Dreich Week at Langdale

Great Langdale from High Close after tropical deluge

Langdale Gala

Blackwell House

Arts and Crafts Dining Room

Cockley Beck

Langdale estate

Langdale Pikes from the estate

Haverthwaite railway

Fairburn 2-6-4 tank engine on Haverthwaite shed

Appreciation at last

Sadly the only sign of my favourite beer

The last Saturday in June has seen us heading to Langdale for most of the last 28 years. I am not normally inclined to revisit places but the facilities and position at the heart of the Lake District make this place like home. This year the weather was not promising and so it proved. It was the wettest and dreichest of weeks, there was only one shade of grey. Our usual activities of days in the hills, tennis, the hire of boats and kayaks, walks to pubs, and cake cafes were heavily curtailed.

We swam, watched the Euro football final, and quite a bit of Wimbledon but showing flexibility alien to the coalition government, we also adopted Plan B. We went to the Langdale Gala in a downpour, visited the magnificent Blackwell House - a glorious restored example of the Arts and Craft movement, toured the low lying areas southwest of Windermere, stopped at the Lakeside and Haverthwaite steam railway to bunk the engine shed, and toured the remote country by the Duddon Valley. We made a trip to Ulverston, the original home of Hartley's Beer before it was sadly taken over by Robinsons and then closed. Plan B made all the difference, our investment of time in new activities motivated us to recovery and we managed eleven hills as well.