Whitehaven - Keswick

After helping Wils and Esme to make the big decision to buy new carpet for their lounge we packed them off to Joan and Normans for the night on Sunday so we could empty the lounge of furniture and take up the old carpet for them. The carpet fitters came in yesterday (Monday) and we had time to restore everything to normal (well almost anyway - it was hard to remember exactly which cupboard some of the things came out of!) by the time Joan dropped Wils and Esme back that evening. The carpet looks great and is really nice underfoot with the new underlay.

On the way up Catbells

This morning Len and I have come to Keswick for my birthday "treat" - we have walked up Catbells, the first "fell" that we ever walked up together soon after we first met. It started off quite cloudy and there were lots of walkers on the path initially but they somehow thinned out as it started drizzling and we neared the top which was in total cloud. Several walkers in their tramping boots and with walking poles had turned around and said it was too slippery on the rocks towards the top but Len and I were fine in our trainers and walking sandles respectively as long as I didn't look down!

The view at the top!

A big hand for the birthday girl!

It's one of the lesser fells in Cumbria but has beautiful views over 2 lakes - Bassenthwaite and Derwentwater and also down the green pastures of the Borrowdale Valley. It took us under an hour to do the mile to the top - at 451 metres it's probably about twice the height of the Mount - and then it was a less rugged walk down the other side and down to the edge of Derwentwater which we followed to do a circuit back to the car. The sun came out briefly on the way down and really the walking conditions had been perfect for us going up - no wind and not too hot - just a shame about the cloud on top. We stopped for a beer - John Smiths for Len and a Hobgoblin for me - at the Farmers Arms in Portinscale before coming to our B&B, the Swiss Court, in Keswick which is where we are now. The owner, Connor, has spent some time in Queenstown and has only run the B&B here, with his mother, for 2 months.
Out of our window we have a nice view of Latrigg which some of our NZ friends and family climbed with us when they came over for our wedding!

Whitehaven 2

The 2 weeks in Whitehaven so far have been a bit of a whirl of spending time with family, visiting friends, dinners out and trying to get out on some of our favourite walks.

Norman, T, L, Esme, Joan, Wils & Nic.

Joan and Norman invited us all for a lovely dinner on Esme's 88th birthday night and the next day Len and I took Wils and Esme out for a Sunday Roast at The White Mare, the pub in Beckermet, where Len and I got married over 7 years ago. It was really nice and we could do a bit of reminiscing although it was raining when we came out and we couldn't pause for a photo of the 2 of us!!

Jean and John cooked a lovely "dinner for 8" last Friday and we had some laughs as we caught up with Janet and John, and Doreen and Alan. It has also been good to see John and Ros, Linda and Brian, Alice, Audrey and Ian, and Sally and Dave

Doreen, Alan, L, Jan, John, John & Jean.

Harold & June in jovial mood!

Last night was another fun and laughter night with Harold and June and dinner with them at the Briery Pub in Stainton.

L & Tom @ Talkin Tarn

Last week we visited Tom, who Len used to work with and who lost his wife to cancer a year or so ago. He lives in the countryside near the village of Brampton (an hour or so away) and we met up for a walk around peaceful Talkin Tarn (a little lake) before going to Tom's house which he did such a lot of work on when he and Judith first moved there. After the 3 of us had dinner in a local pub Len and I started to head back home but ended up staying at a B&B not far away so that we could do another walk in the area in the morning. However we woke to the patter of steady rain, and instead, drove through Carlisle and out to the coast passing through Port Carlisle, Burgh-by-Sands, Bowness-on-Solway, Silloth where we walked along the prom to Skinburness, Allonby, Maryport and then on to Whitehaven.

Whitehaven 1

After dropping off the rental car and getting their shuttle back to Heathrow we found our way to Euston via the tube (just needed one change) and managed to get an earlier train to Carlisle than we had

Me & my Dad!

planned and then a subsequent earlier one to Whitehaven. Instead of getting a taxi up to Wils (Lens Dad) and Esmes we found a welcoming Joan (Len's sister) at the station. She just happened to pop in there at that time to check the train arrivals after visiting the supermarket next door so we had an instant lift! Such good timing!

