South Lakes: Sun, relish and dogs in pubs

This is the second part of my recap of a long weekend in the Lake District. You can find part 1 HERE.

Second full day in the Lake District was beautifully sunny, so we took a drive up to Ambleside which sits at the very north end of Windermere. Parked down by the lakeside and had a little look around the couple of shops down there, much to the dogs' delight when they were allowed in to join us. Even more so when one of the shops turned out to be a pet shop which sold ice cream for dogs. Picked up a tub and then grabbed ourselves a cuppa and a lovely blueberry scone while the dogs tucked into their ice cream. Lovely view from the Waterhead Cafe.

After that we took a stroll along the waterfront, enjoying the sunshine. There's the remains of a Roman fort down there, which are worth a look - there's not a huge amount left above ground, but there's a few little info boards dotted around. Plus the view of the mountains is pretty good from there.

Then on up the hill to Ambleside proper. It's a quaint little town, with plenty of little independent shops and cafes. I also noticed that there were quite a few with "Dogs Welcome" notes in the window, so great for dog owners too!

And from Ambleside back down to the waterfront. Beautiful day for a walk. In all, it's about 2-3 miles to go from the pier at the lakeside along the waterfront to the Roman fort, up the hill to Ambleside and then back down the main road to the car park.

From Ambleside, we headed back down the road which runs alongside the lake and stopped for a quick drink at the National Park Visitor Centre at Brockholes. More nice views across the lake, but it's a pain to get out of the car park and I imagine it's worse during the summer when the roads are busier.

Then back to the lodge before we took a walk to Cartmel to grab tea at one of the three pubs in the village square. As far as I could see, all three are dog friendly and The Kings Arms at least allows dogs into the pub (not certain about the other two). We had a lovely meal outside enjoying the spring sunshine, pretty reasonably priced and most delicious. I recommend the Cumbrian Rarebit Sandwich, but make sure to try the chips too.

And then a quick stop at the Village Shop to pick up some of the famous Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding. Om nom nom.

Just because you're in the pub, doesn't mean it belongs to you...

Our final day in the lakes started a bit dim and dismal, but since we needed to be out of the lodge by 10:30am we headed off north towards Windermere again, this time up the western side to the little village of Hawkshead. It's only a little place, but it's packed with craft shops and local produce. Checked out the Hawkshead Relish Company, which makes the most amazing preserves. Their Mojito marmalade is delicious.

There's also the recently opened Handmade in Hawkshead, which features the beautiful glasswork of James Stewardson. Definitely worth a look.

The Kings Arms in Hawkshead is also dog friendly, so we popped in there for a quick drink and a snack before moving on. Henry the dachshund decided the pub must belong to him and barked at anyone who came in.

And then home. Via the Windermere Ferry, which if you don't fancy taking a boat trip is another way to see a bit of the lake from a different perspective. It's also a really pretty drive between Hawkshead and the ferry crossing at Far Sawrey. Goes past Beatrix Potter's house, if you're interested in that sort of thing.

All in all, a great weekend. The Lake District really is a beautiful area.

Things to Do:
Windermere Ferry - £4.40 (single), runs between Ferry Nab (Bowness) and Ferry House (Far Sawrey)

100 Days, 100 Things: Days 1-20

Well, we're well into the final 100 days until I finish work. My last day will be June 10th and my flight out to Iceland will be the following Monday 13th. I figured I should do something to mark this last 100, so I set out to note down something new or interesting or funny each day. Here's the first 20.

1. Saturday 5th March – met a new dachshund called Franklin
Took a stroll around Heaton Park in Manchester with my mum, sister, mum's 2 dachshunds and a fellow owner and her little dachshund. Great fun for all involved.

2. Sunday 6th March – tried Vietnamese food (yum)
Took my mum for Mother's Day lunch at Pho in the old Corn Exchange in Manchester. Turns out Vietnamese (or its Westernised equivalent) is super tasty and tofu turns out to be yummy if it's seasoned properly.

3. Monday 7th March – worked out where the error was in a formula I’d been trying to fix for ages
I'm considered the Excel whizz in my team at work, so it was a relief to finally work out where I'd been going wrong with some conditional formatting a colleague had asked me to apply to one of his spreadsheets. Should have spotted it sooner though!

4. Tuesday 8th March – best typing speed test yet – 80WPM, 400CPM
I've been trying to improve my typing speed for a while, especially since I'm planning on doing Camp NaNoWriMo in April. Apparently 80 words per minute is quite a bit quicker than a lot of people, so I'm pretty proud of that.

