Cut Off From The World

Day 2 On which the sun shone in a most un-Lake Districty way and the dog got three long walks and then collapsed in a shocked heap. From the front doorstep of the cottage there were walks in every direction with the most beautiful views unfolding. I don't think I've ever been anywhere that combines water, moorland, rock, rivers and forests so well.

The Herdwick sheep may be the most intimidating small, cute, fluffy creatures I have ever seen. They just stood their ground and stared when faced with four humans and a dog (fair enough, it's their land after all) and they also seemed to take great delight in walking in front of moving cars and standing stock still with their backsides in the air. You have to admire them for their sheer grumpy ballsiness.

We loved having no mobile reception and no access to wi-fi but it did get a bit trying when our week's Tesco order didn't turn up. The one public phone box in the Duddon Valley was out of order but a very kind post office lady let me spend the best part of an hour on and off the phone to Barrow Tesco to get it redelivered and wouldn't hear of my giving her any money in return. This is the view from the front of the post office.

Eight hours late the Tesco van bounced down the lane, just as the entire South Lakes area suffered a power cut. I was so happy to see food that I didn't care about the lack of power (the cottages' owner cheerily informed us the record was four days with no power) but it did cheese off the Test Match listeners somewhat.