After a difficult autumn, when we have had trouble planning any trips, and little has seemed to flow, we realised we hadn’t been away in October so crammed in a trip right at the beginning of November. So 4 nights was possible and Sandra remembered seeing a lakeside side almost in Keswick. We looked it up and discovered it was a Caravan and Camping club site, so we booked 3 nights on line expecting to be able to stay the fourth night if we felt like it. The weather forecast was iffy but mildish for November.
We set off in fog! But we got over the pennines and the fog lifted and the journey up the M6 was lovely with sunshine and the odd patch of fog. We decided it would be nice to drive through the lakes rather than M6 to Penrith and across, and again the drive was lovely with views and glorious golden glimpses of autumnal turning trees. We had a drinks stop at Windermere overlooking the lake and drove on to Keswick for a late lunch after parking up. As we dropped into Keswick you could see a grey cloud over the town as though the fog hadnt quite lifted but might at any moment. The campsite was rammed full much to our surprise and we pitched up a long way from services against a row of trees and the river. We had a sort of sight of the lake and it was likely to catch sun if there was any. The fog descended as did our gloom, and we had a good walk around the site a look at the foggy lake, imagining the glorious mountain veiws around and hunkered down for the night. The next day was damp and gloomy, but we walked into Keswick and had a poke around some shops and found a nice bar for some lunch. We also rang our neighbours to find out where the recommended bikers cafe might be, but it seemed to have gone.
Wednesday we checked out a boat trip and the sky had lifted a little to about 50 ft above us. We had lunch then set off to catch a boat. The sky lifted a bit more but the trip was miserable and uninspiring although we had to imagine less of the mountains. On our return to Keswick we were faced with the prospect of walking back to the van the coming out again, or stopping out. The latter won and we settled in the Dog and Gun. 4 pints and a glorious meal later we staggered home only to find it was half past 6.
We werent keen to stay any longer and rain was forecast for Thursday so deep in depression we decided to go back to Elland and had a horrendous journey home initially through heavy showers the constant heavy rain.
Dont think we’ll grace the lakes with our presence any time soon.
