The weather developed what seemed like a pattern of clearing up in the evenings, so I just assumed we would camp when we arrived in Ambleside. We biked to the campsite in Low Wray in the rain, hoping the sky would start to clear. The campsite was basic and cheap - and surprisingly busy. It rained on and off while we cooked dinner in the washing-up area. Every person who came by to wash dishes commented on the 'worst summer in years'. "We haven't even had a week of sunshine this summer". "I think I remember ONE sunny day, back in May..." I overheard a mum telling her kids "right, we're going home!". They packed up their tent and gear in the drizzle and half-light and were gone by 9pm.
The next day we did a daytrip to visit Beatrix Potter's house - I think the movie Miss Potter has probably inspired so many people to pay a visit. My favourite thing in the house was a cabinet of tiny figurines - Peter Rabbit etc - that Beatrix herself had shaped out of clay then sent to Austria to have copper moulds made and commercial production of the tiny figurines for sale.
We spent the rest of the day wandering around the shops in Windermere; Joy bought a new jacket and thermal longjohns, and we finally bought an umbrella! It's a pop-up golf-sized umbrella. I was hoping that simply buying the umbrella would cause the rain to stop, but it didn't.
After our Day Off we loaded the bikes once again and continued east towards York. We fully planned to stay in the YHA hostel, but when we arrived in York the sun was shining. We headed to the campground and pitched our tent in the least-sodden piece of ground.
The next morning we cycled over a pass to Kettlewell. It was raining and cold when we set out, so I wore my thermal longjohns and long-sleeved polypro over my cycling gear. We soon warmed up with the climb up to the pass - and had to stop and strip off! At the top, we were cycling in the cloud, which was pretty funny - Joy got some nice photos of me disappearing into the mist. The hurtle back down from the top was scenic (we descended below the cloud) and chilly. I had to keep pedalling to stay warm. We arrived at Kettlewell YHA about 10am, checked in, and drank coffee. Later in the afternoon a pile of wet high school students checked in. They were supposed to be camping, but their teachers must have had pity on them. They were practising for the Duke of Edinburgh award, which must have included having to cook their own meals. I went into the kitchen about 6pm to make some dinner. I opened the kitchen door and was immediately engulfed in smoke. The window was wide open and the fan extractor on full. One boy was frying black sausages; another had black hamburger patties. The black sausage boy was saying "how do I know when they are cooked?". Others were muttering about how to cook rice, and whether you need to drain the water off the 2-minute noodles.
After a day lounging in the YHA I was ready to hit the road again. We did a detour to Malham to see the famous Malham Cove - a limestone cliff that was once (many many years ago) a big waterfall. We stopped to camp in a campsite in a tiny village somewhere. The woman was amazed we were even considering camping "everything is wet!". She talked with her boss, who said if we could find a spot, we could camp for free. As the price was right, I was sure we would find a spot... That's the advantage of such a small tent - we easily found a slightly raised area to pitch the tent, and had a luxurious long shower (you had to put 50p in for the shower, so I just let it run until the time ran out). It was such a strange campsite - it was hugely expensive (if we had paid - she'd quoted £15 for us to camp with our tiny tent) - yet the facilities were pretty dire (apart from the fabulous shower). There was a whole city of Statics (permanent caravans) which must have been their main business and focus.
The next day we continued on to York. We were following a cycle route until we got stopped by flooding - I tried pushing my bike along the flooded road but the water was coming halfway up my pannier bags (3 of which are not waterproof...). We turned around and navigated our own way along the network of narrow hedge-lined roads. It was a pleasant day to be out; only one heavy shower and we were lucky to be near a tree when it happened. As we were going along another small road a guy in a 4WD stopped and warned us there was flooding ahead "it was up to the door". His 4WD looked pretty dry to us, so we thought he might be exaggerating. We pressed on. We reached the flooded area to see a measuring post in the water - showing the level to be 4 1/2 feet.... There was no way around the flooding so we had to retrace our steps and take the main highway for a few miles.
One of the first things we noticed when we arrived in York was the delicious smell of chocolate. Apparently there is a chocolate factory in town. I was on a high - the sun was shining and I was inhaling chocolate. What a marvellous city! The river Ouse (the main river running through the city) was completely flooded - it was probably twice as wide as usual. The campground that would have been ideally located (only 1 mile from the city centre) was completely under water. It was pretty ironic because the weather was actually pretty good - yet we couldn't camp! We checked into the YHA for two nights and enjoyed the best breakfast ever. We stuffed ourselves - hoping that being gluttonous would pay off and we wouldn't have to eat for the rest of the day. No such luck. We were still ravenous by lunchtime despite eating 2-3 times what everyone else around us was eating...
York was fun - it's a cute, fairly small, city with nice city walls you can walk along, and fabulous bent old medieval buildings. We went on a free tour which was taken by an enthusiastic and witty volunteer. We splashed out on some Thorntons chocolate-dipped chocolate brownie which was heavenly.
On Tuesday we caught our train to London. The trains have free wi-fi access and power plugs for laptops.
It's great staying at Aunty Anna's - we had a family sit-down dinner at the table, which Joy and I haven't done for so long now.
Last night we met up with our cousins Stephen, Rachel and Belinda - and Stephen (with his girlfriend's help) cooked us all dinner at his flat. We had a fabulous evening telling stories and reminising. I think Stephen's flatmate and girlfriend weren't sure whether to believe some of the tales or not... "Of course every New Zealand kid runs around barefoot...."
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