Knit & Purl in the greenhouse!

We had of course seen Wils and Esme for the few days around Matt and Annas wedding but it was lovely to see them again - an inspirational couple at 93 and 88 (as from the 14th September) respectively. Esme is such a whizz in the kitchen - she has produced about 4 different cakes since we have been there as well as bramble jelly and lovely lunches and dinners. When we left for Keswick this morning she was about to make some tomato relish from some of the beautiful tomatoes that Wils is growing prolifically in his beloved greenhouse.

We have now been staying with Wils and Esme for the most part of 2 weeks and the time has flown with lots of people to catch up with. Our first port of call was to see Mark (Len's son), Tracy and the girls, Sian, Kaitlin and Mia, before Sian headed off to Newcastle University for her first year doing Fine Arts - every year the girls are all a bit more grown up and Mia especially seems a few inches taller than last year. Mark has been doing major renovations on the house and the improvements he has done are making a big difference.

L, Sian, Mia, Kaitlin & Mark

Helston to Heathrow

We have had a lovely two weeks staying with Faye, Paul, Dan and Livvy - great to see them all so happy and Dan and Livvy doing so well. A highlight this time was going to Fayes 'Military Wives' choir practice - they sound amazing and have a wonderful teacher - so good that they recorded the backing for a singer/songwriter this week with only one practice!

 

Faye, Dan, Len, Liv & Paul

We left Helston on Sunday with us needing to return the rental car to Heathrow and be at Euston Station on Tuesday morning for our train trip up to Whitehaven. We stayed the night in the City Lodge Hotel in Yeovil , a nicer town than we expected and made more attractive by all the beautiful huge baskets of hanging flowers. The hotel was right in town so very handy to lots of eating places although we chose to have both dinner and breakfast at Wetherspoons, a chain pub/restaurant where the meals are so cheap by NZ standards. On Sunday night we both had a nice roast dinner (beef and a big beer for Len and pork and a glass of wine for me) for under £9, ie less than $18 for both meals and drinks!! We returned there for breakfast - full English for Len and porridge for me - another good deal!

 

Our Yeovil accomodation

After driving from Yeovil to Heathrow area we stayed in little cheap lodgings (but not as cheap and no comparison to the Premier Inn where we had stayed on our arrival into London on an extra-special deal!) called the Heathrow Inn. It was very very basic but clean enough and the receptionist and Indian owners were friendly and welcoming. When we walked down to the shops we thought for a minute that we actually WERE in India - that was just until we saw the big red double-decker buses! So of course that night we had to eat in the nice but wierdly decorated Indian restaurant a few doors down. On chatting to the waiter we found that he has a brother living in Katikati! (about half an hour from where we live). 

Good authentic Punjabi food to be had here! 

This is the second person we have met here who has a brother in Katikati.

The other was Tom, one of Matt and Annas friends at the wedding, who has a brother working on a pig farm there!!

It is truly a small, small world!!

Helston 4

Later this week we drove to Perranporth, yet another seaside holiday village on the Cornish coast and did the 4 hour return walk to Holywell which is on the way to Newquay. It was low tide and I think it has the widest beach of any I have seen when the tide is out - a long way to walk for a swim but because it WAS low tide we were able to do half the walk along the beach, an easier walk than the path through the sand dunes. The beaches here are always very colourful with stripey windbreaks, mallets for hammering them in and tents being almost mandatory for a day on the beach!

Perranporth popular end & quiet end above

Holywell beach is also wide with a fresh water stream running into it on a sweeping curve - we didn't go into the little settlement but ate our lunch on the beach before doing the return trip. We had a little time to fill in before watching Dan trial in Truro for the Under 16 Cornwall County rugby team so we popped into our favourite Truro Pub for a quick beer beforehand. We love the atmosphere of the character-filled old Pub with its dark low beams, coasters on the ceilings, large beer barrels, the free peanuts in their shells and all the husks lying on the floor.

