So today was our first day here. The cottage has beautiful views over the mountains. I imagined waking up gently, to the view shrouded by sunshine! Instead, I was woken just after 5 am by Lola with her attention seeking bark! Believe it or not, Lola has 2 distinct types of barks. There is a deep bark which means she is unhappy, and then there is this high-pitched bark which is solely to seek attention!
I know you should ignore her when she is seeking attention, but that time in the morning she knows she has got you! It rings through your ears! She is such a little drama queen!
The cottage we are staying at is dog friendly, however there is a strict policy of no dogs upstairs! The dogs are therefore downstairs whilst we sleep upstairs. At home both dogs sleep in our room so this is a bit weird for them.
I sleepily come down stairs to find Lola by the door. She obviously needs a toilet break! I have to make a quick decision! It’s absolutely pouring with rain outside! I could find my car keys and run out to get my coat – which I stupidly left in there last night. This would cause Lola to bark further! We are in a semi-detached cottage, so I didn’t want to wake the neighbours! The alternative was to take them out in my PJ’s (a vest top and shorts) and try and take shelter under a tree as quickly as possible! I opted for the latter!
So just after 5 am I am stood under a tree in the pouring rain wishing Lola and Fido would hurry up! Typically, as this is a new place for them, they both had to sniff around a lot before they could even think of doing anything!
Finally, I get back inside, completely soaked, but at least it was still warm outside! I leave them both downstairs and go back to bed hoping to get another hour or so! Oh, I wish! Lola is now obviously awake! I can hear her moving around and I just know she is up to no good! I have to go down and check on her! Thankfully I did, as I found the oven glove in her bed!
With a telling off I head back to bed! She doesn’t want to be left so we get a few bouts of the high-pitched barking again! By 6.30 am we could almost kill her if we didn’t love her! She then goes quiet! That is always dangerous! I lay there not thanking my lucky stars for some peace and quiet, but wondering what she is up to! I have to take a look!
What do I find? Our walking book in her bed half chewed!!! I was so cross at her! She knew she was in trouble as she immediately hid in the kitchen!! And then she does the most un lady like thing! I think you can guess! I can’t help but give out a little laugh. She looked horrified !
I tried to tell her off for the book and barking again, in the hope that she will go back to sleep! But oh no! She really doesn’t want to go back to bed! I end up making tea for hubby and I! Even drinking that in bed is a no no! More barking results in us both having to get up with her! So much for a holiday lie in! I have to point out that Fido is being the perfect little boy!
So it’s not even 7.30 am and hubby and I are up having our second cup of tea!
When I’m at home I always love to watch BBC news in bed drinking my tea. We don’t have one in our bedroom at the cottage so having to get up meant we could watch the TV in the lounge.
It sounds silly but I love mornings. Once the dogs had chilled out it was relaxing just sitting on the sofa, drinking tea, watching the news and discussing with hubby plans for the day.
When we originally planned this holiday, we both wanted to do a specific walk. It’s 15 km up Cat Bells. Its quite a strenuous walk so we thought it should be one of the first walks we did of the week. Now today looking at the weather outside, that really isn’t going to happen, so what was our plan B?
We have our waterproof clothes and walking boots, so the weather shouldn’t really stop us going out, but we do have to think about slippery paths and how muddy the dogs might get.
After a good bit of reading by hubby we make a decision! A walk around Grassmere! It is relatively flat and from memory the paths were really good!
The walks starts at Dove Cottage, the home of Wordsworth. You then head towards some woods before you come to the Lake. A lovely walk around the lake brings a changing landscape. Whilst the heavy rain has gone, there is still the odd sprinkle! Surprisingly though it’s really humid! The weather means the mood of the lake changes continuously. It’s still very beautiful.
The walk takes just under 2 hours and 6 miles.
We return to the car to have lunch and plan on what to do for the rest of the day! We decide that its probably not the weather to do a long walk so instead head to Lake Windermere!
En-route we stopped off at Ambleside. There is the most amazing Apple Pie shop there. It also does a great selection of cakes and breads. My stepdaughter loves Soda bread and flapjacks which they have available. In fact, the flapjacks are still warm as only just been made, so it would be rude not to buy them. If you are ever in the area, you really have to stop at this bakery.
Just as we head off to Windermere, the heavens open! We decide that it would probably be better to head back to the cottage!
The road to the cottage is a challenge! Its single lane, very steep (1 in 3) with lots of shear drops. With a distance of 10 miles through these roads, it certainly tested your nerves! I have a 4 x 4 but even my car was struggling at times. It was no surprise then that we saw one family stuck halfway up a hill. Their small car just didn’t have the capacity to go any further! The family had to get out of the car to lighten the load, while the father reversed it down the road. With other cars like ours on the single track, it was quite a difficult move for him!
We get back to the cottage. I didn’t bring my book with me, so knew that sitting doing nothing wouldn’t be my first choice. Anyone who knows me knows I’m terrible at just sitting doing nothing! In the morning when I was out with the dogs, I saw river just behind our cottage. I suggested to hubby we try his camera lenses out there with the tripod. He has some filters which he hasn’t yet had the chance to use properly. This seemed an ideal time just to play around.
It does kill a bit of time but not much, so what to do? I’ve now downloaded my photos onto my laptop. We don’t have WIFI in the cottage or phone signal, so there isn’t much more I can do! Then hubby suggests Monopoly! We haven’t played it for a long time so a good idea.
So, the 3 of us spend the next couple of hours trying to out wit the other while I multitasked cooking a roast dinner!
I really thought I had come up with a great strategy of buying every property I could on the way round to stop others. My stepdaughter tries some hard negotiation for a swap of some of our properties. I think it will work for me so agree an exchange to give us both full sets! Oh, what I fool I was! Whilst she had plenty of cash to buy properties, I was very poor. Mainly because every time I passed go I stopped on the tax square! Grrrrr!
The first to fall was hubby! I knew that my time was limited! After a few more rounds, remortgaging and remortgaging, I can’t meet the £1250 bill for landing on her! My stepdaughter is victorious!
After such an early start I’m now getting quite tired. We have dinner and I’m struggling to stay awake.
We have basic TV in the cottage, so channels are limited. We have found Pirates of the Caribbean. Its great watching classics like this, and this is one of the funniest films.
There is obviously a storm somewhere as the signal keeps breaking! Then there was the biggest clap of thunder I have ever heard! The poor dogs (and me) jumped out of our skins! That was the TV out for a while. We eventually get it back but I’m so tired!
After a hot bath, I decided to call it time! I know I’m going to be up early again with the dogs tomorrow so its time to stop fighting it!
Tomorrow is another day!
Check out more photos of the walk on my YouTube Channel!
Slimminginspirations4u 