Coniston Gondola

We booked for the first trip on the National Trust Gondola on Coniston Water this morning. At first we thought we were the only people on the trip until a crowd of others appeared minutes before departure.

What a wonderful boat the Gondola is, so quiet, sumptuous inside too, with a magnificent steam engine very quietly puffing away in the engine room.

We stopped off at Brantwood to visit the home of John Ruskin. What a brilliant but troubled man he was. His mind was so active and so engaged with many issues particularly social inequalities that he was overwhelmed at times, unable to cope.

I forgot to say that on Wednesday Rosemary found a painted stone at the top of Loughrigg Terrace. On the back it said to visit the facebook page of Bolsover Rocks and post a photo of the rock and where you found it. We intended to leave it at the top of the Old Man but forgot all about it, so today we left it in the company of other rocks in John Ruskin’s rock collection. I wonder if anyone will find it and post it? The lady who painted the rock said that it had moved from above Rydal Water to the Terrace.

We caught the Gondola from Brantwood back to Coniston, the highlight of which was being able to steer the boat for a short while under the direction of the skipper who bore a striking resemblance to Capt. Birdseye and had the Captain Pugwash theme as the ringtone on his phone.

All day the weather had been poor with frequent bursts of heavy rain leaving the tops wreathed in mist. This did not stop us from a wet walk along the lakeshore, a trip which was about the same distance as to the top of the Old Man which we completed in under half the time.

This evening we had friends Irene and Alan back for a meal, consisting of bangers and mash and red onion gravy. The bangers were a kilogram swirl of Cumberland sausages which were exceptionally good.

It has to be said that the scones at the cafe at Brantwood were, by far, the best I’ve tasted in many a long year. Fresh baked, out of the oven, warm, golden sultanas, crispy on the outside and light on the inside. What bliss, the very best of a long line of great scones this week.