Kitmere

After work, this afternoon, I drove up to visit my excellent friends, Chris and Janice, for a walk around Rigmaden. Although I do sometimes run on the road that follows the Lune along this western side of the valley, I haven't ever walked up in the hills above it. The prospect of a new route in their company seemed a perfect way to spend a couple of hours. (Spoiler: it was!)

I'm used to the views from the eastern side of the valley, looking across this way, but once we'd walked up through Park Wood and made our way towards the top of the hills above Rigmaden, there were some beautiful views of the Lune Valley that I've not enjoyed before. 

Perhaps the most interesting point on the walk was Kitmere, an artificial lake built by Christopher Wyndham Wilson, also known a Kit. Such a venture seems entirely in keeping with the man, who - according to Wikipedia - bred his own line of ponies and, more interestingly (to me, at least), was the second homeowner in the United Kingdom to install electric lighting. He (or someone close to him) also had a half decent sense of humour, too, as the other artificial lake he created was christened Wyndhammere. 

Chris and Janice have lived up here for nearly thirty years and he is knowledgeable about both the area and the people in it, which is something that interests me, too. For example, he told me that he'd heard that fish from Rigmaden was once taken by train down to London hotels. (The walk also gave us a good opportunity to grumble about solicitors' charging models and South Lakeland District Council, as we're both enduring tortuous house sales and purchases at the moment.)

Our timing was perfect, too, and we just had time to enjoy a beer in their garden to belatedly celebrate Chris's birthday before the rain started. 

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-11.1 kgs
Reading: 'Girl, Woman, Other' by Bernadine Evaristo