.


The weather was variable: okay for most of the time which was good for walking and climbing


(Piglet was a brilliant pathfinder through the bracken!),



sometimes not so great


One day it couldn't make up its mind



and one day it was utterly perfect.


(I finally remembered how to work the timer on the camera.)



We found a very big tree!



Some of the walks involved caching (we found 8), but others didn't - we also had pubs to cross out of our Country Pubs book. Luckily some expeditions could be combined ventures.

After we left the Lake District we crossed over the top from one coast to the other, calling in at the Tan Hill Inn (which was both in our pub book and has a cache, where we placed a new Travel Bug - I hope he doesn't languish there for too long) on the way eastwards. My, that's a remote spot and an 'exciting' road to it - but great beer and a wonderful welcome. Highly recommended.

And we went to the seaside as well.

Put your head down to the ground and listen to your mind

Lemongrass, week 8 update, and it's still flourishing.



And lookit! I planted a piece of root ginger a few weeks ago, and it lives!