June 13 - Memory Lane in Lancashire

Today was a wonderful day of reminiscing about our year in Lancaster. (Fall 1990-Summer 1991) with Jecca who attended the Grammar School and David, who was at the primary school in Galgate. Mark got his Master's in Theatre and Barbara in Educational Administration. 

  First, we packed up from the cottage. We had a very special week sharing it with Jecca. And, we all love the Lake District.

   Jecca first drove us to Kirkby Lonsdale, a village Mark and Barbara visited frequently that year. Jecca, who was busy with her schooling and her many activities such as rowing crew and going caving, never went with us. It is still a lovely village and we walked about and then had an amazing tea break with homemade pastries. Pecan pie, a date slice cookie, apple flapjack muffin....a quiche for dinner. Mmmmm! Very decadent.

   

From there, we drove out of town to Devil's Bridge where we often went with David who paddled in the River Lune. It is a rare, complete medieval, 3-span bridge built around 1370! On one side is a "Plague/Leper" stone that used to bear a 1633 date and inscription. The bridge was used for vehicles until 1932. According to folklore, the name came from the legend of a woman who lost her cow across the river. The Devil appeared and offered to build a bridge in exchange for the soul of the first living thing to cross it. She had her dog run over it first, outwitting the Devil. Locals point to an impression on the bridge which they claim is the Devil's handprint.

 

  After that, Jecca drove us to Heysham, a spot we also frequented when studying at Lancaster University. It has St. Peter's Church which was founded in the 7th or 8th Century and perched on the edge of a cliff. Some of the fabric of the church still dates to then. The chancel was built around 1340. A wedding was about to take place, but they kindly let us in for a quick glance.

    We also walked a short distance to the ruins of St. Patrick's Chapel on the cliff where the wind was fierce. An excavation dated the site to the late 6th or 7th Century and links it to early Celtic Christianity. Near the ruins are some rock-cut tombs which historians think contained de-articulated bodies. These probably date from the 10th Century. At one point, locals believed that the site was associated with St. Patrick, but that theory has been disavowed. 

    From there, we drove along the seafront of Morecambe which looks a bit grim and down-on-its-luck. However, it was full of people enjoying the beach despite the windy weather.

    Then, we drove to the University which has expanded so much as to be almost unrecognizable. But, we parked and walked to Alexandra Square in the center and did get our bearings and located Furness where we lived on the top floor for over a year.

    By this point, we were hungry, so we drove to the little village of Galgate, where David went to primary school, age 6. First, we ate at Lune Brew Company in an old industrial building. We all had some form of fried chicken.

    Then we located David's school, Ellel St. John the Evangelist, Church of England School. We remembered waiting at the gate for him to come out with the other parents of the village in his green and grey uniform.

    Then, Jecca drove us into the city of Lancaster where we had a two-bedroom apartment associated with the Sun Hotel. We were lucky to have a parking spot as parking is not easy. We got into the apartment which was a bit of a warren - large, and sprawling on the first floor. 

  Then, we walked up the hill to Lancaster Castle which was a prison when we were in school here, but ceased being a prison in 2011.

The first prison there dated to 1196.  Jecca and Willy toured it last year and highly recommended a visit. 

    The castle was founded before William the Conquerer, probably around 1092 on the site of a Roman fort overlooking a crossing of the River Lune. The Castle has been refurbished with a large sweeping piazza which used to have a place for visitors to visit prisoners. When it was demolished, a colonnade was discovered and that has been turned into an area for local craftspeople. 

   The castle has a lot of grim history. In the 1500s, 15 Catholics were executed for their faith and in 1612, it was the site of the trials of the Pendle Witches. It was sieged in the Civil War in the mid 1600s. Quakers, including George Fox, were held in its prison in the 1600s, too. 

    It has the horrible reputation as the court that sentenced more people to death than any other in England, but this is partly because it was the court for a huge area, including Manchester and Liverpool. Between 1782-1865, about 265 were hanged at Lancaster.

   However, things are no longer grim and people were having fun. While we were there, a group was practicing with broadswords in full regalia. 

    That was a full day! We went back to our flat, ate what we'd bought in Kirkby Lonsdale earlier and watched several episodes of Taskmaster which we all find hilarious.

  

June 12 - Last Full Day in Ambleside

  

Today, Mark and Barbara took a drive in the morning. We started by going to Troutbeck, up some pretty narrow, twisting roads.

