The Lakes (T -26 days)

Beth Orton once sang that she wished she'd never seen the sunshine so she wouldn't mind the rain. I don't think that's exactly how we'd sum up our farewell weekender in the Lakes, more like we wish we never knew that the whole country apart from one small section of the Lakes was bathed in 30° sunshine then we wouldn't mind the fact we were being buffeted by 30mph+ winds and rain. Not quite as snappy a song title granted but much more accurate.

So it was that we along with 13 other hardy souls, 3 kids and 2 dogs set off for a campsite somewhere north of Ambleside. Everyone left their respective parts of the country in glorious weather and all arrived to a campsite that looked like something out of a desperate post-nuclear war fallout documentary. Putting up tents can be a tricky skill to master when it is flat calm and the sun is beaming. When kite flyers decide that it's a bit too blowy for them you know that what should be a straightforward 10-minute job at worst is going to take a whole lot longer.

Everyone retired to the pub on the Friday night safe in the knowledge that they had a dry place to sleep that night.

The next morning dawned grey and miserable and the landscape slightly more barren thanks to the collapse of a couple of tents overnight. Thankfully none of our party had suffered that fate, instead a couple of tents had decided to stay upright but allow water in to create some delightful indoor water features, although I think the soothing qualities of a plunge pool at 4 in the morning are very rarely felt. With the forecast set to stay the same a couple of people decided that enough was enough and headed for the warmth of the south coast, or Newcastle! Those that still had tents that worked and didn't have to worry about small children and dogs decided to stick it out and in the end had a very good walk from Ambleside as apparently the campsite was at the centre of some very small weather system that only affected a 2-mile radius of this part of the Lakes.

What could have been a disastrous weekend was in fact a very good one spent with good friends sharing laughs, conversation, food and drink. The heady mix of fresh air, good exercise and a pint too many of Badger meant that there were a couple of fragile heads on Sunday morning but all gained for a good cause. A good way to start the beginning of the next 6 or so months.

The Weekend's 24/7 (24 hours summed up in 7 words):

Started wet, got worse, got drunk, excellent!