The Truro pub

Dan played well in his trial so we think he has a good chance of being selected!

Our time at Faye & Pauls is quickly coming to an end as we leave for London and then the far north tomorrow so yesterday we did all the things special to Cornwall that we haven't yet done this time! This started with a Cornish cream tea at beautiful Kynance Cove where we did a little walk along the coastal path before and after, a Cornish Pasty for a late lunch with this being followed by a Spingo beer at The Blue Anchor in Helston which has been brewing beers for 600 years! and comes up on the internet as the top tourist attraction in Helston. There are always some characters in there who love chatting to you! (Apart from the presence of some old ghosts who can apparently chat at times too!)

Cream T? ....Y not!

Some rain today and a cooling of the air so I think the long English summer is coming to an end.

Helston 3

This second week in Cornwall has absolutely flown - Dan, Livvy and Faye all went back to school on Wednesday and Paul is now home, his new job having been relocated to Helston which is great.

Substantial bridge at Poltesco

On Monday morning Faye dropped us back to the tiny fishing village of Cadgwith so we could continue our Coastal Path walk on to Coverack. It was another lovely calm sunny day and there was lots to see on this 4 hour walk along the clifftops and down to the odd beach such as Kennack Sands and Downas Cove, past Serpentine rocks and alongside a 9 hole golf course at Thorny Cliff. The Wednesday prior a French fishing boat had ended up on the rocks at high tide and they were still trying to float it off when we walked past. Lots of oil had leaked into the sea but they had apparently managed to hoover most of it up. Other memorable things we saw on this walk was the bearded man in the full black skirt, lots of blackberries and sloes (which Len's dad, Wils, made sloe gin from last year at the age of 92!) apple trees and of course the beautiful rugged coast-line.

Looking over towards the grounded fishing boat

Coverack is a quiet, little seaside village where we soon found a nice beer at the Bay Hotel, overlooking the sea, while we waited for the bus to take us back to Helston.

The watering hole at Coverack

Tuesday we all went to Praa Sands for a lie on the beach and a swim - the water temperature here is about 16 -17° at the moment, so a little cold to get in but fine once you're under! The waves are tiny at the moment but we managed to body-surf some gentle ones - I'm just missing that "whooosh" that you get when a good wave catches you!

Helston 2

The second half of the first week in Helston we walked along the south west coastal path from Lizard Point to Cadgwith and return via Lizard village, the round trip taking us about 4 hours. The walk takes you past the southernmost point of England which is just along the coast from Lizard and as with the whole coastal path has great scenery with spectacular views of the rugged coastline.

View towards Lizard Point

Cute Cadgwith 

Cadgwith itself is a tiny quaint fishing village with lots of boats, a fish market, 2-3 cafes where crab sandwiches are popular, and a couple of local crafty gift shops. We enjoyed our picnic lunch and an expensive, small Kelly's Cornish icecream here.

"Blackiting" in Helston

Today we have visited the large local museum, been blackberrying and sampled Livvy's delicious "icecream sundae" cupcakes!

Liv's cupcakes - yummmmm!

Helston 1

Me, T & Livvy with torches @ Porthleven

We'll be in Helston with Faye and Paul for a couple of weeks altogether and already a week has flown by. The weather is holding up well at around 20° in the day and 15° at night and we have only needed summer clothes but I'm sure the other half of my suitcase will get some use when we get to Whitehaven!

Me, Faye & Paul @ Porthleven beach

I'll try and let the pictures do the talking with just an outline of what we have been doing! The first half of the week we enjoyed a walk along the beach and in the village of Porthleven, walked through Penrose estate from Helston to Porthleven, lay on the beach and swam at Poldhu Cove, participated in the torchlight parade at Porthleven to raise money for the Hospice and window-shopped in Truro.

T catches a wave at Poldhu!

Post swim @ Poldhu