Saturday 20 August - Tuesday 23rd

Saturday 20 August
Went to Carlisle mid morning.  Kids and I went to the Castle. Aaron found a pub to watch the rugby.
It was a miserable wet day but the castle was a good deal undercover. Not a lot to see in terms of  'castle' but several good exhibitions to look through, as well as Richard III and Queen Anne Neville wandering around imparting lots of information about their reign.

After the castle we met up with Aaron and wandered in the drizzle into the centre of Carlisle where the Carlisle Pageant was underway with a parade of puppets and some kids entertainment. After a while the wetness got the best of us and we headed home.

Sunday 21 August

Another wetish and blowy morning, and a number of bookings to make for future travel, so the morning was spent catching up on things. After lunch the sun came out so we took a drive to Poole on Ullswater for a look around the top of the lake.

Walked along the shore at Poole, then a circular walk through the wood. Then we drove down to Howtown, about 1/2 way down the lake for a bit of a look and a walk and a look at the steamer plying up and down.

Monday 22 August

Hadrian's wall day today. The weather is not looking positive,  in fact it is raining and a bit windy, but the forecast promises sunshine so we set off anyway.
After a brief stop in Carlisle for lunch supplies, we arrive at Housesteads fort.  Weather is still rather inclement, so we don our jackets and climb the rather steep hill to the fort. The rain isn't letting up so we make and enjoy our lunch in the shelter of the museum then spend some time exploring the fort and the wall beyond.

The rain is blown away by the very strong wind but it also blows in beautiful blue skies and some very warm sunshine, so we drive on to Chester's Fort and its best preserved Roman bathhouse in Britain.

Lastly on the way home we stop off at Haltwhistle which claims to be the geographical centre of Britain.

Tuesday 23rd August

Drove to Windermere. Stopped in the town for an excellent coffee and milkshake at Fodder.

Went on down to Fell Foot and enjoyed our lunch by the water. Apparently a lot of rain over the weekend has caused flooding and strong currents in the river.  Everything was pretty wet, but once the sun made it out the sunshine was glorious and very warm.

Drove around the lake to Claife station and took the car ferry across the lake to Bowness. Did some stone skimming on the other side then ferry back across, a walk up to the viewing platform at Claife  and home again.