However hard I tried - my holly berries - would just not go into really round balls - so we have slightly elongated ones!! The glitter on the holly leaves is edible glitter! - it was one of my 50 presents for my birthday - glad I have found a use for it.
Right off to scrub the red & green colouring off my hands now!
Just a small (!!!!) collection of photos from our trip to Cumbria.
Yes Steven has a mouth full of food! - We found a lovely homemade fudge shop selling so many different varites of fudge that we just had to try some - and we kept it as a reward for reaching the top!
The gorgeous view from the top of Brantfell.
Another view from Brantfell.
GPS in hand - on our way to find a geocache. We found 9 caches while we were away and it was a fantastic way of exploring the area - it took us to places that I am sure we would not have otherwise found.
On Momday we took a boat trip to Ambleside and visited the Stock Ghyll waterfalls - which were tumbling very fast and loudly due to the recent rains - so it was a great time to visit them.
After the waterfalls we continued on to our first summit climb in the Lake District - Wansfell Pike & Baystones.
The only trouble with Summit climbs in December is - the winds on top seem determined to blow you off and you take the risk of poor views! We had a white out on top - but superb views over Ambleside and the surrounding fells as we climbed up.
At the lakeside was an abundance of widelife. Someone was throwing bread to them - this was the resulting scrum!
Our first walk was up to Orrest head - which fittingly was the same first walk that Alfred Wainwright took about 70 years ago - starting off his love affair with the Lake District - I can see why - everything about this place is magical.
Me with my first Lakeland cache on Orrest Head.
Everywhere we went there were waterfalls galore - I like the way the camera has captured the rushing water here.
I took loads of photos - but have spared you all of them - think I will make up another photobook of our trip.
This photo was taken down on the shores of lake Windermere at dusk. We had had a long hill walk in the afternoon - but I was desperate to see the lake so we headed down here on our way back to the hotel for dinner. The photos taken with my Panasonic bridge camera have this lovely blue hue - the ones with my Nikon DSLR are just black blobs.
Sunday weather was actually quite nice and we had taken a nice hill walk up on Brantfell, overlooking the lake, but the weather changed as we were leaving and these clouds came over - patchy though allowing the sun's rays to poke through. We have some nice proper colour photos of the lake - but I like the colours of this one.
Limestone was be broken down by hand and successive layers of coal and lime stone were built up. When the loading was complete the kiln would be fired and the fire would spread through the load. Typically a kiln took a day to load, 3 days to fire, 2 days to cool and a day to unload, so a 1 week turnaround was normal. All 7 of the kilns were worked a day at a time - so there was a good rotation system.
inside the kiln - showing the air vent at the back. Its a shame that they are so overgrown with vines and creepers - but is was quite atmospheric.
I have 2 coins each month from the geocoin Collectors Club and I set them off in the geocaches I visit and then I can track them on their journeys - some are abroad and have travelled thousands of miles. Some sadly have disappeared when the caches have been found by muggles (non geocoachers) and taken away. I am looking forward to starting these 2 out on their journeys very soon.
The lights in the Square in front of the Old Market Hall cinema.
An empty Square after the shoppers had all gone home.
The old & the new!
