Lake District

Craig, being on holiday from school coincided with Susan and I celebrating seeing each other for one year, so we had booked a trip away for the weekend to stay in Cumbria, with Jake in tow.

We headed off on Friday morning with the kids in the back of the car happily watching DVD's while we chatted and listened to music. Three hours later we were arriving at our destination, Stanwix Park in Silloth which is just over the Scottish border, past Carslile.

We got ourselves organised as quickly as we could and then we headed to the swimming pool for an hour before getting some dinner. A night of ten pin bowling and a couple of games of pool followed before we finally headed back and put two very tired boys to bed.

Susan and I shared a bottle of wine whilst listening to music before discovering that it was 2 am and we had crashed out on the couch. We stumbled into bed hoping that the boys would sleep late...

We woke at 7.30 with the two boys still snoring but decided to get up sharp and make the most of the day. After breakfast we headed out to explore. Susan had bought two buckets and spades for the kids and so we found a nice sandy beach for the kids to run around.

Craig needed a bit of coaxing to go on to the sand as he was worried that the tide would come in quickly and wash us away but eventually we made it down and I built a small housing estate with the Spiderman bucket complete with village pond, recreation centre and drop in hostel for homeless people!

When the tide had gone out it had left a large pool that had some fishes in it and hilarity ensued as we ran around it trying to spot the fishes that kept swimming to the other side every time that we got near them.

After having an ice cream we set off again and decided to head down towards Lake Windermere. The scenery was gorgeous and the closer we got to Windermere we saw lots of very climbable hills with loads of folk paragliding from the top of one of the peaks. Susan and I vowed to come back for a spot of hillwalking/climbing and maybe a shot of the paradlider!

We finally ended up in the beautiful village of Ambleside and after a look around, decided to take the kids to Beatrix Potter World which, by the time we got there was just closing however dissapointment was averted by a quick trip to the toy shop instead!

Since we were beside a lake a decided to hire a boat to take out for a while but unfortunately when I returned I discovered that my docking skills need some improvement as you can see below!

I of course made that last part up and Im sure that if the owner of the boat ever reads this he will have a chuckle to himself as he remembers how his poorly secured, brand new boat fell off the trailer as he towed it through Ambleside High Street on a Saturday afternoon.

Or maybe he wont!

We went for a chippy and drove along for a couple of miles to find a nice spot where we could eat while we watched the sun set. As you can see from the pictures below, the view was outstanding.

Back at the resort, another game of ten pin bowling and pool followed and the boys kept each other entertained giving Susan and I the chance to relax with a drink while we watched England getting beaten by South Africa in rugby World Cup Final.
We headed back, knackered and were soon all in bed.

We were booked in until Monday, but unfortunately Craig was back at school by then, so today would be our last day. We headed to the pool again and this time Craig found himself a pal to play with and when Susan took Jake out to get ready, I had a nice wee 15 minutes to myself in the hot tub, which was cool.

After packing up and checking out we drove North, taking our time to enjoy it as it was another beautiful sunny day and we were in no hurry to get back home.

We had a short stop off at Hadrian's Wall which was good to see after hearing all about it in dull school lessons 25 years ago.

A couple of hours later we were back in Dumbarton and stopped off for dinner before all four tired bunnies went home and had an early night!

Climbing Ben Lomond

Friday was a beautiful, sunny, autumnal day and so we decided to climb Ben Lomond the next day. Unfortunately the next day was cloudy, damp and miserable. Nevertheless we set off early in the hope that the weather might clear as the day went on. It never did!

The carpark at the base of the Ben was pretty busy indicating that there were plenty of other eejits willing to ascend 3,600 feet so that they could have a fantastic view of.....clouds.

I was really disappointed to see that the Forestry Commission had been hard at work decimating the trees that used to shroud the path on the way up to the 'proper' start of the walk, indicated by a small sign bolted to a stone. I know that it's sustainable forest and all that jazz, but it looks shit now and I it will be decades before it gets back to the way it used to be. It's a real shame.

This was my fourth time up Ben Lomond, but to my amazement it was Susan's first. She just hadn't got round to bagging this munroe yet and I was happy to be with her on her first trip up there.

The climb took us about three hours with the cloud cover increasing the further up we went until half an hour from the summit the visibility was down to about 20 feet which was a bit unnerving as I was aware of some of the sheer drops that we were strolling past.

At the summit it was absolutely freezing and so we only stayed there for 5 minutes with the rest of the poor sods who had been daft enough to climb up too, offering to take our picture. The look on Susan's face told me that she had had enough 'fun' on the summit and so we started to hot-foot it back down as quickly as we could without plunging to our deaths!

A couple of hours later we were back in the car and on our way to The Oak Tree Inn in Balmaha for lunch.

Job done!