befogged

Last week meant a much-needed week off work and, courtesy of Al’s parents’ very generous 30th birthdays gift to us both, went to Ullswater in the Lake District:

Beautiful. Really beautiful. These are the views from the B&B and the hotel we stayed in, at different ends of the lake.

A gorgeous week, in all. The weather was lovely at the start of it in particular, so we managed to squeeze in some of this:

Including around Grasmere:

The timing was down to Al’s birthday more than anything, but although I’m not an especial Wordsworth fan it was rather pleasing to be in the Lakes when the daffs were in bloom! Tremendously touristy in Grasmere itself, as I suppose is to be expected, but one of the great things about that area is that you don’t have to go very far before you escape all of that and find yourself in one of the most wild and beautiful landscapes in the country.

While we were there, we walked up to see Long Meg and her Daughters (If you ever venture that way, I highly recommend The Watermill for a delicious organic lunch. Proper leaf tea and rarebit on home-bakedbread and with several different types of salad. Yum. And especially appreciated since we managed to go a bit astray from our directions and walk about twice the distance we’d intended!), and went along to visit Castlerigg stone circle:

We didn’t manage to get any photos from our two hour horse ride through the fells, largely because that was on Thursday. When it was absolutely lashing it down! We did wrap up and don waterproofs, but it was still… bracing. Fabulous views, though, even if they were somewhat misty.

We tend to spend our holidays out and about in the daytime and then only really venture out in the evening for food, plus I’m always up an hour or two before breakfast, so in the downtime I made a start on a diamond fantasy scarf, too. Really, though, I was so enjoying the scenery and the uninterrupted reading opportunities that I didn’t get especially far.