Return to the Lakes - I go Boating

There’s not too much of a written report on today as I spent it on the lake* taking in all three of the main cruises. The three boats were quite different, the first was one of the largest, a relatively modern diesel electric, which was to the northern part of the lake. I started off outside but although there was some sun there was a bitterly cold wind so I retreated below decks and had a coffee. I did get back outside on the return trip from Ambleside (partly ‘cause the wind was from astern so I was sheltered by the boat. 

The second trip was the Round the Islands cruise on one of the small modern launches, nothing fancy but functional, with the familiar smell of a not quite 100% sealed diesel system mixed with wet bilges! I sat inside but with the benefit of an opening window for photography. As it was just on midday when we returned to Bowness i decided on lunch which ended up being a cheese savoury toastie in the cruise terminal coffee shop. 

Timing worked out just right as the third cruise, to the south end of the lake, was just boarding as I finished up. The boat this time was the most interesting of the three, Tern was built in 1891 by Forrest and Son of Wivenhoe in Essex and transported in pieces by rail to Lakeside where she was reassembled. Originally she was a steamer but was fitted with Cummins diesel engines in 1951/2. 

The weather deteriorates over the next couple of days, according to the forecast, so tomorrow I’m planning on visiting the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway and the Lakeland Motor Museum - checking details the latter has the most comprehensive and informative accessibility statement I’ve ever read, and they’ve clearly thought about things, so well done to them. I shall probably be using the scooter so it’s good to know that I can get round ok. 

Here’s just a few of the photos I took, there’ll be more later.

*How many lakes are there in the Lake District? By name there is just one, Bassenthwaite, all the rest are Mere, Water or Tarn! 

Return to the Lakes - A Long Drive

This is my first time holidaying in the Lake District for nearly 40 years, the trip was initially prompted by Bluebird being displayed in the Ruskin Museum on Coniston however there’s been a huge spanner chucked in the works - they’re running the boat this week! 

I’d forgotten how long a drive it is to the Lakes but I did break the journey at The West Lancashire Light Railway. It’s not really a heritage railway as such, having been started by five schoolboys on land belonging to a clay pit but it’s pleasant and friendly, the line is only 400 yards long so it takes as long for the engine to run around at each end as the actual journey does. They have quite a few narrow gauge steam locos, mostly bought from North Wales quarries, including the oddly named Irish Mail, the sister to Covertcoat at the Launceston Railway; apparently the owner of the quarries at Dinorwic had run out of family members to name his engines after so he started using his racehorses - these two are named after the horses that came first and second in the 1913 Grand National. The engine in steam today was Sybil, a 1906 Bagnall. 

I took plenty of photos of the site as I feel a model coming on for a future project. 

The blocks on the platform are similar to ones on the current model build - photo taken for colour purposes!

One concern I had on the drive up was the limited parking at the hotel and how far away I might end up. Sure enough the car park looked absolutely full but thankfully a family were just getting into their car ready to leave - I had to wait a few minutes as they’d got young kids to sort out but I was soon parked and supping the first pint of the trip, followed by a delicious roast pork bun. 

Once I’d lunched and checked in I decided to go for a short wander round. This was partly to see how my sciatica would behave, in the end the answer was OK. I managed the walk down to the lake, had the mandatory ice cream and a slow walk back up the hill to the hotel; I wouldn’t want to go much further but at least I know I can do a bit. 

Although Bluebird K7 and Coniston were a major reason for coming to the area it will be very busy and there’ll be parking issues. I could see if the Blue Badge helped but getting round would probably be tricky so I’ve decided to look for alternatives, Kendal is one possibility or I may even spend two days locally, one cruising on Windermere and the other visiting Bowness and Windermere town on the scooter. 

Bunkfest 25 -The End

After a delicious sausage bap in the Clubhouse I packed away - I’d hoped to get the tent down dry but that wasn’t going to happen so it will need to come out again soon. The footprint (under tent groundsheet) was very wet but served its purpose. The drive home was smooth and that just left me to unload and put away. 

The weekend was partly intended to answer a few questions, which it did!

Could I manage with camping?

Yes, certainly for a festival with food onsite, I’d have to make some minor changes for general camping but they’d be manageable. In some respects the tent has advantages over the campervan - space mainly. 

Would my sciatica cause problems?

Indirectly, yes. I didn’t have too many problems but the lack of walking recently was an issue. I could probably have done with taking the scooter but recharging wasn’t viable so I managed with walker and walking stick. 

Would I enjoy it?

Absolutely yes! It was made even better by having friends there to share with. 

Would everything go in the car?

I knew it would all fit one way or another but I managed to get all the smaller and more vulnerable bits in the boot with the parcel shelf on and the larger bits such as the tent went in the back seat. 

Will I go again?

Almost certainly yes, but probably not for a few years. I’ve got some other festivals I fancy doing, some of which are at a similar time of year. 

There are a few take-aways before I camp again:

I need to peg the tent further out, both the groundsheet and the guy lines, to get everything tighter. 

I need a better answer for waste water - I need to check it but the lidded folding bucket I was using appeared to leak. I do have ideas, making use of a small caravan waste tank I happen to have in the shed. 

Something I meant to get, from past Festival experience, was some waterproof shoes or short wellies, I needed them this morning packing up on the damp grass. The result of that omission was driving home with slightly damp shoes and socks.

I have a small 12v vacuum cleaner which I nearly took, next time it will go as it would have been handy for the tent floor before packing away. 

Finally, apologies for the lack of photos - due to the app I normally use playing up I’ve had to post directly from the web and it doesn’t support images. 

Bunkfest 25 - Sunday

 It was another busy day!

