The Albatross
Tuesday 18 June 2019
We decided to give up on the Lake District proper. There is literally nowhere to stop, or even pull over briefly. So, you go on this spectacular drive, but the driver has to focus on squeezing the car past the other cars, and the passenger is trying not to talk about the stone wall passing an inch from the wing mirror. You can stop in town, but that’s just full of places selling fudge (seriously how much fudge does a person need), expensive car parking and everyone else as they can’t stop in the countryside either. Instead we went up to Penrith. The first stop was and Shap Abbey, it’s fallen down, but does have some very friendly chickens.
Onto Lowther Castle. Home to many generations of the Earl of Lowther. They generally seem like a disagreeable bunch who lived large and were fabulously wealthy. The castle was enormous, but even they couldn’t maintain it, eventually letting most of it fall into disrepair. It’s still very impressive, and there are large grounds, which have also fallen into disrepair.
After a sandwich and a coffee in the sun (at last), we went off to the next thing that had fallen down. Brougham Castle is old, it fell down.
Home to do some laundry and watch the wildlife on the hill next door. Sheep, geese, ducks, crows, bunnies and a pheasant (now named Roger) was last night’s count. Now I must stipulate that we are staying in a very strange place. Apartment is lovely, but…… it’s way out in the country side with a couple of ponds, around which are a bunch of transportable homes. There is nothing else around. You feel like this is where a sect would set up shop, or we suddenly have to take of our cloths, dance around a large pole and put the keys in a bowl. We keep the door locked and try and only look at the hillside, trying not to think about the huge wicker effigy they are building nearby.