5. Wednesday 9th March – tried Nilgiri tea for the first time (yum)
My mum visited India in November and brought me back some loose leaf tea to add to my collection. I finally got round to trying the Nilgiri and it's amazing - almost sweet, sort of fruity.

6. Thursday 10th March – finally named some very annoying characters in Raising the Sun. No more [DAMIEN] lord of brackets.
Raising the Sun is an ongoing writing project of mine. Half the characters in it still have placeholder names (identified by the [] square brackets) while I work out what they should be called. The character formerly known as [DAMIEN] has been bugging me for ages.

7. Friday 11th March – tried the Gallery restaurant. Delicious sausage and mash.
The Gallery is the in-house training restaurant at the college where I work. The students do the cooking and the serving and it'd been a while since I visited it. Suffice to say the sausage and mash was delicious and great value at £3.50...

8. Saturday 12th March – read Snuff in a day. Go me.
Today marked the first anniversary of the death of the great Sir Terry Pratchett. He was and is one of my favourite authors so I took the opportunity to finally read Snuff, a book that my best friend loaned me nearly 3 years ago. And then ploughed through it in a single day. The last time I did that was when I re-read The Hobbit a few years back...

9. Sunday 13th March – visited Robin Hood’s Bay and Whitby
Took a trip up to the beautiful North Yorkshire coast, which I already wrote about HERE.

10. Monday 14th March – almost successfully taught my boss to use lookups in Excel
My manager is trying to get the hang of Excel before I leave. We're getting there, slowly.

11. Tuesday 15th March – worked out how to renew an EHIC. By sorting out Grandad’s
I should probably sort out my own European Health Insurance Card, not just my grandad's. Turns out to be a pretty simple process though. Hurrah.

12. Wednesday 16th March – something to do with the quiz and the French visitors…
Went to the monthly staff quiz at work. Had a bit of a weird England v France thing - quiz regulars versus some French visitors. Great fun and a brilliant discussion afterwards about different sayings in English and French. Brilliant stuff.

13. Thursday 17th March – finished my guide to Excel
I've been writing a guide to Excel, being the team Excel whizz and all that. Finally got it just about finished. Just got to see if anyone understands it now...

14. Friday 18th March – made a delicious chilli cheese toast/fried egg combination for breakfast
Decided to go a step up from my normal buttered crumpets and made some delicious chilli cheese toast with a spiced fried egg on top for breakfast. I was aiming for a flavour like the yummy kejriwal I had at Dishoom in London. Not bad for a first attempt.

15. Saturday 19th March – took the dogs on their first boat trip
On the first full day of a long weekend in the Lake District with my mum and sister, we took a boat trip on Windermere. With the sausage dogs. I'm not sure they enjoyed it, but they behaved themselves.

16. Sunday 20th March – tried and mostly failed to use my CPL properly
I bought myself some basic filters and lenses just after Christmas and I've been trying to get the hang of them. Decided to test out my polariser. Didn't quite succeed. Needs more practice.

17. Monday 21st March – tried Mojito marmalade. It is amazing.
The Hawkshead Relish Company make the most delicious preserves. They even do an cocktail inspired range, including the aforementioned Mojito marmalade. So. Much. Yum.

18. Tuesday 22nd March – successfully got past the chapter of LotR where I got bogged down last year
Like the sad sod that I am, I re-read (or attempt) The Lord of the Rings every year. Last year I got bogged down in the second half of Two Towers because Frodo started pissing me off, but this year I powered on through. Well into Return of the King now. The end is in sight!

19. Wednesday 23rd March – managed to get an ID type photo that doesn’t look like I’m going to murder someone. Woo.
The director of my department at work decided we needed to get our photos taken to put on the wall so visitors know who we all are. By sheer fluke I've ended up with an ID type photo that actually looks sort of normal. This is in contrast to every single ID card I've ever had where I variously look like I want to murder the photographer or stoned or so very pale that I blend in with the background. Hurrah.

20. Thursday 24th March - 83WPM, 414CPM
Because I'm not in the least bit obsessed with improving my typing speed...


20 days down. 80 to go... what other stupid, mundane and sometimes exciting things can I do in that time?

South Lakes: Sun, walking and dogs on boats

The Lake District is beautiful - one of my favourite parts of the UK. Mountains overlooking long, narrow lakes, winding country roads... what more could you want?

