The Lakes - Levens Hall
Overnight had been forecast thunderstorms, but we had none, just the soothing pitta patta of rain on Dame Shirley’s roof. In a startling turnaround, Ian made porridge for breakfast, then went outside to do his back exercises. This resulted in a meeting of all the men on Lakeside Heights. He found out that the Scots were leaving, back home for a couple of weeks then over to Switzerland and Austria. I’m jealous. He had also googled the guys bike, £12,500 pounds worth! And they both had two. The TV man had succeeded in getting a signal, much to his delight, and the Cottingham two had a horrendous journey where he had to reverse up a narrow lane with his caravan. World put to rights I made a request. We had a bike ride planned for later but I fancied a walk by the river. For some reason Ian, who wears his walking boots if he’s taking Misty over the road, decided to wear his sandals. Who am I to judge? We walked up to one bridge then crossed and walked along the other side, crossing back just past the site. The River Kent is beautiful, although there were a few muddy patches, much to Ian’s disgust!
Back at Dame Shirley Ian got the bikes off and we prepared to depart. There were a few spots of rain but nothing too bad. I had picked out a nice 12 mile cycle, all on NCRs calling at Levens Hall. Much to my disgust, part of NCR70 is on the A6. Somehow we made it to Levens hall in one piece. We had a nice look around and a coffee in the cafe. It’s famous for its topiary you know. There is also a cloak clasp ripped from Napoleons chest at the Battle of Waterloo. We found that very exciting.
It was about 4.30 by the time we departed Levens Hall. No matter, we only had 8 or 9 miles to go. We diced with death a bit more before turning off onto NCR700. Much nicer. Until the rain came. It poured down, and at that point we were cycling along a small lane right by the river estuary. It was windy too, so like being hit by needles. We battled on along some lanes that would have been gorgeous in nice weather, but we were getting soaked!
One mile to go and we came to a problem! According to the OS map there was a river in our path with no bridge. We stopped and tried to read the map with rain dripping from our noses and our glasses covered in drops. We would have to do a four mile detour. Not ideal. I set off following Ian, who stopped again abruptly. Looking at his map we were on the other side of the river now. What witchcraft was this? Turns out the ‘river’ was on an aqueduct and we had passed underneath. Phew. One mile later we were back at Dame Shirley, two sodden messes.
We popped the bikes under the canopy, changed into our dry robes, and relaxed with a hot chocolate each.
While Ian dried and loaded the bikes I warmed up a chilli. Neither of us fancied the hike to the facilities so we stayed mucky. We both enjoyed the final episode of season one of ‘The Diplomat’. The ending meant season two is a must watch. They know how to keep you watching don’t they?
Then it was off to bed.
The next morning it was sadly time to depart for home. I wasn’t overly impressed by Kendal CAMC site to start with, but it grew on me massively and now I love it. Again, would we return? Not sure, but definitely possibly.
Musings
I’m not keen on cycling in rain.
Can’t wait for The Diplomat, season 2
Lakeland Heights is a very happy section
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