After breakfast I caught up with one of my friends on the campsite and having ascertained that they’d be at the Railway for midday decided that would be my first port of call. I’d bought a weekend pass so could have another ride for “free”. 

After having a beer or two and watching the Abingdon Morris we caught the bus up to the town. My first activity was some food, chips loaded with pulled pork and BBQ sauce, very nice but the sauce went everywhere! I cleaned up as well as I could but the walker is going to need a good wash when I get home. 

We stopped at the Bullcroft arena as friends of friends were playing later in the afternoon, a very enjoyable set by My Mate Dave, including a guest appearance by Chalky the cockatoo for their pirate song. After that I made my way back to the campsite and relaxed for a while before finishing the evening with a couple of pints in the clubhouse.  

A football match was in the telly, it always amazes me how rugby players will keep running with two or three of the opposition hanging on to them but footballers are capable of falling when a foot goes anywhere near them. One player did a lovely bit of acrobatics in falling which earned him 5.9 from the judges and a yellow card! 😀

Bunkfest 25 - Saturday

 

Today ended up being a bit truncated for a couple of reasons. 

After breakfast in the clubhouse I decided to wander up to the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway. I was stiff after the last couple of days exertions but hoped to walk it off (I didn’t). It’s one of the smaller heritage railways but friendly and pleasant, operated as usual today by two 08 shunters, one at each end, which avoids the need to run round. The train up to Cholsey was fairly empty but as it’s a connection to the main line it filled up with Festival goers heading to Wallingford. 

Once I’d had a look round their museum and shop, and had a coffee, I wandered to the nearest festival bus stop to ride up into the town. As the bus that was there was full I had to wait, but only about 15 minutes so not a problem*. I had a stroll round the site, and some lunch, then went over see what was happening at the second arena, the answer was not much! By this stage my left leg was getting very sore and the weather wasn’t great so I decided to get the bus back to the campsite. 

I did have a secondary motive - both Scotland and England were playing in the Women’s World Cup! As expected they both had comfortable wins, England by their highest ever World Cup score despite the fact it was essentially their second team that started the match. Plaudits do go to Samoa though, a part time team who’d mostly had to take leave from their jobs were always going to struggle but they played their hearts out, they may have only scored one penalty but it got the biggest cheers of the afternoon! 

Unfortunately the one act I wanted to see on the main stage, The Red Hot Chilli Pipers, start at 21:30, the last bus back to the campsite is at 22:00, there’s no way I can risk walking back so I’m having to miss them. It’s raining quite heavily anyway. 

*A couple of people in the queue were quite impressed by the fact my compact 3-wheel Walker has a seat - one of the rails I’m using it is I can sit down when in queues and the like. 

Bunkfest 25 -Friday

 Having managed to stay dry on Thursday things deteriorated. 

It had rained overnight, heavily at times, and was still bad when I wandered over the the clubhouse for breakfast. One full English and two coffees later it had largely stopped so I geared up to walk up into the town centre. This time I took the walker as, if nothing else, it means I’ve got a seat with me. 

I generally have a stroll round when I visit, I didn’t buy anything but a couple of items in the antique arcade were of interest, there was a good model of a gaff rigged pond yacht that I quite liked but it didn’t have a price on it and was too big anyway and another stationary steam engine model but at £290 it was too much without knowing if it worked. 

After a wander it started drizzling slightly, and I was in need of a sit down, so I found myself strangely attracted by the Old Post Office who provided s comfortable seat and a pint of the local Loddon Bitter. 

I continued the wander, ending up back at the Coach and Horses knowing that was the likely destination for friends, I was right ‘cause one of them arrived a few minutes later. The afternoon was then spent drinking the best London Pride* I’ve enjoyed for a long while and listening to the jam session until finally things deteriorated  and I decided I needed food. One huge pork sub roll with all the trimmings later I decided to head back to the site. The evening was spent with more beer at The on site ceilidh and jam session. 

Overall I’d managed a lot more walking than I’ve done for a while but I was struggling towards the end and the nerve signals to my left leg were definitely iffy. For the next couple of days the courtesy bus will be running so I’ll make use of that. 

*Pride used to be a very reliable beer but for a while it’s been a bit iffy. My local took it off in the end after several bad barrels- they get replaced but it makes stock control difficult. 

Bunkfest 25 -Thursday

Bunkfest is a free music and entertainment festival held annually in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, I’ve been a few times before and it’s generally good fun. 

As it’s not that far from home I left across lunch time, grabbed something to eat on the way, and arrived at the campsite not long after they officially opened. It was the first time I’d fully pitched the tent (in hindsight I really should have followed my instincts and made sure I’d had a complete dry run at home) so it took me a bit longer than I’d have liked but overall I was pleased, particularly as I’d just got the last bits in out of the car when the heavens opened for several minutes. 

The tent itself, ostensibly the three person model, is just about right for one and, the main reason I chose it, had standing headroom. I think I got the equipment about right, the electric pump and screw in tent pegs with an impact driver both eased the pitching considerably even if they do disturb the peace a bit. 

After relaxing and having something to eat I had a slow wander up into the town to the Coach and Horses where a friend was going to be joining in the jam session. I made a slight mistake, it was pleasant sitting outside while the session got going but when I did go in there was nowhere in the bar to sit so I ended up in the adjacent room; I could still hear most of it though and enjoyed both the music* and a couple of pints of Fullers ESB. Eventually I ran out of steam and decided to walk back - as a bit of an experiment I was only using a walking pole, not the walker, which was OK for the mile or so. I had to put a bit more air in the airbed once I got back - I’m not sure if it had lost some or if I’d just not got it well inflated to start with so I’ll monitor that. 

*Most of the music and singing was good but you always get some duds, in this case a, to my mind, murdered version of When the Boat Comes In at Les than half the speed I’d expect.