The Lakes.....

You may recall last Wednesday I said we were off on a jaunt?   We went on a day trip to the Lake District and our first stop was Kendal, which is considered to be the southern gateway to the Lake District being only around 9 miles from Windermere and around 30 miles from Keswick. The other lakes are all within an hour or two's travelling by car from the town, as are locations for walks and rambles, both gentle and demanding.   The town’s traditional trade was in wool, from which the town’s motto “Pannus mihi panis”, literally meaning “wool is my bread” was taken.  The town’s most famous export must be Kendal Mint Cake. Joseph Wiper came up with the original recipe for the Everest conquering energy bars, and by the time the company was sold to rival mint cake makers Romneys.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived in Kendal was this

Whoopee!  However as it was only 10.30 and it didn't open until noon we had a walk round the many little streets looking in the shops and visited the small market first.   

I've put together a little slide show of some of the little streets in Kendal and the more interesting buildings.

We then found this charming pub where we decided to have lunch.

With a history...

It was lovely inside - warm, welcoming and bright.

We had a lovely lunch of Steak and Ale pie with new potatoes, carrots, sugar snap peas and cauliflower all washed down with real ale.

By the time we'd finished lunch it was 12.45 and the CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) Beer and Cider Festival at the Town Hall across the street had been open for 45 mins so we decided to pop over and partake of some more real ale.

The Town Hall is a beautiful old building and inside was typical of old style town halls with wood panelling and shiny tiled floors.  On Heritage Open Day in Kendal the Town Council open the Mayor's Parlour to the public.  This is a rare opportunity to see and learn about the historic artefacts stored in the Mayor's Parlour, including The Sword of State, the pair of Maces, Kendal Pattern Book and Queen Catherine Parr's Book of Devotions. Catherine Parr the last wife of Henry VIII, was born in Kendal Castle.

This is what greeted us when we got into the room where the Festival was being held.

We hired two half pint tankards and bought a sheet of payment vouchers for £5 and made our way to the bar where we purchased two halves of two of the 30+ ales and ciders on sale very cheaply, then found a seat at the other end of the room.  Some of the more unusual named ales were Chocolate Cherry Mild, Perfect Disaster, Bottle Wreck Porter, Cocker Hoop, Thirst Rescue, Hung Drawn & Portered, Lonesome Pine, W'Ruff Night, Collie Wobbles, Village Idiot, Warlock Stout and Old Bushy Tail - you want to try some now don't you?

We had to meet the coach at 1.30 p.m. to take us on the next leg of our trip but we just had time to try another half pint of a different brew before we took our tankards and voucher back for a refund.   We did consider asking our coach driver if she could come back for us later but decided against it.

Our next destination was Bowness on Windermere, which is Cumbria’s most popular destination, with the town busy for much of the year. People come to enjoy the lake for sailing and watersports, or just to relax and enjoy the atmosphere of the area and the town’s delightful setting.   Our coach driver dropped us off right next to the lake and although the day was very overcast there were plenty of people taking boat tours on lake Windermere, which is the largest lake in England.



We headed up into town away from the lake to meander around the streets for a while.   We came across a confectioner's that specialised in celebration cakes and just had to take a photo of this wedding cake in the window.

Isn't it fabulous?

Here's a little slide show of the photos we took around Windermere.

It was almost time to return to the coach for our journey home so we popped into The John Peel for one last drink before heading back.

The weather wasn't fantastic - dull and chilly - but we had a great day.  Hope you enjoyed it too.

Getting fit.......

Our town has a brand new Sports Village which was opened at the beginning of September by HRH The Duke of Gloucester; Olympic Silver Medalist Swimmer Kerri Ann Payne, who lives in the town, performed an inaugural swim in the pool.

Here are the facilities at the village:

• The new sports village boasts: 
• two new swimming pools  
• four court sports hall  
• 100 station fitness suite with changing rooms and steam cabins  
• two exercise and dance studios
• outdoor artificial turf pitches - full size and 7-a-side
• outdoor grass pitches with changing facilities
• Shokk youth gym and youth area
• community and training rooms  
• Badminton courts  
• Bowls  
• Cricket nets
• Table tennis  
• Trampolining for juniors

 
  You can see some photos of the facilities here.   Impressive isn't it?


I have been lucky enough to have been given a three month free membership because of a scheme here run by the NHS called Exercise on Prescription.   Anyone with a health problem (in my case Diabetes) who needs to lose weight (which I do) can be referred to a local gym for a free membership by their GP.  My GP referred me and if, after the trial period, I have used the facilities regularly and have lost some weight the membership can be extended for another six months.  

