23 July 2010

Well if it was a race to the lakes, Jon and I certainly did not win and if you think Satnav GPS systems are fail safe, they are. . Not when Jon is using them haha! So after a beautiful drive to Hawkshead, via Ullswater (accidentally) but worth it we rocked into the Hawkshead Hall Farm campsite to the arrival party - Andy (Han's man), Bradley and Nev (or Neg as Andy later referred to her). It was great last to arrive and people thirsty for a pint plus Andy's great bush skills we had my tent up in a matter of minutes, un packed, Crabbies (alcoholic gingerbeer) in hand and strolling down the road torch in handbag into Hawkshead village. Nev, after a weekend in Amsterdam lead us to the red light district of Hawkshead, well not like Amsterdam, but it was the most booming pub in the small four pub town. Some good banter was had and we tried to con some cougars (just some old men) into taking us fishing the next day but their boat was too small, went for the next best and ordered up some fish to the campsite, unfortunately they didn't show, I blame the rain, certainly not myself haha! It was here that Andy began the trip of jokes; let's say that there were a few beauts in there but also some shockers!! Hannah had been drinking with some work pals in Ambleside so she was back at the campsite ready to greet us on our return. It was here that Andy put Bradley and Jon to shame when he went into the back of his car and secretly prepared a hot air balloon thing and lit it up and surprised Hannah with it. We were all a bit nervous, hoping a) that it would take off and b) wouldn't burn down the village of tents around us. Well since Andy is the UK version of MacGyver it was not a problem and the lil beauty took off into the evening skies. . . . Only to eventually burn out after 5 minutes and descend upon the campsite . . . luckily it appeared to be extinguished! Time to snuggle into the master bedroom of my new tent in preparation for exploring the lakes the next day!

24 July 2010

I was up early because someone was chain sawing trees down nearby, oh no that was Jon 'sleeping'. Up and atom at 8am and into a shower. Hannah had purchased some 'dick' for me for breakfast, spotted d*** in custard that is, but I decided to savour it and settled for an entree of special k berry fruit flakes with a cup of coffee then tea and later enjoyed a full English breaky in Coniston where we went to do a walk. So after we were fed we geared up for walk up Old Man Coniston, which was not going to be a walk in the park by any means, no it was a 4hour trek up a mountain. The old bird at the information centre told us the best place to park was in town and head from there, so we left the car put and set off. Well we started the walk and the new Jon - 'outdoors Jon' kicked into gear, although he was closely observed by the health professionals, especially after he enquired, 'what does it mean when you have shooting pains going up your left arm?' but the road soon levelled out a bit and we all got our breaths back and carried on uphill to a big car park - thanks Mrs Information Centre lady tricking us so you could get our parking meter money! That was our warm up. Well the rain had started to come down and we were not all prepared for hiking hills in the rain but decided to press on. It was hard going, the clouds were low, rain and win got thinker and heavier the higher we climbed so after Jon's fantastic suggestion we decided we would stick with it until we found our Geocache - global GPS cache hunting - a treasure hunt using gps, amazing! It was a bit of a mission and hunting around piles of slate but Jon boy soon found the jackpot!! In an army box under a boulder which he lifted up with his own two hands, very strong (not as strong as Des and Troy). The cache was little nic nacs, crayons, badges, cars, ciggy and match in a plastic bag and so on. Luckily Jon had purchased some nic nacs because you put one in take on out and document it in a wee book along with who was there and the date. We left a bracelet and took a card. So mission completed we headed down, half the wolf pack ran down, and said that they would bring the car to the upper car park so the other half of use strolled down. Jon, Hanaconda and I strolled and managed to get slightly lost when we came down, took a wrong turn which meant that we got better views, saw people abseiling down waterfalls and came out in a pub - all bonuses, but we missed our pick up so it was a mission finding the other cats in town, but when in doubt go to the pub! They eventually found us looking like drowned rats drinking lager!! Since we were sopping it was home to camp to change our cloths ad have a nap before heading into Ambleside for dinner, drinks a bit of dancing and some banter with the tourists. There was a silver fox playing at one of the pubs who used o live in NZ and taught at Tweedsmuir in Invers, small blooming world!!! At another pub we arrived right at the end of a song, just enough to hear the as few bars so I erupted into applause, to which the singer responded - wow what a reception I've never had applause like that after someone only hearing me play one bar, gee I must be good - or something to that effect. However they were pretty good! After causing enough havoc in one small lake district town for one night we headed back to camp and had a few brews in the car whilst listening to some beats, NZ beats in fact, oh how I have missed them since I lost my iPod in Laos!! Then it was time for bed, which I pretty much fell into as I was apparently leathered (yeah right, who me?).

25 July 2010

A bit more of a lion today (sleep in and I looked like a lion thanks to the rain and lack of straighteners!) up at 9:30ish, breaky, an ice cold shower (I mean ice cold, could only go under it twice!!) then we packed up the tents and headed in search of food in Grasmere. I was lucky enough to travel with Hannah, UK's 'best' driver, you know how AJ Hackett says do one thing every day that scars you, well I got my weeks worth today!! After arriving safely we sat riverside across from a church and were treated to some lovely gospel music whilst we ate! Then it was more touring around. We lost Bradley and 'Neg', so decided to hang in Windermere looking around the village, had a wino and Jon bought the sweet shop out of sweets. I was having a fine ol time, bit of chit chat with the sweets lady and Jon, I asked for some apple sour lollies and she put some in a bag and then handed me one on the house, what I didn't hear was an exchange between her and Jon which later learnt went like this - Sweet lady says 'well that will keep her quiet', Jon boy replies, 'yeah, so how much for the whole container of em?' Cheeky lil b*****s!! Time to hit the road. Jon and I decided to head to Guys to catch up with his sister and her whanau, have some drinks and a bite then snuck in a bit of Geocaching on the way home, two more in the bag on the way home, boom! Fab weekend x x