Lake District weekend - day one - arrival

From http://bvhill-walkers.blogspot.com/

The best laid plans of mice and Vets gang aft a'gley. With Johanne having to go in to hospital for an op, Colin was a late cancellation from the trip, which, in turn, led me to to change my plans at the last minute and, rather than drive down alone, I decided to make use of my Senior Railcard and let the train take the strain.

Ian had taken the whole day off so he had gone down on the early morning train, with Ken having decided he would leave at lunchtime and travel down in Dave's car.

Ian and I were in touch by text and phone and I discovered that he'd got off the train at Penrith and gone in to the town centre there, but had been distinctly unimpressed by it - especially the pubs he visited. He'd then jumped on the bus to Keswick and checked in at our hotel and wandered round the town centre in his shorts, doing the touristy thing.

My train was a little late getting in to Penrith and I just missed the bus connection to Keswick so had another 45-50 minutes to wait till the next one. I asked a taxi driver how much it would cost to take me there - "£38" he said - "but it's only £5 on the bus!" No choice then - "where's the nearest decent pub?" - "just across the road - the Agricultural Hotel" - so off I trotted. Nice place it was too, so with the sun shining, I settled down to a table outside and enjoyed a pint of Jenning's Bitter, then texted Ken to find out how they were doing - "just 10 minutes from Penrith", he said - "we'll pick you up" - even better.

Sure enough, the BMW purred up just a little later, and Ken and Dave joined me for a beer, Dave resplendent in red "pants":

Then it was off to the Keswick Lodge, right in the heart of the pedestrianised town centre. We had an early dinner there, washed down with a couple of pints of Thwaite's, then headed off to the nearby Gun and Dog, a cracking little pub, with a good selection of ales and, as it's name implies, very dog-friendly.

After a couple there we wandered a hundred or so yards down the street to see what else was doing. There was music - of a sort - in one of them. One guy and a variety of styles, and lined up in rows along the walls were couples, side by side, listening in - well, it's better than having to talk to the missus, isn't it? Definitely a bit of a throwback.

First night and it was a 7-pinter - not the best of preparations for the exercise ahead of us. Back to our rooms - Ken and I lost the toss with Dave for the one remaining single room - Ian already had ensconsed himself in the other one.