Keswick

I needed a couple more things for Valentine's Day tomorrow plus, it's Hannah's birthday, too, and I didn't just want to order her something from Amazon. So, as I don't have Dan and Abi, this weekend, and the Minx is otherwise in engaged, I decided to take myself off to Keswick.

The Minx and I came here for a weekend, last year (I think it was), and I was rather taken with the little town, which was nowhere near as drab as I remembered it being, and which seemed so much more interesting than Kendal, in the south of the county. 

I got up fairly promptly, this morning, grabbed a coffee from Booths for the journey, and by nine o'clock I was turning west off the M6 on the road towards Keswick. It was a beautiful morning, chilly and clear, with the low sun and glaring snow capped hills warranting a bit of squinting (I'd come out without my sunnies). 

Once parked up, I strolled into Keswick. It's immediately different from Kendal, which, these days, is little more than a collection of high street chains. In Keswick, there was no sign of a Starbucks or Costa (although I did find one, tucked away, later on) and so I found myself a little café for my next coffee of the day, sitting in the window to watch all the people milling around the market.

I have a curious aversion to market stalls - I feel immediately obliged to buy something - so, coffee finished, I set off around the pleasing variety of independent shops. I found some little beauties and soon my Booths bag was filling up with bits and pieces for the Minx and for Hannah, and, of course, for myself. After a slightly exhausting circuit of a gorgeous little bookshop - I reached the point where I'd picked up so many books that I had to put some back - I found another café where I had some more coffee and a bowl of porridge with golden syrup.

I'm grateful to have so many people whom I love and who love me in my life, such that days like today, when I'm completely alone, are a rarity that I can simply enjoy. Four hours of mooching around Keswick, dipping in and out of cafés and shops, felt like it was good for my soul.