~~ Moments in Time ~~ words & photography by Lorraine Gibb: Saturday 17th September

Click on the photo if you want to see it larger.

Another special day, a day where we had the pleasure of meeting a lot of blippers, both old and new!

The morning dawned with beautiful clear skies. We said our farewells to our wonderful hosts at Cumbria House, such a lovely young couple, then had a quick browse at the Saturday Market in Keswick. We knew that we needed to be at Windermere's Foot Fell Park, for the blip meet at 11am.

We wanted to visit Castlerigg Stone Circle, but had trouble finding the turnoff, we asked a local who was very helpful. All this took up valuable time, by the time we found it there was very little parking available which meant of course that the place would have been overrun by people. Looking at the watch, we decided we would have to give it a miss and continued on our journey south to Windermere. A very scenic area, driving along the edge of the lakes, through little villages....lots of ooo's and arrrr's, but no time for stopping.

We became a little anxious as this trip was taking longer than we though, we arrived late for the gathering. Gordon & Will were hovering in the car park waiting for us, and Wendy & Ann (who we had dinner with last night) arrived at much the same time. What a welcome we got, it was so exciting to meet folk that I had been following for so many years, as well as the newer blippers. I think there were 16 of us, with no shortage of conversation. It was great to catch up with Liz who I had the pleasure of meeting at home a few times (along with her sister), Liz has since moved back to the UK. We enjoyed a coffee as we chatted, then we all took a wander along the lake shore to the top (or was it the bottom) of the lake - absolutely gorgeous photographic place Paula & Shelia had chosen. Tree covered hills, beautiful water, boats reflected in the water, families, dogs, walkers - but room for us all.
Of course, the blip meet photo's had to be taken, (see below).

A memorable time, and my thanks go to Paula, Gordon, Sheila & Will (who we had met when they visited our area a couple of years previous) for the effort they put in to make this event happen. Sadly, all good things have to come to an end though.

From there we were in the hands of Sheila & Will. We headed for their home in Kendal, situated on a hill overlooking a green area, they have a gorgeous garden, divided loosely into rooms. And would you know it, on the flag pole was the silver fern fluttering in the breeze, how about that!!
Enjoyed a beautiful lunch outside before setting off (via the scenic route) to the village of Arnside on the Kent Estuary. What a wonderful place this is, we walked along the shoreline, then up a hill, through a little field where we saw some Red Emerald butterfly's - bonus! Back down to the village to "the local" for a beer, sitting outside in the late afternoon sunshine.

We have been thoroughly spoilt again; a wonderful dinner was served, a wine or two and great conversation.