Putting The New Hip Through Its Paces

 Our break in the Lakes continues. We're having a great time. On Wednesday I wrote about our walk around Derwent Water and , encouraged by the lack of ill effects on the hip, we planned a more strenuous walk for Thursday. Unfortunately we are fine weather walkers and when we arrived at base camp for the walk near Buttermere, the fells were thick with cloud so we had a change of plan and visited the attractions of Maryport - don't ask

However, the sun was back in the ascendency today and we returned to Buttermere for our attempt on the summit of Hay Stacks which, at 597 metres was classed as the "easiest" walk in our book of Lakeland rambles.

And we made it to the top in exactly the time suggested by the book although "easy" was not the first word to cross our minds as we got there. There's something magical about being out on the fells at this time of year. The light across the valleys (you can see several from the summit) and the shadows cast by the peaks create an ever changing landscape that is quite captivating. The path was clearly a well trodden one but we saw less than thirty other walkers in the four and a half hours that we were on it - another plus for visiting now. As I was happy with the photos taken on the iPhone on Wednesday I left the digital SLR camera at home today and used just the phone. Once again I was very pleased with the results. The weather was obviously a huge bonus but I can see the day coming when phones will replace cameras for all but the professionals and the keenest enthusiasts.

Once again, the hip passed with flying colours but I think that today's walk was about the limit that I will be able to manage now and in the future. We've got a hot tub in the garden here at the cottage so we're going to sit and soak our weary bodies in that for half an hour tonight and sip a glass of wine while we look for the special moon that is forecast. It seems that tonight's full moon coincides with the perigee (the time it is closest to earth). I won't try to blind you with science but the upshot is that tonight's super moon should appear about 14% larger than usual. Look out for it.


We've got friends joining us here tomorrow evening. Like us they are expecting to be grandparents in the very near future so no doubt there will be plenty of baby talk in the conversation. And who can blame us when grandchildren can bring moments like this?