I started last Monday and for the first week I just used the gym.  The exercise machines, bikes, treadmills etc., all have their own TV screens and connections for headphones and even Ipods so you can watch TV or listen to your own music whilst exercising.   This week I did a dance class on Monday and today I've booked in for an Aquafit session in the pool tomorrow.  In the meantime I have been using the exercise bikes and treadmills in the gym, working up a sweat!  

I am so enjoying myself and hopefully getting fit and slimmer in the process.   I'm keeping my fingers crossed I can get an extension on the membership.  Wish me luck.

Microfiction Monday #24...

Susan at Stony River hosts this fun theme each Monday, so do pop over and read the others who have signed Mr. Linky. The rules are thus:

Every Monday Susan will post a picture for the subject of your story. Microfiction means the shortest of short stories. Think Aesop's fables, comic strips, or even jokes: complete stories that can be told in under a minute. For this game, the limit is a tweetable 140 characters or fewer, including punctuation and spaces.


Here's today's picture and my contribution.

The Princess thought the Prince was over reacting by bricking up the door of her room.

She’d only shaved off one of his eyebrows as a joke.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #137 The Meeting....

They had been emailing back and forth for months.

She was pushing to meet, he not so sure.

She was beautiful - the photograph told him so.

She said he was handsome - the photo told her so.

It was arranged - 12 noon at Euston underneath the clock.

Neither recognised the other - from the photographs they'd sent.

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

10:10:10

Want to know what we did on 10:10:10?




We boarded a beautifully restored pullman carriage

on the East Lancs Railway

and had a long

leisurely

delicious

 Sunday lunch

whilst being hauled by a vintage steam locomotive

through the beautiful Irwell Valley

for an hour and a half.

We're off on a jaunt today so I will catch up with you all later.

Microfiction Monday #23....

Susan at Stony River hosts this fun theme each Monday, so do pop over and read the others who have signed Mr. Linky. The rules are thus:

Every Monday Susan will post a picture for the subject of your story. Microfiction means the shortest of short stories. Think Aesop's fables, comic strips, or even jokes: complete stories that can be told in under a minute. For this game, the limit is a tweetable 140 characters or fewer, including punctuation and spaces.


Here's today's picture and my contribution.

As Mavis waited for the arriving train to stop,

she suddenly had the horrible feeling

that she’d left her train ticket at home - buggeration!

Friday 55 Flash Fiction #136 Contraband.....

Waiting for their luggage by the carousel, Bev noticed the sniffer dogs.

Having returned from Columbia, she was nervous,

Wiping away perspiration from her top lip, she whispered to Sean

"What if the dogs take an interest in our cases, considering what's in them?"

"Don't worry" he said

"they're looking for drugs not extra cigarettes!"

Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.

Off To London To See The Queen Part 4......

Before we knew it Monday had dawned, our last day of sightseeing and our journey home.   Our first stop was The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead where we had about four hours to entertain ourselves before the return journey home.    The most famous place there is Windsor Castle so, of course, we had to do the tour.

Windsor Castle

The Castle was originally built by William The Conqueror at the end of the 11th Century.  It has been the home of 39 monarchs and is the oldest royal residence in the British Isles to have remained in continuous use.   Windsor Castle occupies 26 acres (10.5 hectares) with  951 rooms of which 225 are bedrooms.

Plan of Windsor Castle

In the above photo you can see the scale of the Castle and it's grounds and in the slide show below you will see the various places as we toured the Castle.

We weren't allowed to take photographs inside the Castle apartments so the following photos are courtesy of Google Images.   There are so many beautiful rooms in the Castle and items of interest it would be impossible for me to put them all in this post so I'm going to choose just a few to give you a taste of the splendour.

Grand Staircase

The site of the Grand Staircase was originally an internal courtyard known as Brick Court.  Jeffry Wyatville added the glazed gothic lantern roof, which survived the realignment of the staircase in the 1860s.  The trophies of arms and armour which line the walls are based on an arrangement for for William IV in 1830.  All visitors to the State Apartments, whether members of the public or heads of state, ascend this magnificent staircase to begin their tour. 

In the Grand Vestibule stands a marble statue of Queen Victoria which has been displayed here since it's completion in 1872.    Also displayed here is the musket ball that killed Lord Nelson.  He was struck in the left shoulder while on the deck of HMS Victory during the Battle of Travalgar in 1805.  The ball was removed by the ship's surgeon shortly after Nelson's death and made into a pendant locket which was later presented to Queen Victoria.

The Latern Lobby which was created after the 1992 fire on the site of the former private chapel, where th fire broke out, houses a magnificent suit of armour which belonged to Henry VIII.

