In The Summertime

You know when you drive in, say, The Dandenongs in winter.  The road is wet from last nights rain, the car wipers intermittently disperse the drizzle, the foliage droops with moisture and mist obscures the hill tops.

Welcome to The Lake District this August SUMMER MORNING. Those hardy walkers were still striding along, despite the conditions.

At The Queeen's Hotel last night, the publican explained to me, "We have two seasons up here.  Wet and cold; wet and warm.  This now is wet and warm."

We returned to Keswick this morning, having discovered there is a PENCIL MUSEUM there, run by the Lakeland company, who of course also make Derwents.  I loved Derwent pencils as a kid.  There was an art supply store in Shepparton that sold the full 72 colour range as individual pencils.

This factory seemed to have been started by the bequest of a local man made good, who left money to build both a poor house and a manufactory to provide work for them.  Graphite was mined nearby and from a former cottage industry, the company grew.

We found the displays and video of interest, especially the factory's involvement in World War Two. A select few would secretly return at night, to devise a way of making pencils for aircraft men, containing a rolled-up map and tiny compass concealed inside.  Also we saw a special pencil, one of only two made, the other being presented to Queen Elizabeth II to mark her Diamond Jubilee.  The pencil is topped with a specially crafted crown twinkling with sixty tiny diamonds.  Very impressive. Not so impressive though that I ordered a replica for about five hundred quid!

At some point today I discovered near Keswick is an ancient circle of stones, known as Castlerigg.  So with directions from the local Tourist Office, off we set, me enthusiastically, Woodsie decidedly less so, as the drive involved narrow lanes again.

The circle is in a farmer's paddock, complete with black faced sheep and their fertiliser.  Stepping carefully we, and many others, walked up a slight green slope to this circle, believed to be about 4,500 years old.  The circle is on a slight rise and when you look around, it seems to be situated in a circle of hills too.  I'm not sure how high the Stonehenge Circle stands, but the highest of these stones was about 2 metres high, with others low enough for children to climb on.

Again we have driven through some wonderful villages and countryside.  The farms seem to nestle right into the foot of these hills.  Their gently undulating paddocks, edged with stone fences, surround groups of stone buildings.  Behind rises up these giant hills, stark, bleak, with rocky outcrops and only some scrubby, low vegetation.  The occasional sheep can be seen on the hillsides.  As I said, this morning the mist was so low we could not see the hill tops.  It must be quite a sight covered in snow, in winter.

Again we drove beside the lakes, often only a few feet from the water's edge.  At times the water was dark and unsettled by rain.  This afternoon, the surface was flat and reflected the trees and hills beyond.

Probably the only grumble of today is finding a car park.  Each large parking area is "Park and Pay".  Even at the Pencil Museum, we were stung £4 to park.  Happily, the Museum gave a discount of £1:50 for your parking voucher.