Tuesday 17th August 2010 Whitehaven

After heavt rain during the night it was a cloudy and misty morning. Pat wanted some buttons for a cardigan she had just finished and I had located a wool shop in Whithaven on the internet, so that was our destination.

It turned out to be a good choice as we soon ran into sunshine, once clear of the lakeland hills, and it was very pleasant on the coast.

We had a walk around after she got the buttons and found this very attractive tower, which is the remains of "St Nicolas Church" which burned down in 1971, and the tower and grounds have been re-developed into splendid flower beds, the tower itself is still a chapel, but a Coffee shop, too

Where the body of the church used to be there is this very large memorial to the 1200 women and children who lost their lives working in the local coal mines, most of the design is made of inset beach pebbles, and is typical of the pebble murals set into the streets of the town.
I found this very unusual flower display in one of the side streets, there are some unusual things to see in Whitehaven!
Pat took quite a few shots of the marina, this is the quiet end where there are not so many craft

And enjoying the peace were some swans, there were a couple of different groups of them, rather unusual to find them in a harbour.
Then off to our favourite Chippie, just off the harbour, Pat was amused by the "Light Bulb" shaped condiments set.
And I was amused by the size of her fish portion, which was about two inches thick!
We came back via the back roads and as you can see the clouds were still hanging about around the mountains, this is Lowes Water.

We had passed an old cast iron road sign in one of the villages where it had been mis-spelled as "Lowse Water!"

You don't see many road signs like that!

Here is Buttermere with rather angry clouds in the background, but at least it stayed dry for us.
And here Crummock Water, it's difficult to stop for a photo along this road, there was a surprising amount of traffic, and no parking places provided.
Another view this time the end of the lake
Just look at the way the sun has highlighted the foreground here, there are some lovely lighting effects even of dull days.

It had been a good day out, especially after such a wet night and dull morning.

Monday 16th August 2010 Tarn Howes

Looking out of the Caravan window first thing I was surprised to find it was foggy, but by the time we had finished breakfast and were on the road, it was rapidly evaporating. We stopped at the National Trust Car park just before the Watendlath road and Pat took this rather nice shot looking towards Keswick
Using the Zoom on my compact I chose to pick out this smaller area.First stop of the day was Grasmere to buy a 12 pack of Gingerbread!
We had decided to visit Tarn Howes, and knowing that cafes are few and far between out there we decided to park briefly in Ambleside and get some Sandwiches and Sticky buns from the Greggs Bakers there, and while we were at it, we had a coffee and sampled the still warm Gingerbread!

And very nice it was too!

Tarn Howes was very busy, but we managed to get some shots when people had briefly walked out of view
Like this one, it looks deserted but it most certainly wasn't!
We then drove down to the lakeside and went for several miles along the eastern shore before finding a free car park where we could get out our camping chairs and table and eat lunch in the lovely warm sunshine, here is a yacht that I was admiring (look at the reflection) as it drifted slowly by, (there was very little wind!)
I walked down to the "beach" and found you had to be careful as there were masses of tree roots everywhere, but the view was pleasant enough.

We were ready for a rest after we did some shopping at Booths (Keswick) and enjoyed a lazy afternoon on site.

Sunday 15th August 2010 Back in the Lake District!

It's nice to have a sunny start for a change, and this morning was exactly that, we made good time, going via the York Ring road, A1 North to Scotch Corner, then across the A66. pat took this shot of Brough Castle through our not too clean windscreen.
We arrived at 1:30 and managed to find a pitch we liked, here we are all set up and ready for a snooze!
Needless to say it wasn't long before I just had to have a walk down to the lakeside, just look at the Kabuki theatre effect on this view to the south.
Down by the lakeside it was very hot, even the wind was warm, this dog had the right idea!
I walked as far as the Chinese Bridge before the heat made me decide it would be a better idea to walk back and have a cool drink, there were even some poor benighted souls jumping off the bridge into the chilly depths of the river!
Ah, that's better a cool shady part of the footpath, where you can get your breath back before tackling the slope back to the camp site!

