Blogs from Cumbria, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 39

Well, as you can see it has been months since I've been able to update. I hope to fill you in on the semester, but I think it's best to start with the most recent and work back. I'm back in Le Mans after spending the Christmas break with Ruth's family in Brigham, a little town in Cumbria. Cumbria is the very north-west of England. You can see Scotland from Ruth's window and the sea is a short ride to the west. Brigham itself is an adorable little town with houses that are older than America. It's the English village you'd picture from TVs and movies - large but simple looking homes, stone walls lining the small twisting roads, fields of sheep lined with hedgerows in the distance. Empty bottles waiting for the milkman on the ... read more

Well its another New Year and I hope you all had a good christmas. After going back home to Usk over christmas it has become apparent on more than one occasion that people have said I have put on some winter warmth. ( people saying hello accross a busy bar and making gestures to me in the form of a pregnant woman rubbing her belly) Therefore I am determined to get myself a lot fitter and what better way to start the new year off with a 5mile walk around Arnside. Arnside is a little village on Morcambe bay and even though it has the name that sounds like a 70's TV Cop drama its not a bad place to have a wander. The bay is reknowned for its strong currents and quick tides. apparently when ... read more

The Christmas Eve walk has become a bit of a tradition in hardship in recent times. Last year a horizontal hail stone storm on Coniston Old Man erradicated any views, but made me feel extremely manly! The mountain weather forecast for Christmas Eve 2006 hinted at the chance of a cloud inversion, and it was too good an opportunity to miss, the prospect of Christmas shopping infinitely more terrifying than a December day in the fells. I started from the national trust car park at the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel. The start offers the only 2 facilities you really need; a car park and a pub. Dungeon Ghyll is a fantastic place to start a walk the road into Great Langdale providing the feeling of leaving behind civilisation and entering the wilderness. The valley is flanked ... read more

Hi all, We have been at Ambleside at the northern end of Lake Windermere in the gorgeous Lakes District of England since Friday and we leave tomorrow (Monday) morning. We have had a very relaxing time here - travelling up and down the length of the lake by ferry on a 2 day pass and visited The World of Beatrix Potter at Bowness which is half way down the lake(saw wonderful exhibition of all of her much loved characters - Caitlin's favourites were Jemima Puddleduck, the 2 naughty mice, and Peter Rabbit, of course). Today we caught a bus to the nearby village of Keswick which is the home of Derwent lead and coloured pencils, so we visited the Pencil Museum and learned how to paint with water-colour pencils. We also visited a Motor Museum - ... read more

In what was our first real holiday in the UK we ventured to the land of lakes, leaves and the retired for a week with the parents. Seb (stepfather) had calculated the precise time for the best of the autumn leaves to show so off we ventured to Keswick. A 6 hour train trip up there took us to the gateway of the Lake District Kendal. From there we hired a car from the overenthusiastic 'Malc' and drove through to Keswick. We arrived on a rainy day (not an uncommon occurrence in the lake district- hence the lakes) but for the rest of the week the weather was perfect if a lot colder than London. We stayed in a converted barn just outside of Keswick called Brackenrigg (which would have been great if not for the ... read more