I came down with tonsillitis and haven't felt that wiped out in who knows how long.
After a few days of not being able to talk, eating Ben and Jerry's (sore throat remedy, ahem), not parting with my duvet and keeping my eyes glued to Downton Abbey (why have I never watched this before! So much scandal!!), I started to feel a bit better.
Which was good. Because James & I had planned a weekend away in the Lake District for our three year anniversary! Now, before you think I'm going to get all soppy on you, picture this:
I'm wearing joggers, scoffing percy pigs as we trawl up the M6 on Friday eve. It's hardly the picture of star-crossed lovers.
Anyway. We got to Oakbank House late on Friday and went straight up to our room. After a hearty complimentary breakfast the following morning we scampered off down to the lake shore to see what the craic was.
I think it's safe to say Lake Windermere is one of those places that doesn't need the sunshine for you to appreciate its beauty.
We decided to give the big ferry a miss and decided to explore the lake sans captain (aka we rented one of those tiny red motor boats in the photo above.)
It was wet.
But fun! The boat didn't go very fast at all, which was good 'cos you got to see all the little islands and boats moored around the harbour at your own pace.
Which, when I was 'driving', was slow.
It's tradition on holiday to go to the pub before midday in our eyes, so we headed off to the Hole in t'Wall to take shelter from the rain and get a little squiffy by the log fire..
As it was just after 11am, no one else was in the pub. Unperturbed, we nursed our med'cin. On the way out we passed a few fellow pub-goers who looked a little sheepish edging in through its old oak doors before midday. I think our red wine smiles gave them the confidence they needed. Hic.
We pottered around the village trying to decide where to eat that evening...
(FYI Vinegar Jones do amazing chips & mushy peas and Pasty Presto next door claim to sell 'the best Cornish Pasty' - bit ambitious seeing as we're at the other end of the country but James enjoyed his all the same..!)
In the end we settled on Indian. Anyone that knows us two will appreciate that we take Indian dining very seriously.. (not a bad word shall be said about West Didsbury's finest The Great Kathmandu). So we went in with high expectations.
Mela was really, really good. I had a sizzling dish involving spiced mince, chicken tikka, onions and chilli in a rich tomato sauce and James had a pretty decent lamb balti. A bottle of tempranillo later we paid up and moved on to another bar. It didn't quite beat the Great Kathmandu (represent), but it's well worth a visit if you like Indian food - you'll need to book though as we found out (the hard way!)
On Sunday we made friends with the locals:
Now, I've never been a fan of the swan. Elegant, yes. Graceful on water? Sure.
Sneaky bendy-necked creature that would peck you 'till it hurt and laugh (if he could) whilst doing it? Absolutely.
However, these beautiful beasts were on their best behaviour - despite pecking our feet just a little hard (I'm on to you, goosy), it was quite cute.
How menacing does this guy look?
They soon got bored of us when the duck feed ran out, so we put on our walking boots and got stuck into a big-ass country walk.
I just had to take a picture of the walk's official name. It sounds like the title of an X-rated film - I can say that despite the mud, things didn't get as dirty as Cockshott Point...
After all our exploring, the hearty full English 'grill up' we'd had for breakfast was long forgotten and we were in desperate need of a food fix.
Cue, cream tea.
On our return we stumbled across an old steam train railway line which was up and running - how Beatrix Potter is this..
How was your weekend? x
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