More Lake District....

theres snow on them there hills.....

We had rain - snow - hail - wind - and glorious sunshine all in one day on our lake district trip last week.... just another little day trip out to find some hills and quiet solace among lambs and sprouting bracken. Was a mixed forecast but we went anyway and while Dr Fred headed up the crag up a hill near Langdale - the rain came in and I sat eating chocolate under a totally inadequate umbrella and consequently we got got moderately wet but managed to avoid the worst by having lunch and wee kip in the back of the van - well not exactly a kip but a snuggle under the duvet as the hail ravaged the van - it made us feel very nostalgic for sleeping in the van but still very little camping open quote where we want it!

how to spread out wherever..

Later when the weather settles a bit a went for a wander up Loughridge fell - Dr Fred went looking for esoteric rocks (and didn't find them) I wandered about and did a little bit of painting - it was quite a busy little path and the sun came out and it was all very pleasant so nice we didn't really want to come home. We decided to drive back the scenic route and we stopped of at the Badger Inn for a bite to eat - they have a garden area where Badgers come and eat and you can watch if you are quiet - sadly we were too early to see them but I've looked on the web cam since and sure enough lots of Badgers.... Food was good though and we were able to sit out in the late evening sun and enjoy a slice of ordinary

sketching with watercolour pencils and fine liner

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Scotland part 2

The second half of the week continued in much the same vein. We had one rainy afternoon which was actually quite nice to be holed up in the house with the rain lashing the windows. It probably wasn't quite so nice for the two visitors that came on their bikes but they're tough cookies - and its only water- but I did feel sorry for them having to cycle six miles back down the track in the wind and rain, but given Scotland, it wasn't as bad as it could be. The big quest for the 2nd half of the week was to find some deer antiers! The chap that owned the house dropped in to visit - he was a very friendly fella and was chatting about how this was the time of year when all the Stags lost their antlers (he collected them and sold them) so after that we were on the serious lookout. It's always been Fred's mission to find some dropped antlers.... The Monro baggers continued with the mission to bag the remaining three Monros... there is discussion as whet...

Vigo

We left the ship to explore Vigo. Its a much larger place then we expected... although tbh I hadn't given ut a lot of thought. Its a real mish mash of old and new and having got a map from tourist info we decided to follow the walking trail to the Monte Castro... the highest point of the town. Most of the town was pretty much as everywhere else... lots of traffic... lots of people... one or two interesting buildings and a lot of shopping. We headed to the art gallery - this has been a year of gallery visits so we we seen o reason to change now. The Museo de Marco is housed in the towns ex prison building and its very grand. In fact, I think that on this occaision the building might have been more interesting than the art.... Although the visiting exhibition by Susanne S D Themlitz was strangely compelling. It was a huge varied collection of eclectic items... found, salavaged, manipulated and arranged in lots of ways - weirdly inspiring - and mostly enjoyable to look at...

Funchal

So after three days at sea we finally hit Funchal in Madeira. An escape from the ship, and I have to say it was very pleasant indeed. First of all the weather is really splendid. Especially when you know that everybody else in the UK is suffering grim storms and vile winds.. Over here it is between 22 and 25 degrees is really quite warm. Funchal is a pretty city. It's built on a hill it with lots of lovely white houses with stunning red roofs. In order to get the best of it we walked along the sea front until we got to the cable car and we took it up the hill. It was a really good ride much longer than we imagined and it's quite weird because it goes right through the town - completely over everybody's house... So not only do you get a lovely vista of the bay but you can view the beautiful rooftops and get to look in everybody's gardens and to look at their picnic sets.. clean washing nice plants... scratty b...

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