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We arrived in Cumbria yesterday evening after a fairly standard drive up from Kent. This year we are staying near Keswick as we have before but at a new campsite – Threlkeld Hall. Beautifully generous spaces and nicely set out within a sheep farm and with gorgeous views.

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After a good night’s sleep we headed off towards Keswick, hoping to drive south to the Windermere area but soon discovered that the road we needed was closed and Windermere had been removed from all the signposts.  Weird – as if it was now a non-place.  We believe that the road is still closed after the winter floods.

Instead, we found ourselves travelling alongside Derwent Water and Borrowdale and made the decision to drive to Buttermere and the Honister Pass.  We experienced this during our first holiday to the Lake District back in 2013 and remembered it as a fairly scary rollercoaster ride.  This time we were going in the opposite direction, south to north, and the scenery was stunning, the colours vibrant even though the sun wasn’t shining.

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Amazing colours – definitely inclined to paint it!

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A typical cottage near Buttermere

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And another one…

Why do we always find a chicken crossing the road in front of us?

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At this time of the year, of course, the gorse makes a stunning splash of colour along the lakeside.

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We haven’t visited the coastline before and decided to drive along the coast towards Maryport.  Quite a pleasant little place and plenty of free parking by the harbour.

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Driving back through Cockermouth, no signs of the recent flooding now – loved this old painted advertisement on the side of a building!

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We drove back to Keswick, hoping that Luchinis, our favourite Italian ice cream shop, might still be open.  It was and we bought a tub with four wonderful flavours, including banana and pineapple, which we put in Bessie’s freezer and a couple of cones to eat straightaway.

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Mine was lemon meringue and raspberry topped with lime sauce!

Back to the campsite and we had a short stroll down the lane until it started raining, whereupon we retired to Bessie where we managed to get our mobile wifi started – a good 3 connection – which can feed up to 10 pieces of equipment.  Fantastic!

Tomorrow we intend to find the elusive Lake Windermere by turning right outside the campsite and heading back towards Penrith.  Maybe the weather will be slightly sunnier than today.  I hope so!