“The third book in the series brings the Famous Five once more back to the Lake District for the summer holidays. Chris, Lia, Sally & Amanda head off to the station to meet Spike and Emma as they arrive by train. Excited, they discuss plans for the holidays and decide it would be simply smashing to spend a week or so walking the Coast to Coast.” etc. etc.
But back to reality, and we head off this morning with by far the best cooked breakfast (in terms of style & presentation – little bits of parsley on the egg! Imagine!!) under our belts.
Maybe its the fact that we’re only doing a mere eight miles today that puts such a spring in our step, but we set off at a cracking pace, all aches and pains forgotten, into the most stunning scenery so far.
By now we’ve left Yanks #1 & #2 far behind, but Striding Man still lurks ominously. Captain Beaky doesn’t reappear until Grasmere village.
A pleasant amble through Borrowdale soon gives way to a more laborious climb upwards towards Grasmere Common. We all agree that the tougher climb, over Calf, Gibson Knott and Helm crags, would be much more rewarding than a simple stroll down Far Easedale, so that’s what we elect to do.
By early afternoon the sun finally breaks through the clouds – first time so far – and we descend into Grasmere, heading immediately towards Tweedies Bar.
A small digression… The last time I was in Grasmere was November last year, when torrential rain flooded the whole of Cumbria, and we were cut off for four days. That was when Tweedies and the Co-Op were our only means of survival (mainly Tweedies, actually).
After a couple of pints of Westmoreland Blue Bird (my favourite beer), we explored the village on search of new shirts for Spike, to replace the ones left folded neatly on his bed back in Nottingham.
Several Outdoor shops later, Spike is the proud owner of two box fresh, crisply laundered Craghopper shirts. Apparently these are special shirts which have extra collar bits to protect your neck from the intense sun (which we haven’t seen any of, yet). Spike demonstrated, but the overall effect was “Christopher Lee as Count Dracula” when the collar was fully unfurled.
We retired to our hotel (The Red Lion on the High Street) for the four s’s (shower, snooze etc.) before reassembling for a crisp, refreshing sharpener (a chilled Macon Villages 2008) in the bar.
Dinner was at The Jumble Room, a restaurant conveniently located between our hotel and Tweedies Bar. There was, as you can imagine, wine on the agenda. What a pity that the evening was somewhat spoiled for Spike, when he successfully spilled chilli sauce - the sort that doesn’t wash out - down the front of his new, crisp, box fresh Craphopper shirt.
Later we returned to Tweedies in time for the Quiz night. We went in with little expectation of winning and were not disappointed. Very much to blame was the round rather misleadingly called “Sport & Leisure,” which consisted of ten football questions.
Our disappointment at coming third (out of four teams) was tempered by the fact that we won the best joke competition in spite of (or maybe because of) Spike’s inability to write down what I said.
But I have the beer token to prove that we won that particular round.
Blister count: 2 (Lia & Amanda)
Consecutive Full English Breakfasts: 4
Arguments: 0 (but the veneer of civility is beginning to wear a bit thin)
Keep going Chris. You can't imagine what an aid to rehabilitation it is to read of your efforts. What I need though is for you to do more suffering! That would make me feel even more smug sitting at my computer drinking tea and thinking of a quiet snooze in the garden. It just seems too easy for you, sod it.
ReplyDeleteMore seriously, many congratulations to you all, including Sally, and look forward to the next instalment.