Holidays in the Lake District

We have been visiting the Lakes ever since 1991. I have a small notebook detailing our walks so I thought I would list them here. The notebook also has more detail of the walks as well as visits to places on wet and rest days.

1991  The Queen's Head, Hawkshead

Walk from the pub to Tarn Hows
Helvellyn via the Youth Hostel and Red Tarn


1994  Ullswater House, Glenridding

Ullswater Circuit (Walker's Companion) 
Hellvelynn (Walker's Companion) 
Rydal Water circuit
Dockray to Aira Force


1995 Chapel Stile

Allcock Tarn (Walker's Companion)
High Street (Walker's Companion)
Lingmoor Fell
Helm Crag (Wainwright)
Silver How


1996 Chapel Stile

Elterwater and Little Langdale (Bob Allen)
Rossett Gill and the Langdale Pikes (Walker's Companion)
Grasmere and Rydal Circuit (Bob Allen)
Wansfell Pike and Troutbeck (Bob Allen)


1997 Chapel Stile

Lingmoor Fell (Walk the Lakes)
Loughrigg Fell (Bob Allen)
Fairfield Horshoe (Wainwright)
Easedale Tarn (Walk the Lakes)
Buttermere
Black Crag (Walk the Lakes)

1998 Chapel Stile

Silver How, Great How, Stickle Tarn and Dungeon Gill
Crinkle Crags and Bow Fell (Wainwright)
Fell Foot Park and Tarn Hows
Easedale Tarn

1999 The Garden Chalet, Elterwater

Silver How
Easedale Tarn and High Raise (Wainwright)
High Street
Little Langdale (Bob Allen)

2000 The Garden Chalet, Elterwater

Little Langdale (Bob Allen)
High Street (Walker's Companion)
Easedale Tarn, Sargent Mann and High Raise (Wainwright) 
Loughrigg Fell and Loughrigg Terrace (Bob Allen)
Ullswater
Fairfield Horshoe (Wainwright)

2001 Chapel Stile (June)

Paths closed due to foot and mouth

Elterwater
Tarn Hows

2001 Chapel Stile (September)

Grasmere and Rydal
Silver How, Blea Rigg, Stickle Tarn and Dungeon Gill
Easedale Tarn, Sargent Mann and High Raise (Wainwright)
Loughrigg Fell and Loughrigg Terrace (Bob Allen)
Little Langdale (Bob Allen)

2002 Chapel Stile

Loughrigg Terrace
Pike O'Blisco (Wainwright)
Little Langdale (Bob Allen)
Hellveyn (Bob Allen)
Grasmere and Rydal Water
Tarn Hows

2003 Riverbank Cottage, Skelwith Bridge

Helm Crag (Wainwright)
Little Langdale (Bob Allen)
Scafell Pike via Rossett Gill, back via Bow Fell and The Band! (Wainwright)
Easedale Tarn and Codale Tarn

2005 Riverbank Cottage, Skelwith Bridge

Little Langdale
St Sunday Crag (Wainwright)
Loughrigg Terrace
Easedale Tarn, Sargent Mann and High Raise (Wainwright)
Cat Bells (Walker's Companion)

2006 Riverbank Cottage, Skelwith Bridge

Helm Crag (Wainwright)
Ullswater and return by ferry from Howtown
Easedale Tarn
Rydal Water
Little Langdale (Bob Allen)

2008 Derwent Manor, Honister

Haystacks (Walker's Companion)
Skiddaw (Walker's Companion)
Loughrigg Fell and Loughrigg Terrace (Bob Allen)
Gowbarrow Fell and Aira Force (Bob Allen)

2015 Coachman's Cottage, Grasmere

Lang How
Easedale Tarn, Sargent Mann and High Raise (Wainwright)
Tarn Hows
Little Langdale (Bob Allen)
Great Langdale (run)
Fellfoot Park (Parkrun)

Tring Book Club - The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds

This is why I go to Book Club. Normally I would never have picked this book to read, a dramatised version of the visit made in 1840 to Mathew Allen's private asylum in Epping Forest by young Alfred Tennyson. His brother Septimus is incarcerated there, and so is the poet John Clare who becomes almost the main character of separate but cleverly interwoven stories of Allen's family, the inmates and visitors. This is book that made me dawdle over the delicate prose that is quite poetic at times: "Forked or foliate, the flames themselves were as singular as the trees, eternal and vanishing in quick snaps".

I found the descriptions of the madness suffered by John Clare and others late on in the book to be more like the recollection of a dream but that was the only boring segment of this generally intriguing novel. Unfortunately, Allen's brother Oswald only makes two short appearances. I would have liked so much more.

Scandi-mania

The Weekend supplement of The Times on Saturday included a double page feature about our love for Scandinavian drama. It all started with the brilliant Danish series The Killing starring Sofie Grabol (third from the left) on BBC every Saturday night in 2011. This was followed by Borgen, a political drama that I watched only occasionally. But I loved The Bridge, a Danish/Swedish production with Saga Noren (second from the left).

I persevered with The Legacy, a family dispute over a will, even though it did become a little repetitive. Trine Dyrholm (on the left) was the unpleasant main chararcter. That leaves Jordskott, showing on ITV Encore. We have only seen one episode so far but it seems promising. Moa Gammel (on the right) is a very good reason to stick with it.

