For the kids

Seeing as the adults had enjoyed a meet up at Grasmere it seemed appropriate to allow the kids a chance to meet. Trouble is October is a bit late in the year to be camping with kids and we’d blown the holiday budget on our own little extravagant weekend. Fortunately, generously and at risk to his own sanity, ED kindly offered  a few of us and our rowdy kids to stay at his place in Silverdale for the weekend so we were all sorted.

Apart from the weather that is. We had some grand plans to take the kids walking on some the top-notch lower fells that surround the Silverdale area. The weather on the Saturday was damp and miserable and even worse on Sunday. However seeing as EWO was with us we did manage to convince/threaten the kids to go out for a walk on both days although unsurprisingly I don’t have too many photos.

The gangs all here

On the Saturday we ambled up to the Pepperpot in Eaves Wood. On better days the views across Morecambe Bay are superb but today it was shrouded in drizzle and mist.

The Pepperpot

The kids still enjoyed themselves, clambering in the trees and pottering about.

I remember when I could climb trees

We continued on to Hawes Water (not the big Lake District one) where ED told us about the day only a few weeks before when the whole area was running with lizards. You can read about his encounter on his blog here. It just sums up the fickleness of the British weather that within a matter of weeks you move from lizard-basking warmth to cold rain.

EWO Babysitting Services Limited

Hawes Water

We’d actually been out for a good part of the day but when we got back EWO (as he ALWAYS does) convinced us to go out for a further walk. The scale of the kids total lack of interest in this add-on won’t be hard to imagine so it was just me, ED, EWO and Hard Man Brian (HMB) who ventured out. Normally this has us cursing our own poor judgement but on this occasion he was right and we were out for what turned out to be the best spell of the weekend. As you can see from the photos it still wasn’t great but it did stop raining.

Morecambe Bay

We took a short walk down by the sea along the slithery rocks. Only a short time ago there was a broad plateau of grassy foreshore that I think ED said was used for turf. Now it’s all mostly gone and all that remains are a few small patches.

Looking across the bay towards the Lake District

We spent a very pleasant evening eating take-away curry and playing parlour games with sticks and things until the small hours. Great fun

The Sunday was just like the day before only colder and with more rain. The kids were remarkably cheerful all things considered as we dragged them up the local eminence of Arnside Knott. The views from up here are magnificent on clear day. Today at the giddying height of 159m we were in the cloud and the views were a trifle disappointing

"....and over on the left is the Old Man of Coniston"

Satisfied that we’d had least had some fresh air we returned to the warmth of chez ED and took full advantage or his bounteous generosity, drank his tea and ate his food. The walking round these part is some of my favourite in the UK with limitless treasures of forests, nature reserves, small hills, rocky outcrops and coastline. I’ve had some cracking days out here with ED and our extended family of friends as it’s perfect for the kids to explore. I love my adopted home in Herefordshire but if I did ever feel like moving this is one of the few areas I would move to. It was a real shame that the weather was so poor but we all had a really terrific weekend regardless. Sometimes just watching the kids play together and enjoying good company is it’s own reward. A real big thank-you has to go ED, his lovely wife and kids for letting us invade his home for the weekend and making us all so welcome. If you do want to find out more about the area then I suggest you look through some of the many posts on ED’s blog, Beating the Bounds. A great read from a blog veteran. You can read his version of events here

A micro slide show below – hope you like the little bluegrass ditty