Puddleduck and Rabbitt

I phoned my Dad this morning and daughter Delanie answered.  She had just sent us an SMS and thought we were responding to that.  But her message was still bouncing out onto satellites and not yet back down to earth.

Dad was hospitalised last Thursday due to another infection relating to his difficulty in swallowing food.  But Delanie assured us he was receiving great care and was feeling chipper and cracking his usual bad jokes, which she took as an excellent sign.  My sister Kerrie was with him too, so I am very grateful they could be there.

We collected our hire car today and made our way out of Edinburgh, to the consternation of the Tom Tom sat-nav!  Our destination was Ambleside in the Lake District of Northern England.  Seems there is an Ambleside in Edinburgh!  No wonder we were being instructed to "turn around, turn around!"

We detoured through Lockerbie and found the Memorial Gardens and a centre there with the history of this place, which of course includes details of the plane disaster, where an aircraft was exploded over the town by terrorists, killing all on board and 11 locals as well.

We stopped for refreshment late morning just outside the village of Biggar, at The Old Mill.  Mine host sat perched on a bar stool.  He knows Melbourne well as he has relatives in Warnambool (hello Jan and Bob) who run a micro brewery there.  He ruefully recalled a trip over for the Rugby World Cup where he spent considerable time one day at Crown Casino.

"They take your money off you in the politest way possible," he said.

He'd been to the races and race one, horse one was "Crown Princess".  His pub in Biggar was The Crown and his wife was often called Princess, so he walked down $300 on it.  The horse bolted in, so he had a pocket full of money.

Now his excuse was - they give you free drinks there, you know, so he put a $100 chip in his pocket and kept playing Black Jack and at one stage he had 4 or 5 THOUSAND DOLLARS in front of him, which would have nearly paid for the entire trip. But he kept drinking and ended up with only the
$100 chip left.

When he retired from The Crown, Stuart was his name, found he had no hobbies.  He doesn't golf, or fish, and is too old now for rugby.  He had driven past his old place, which was all shut up, many times and as he was so bored in retirement, four years decided to buy it and run it as a local pub.  Nothing fancy.  "Folks round here want a simple feed, not something where you need fish n' chips on way home to fill up.". His plan is to open a whiskey bar there, to educate locals and tourists alike on Scotland's finest export!

Driving on we were on the lookout for signs to Hadrian's Wall.  Seems Emporer Hadrian built this wall, coast to coast, at the end of the Roman Empire, to keep those feisty Scots out.  We were directed to one spot.  We quietly grumbled about the £3 car park charge, then had to tramp along paths, through several gates, then over slippery grass slopes to see ... a wall.  The Lonely Planet said it was spectacular.  I've been lucky enough to see the Great Wall of China.  If I rate THAT as spectacular, which I do, I am forced to admit that this particular section of Hadrian's stonework left me less impressed.  Plus there were NO SIGNS THERE to explain anything to us non-English, who are only vaguely aware of what it is.

This disappointment was more than compensated for by the wonderful scenery for the rest of the journey to Ambleside in the Lake District.  The countryside is a series of rolling hills, so views stretch for miles across pasture, farms, crops.  Most buildings are old stone double storey homes.  Farm yards are crowded with barns and storage sheds.  Fencing is mainly of stone and some roads are so narrow with abundant green growth high each side.

As we first glimpsed Lake Windermere, the late afternoon sun sparkled silver off it and yachts sailed by.  This is the countryside that inspired William Wordsworth "I wandered lonely as a cloud" though that can't have been summer as the streets of these villages are packed with tourists.

Beatrix Potter lived here too.   So for the next few days we will be breathing the fresh air, tramping hill and dale, and exploring this beautiful corner of England.