The armour was made at Greenwich around 1540.  Several 'exchange' pieces to adapt the armour for the different exercises of the tournament are shown in the Queen's Guard Chamber.   The armour records the King's impressive proportions, which were quite exceptional in the sixteenth century.

We left the State Apartments and went out into the grounds again and down to the parade ground in the Lower Ward.  The soldiers on sentry duty within the precincts are drawn from the five regiments of Foot Guards (Coldstream, Genadier, and Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards), of which one battalion is always stationed at Windsor.   The Changing of the Guard routinely takes place at 11 am on the parade ground in the Lower Ward.   When the Court is in residence the ceremony takes place in the Quadrangle.    Luckily we were there just as the Changing of the Guard took place.

Then I just had to go and have my picture taken with one of the guards on sentry duty.

I asked him if he could possible crack a smile but he just gave a little chuckle without it showing on his face.

The five Regiments may be recognised by the grouping of buttons on their tunics and the Coldstream Guards grouping is twos, which is how we deduced that he was a member of the Coldstream Guards.

St. George's Chapel is also in the grounds of Windsor Castle.

We were not allowed to take photographs inside the Chapel so the following photographs are courtesy of Google Images.


Work on the present chapel began under Edward IV in 1475 and the east end or Quire (choir) was completed by 1484 with a wooden roof.  


The stone fan vaulting seen today was added shortly afterwards, by Henry VII, when the nave was also finished.   The chapel was finally completed under Henry VIII in 1528.  Medieval carved wooden stalls in the Quire are where the Knights of the Order of the Garter gather during their annual ceremony. The banners hang over their individual stalls and about 700 engraved and enamelled brass plates of former knights are attached to the backs of the stalls. In 2008, Prince William became the 1,000th knight of the order.   You can see a 360 degree tour of the Quire here showing all the banners and engraved plaques in all their glory.


St. George's Chapel also houses the tombs of King George V and Queen Mary. Anyone who has seen pictures of the British royal family in the early part of the 20th century will instantly recognise Queen Mary's distinctive hairdo in the carving. There is also an elaborate but rather moving carved memorial to Princess Charlotte, only child of King George IV, who died in childbirth.

The memorial is in a side chapel toward the back of the nave.   Also a side chapel, off the north Quire aisle, holds the relatively simple memorials of Queen Elizabeth II's parents (George VI and Elizabeth, the Queen Mother) and her sister, Princess Margaret.

A simple stone slab in the center aisle of the Quire is the entrance to a vault that holds the tombs of Henry VIII, Charles I (beheaded by Cromwell's forces, after the English Civil War) and Jane Seymour (Henry VIII's third wife, who died following the birth of Henry VIII's only son).

Our tour concluded and we exited the Castle to have some lunch (yes in a pub!) down this little street opposite the entrance to the Castle.

This lovely lady dressed in a crinoline was handing out leaflets.   A little further down the street we came across Nell Gwynn's house. 

Nell was the mistress of King Charles II, from 1670 until his death and lived either in Pall Mall in Westminster, London or Church Street in Windsor, in order to be near the King while at his palaces.

Windsor is full of 'olde worlde' buildings like those above and below.

Market Cross House

(The Crooked House of Windsor)

Unfortunately it was time for us to return to the coach for our journey home.  We thoroughly enjoyed our weekend (was it really only a weekend???) in London, I hope you did too.

Microfiction Monday #22......

Susan at Stony River hosts this fun theme each Monday, so do pop over and read the others who have signed Mr. Linky. The rules are thus:

Every Monday Susan will post a picture for the subject of your story. Microfiction means the shortest of short stories. Think Aesop's fables, comic strips, or even jokes: complete stories that can be told in under a minute. For this game, the limit is a tweetable 140 characters or fewer, including punctuation and spaces.


Here's today's picture and my contribution.

“Prince Fabian I have a bad feeling about this” she whispered.

“Darling Esmeralda will you stop worrying,

Pegasus knows exactly how to land!”

Friday 55 Flash Fiction # 135 Bounty.......

Unaware he was watching as she dug the hole to bury her bounty.

She filled in the hole, raking earth over the top, trying to make it look as though it hadn’t been disturbed.

He waited, until all was quiet, before retrieving the bounty.

“That bloody squirrel’s dug up my spring bulbs again!” she cried.



This is not fiction the bloody squirrel got MY Spring bulbs the day after I put them in!



Friday 55 Flash Fiction is brought to you by G-man (Mr Knowitall). The idea is you write a story in exactly 55 words. If you want to take part pop over and let G-man know when you've posted your 55.