Tomorrow we shall go out in search of vital supplies, (Grasmere Gingerbread and Beer) and maybe some food, too!

Tuesday 3rd August Penmon, Beaumaris and Moelfre

The weather forecast again wasn't very good, but we decided to go out anyway and made our way to penmon priory, and the lighthouse at the very tip of Anglesey, with it's distinctive humbug striped lighthouse
There is a very narrow channel between the lighthouse and this island, and quite a tide rips between the two
Next stop was Beaumaris where we parked on the front and had a light lunch in the "Triple 8" coffee bar down the side street, we have been there before and the food is excellent
Walking back to the sea front we noticed that there was some sort of sailing event going on
There were several very loud bangs which obviously announced the start of the racing, which seemed to involve sailing the the striped lighthouse in the previous picture and back
Then we drove to Llandona and via some very steep and narrow roads to this hilltop view down on to Red Wharf Bay, its a very steep, narrow and twisty road, great fun to drive!
Back at camp we had a short sunny spell and I took this shot near to the camp entrance
And after tea a last walk in Moelfre , as you can see (or rather not see) it is very cloudy inland
And a rather cloudy sky over the village, we have had a good almost fortnight here though the weather could have been a lot better!

Monday 2nd August 2010 South Stack and District

No visit to Anglesey is complete without at least one shot of the South Stack lighthouse past Holyhead on the very tip of Holy Island, so here it is!

For once we were lucky with the weather, too

Here is a closer view, it really is fine sight. These shots were taken by me with Pats new camera as the cliff path is too steep for her now.
To the left of the last image is the RSPB building, and beyond there is a really great cliff top path, but you definitely need a head for heights!
Heading back to Holyhead you can see this great "Noggin" of rock, it is visible on a clear day right across the island.
According to the guide books there used to be over fifty windmills on the island, many are jut hulks, but some like this one have been converted into homes, and what a view they must have!
There is just one working windmill on Anglesey, Mellyn LLynon and it really is worth visiting. It a type mill with Canvas sails and has been restored to fully working condition
This is the upper of three floors and here are the central gear and the drives down to the three separate mill wheels that the mill has
Right next to the mill there are two reconstructed Iron Age round houses that are really interesting to visit, they are surprisingly roomy and well organised inside
Here you can see a loom resting against the wall on the left, and in the centre of the room log fire burns on a stone hearth.

Cooking was done by placing the food to be cooked in a pail of water (usually a skin lined wooden one, then heating stones in the fire and dropping them into the water to boil it.

There were some interesting carvings outside and a guide inside the roundhouse was happy to explain everything and demonstrate how fire was made with a bow and stick, he also showed us the various tools and utensils that were in everyday use.

We really enjoyed our visit.

Sunday 1st August 2010 Snowdon (Almost) and other places

Pat wanted to try and get a photo of Snowdon, so off to the mainland we went, first as far as Betws e coed and then doubling back through Capel Curig
We passed through some great scenery, but as you can see the mountain tops were covered in cloud so we knew we were definitely not going to get the photos Pat wanted
Then the weather worsened so we made our way back to the coast, Pat took this through a rather wet windscreen as we headed through Llanberis Pass in the direction of Caernarvon
There were large crowds here and not many places where we could see a parking place so we headed back to Anglesey
I fancied seeing the Model Village and we thought we might have lunch at the cafe there, but this turned out only to serve light refreshments, still we enjoyed walking round the models. This one is of Plas Newydd
And here is Beaumaris Castle
And the Town Hall at Llangefni
There is a model railway that runs around the model village every 2 minutes
Heres a model of the toll booth that used to greet travellers as they came over the Menaii Bridge
We did find a very good cafe just half a mile further along the road called "White Lodge" pat had a Beef Stew and I had a Gammon Steak and Chips, they were both very tasty and not too expensive.

After tea I drove down into Moelfre to walk beyond the lifeboat station (which is too far for Pat)

There is a charming row of white painted cottages and a shingle beached bay
With a low lying island just a few hundred yards away. This was a good way of rounding off a very nice day!