Recently I took a trip up there with my mum, sister and two miniature dachshunds for a long weekend. We stayed in a lovely little lodge at Aynsome Manor Park, near the pretty village of Cartmel, famous for its racecourse and sticky toffee pudding.

We must have timed our arrival well, because we just caught the end of the monthly Food Market in the village, which meant I got to nab a delicious fresh loaf of chia seed bread. Never tried it before and it was yummy.

Several of the shops in Cartmel are happy for well-behaved dogs to come in, so we also had a quick wander around some of the little independent craft shops, which the dogs loved. They weren't quite so pleased that they had to wait outside while I perused the Village Shop, home of the famous sticky toffee pudding and a whole host of other delicious goods. Grabbed some bits for tea - the shop sells all sorts of pasta, rice, sauces and condiments, plus some meat.

There's some good walking around Cartmel as well. A footpath leads out of the back of the racecourse into the fields. Several paths to choose from - we headed up and along a little stream for a while. Such a peaceful walk.

Maybe we all died and this is some sort of weird limbo...

Our second day in Cartmel began with a sort of weird, sleep deprived hysteria brought on by the carbon monoxide alarm going off just after we went to bed, freaking us all out and subsequently unsettling one of the dogs enough that she whined and whimpered all night.

Suffice to say, the thought did cross my mind that maybe it hadn't been a false alarm and we had all died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the night. Giggling ensued.

Anyway, having finally got out of the house and satisfied ourselves that we weren't trapped in limbo, we head off up north to Bowness on Lake Windermere. It's a lovely drive - a winding road clings to the hillside and follows the lake from Newby Bridge at the south end, up to Bowness about halfway up. This is the main tourist hub on the lake, so expect it to be busy in the summer.

Grabbed a quick cuppa and then it was off for our first adventure - the dogs' first ever boat trip. They even got their own tickets - well behaved dogs are allowed on for free. A 45 minute cruise out on the lake turned out to be a great way to admire the scenery.

Spotted a few places we'd like to live, but with house prices in the area what they are... I think even a tiny boathouse would be out of our price range. Plus, when the lake floods, it really floods. During the last major flood, it peaked at 7 1/2 feet above the normal level. The little building in the picture below if the Temple of Heroes, commemorating Admirals Duncan, Nelson, Howe and St Vincent. That 7 1/2 foot flood brought the water up to the bottom of the plaques bearing the names.

Safely off the boat, which pleased the older dog no end, we headed up the hill to grab a bite to eat, relishing the warm spring sun. And then on into the town to explore some more shops. As with Cartmel, some shops will allow dogs in so long as they behave, so the two of them had great fun sniffing around in La Galerie d'Art while I tried to choose just a couple of photo prints for my postcard wall.

A few more shops and then onto Kendal to while away what remained of the afternoon. We headed over the top out of Bowness, across fields full of sheep (and some very cute spring lambs), stopping briefly to let a flock of sheep cross the road, complete with sheepdog and a farmer with a red flag.

Oddly enough, we found only one place in Kendal making a big deal out of selling the famous Kendal Mint Cake. Ah well. It's a lovely stroll from the town centre across the river to the remains of Kendal Castle. This seems to be on common land (or maybe council land?) so is open access and it's free to wander around the ruins.

Just be aware that as with all good castles, you have to climb up a bloody big hill to get there. It's worth it though - look at the views from the top.

All in all, a great couple of days to start the trip. And still a couple of days to go!

Things to do:
Cartmel Food Market - 3rd Friday of the month, Cartmel
Windermere Lake Cruise - from £7.70 (adult), departs Bowness, Ambleside, Brockholes & Lakeside
Kendal Castle - free, Kendal

Destination Daydreams: Vancouver and The Rockies

It's been a while since I wrote one of these! My mum and sister will be joining me for a couple of weeks in Canada at the end of August, so I figured I might as well jot down some ideas.

We'll be renting a motorhome for the duration, which will be hilarious because neither my mum nor my sister have driven anything that big. And I, being the non-driver, have been told by my sister that it's my job to direct them into parking spaces. Yeah, right.

So, what do I actually want to do around Vancouver and the Rockies? Well, first up, I'm planning on spending some time in Vancouver before the relatives arrive. There's plenty to do in the city itself but I'd also quite like to get out to Vancouver Island and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Took a little bit of digging, but apparently I can get a ferry from the city to the island. Hurrah.

