Could there be anywhere better . . .

. . . to have a picnic!!

 
I had planned to do some cleaning, washing and other really exciting things today . . . and then the day dawned bright, we saw the forecast and decided to go out instead. We packed some sandwiches and away we went.
 
We headed west. I wanted to see the Cross at St Mary’s Church, Gosforth, the tallest and most important Norse cross in England. I can’t think why I have never been before – it’s amazing. Inside the church there are other Viking relics, such as ‘hogback’ tombstones and wonderful carvings. Then we just had to find St Mary's Well, which was behind the church, along a footpath and up the hillside (a bit further then we had imagined!). Once loved, as the iron fencing and gate show, it is now neglected and overgrown. You can hear the water bubbling underneath the cap though. 
 
Gordon wanted to go to Wasdale, so that’s where we headed. And how magnificent it was too. Sunshine, blue sky, blue water, snow on the highest fells and hardly anyone else around. We sat for a long while, not really believing what we were seeing.
 
And we found some wonderful coffee at the Inn on the edge of Wastwater.
 
Then we drove a few miles down to Ravenglass, parked and walked along woodland paths (wonderful to see carpets of  Celandines soaking up the sun) to find the remains of a bath house, which was once part of a huge Roman fort complex. Ravenglass was an important Roman port and supply centre. It was from here that a road ran inland to Hard Knott and Ambleside forts.
 
On our way back we stopped off at St Bees and sat by the sea, sparkling in the sunshine, and had an ice cream. Perfect.
 

What a day! And what to blip? It was almost certainly going to be the Cross (which I have put in as an extra) and it could have been any of the other pictures, which I have linked to Flicka. However, interesting as they are, they could all be photographed again. But Wasdale in the sun with snow on the tops and hardly anyone else around – now that would take some replicating!! And I was sitting there when I could have been cleaning!