Very lazy day today. We awake to rain, well Chris awakes to rain. It’s
kept me up half the night and I am therefore not in a mood to troop
off into the day. Instead I take to my bed with a good Margaret
Attwood book “Cats Eye”. She’s a fabulous writer, also having
written “The Handmaid’s Tale”. This book, like the other, has drawn
me in completely. It’s about the complexity and treachery of female
friendship, spanning the lead character’s childhood though to
adulthood. Breakfast and lunch in bed with a good book. Oops.
The rain clears in the afternoon and we set off to run a few errands
and explore the local village of Coniston. Like Ambleside, it’s a slate
built village, but it’s set in the valley of “Old Man Mountain”
between two rivers and their mouths to the lake. We walk down to
the lake along the base of the hills and walk back along one of the
rivers. I can see why this area has earned the reputation of being the
most romantic place in England. It’s picturesque and each shot I
take is like a postcard. The afternoon light reflects off the lake to
make it steel blue from one angle and peacock blue from the other.
Surrounded by lush green hills on one side off the lake and stone
fenced meadows on the other, it’s like Yorkshire on the water.
We read that they have a local sheep breed here, the Herdwick
which has a dark body and white face, who are taught by their
mothers to “home” and therefore don’t need fences or shepherds.
They dot the landscape everywhere, shorn and displeased with the
change in weather, or hairy and wild looking. Their fleece is like
dreadlocks. Very unusual.
Dinner and drinks in the local pub to finish the day, which may have
been lazy, but was lovely. Might coax Chris into making me a
Manhattan to send me quietly into the night.
Miss Baci Travels 