On tour

It was wet. Not stupidly wet, but wet and grey. Urban-Cub and Pistol Pete had planned to go to Keswick for the day; our plans had not quite formed yet. We had a leisurely morning, dictated by the fact that Ellie fell asleep on the Gorse Fox and was so comfortable nobody wanted to wake her.

Eventually we got on the move. Our first stop was Dalemain House. This ancient manor was between the cottage and Penrith so didn’t take too long. It’s on the Historic Houses Association portfolio so our membership cards gave us free entry (saving £23). The guided tour started at the main Georgian entrance and looped round through the east wing of the house. (The house is still occupied by the owners, and the Gorse Fox assumes they are using the west wing).

Dalemain was full of interesting features and facts. A house has stood there for over 1000 years and in that time it has only been owned by three families. The latest owners have been there since the late 1600s. The Georgian frontage was built over the old medieval building without actually removing it; thus as you move round the building you start in Georgian splendour and move through into the medieval. In the centre, marking the transition, still stands part of the old courtyard. The tour lasted about 90 minutes and was conducted by an elderly Scot with a dry sense of humour. His historical knowledge and knowledge of the house and its finery were encyclopaedic. It made for a very interesting tour.

From Dalemain, we continued up the road to the Rheged Centre. The Gorse Fox is not sure of the history of this. It seems fairly modern and seems to have been built into a cliffside under the A66. It’s deceptive as you arrive - looking quite unassuming. When you enter, however, and see the size of the car park you start to wonder why. Then entering the automatic doors into the cliff you find it opens out into stores, syndicate rooms, a cinema, restaurants, children’s play areas, exhibition areas and so forth. As said, very deceptive. We wandered around the shops (again looking for the elusive jacket for the Silver Vixen) and stopped for a coffee and a snack. (They make the most delicious toasted club sandwich - sounds simple, but their local spicy mayonnaise really makes it something special).

Time to move on. We headed for Keswick. This proved to be a delightful town and, like Ambleside, blessed with a rash of outdoor clothing shops. We, of course, visited most of them. At one point we thought we had found the right jacket but on closer examination there were a number of blemishes on the fabric. They wouldn’t brush off so we decided against it.

We wandered down to the side of Derwentwater. It was trying to rain, but it didn’t really come to much. Certainly it wasn’t deterring the hundreds of people walking the promenades and enjoying the lakeside parks. Once past the pitch and putt golf course the parks were laid out with wonderfully bright planting.

Derwentwater was looking a bit grey by the time we got there. Having said that, the passenger boats were still setting out on their trips, though the passengers had all chosen to sit inside, unsurprisingly.

Keswick certainly was a delightful place and well worth a return visit.

We headed back and took a slightly different route, dropping down from the A66 through the village of Dacre. This was a good choice. Whilst the road was a bit hairy and quite steep, the views were spectacular as the valley opened up in front. We carried on down and looped round to Pooley Bridge for supper.

Driving back, the sun finally found some breaks in the clouds. The greys of the hills were flushed away with the golden sunlight in various spots. It really was delightful. As the Gorse Fox was driving it was hard to take it in, but he did manage to review the dash cam footage.