Day 4 - Grasmere

 The Silver Lea, our accommodation had a gorgeous cottage garden all around it.  This weigela was in full bloom and looked stunning.

Today is our first rest day and Ammie's birthday. Happy Birthday our dear friend.

We are very glad for our rest day as the last 3 days have been exacting and tiring but most enjoyable. Our feet will enjoy the rest as we stay away from our boots all day.

Grasmere is a lovely village, a favoured retreat for William Wordsworth, and much is made of his time spent here.  Grasmere is also a favoured visiting spot for bus loads of tourists.  Saw a sign that read; "Feel free to wander lonely or as a crowd".  It said it all.  We decided to  have an early lunch but were told that we would have to wait 40 minutes for our meal because a group had ordered before us.  We chose an ice-cream instead and ate lunch in the middle of the afternoon in a quiet little cafe.    

Our B&B - The Silver Lea

Allan had a bit of drama - one of his walking poles broke while he was coming down the mountain.  He said that he was moving so quickly his pole couldn't keep up.  It got stuck in a gap between some rocks along our path and  something in the internal  mechanism snapped.  But all is not lost.  Thanks Tim for buying the poles on line from Cotswold Outdoors.  We went to their local outlet here in Grasmere, where they tracked down your order on the computer and replaced the pole immediately.   Lifetime guarantees do work!  We thank the Lord there was a Cotswolds in Grasmere as our poles are an essential part of our gear.  We doubt we would be able to climb the fells without them and know for sure that we wouldn't get down again without them.

The Queen is really big in England, they love her and especially here - many shops and buildings have British Flags draped around their windows.  They are celebrating Lizzie's 90th birthday. A big garden party is planned for Grasmere on Saturday but the weather isn't looking good for outdoor activities.  I'm sure they will have a plan B.....

We ate a meal in a pub where you could have your photo taken with Lizzie - well a life-sized  cardboard cutout.  She looked pretty real, hat, bag, gloves, smile - it was like I was seeing my mum again.  Mum and Lizzie always looked alike... A small but delightful diversion.

Grasmere is a beautiful village set in a delightful mountainous surround.  It's like we are in a bowl and the fells are the edge.  Every building has a magnificent mountain as a backdrop or else the stream flowing gently in front. The people love their setting but do grow weary of the constant rain.  Just after Christmas they were flooded several times over.  But without the wet how could you have such greenness. During the afternoon a huge downpour fell on the village and the crowds disappeared instantly.

This quiet stream turned into a torrent after the rain.

We are very thankful that we planned our rest day to fall today.  We heard that a man was struck by lightning on Helvellyn and several people who were near him panicked and ran for cover.  Another two fell and broke  their legs.  The rescue team was kept very busy. Quite a tragic event when the advice given to us is that when the weather is bad you don't go up onto the fells, especially the high ones, and Helvellyn is one of the highest.  We just got stuck in a gift shop while the rain pelted down, a much better option.

Graham was so happy it was a rest day! 

And that most of the people had climbed back into their buses and driven away.  Now we could enjoy wandering around without the crush!

It was a lovely evening. 

We did enjoy spending time together in such a beautiful part of the world, with the clouds floating low and the fells in the background,  creating a lovely scene.

The little galleries have great artwork - shame we can't fit more weight in our luggage.

Where have all the people gone?

And to celebrate Ammie's birthday we finished the day with a beautiful dinner.

This was one of the tomb stones in the graveyard where  William Wordsworth is buried.  It was really pretty with a vine engraved around it and moss growing on it.