Little Arrow, Near Coniston

Family Holiday: Monday

Went to sleep last night listening to the rain. It rains a lot here, and it’s cold. We knew this before we came, so packed all our autumn clothes. We are all now looking forward to Christmas (Summer 2020 was in April, so no complaints).

I wrote, while the family gradually emerged from their rooms, made toast, or porridge with cinnamon and honey, or sipped coffee until they looked human again. Husband took Kia for a walk.

Now is an excellent time to read my travel book. Happy adventures from around the world.
Available from Amazon.

We had sandwiches and leftovers for lunch. It was very noisy. Husband tried to make a plan, but Emm formed a union in protest. Nothing was decided.

We walked to Coniston Water (big lake). This holiday feels weird because every long walk, we leave Kia at home. Strange to go on a long walk without a dog, but she’s too old to cope with more than an hour of exercise. We passed several ramblers, some had wet Labradors (you can’t keep a Labrador out of a lake). We in turn we were passed (surprisingly) by several older men who were running round the lake. They had strong legs and intense faces. I assume running round the lakes must be a thing.

We strolled along the shore line, avoiding knotty roots of trees clinging to the hillside, looking at moss-covered rocks, large ferns, stepping over streams bubbling down the bank towards the lake. It was wonderfully green. It was improved considerably by people having loud sword fights with fallen logs and daring each other to climb onto the branches that overhung the water, and generally being noisy.

Not the fence you were possibly hoping for. . .

We abandoned Bea and Gee at a little jetty (she hurt her knee). Emm, Aitch and Jay were then distracted by a derelict house at the top of a hill (which I’m pretty sure was just a lump of granite but they scrambled up to investigate) so we abandoned them too. Volume of walk decreased.

We returned to the cottage via a campsite, which wasn’t quite as pretty as fields of sheep, but was faster. Arrived back in time to put gammon joint into oven. Investigated potatoes for baking, and realised Tesco had delivered huge potatoes, the size of a boot. The oven was too small for boot-sized potatoes, so put them into aga to see what would happen. Three hours later, they were perfect.

We walked into Torver with Kia to see what the pub was like (family keen to eat there in future, but I’m sure that was not a reflection on my cooking skills). The pub said it was open, and there was a sign on the door with instructions about how they were coping with the Covid risk. It all looked very well organised, and there was a large garden, and Portaloos to allow social distancing. But it was shut, which rather spoiled the plan.

Returned to cottage and played ‘the saucepan game.’ (Everyone writes sixteen names on small pieces of paper and puts them in a saucepan. A timer is set for 30 seconds, and people take turns pulling out a name, and describing it to their team without saying the actual name.) It was fun, and there was lots of laughing, and I’m pretty sure Jay and Emm are psychic. There was also lots of opportunity to discuss the rules, which is something my family can do at length.

Went to bed. Slept well.

Thank you for reading. Take care.

Love, Anne x

Have you enjoyed reading this? You can find more of our family escapades in The Sarcastic Mother’s Holiday Diary by Anne E. Thompson. Available from an Amazon near you (you can read it for free if you have a kindle).