Long Weekend Off

Well we are finally back in Plymouth having spent a few days at home and in the Lake District, the intention was that we would commence the first leg our journey today an sail to Fowey but we have been thwarted again by the weather. Having looked at several different weather sites it look as if tomorrow may be good to go, we will just have to see when we get up.
We had a great few days at home, my daughter Claire came up from Milton Keynes on the Friday to see us, Kevin’s son David was home for the weekend, and we got the chance to see Kevin’s daughter Rachel, her husband Mike and the granddaughters Summer and Taylor. Then on the Tuesday evening we managed to catch up with my son Steven.
On Saturday we headed off to the Lakes to meet up with Kevin’s brother Steve and his family to celebrate his birthday, we took a leisurely drive up the motorway and then on through the south lakes to the north calling in at Ambleside for some lunch and a bit of shopping. When we arrived at the camp site everybody was off on a cycle ride so we took a stroll to the local pub.
When we got back to camp there was still nobody around so we sat in the sunshine awaiting their return, we didn’t have to wait long, Harry was the first back followed by Sophie, Steve Wilshaw and his wife Chris with Steve and Madeline bringing up the rear a few minutes later.
The evening was spent under the Awning of Steve Wlishaw’s Motor home, it was a cold evening and so we all had our jackets on and several  heaters on the go.
The following day Kevin and I decided we would climb Hellvelyn, and Kevin’s brother joined us, it took us two and a half hours to get to the top, we used to do it in two hours, I swear striding edge gets more difficult each time I climb it. The weather was fairly good with just a few snow flurries, with the end of the walk being in sunshine.

Madeline arranged for Sophie to go horse riding, and quad biking for Harry, whilst the Wilshaw’s went off on another bike ride.
That evening Steve had booked a table at the Troutbeck Hotel for a meal but before we went the champagne was opened and we all partook in a glass. The meal was fantastic, we were all spoilt for choice, with Harry managing to polish off all three courses which were adult portions.

On the Monday we set off back home again taking a leisurely drive back which again was in the rain. Tuesday was spent doing the washing and getting everything ready to leave early for Plymouth the next day , with all bags packed and having spent a couple of hours with my son Steven we sat back to have a relaxing evening with a glass of wine.
Wednesday we were up and ready for our taxi pick up at 8:30am, we arrived at the station in plenty of time for the train, the journey took just over 4 hours and most of it, you guessed it, was in the rain. When we arrived in Plymouth we had a couple of busses to catch to the marina we looked like  couple of pack horses with all our gear, on hindsight we should have started bringing stuff down earlier when we had the car. With so little room on the boat we did wonder how we were going to store everything but with some juggling around we managed it. I (Kevin) suspect we have brought far too much as usual, so hopefully after a while we can start to “thin” things out a little.
So with a bit of luck we will be able to set off tomorrow and our next blog will be about the start of our travels.