Serpentine Woods, or 'Dob Freer'

Waterproof jacket and trousers - check
Woolly hat and scarf - check
Walking boots - check
Rucksack - check
OS maps x2 - check
Headtorch - check
Phone, purse and camera - check
Train times - check

When there were 2 of us, going to take a vehicle in to have work done was easy peasy. Now it's a major operation that has to be done on a day off and requires a bit of careful organising. To start with today, I had to get the nice man from the AA (Alan- we are on first name terms now that he has had to come out a few times over the years!) to help me get the van started and then I drove it to the place I take it to, outside of Kendal - walk a few miles in the rain and muddy conditions, over Kendal fell, into Kendal, got the train, got off at Penrith and then walked the muddy miles over the fields, across the river Eamont and home. It felt like it might have been easier to plan an expedition to the Arctic. Still, I made it in daylight so no need for the head torch and I was very glad of a cup of tea when I got back.
This was taken en route in Serpentine woods. The woods were originally known as 'Dob Freer', or free land, and were laid out during the 1820's as part of a job creation programme during a period of  economic slump. I nearly got sidetracked looking for a well near Kettlewell crag but had to rush for the train. The train was late - it fascinates me that the train can be late coming from Windermere which is the end of the line and there's not much to get in the way, but then it reminded me of G telling me how his much older brother had been delighted to be sent a copy of the Westmorland Gazette whilst he was fighting in France during the war; the headlines were 'Cow stops train at Burneside'. G said it gave him some hope that there was still some sense of an ordinary and more normal life, the one that he remembered, still existing somewhere that he might return to one day (he did).

And dad's birthday. He'd have liked the military planning.