Stopped in Kendal for lunch, and got to the hotel by 4pm. We were staying at the Selkirk Arms Hotel, allegedly where Robbie Burns wrote the Selkirk Grace, and if anyone is in the area, I would recommend it. After a rest, we went down to meet the rest of the group - we were in the capable hands of Philip Dunn and his wife Norene, and including Stu there were 5 photographers and me! A very friendly group, and Philip and Norene went out of their way to include me in the group. Great food, some nice wine and good company.
Saturday dawned damp and misty. The photographers did their thing, and in the morning I went for a walk round the town (which is pronounce Kirk-COO-Bree). Lots of things to like about it - the brightly painted houses:
The tendency for local residents to stack things in their windows:
and lots of interesting passages:
and of course, the shops! The town has a reputation as an artists town, and there are many art galleries and designer shops to look round. I had a very pleasant (and expensive!) morning. It didn't really clear up, but I was sure the photographers would have plenty to go at. This was the view of the harbour:
Joined them for lunch back at the hotel, which was at the bottom of a misty bank
Then after lunch went to find the Stewartry Museum, which was just behind the hotel. It was amazing, and as someone commented, it needed picking up and putting in a museum itself:
While I was there I picked up a leaflet about the Kirkcudbright cemetery, and decided to walk up the hill to it. It was very atmospheric
I was the only person there, not another soul in sight. Lots of mist and elaborate graves, including those of martyrs and a Gypsy King.
There was supposed to be a fantastic view over the River Dee, but I couldn't see it. Just mist and drizzle. Had a great time though - lots to look at, including some "table-top" graves with carved legs.Not a lot of colour up there, apart from my newly acquired bright pink hat!
Back to the hotel for afternoon tea, homemade shortbread, and a long soak in the bath before dinner. Another lovely meal, although Stuart wasn't feeling too good so missed it. Next morning we woke to more rain, but not the snow that had been forecast. Whilst the intrepid photographers went in the rain to photograph Colin in his shed (!), I curled up in the lounge of the hotel with my iPad and read the newspapers and a good book. After lunch it was time to say our goodbyes - I had had a thoroughly good time with some lovely people, and am told that Philip is an excellent teacher and photographer so Stu had learned a lot which he now needs to put into practice. You can read a post about the weekend on Philip's website here. He does week long courses in Menorca, which sounds good to me....
So, set off about 2, expecting a 4 hour journey. I kept my eye on the road situation, and although the M62 had snow, the Snake Pass was reported clear. So, we got to Glossop and there was just rain. Looked out of town towards the Snake, just rain. So we set off. on the way to the summit, the rain turned to snow. It got thicker, cars slowed down, we started to skid, and I wanted to go back! Eventually a car coming down warned us off, so we turned round. Then we saw a snow plough going up, so turned round again to follow it (not my idea!!). Snow plough disappeared, snow got thicker, road got slippier, we skidded sideways several times, all automatic braking systems went berserk, and went we started getting warning messages that the whole braking system had failed, we had a full and frank exchange of views about whether to continue or turn round. We turned round. Decided to try a different route, which was snow free till we got to high ground at Owler Bar where it was terrible again. But, we made it home 6 and a half hours later, to a cooked meal which Dan had prepared for us, and made it to the pub quiz! Interesting end to a great weekend.
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