Our holiday in the Lakes.

I have just taken a break from work catching up with time on lieu of worked weekends.  I spent the time having a holiday in the Lake District!  We decided that we would stay and enjoy what millions of others see as a fantastic place to have a holiday.

We stayed on Derwent Island for a few nights looking after it for the tenants as they had a short break.  Daisy had a great time playing with Ted, the island dog.  They had a lot of fun racing around the south lawn and swimming.  Daisy was much faster than Ted running around but he was definitely a stronger swimmer.

We then met up with Canadian friends Kirk and Jo Mauthner.  Kirk was running courses for mountain rescue teams on rope-work and rigging techniques.  Between these they stayed a few days with us.  We spent some time canoeing on Derwentwater and also made a visit to Grizedale Forest to walk the sculpture trail there.  It was good to catch up with them. 

And we also had a walk with Ellie (from the Rescue Team) and her collies.  Daisy was able to show off her swimming skills.  She was obviously much more enthusiastic about the water than the collies were – a big difference between labradors (gundogs) and collies.

I know I’ve said this before but it can’t be said too often.  When you are out walking, look at the mountains, the lakes and the sky but don’t forget what is close by you and your feet.  We walked one day through the Ings which is a wetland area quite near Keswick and we saw lots of tadpoles, a dragon-fly larva and a water snail. 

On another walk in the Falcon Crag area we saw peregrines, a roe deer that Daisy ‘pointed’ out to us and also red deer slots (footprints).  On the return along the lake shore, we found otter spraints (poo) left by otters to mark their territory.  I’m still not convinced that spraints smell like jasmine tea!

Daisy here:

I’ve got loads of friends.  It’s great.  Ted on Derwent Island is a brilliant swimmer.  And I’ve been canoeing.   Canoeing is great.  You can look at the splashes that come off the paddles from side to side and side to side.  Roy doesn’t think that’s very good.