Oooop North!

 

After hauling these bags across London by tube we got the train up to Lancaster and then on to Carnforth where a further struggle up hill and dale to Cragbank ensued.

 

It was nice to be in the North in high summer with all the really lush grass and trees still with a hint of spring green rather than the late summer hues. It is hard to get used to the long days though and going to sleep in twilight at 11pm and then waking up to dawn at 330am takes a bit of getting over. (One of Jess’s requests was for us to save the Air NZ masks so that she could get some summer shuteye).

 

Anyway, Saturday took us to Shap village with Dad and gave him chance to reminisce about the bad good old days when driving over Shap fell, (which used to be the main road to Scotland), was taking your life in your hands because of the steepness and length of the climbs.
 

Lunch at Shap Chippy consisted of an enormous cod piece (or should that be piece of cod) and chips at the award winning chippy and I and Dad look very happy at what they are about to receive. It wasn’t half bad though.

Leaving Shap we drove back via country roads to Kendal, (the ancestral home),enjoying the open country on the way.

 

 

In Kendal we discovered that the Chinese were the originators of Tudor architecture as proven by the restaurants that abound in the high street.

 

All that’s missing is a sign that Henry VIII slept here!  A bit further down the street was a bit of interesting info outside an old hotel with the milestones. On one side of the door, the distance to London and on the other to Edinburgh.

 

For those of you not lucky enough to have visited Kendal, it’s a really quirky place. The main road is a mixture of eyesores (i.e. new buildings), and 16^th - 18^th century pubs, cottages and assorted other buildings. One thing that I’ve never seen anywhere else is the little alleys that run off to back yards every few houses and if you take the time to check these out you find all sorts of curiosities from whole streets of small cottages to churches, gardens and the likes. Each of the yards has a number that’s posted on the entrance too.

Finally, customer service is one thing that's always to the fore here in the UK. We called in for breakfast to a local pub that was advertising this on a huge sign at about 0830 only to be confronted by locked doors and with the "Breakfast by Appointment" before 0930 notice. Good job we didn't need a doctor!