Far as the eyes can Sea

Much like yesterday, today, not everything went to plan but somehow ended up better for it.

Ms.Arell decided to let Madame Fidra stretch her wings today and let l'Biscuite enjoy some rest & relaxation at our peaceful accomodation under the shade of the trees, secretly hoping my little tractor would find out what was taking peanuts off the feeding table (no luck unfortunately but the peanuts still disappeared!)

We didn't expect the road to our first destination to be such a challenge but regardless, she managed to hustle the mighty ST1300 up a very long & twisty narrow lane...thankfully 'With Passing Places'...performing several hillstarts and slowly crawling along uphill in 1st gear for several sections although it was totally worth it.

Mrs.Flum had recommended we head up the lane here to visit the tea room at its end in the little hamlet of Watendlath, the eaterie found adjacent to a farmhouse & National Trust carpark. We sat outside beneath the shade of the trees and it was one of those places where one could easily get too comfortable and outstay their welcome - no danger as we had other places to be but I did have time to make friends with Ziggy the Springer Spaniel (hope my bestie doesn't mind me borrowing her photo) & we also took a stroll to the nearby Tarn.

Afterwards Fidra took us back downhill, halting briefly for photos at an appropriately named stopping place known as 'Surprise View' that didn't disappoint with it's commanding spot above Derwentwater. The pic of Ms.Arell is taken there, the body of water in the far background being Bassenthwaite Lake and past there out of sight is Cockermouth where we headed with the intention of enjoying a relaxing evening swim.

Unfortunately due to my lack of research we were several hours too early. Sensibly we decided to save our swim for our next holz together, opting instead to head for the coast in search of Fish. & Chips.

Maryport came up trumps with The Lifeboat Inn serving probably the nicest battered Cod I have tasted - garden peas for my partner in crime & mushy ones for your Gal - which we strolled off afterwards to soak up some rays at the waters edge, to take our now traditional photo to prove we were there, and to spot Bonny Scotland in the distance across the Solway Firth.

Arriving back at Fidra, a fellow happy ST1300 owner appeared on foot and compared notes with Ms.Arell on their steeds.

After swooshing back to Base along the fantastic A66...a flight we thoroughly enjoyed and would have been happy to extend for several more miles were the hours available...we drank a few cuppas before I sat through my 1st lesson in Astrophotography, Ms Arell finding the Andromeda Galaxy. This was magical seeing all the stars the camera picked out that weren't visible to the naked eye!

And just to round the day off, time for Zzzzzzz