My introduction to Scandanavian drama was through the excellent Wallander with Stieg Larsson. And then of course the movies starting with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I never mind the sub-titles unless they use a word that we would never have said. I much prefer it to a poorly dubbed soundtrack.

Switching my bank account - not so scary after all

I had held a current account with the NatWest for over 51 years, so changing banks seemed quite a big deal. I remember my first day at work when the training officer at George Wimpey escorted some of us down to the Westminster Bank at the end of Hammersmith Grove to open our first bank accounts. Having never paid a penny for the privilege, it seemed a good deal over the years. But now it's all different. Lots of banks pay you to move to their current accounts and also pay interest. The government have also brought in new rules which mean switching is easy and efficient.

But the NatWest are just not interested. So when I received a very attractive offer from the Halifax, I was off to their branch in Aylesbury and filled in the forms. Apparently I was the first person to come into that branch with that particular special offer. And yesterday the balance in my account with the NatWest went over to my Halifax Reward Account. So far so good. I just want to see that direct debits, standing orders and my pension payments all go through. I expect they will.

Kolymsky Heights, Animal Farm and Us

Kolymsky Heights is a fast paced spy thriller that was inspired in it's conception and construction. It made a change to read a straightforward linear narrative instead of all the backwards and forwards of the last couple of books I read. The writing is good enough that the pages fly by, but nowhere in the class of, say, John Le Carre. After a while I wished for something a little more stylish and literate. But the first two thirds of the book is quite a story, as I raced through at breakneck speed. It's just a shame that the crucial object of the quest is over so quickly and the science there quite unbelievable. And the desperate final section proves why I don't like thrillers. But that's just me.

Somehow I missed reading this short but very powerful novel in my younger days. In a way I'm glad I did, as reading it fresh with no knowledge of the plot, the central theme seems to have resonated through the decades of my life. Even today, there are parts of the FIFA corruption scandal that have all the hallmarks of George Orwell's 1945 published political drama. Perhaps the ultimate political drama. It is not a pleasant read so I was glad it was only 102 pages. A book not to enjoy but captivatingly important. I will never forget what happened to Boxer. How lucky we are to live in a proper democracy where opposition and journalistic freedom hold the government to account. Not like in Animal Farm.

Us is an entertaining read, but has a strange dynamic as husband and wife Douglas and Connie set out with their troublesome teenage son Albie on a Grand Tour of Europe one sultry August. Obviously we get a lot of intermittent backtracking by our first person narrator Douglas which sets up his relationship with his family. Sometimes funny sometimes sad, but all a little too predictable. However, the story rattles along from city to city and is never less than quite readable. A good book for a summer holiday.

Pitch Perfect 2, Mad Max: Fury Road and San Andreas

I wasn't expecting Pitch Perfect 2 to be as good as the original. It's just a shame that writer Kay Cannon could not come up with something a lot better. Last time she had the book by Mickey Rapkin to adapt, but she and the team failed to come up with something as entertaining and smart. Pitting the girls against an embarrassing Teutonic group was a really bad idea.

Tom Hardy doesn't have much to say as the lead in Mad Max: Fury Road, but he is pretty convincing as the hero of this sequel. Director George Miller has packed the screen with so much action and sound in this post-apocalyptic thriller that at the end I felt as if I had tagged along. A relentless big budget spectacle that at least has occasional quieter scenes for us to get our breath back. Charlize Theron is almost unrecognisable with her shaved head and is a great foil for Hardy.

After the shattering experience of the previous movie, I went in vain in search of something quieter and thoughtful. Instead all I got was San Andreas. This was the worst ensemble acting I have seen for a long time. The casting director must have been on holiday. They obviously went for actors who were the cheapest available, and it showed. They were done no favours by an awful script, even disaster movies of the past have at least tried. So how was the CGI? Just about OK and crucially saved the movie from a disaster of it's own.

The Pirates of Penzance - ENO Encore screening

The last time I went to see The Pirates of Penzance was in August 1987 at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth (Zoe and Michael might remember that wonderful evening). I was eagerly anticipating a Mike Leigh directed performance as his film about Gilbert and Sullivan called Topsy Turvy is excellent. Unfortunately this cinema version was not the anarchic riot I was hoping for.

It all started superbly well. During the long overture, we were pitched right into the orchestra pit with great close ups of the soloists. The lady oboist was terrific.  But straight away, the set did not help the performers. Instead of an all action introduction of the pirates, here they were stuck motionless on their boat. And what a boat. The modernist set was so wrong for this Victorian comic opera. There were occasions when the two curved but hidden staircases worked cleverly (the hiding policemen sticking out their heads for the occasional tarantara). But too often we were dazzled by the highly coloured decor.

At least the songs were great. Andrew Shore is an exemplary model of a modern Mayor-General and he delivers his big moment with aplomb. And Jonathon Lemalu handles the famous When A Felon’s Not Engaged In His Employment with gusto. But the best of the soloists is Irish soprano Claudia Boyle as Mabel. Note perfect and a great personality.

The costumes are fabulous, particularly those of the thirteen daughters. But we are not supposed to get as close as the camera gets to see the stage make up and sweat. So I guess an uneven production, thoroughly enjoyable in parts but the sum doesn't quite add up.

As usual, we are given a photocopied small programme. I like that.