Day 5 – Thursday
Back at the beginning of November, Chris and I had a proper holiday in The Lake District. We stayed with our friend’s family and were made to feel very welcome. Often us going on holiday is a long way down the list after other things are taken care of so it gets put off a lot! I’ve always wanted to visit The Lake District so loved this opportunity. Well, I took lots of pictures and so they are going to be broken down into each day or you can find me on Instagram where a lot of them have been uploaded to.
Today we had a bit of a late start. Following breakfast, we headed up to Wastwater. Mrs G had been telling us all week how it was her favourite of all the local lakes. I can see why. We were in the car and couldn’t really get a feel for the place. I asked Chris to pull over so I could get out and have a proper look. The side of the mountain comes right down to the water level. I’m not sure exactly which one it was but I’m told that Scafell Pike is one of these mountains we can see in the picture.
Chris was being all adventurous so we followed the road as far as we could along the edge of the lake. Towards the end of the lake, there is a really tiny village. It’s very tiny – like 4 house and a pub tiny. At that point we turned raound and came back along the road we’d been along – this time I was on the water side so was able to get more photos.
We headed up to Honsiter Pass again as Chris wanted to go on the Slate Mine Tour. By the time we got up there it was almost lunchtime so we sat in the car park eating our packed lunch. We watched one of the 4x4s head up the side of the mountain to the top where there is the opening to the slate mine.
We headed inside to get our tickets for the tour – it was about 1:50 and the tour was at 2 – which was good timing as the next would have been at 3:30/4:30 if they had enough people to run it. In the ten minutes, I had enough time to run back to the car and rearrange my handbag. I decided I’d be better with what I needed in my pockets and leave my handbag in the car. I’m not always that steady on my feet and if I don’t have to juggle my handbag too it means I have both hands free to catch myself! I also made sure I had both my inhalers with me. I wasn’t sure if I’d need them but better to have them in case.
I then made it back to the meeting point and pottered around the shop before the tour guide chap arrived back to collect the next group. There was me and Chris, a family from Poland and a Scottish chap who was there on his own.
We had a health and safety talk about our helmets and making sure that we keep them on the whole time we’re in the mine – I kept mine on from leaving the meeting point until we got back there whereas most of our group had taken it off before then!
I was appointed as “whippet/whippel” to be at the back of the group – this was easier said than done as the Scottish chap kept trying to walk at the back and I had to keep encouraging him to walk a bit faster.
We were allowed to bring two pieces of slate down with us when we left – my two pieces are not much bigger than mug coasters but they are nice souvenirs. Walking through the mine was amazing and so interesting. We had a history/geology lesson on the way round which I really enjoyed.
Chris decided that I should drive us back – which was easier said than done! At one point I was singing Lego House to try and not freak out as I took a really narrow single track road up a hill!
Following our trip up into the mountains (of sorts) we headed into Keswick – firstly to find the post office so that I could mail some pen pal letters – I decided it would be really cool if I could collect different postmarks where possible. The last lot were from Cornwall.
We got home and it was spaghetti bolognese for tea – my favourite! And then for pudding, we had bread and butter pudding! Double Yum!!
I sat in the living room with Mr G after dinner watching TV (Rev and Horizon) and knitting while Chris had gone upstairs to help Mrs G to fix her computer.
You can read about the rest of our adventure in The Lake District here.