My mum would like to visit Capilano Suspension Bridge. Looks pretty amazing to me - a footbridge high above the river. Good job I'm fine with heights.

Once Vancouver and its immediate vicinity is out of the way, we're going to spend a while going up and over the Rockies. There's a lot of amazing sites to choose from up there, but I'd really like to see Lake Louise. It looks like such a beautiful area, but then I imagine there's plenty of those.

I'd also love to visit the Burgess Shale. This is an internationally important fossil site, where some of the earliest complex life on Earth is preserved in the rocks. And by early, we're talking over 500 million years old. Parks Canada run guided hikes to some of the sites and while a couple of them are probably a bit strenuous for my liking - especially given that Mum/sister will need to be able to drive afterwards - there's a less arduous one to the Kootenay outcrop. All the shiny pretty science things.

Aside from that, there's nothing specific in mind for the Rockies. I'd love to go riding again and there's plenty of opportunities to go rafting or kayaking, which would be amazing. My mum really wants to take a hot air balloon ride, since she missed out when she visited India last year.

Oh, so many things!

The last thing I'd really like to see and recommended to my mum by a chap at the travel agent, is Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. This a World Heritage Site south of Calgary, so a bit out of the way of our intended route, but it's something I'd like to see. It is, as the name suggests, a buffalo jump - a place where the native folk of the area would drive herds of buffalo over a cliff to their deaths. A remarkably efficient way of hunting.

Still relatively vague plans at the moment, but I'm sure as August creeps closer they'll start forming into more of an itinerary.

What would you recommend visiting on a roadtrip over the Rockies? Any hidden gems to see? Why not share in the comments below.

Fish & Chips & Dracula: A Day Out in North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire is a lovely area. Desolate, rolling moorlands come down to steep cliffs on the North Sea coast. Took a trip up there recently with my dad and sister and thought I'd share some of the pretty bits.

First up, the lovely little village of Robin Hood's Bay, on the coast between the seaside towns of Scarborough and Whitby. Quaint place - all narrow streets and old fishing cottages.

I should probably note that this trip was in March and the weather was fine but chilly so I was surprised by how many people were out on the beach.

No one seems all that sure why it's called Robin Hood's Bay. It doesn't seem to come up in any of the early Robin Hood tales, but it's had the name since at least the 1500s, so who knows!

Well worth a stop if you're driving up the coast road between Scarborough and Whitby if only to feel like you've stepped back a century or so. For those thinking of staying more than the hour we did, there's the tiny little Dinosaur & Fossil Museum, which I am informed by my dad that I have been in, many moons ago. There's also a whole host of pubs and cafes, all of which seemed pretty busy given how early in the season it was.

Getting there: 5 miles south of Whitby/15 miles north of Scarborough off the A171 coast road. Parking is at the top of the hill in the village. Be prepared for the walk to the bottom of the cliff and back - it's quite steep in places.


From there, we headed north along the coast road to Whitby in search of lunch. It being Whitby, lunch sort of had to be fish and chips. There's plenty of chip shops to choose from in the town, but for someone from Grimsby who's used to fish & chips being relatively cheap, the prices can be a bit steep. Not that most others would notice, I'm sure.


Anyhoo, we settled on Russells, which does very nice chips and then went for a wander. Whitby, like Robin Hood's Bay, has little narrow streets but doesn't have quite the same feel. It's much more touristy. Not a bad thing - there's some really nice shops around the eastern bank of the river.

For a real history kick, climb the 199 steps from the base of the cliff up to the Abbey. The Abbey's pretty important in the history of Christianity in England and I'd really recommend going in and having a look. Sometimes there's reenactment groups in, which are great fun. Vikings running around? Oh yeah.

On this occasion, we bypassed the Abbey and had fun trying to read some of the old gravestones in the churchyard next door. We especially liked the Latin inscription on this memorial, which translates as Death is Inevitable.

Which brings me almost neatly onto Whitby's other claim to fame. It features quite prominently in Bram Stoker's classic gothic novel Dracula as the port through which the eponymous vampire enters England. Whitby has embraced this and if you're in town on the right weekend you can enjoy the peoplewatching that comes with Goth Weekend.

Getting there: Whitby is easily reached from the A171. The area around the harbour can get a bit short on parking at the weekend, especially over the summer. There's more parking at the top of the cliff near the Abbey.