It was beautiful with lots of sheep and cows and amazing complexes of stone walls. Jecca stayed home to write.

   After Troutbeck, we went to Bowness, parked and took a walk along the lake in the drizzle. It never rained enough to make us run for the car.

    We had lunch at home and then took Jecca to a spot outside of Grasmere where we left her to take a hike up to higher elevation to a tarn. We went home and did a last laundry.

    When she was done with the hike, we picked her up and went to Matthew's Bar and Bistro in Ambleside for a delicious dinner - we all, very unusually, ordered the same meal - a falling-off-the-bone lamb shank with mashed potatoes and gravy with a side of veggies - marinated cabbage, broccoli, carrots and cauliflower. It was very good. Then, we shared a rhubarb Eton mess.

     We will be sad to leave here as it's been a good stay in a very nice cottage.

    

June 11 - Hawkshead & Rough Theatre

 

Today was a rainy day most of the day. But, we've been lucky other days with spotty rain, so... no complaints.

  We went to Hawkshead for breakfast and had a very good breakfast at Red Poppi.

We  visited Mrs. Tiggywinkle's bookshop associated with Beatrix Potter. We all enjoyed a visit to The Barn, a gift store where the hospitable owner stocked local items. We bought cards and a little gift for Cam; Jecca bought a pair of earrings.

    Jecca and Barbara dropped Mark home and went to Grasmere where we stopped at the store called Gather and Jec bought a beautiful cowl scarf. Then, we drove back to Hawkshead to a quirky bar where she bought a tote bag for a good friend who is very into rescue cats. The bar is home to a lot of rescue cats. It had two rooms, the second of which was full of cats and cat baskets. It is closed several days of the week in order to give the cats a rest from clientele. Very quirky!

     Then we all had a quiet afternoon before heading to Grasmere for dinner and the theater. We ate at Tweedies, an old pub and inn. Then, we went to the Grasmere Players' production of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None." It was rough theatre, for sure and we contemplated leaving at intermission. There were missed lines and it dragged at times. The costumes, especially for two young men, were terribly unflattering.

The audience was warned about loud noises, scary scenes and psychological disturbances.

While there were a few loud noises, no scene was scary, nor disturbing psychologically. What it actually was was quite funny, although not meant to be. But, we all had hearty laughs analyzing it on the way home, so it was a good evening out.

We do appreciate local theater a lot as it gives people the chance to act and there were a few people on stage who clearly had acting experience. I am sure that the cast had fun with the play. And, the hanging scene at the end was actually well executed.

June 10 - Elterwater

 

We went to walk in the Langdale Valley on Elterwater. It was a beautiful walk in a mix of sun and clouds. Jecca and Barbara walked just a little bit further than Mark where we saw Skelwith Falls. It was about a 3 mile walk there and back.

   

Then Jecca drove us back to Ambleside where we ate at Tacos del Sol, a family run business. The father was from here, but had traveled extensively, including in Mexico, San Diego, Oregon.... The wife was from Mexico. Their son, age 20, has dual citizenship and was making the food. All the food, including the meats, are locally sourced and the family grows the chilis. We had a burritos and quesidillas. 

    

    

June 9 - Bowness, White Moss Walk along Grasmere

  Today Jecca wrote in the morning and Mark and Barbara drove to Bowness-on-Windermere to walk around and reminisce about the year they spent in Lancaster and when they drove up to the Lake District in September before classes started, but David and Jecca were in school.

   There was an int

eresting problem at the Pay-and-Display as the machine did not work. It kept voiding the transactions and people gathered to try to figure it out. It only accepted coins which only one couple had. Then people began calling the "report a problem" number and the only one who got a person was told to leave her number plate and she would not be charged. So, the rest of us all began to call, but got recordings. Barbara left our information and, fingers crossed, we will not be fined.

    It rained intermittently and we ducked into a coffee shop for one downpour.  

     From there, we went to the wonderful grocery store, Booth's, where we got food as well as grocery bags with puns on them.

      The front door lock was broken and a locksmith came and fixed it.

     Later, Barbara and Jecca went for a walk at White Moss along Lake Grasmere. We had planned to go higher into the fells, but it was quite windy, so we opted for a less windy way.

    For dinner, we walked into Ambleside and ate delicious Thai food at Doi Intanon which is in an old church.