If you're heading south from Whitby and you've already driven the coast road, I'd recommend heading over the top of the moors on your way back. It's a beautiful scenic drive, with plenty of opportunities to stop or turn off and explore the valleys. Just don't go trespassing into Fylingdales base - don't think the Americans would be too happy about that.

Also, if you head over the moors and you're that way inclined, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway is pretty good fun and there's a really nice walk between the stations at Goathland and Grosmont.

Have you got any recommendations for places to see on the North Yorkshire coast? Why not share in the comments.

Around the World In: Awesome Museums

Everyone loves a good museum, right? These are some of my favourites from around the world.

1. The Natural History Museum, London

The British Museum might be the most visited museum in London, but the Natural History Museum is my favourite. It helped to foster my childhood love of the natural world and remains a brilliant place to this day.

Best visited later in the afternoon and during the week when there are less people around, especially if you want to see the famous Dinosaur Gallery.

2. National Museum of Ireland, Dublin

There's a few branches of this wonderful museum and I'd recommend the archaeology building and the slightly creepy Dead Zoo for a start. The archaeology section has some amazingly well preserved bog bodies that are worth checking out so long as you're not squeamish.

And if you can cope with vast cabinets of stuffed animals staring down at you, the Dead Zoo is amazing. Creepy, but amazing.

3. Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau

Situated just across the river from Canada's lovely capital city, Ottawa, this sprawling museum is an amazing introduction to the history of Canada, from the people of the First Nations all the way through to the present. Hoping to revisit this when I head back to Canada in the summer.

4. Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington

New Zealand's national museum is a deceptively huge place and it's easy to lose a day in here without really scratching the surface of the collection. Highlights include a gallery charting the changes in the wildlife of the islands and a small collection of musical instruments, both traditional Maori and Pacific Island and some more familiar to Europeans.

 

5. The Louvre, Paris

Probably the most famous museum in France and to date the only one I've visited. Home of the Mona Lisa among numerous other amazing artworks. And if you're into the faux-conspiracy of Dan Brown's books, the Louvre is big in that too.

What are your favourite museums? Got any unusual collections to share? Why not let us know in the comments below.

Music For Travelling

Bus journeys are boring, save for those rare trips where something interesting happens (like driving onto Ninety Mile Beach). Car journeys are also boring unless you can stop regularly to take photos of all the pretty things. Even flights can get boring, despite in-flight entertainment.

But with the addition of a little music... well, suddenly everything's a little less boring and a bit more awesome. What better way to spend an otherwise dull drive between stops then singing along to a favourite song? How about driving up a mountain in the dark and the rain, flashes of lightning illuminating the sky, hairpin bends at every corner and a favourite musical soundtrack blaring from the speakers?

Certainly kept us sane while driving up Mount Hercules on New Zealand's west coast. Should have been terrifying but I mostly remember it now as hilarious since Claire and I spent it singing along to Avenue Q and occasionally squeaking when a particularly sharp bend appeared in the headlights.

Well, how can you take things seriously when this is playing?

And then there's the obvious choice for New Zealand, but also for adventuring in general. I think it might have begun to grate on Claire and Amy that I kept bursting out with this at random points. It inspires my spirit of adventure, though.

It doesn't help that we'd already come out with "YOU SHALL NOT HAAAAAAST!" when we thought we'd have to bypass the Haast Pass and go the long way round... after that, singing The Ring Goes South whilst driving through the Haast Pass seemed sort of normal...

Moving on from that rambling. This was our Ireland jam. I have no idea why. It just sort of happened and then it got to the point where all three of us would burst into song for no apparent reason and sort of try and fail to harmonise. Fun times.

Whyever wouldn't you sit on Carrickarede singing Waterfalls? Ignore the fact there's no waterfall...

 This is known among the New Zealand Expedition (read: me, my friend Claire and my sister) as the "Killy-killy-death song". Only because it came up on shuffle while my sister was driving and it freaked her out enough for her to want it turning off.

Shame. It's a good song.

What better way of passing the time than popping on a long forgotten album or sticking your music player on shuffle just to see what comes up?

For the really long drives/flights/boats though, I have a bunch of podcasts. These range from the BBC's Infinite Monkey Cage (science and comedy) to the Coffee Break language learning series. If I'm going to be stuck on a bus for 24 hours, I might as well learn something new while I'm at it!

What music do you enjoy while travelling? Got any good podcast recommendations? Why not share in the comments below.