Blustery Winds on Crummock Water

Castlerigg, Buttermere and Old Peculier (Not Me!!)

The Lakes District

As for Glasgow we had been forewarned about the weather up here. However, it was not wet: just cold and very blustery. But we did enjoy our stay amongst relatives (again on Shelley's side)again enjoying the northern hospitality and the local environment that kind of resembles that of the Queenstown Lakes area of NZ. We stayed with the Harkness family in Wigton, a small town in the Lakes District National Park, and spent the best part of two days being ferried around the local sights of Lakes and Fells (the hills of the north.) We enjoyed the track walking (rambling!) and the Circle of Stones (38 stones arranged in a circle somewhere between 3000 and 4000 years ago); the local pubs and boutique breweries; the slate quarry and production of slate products in Honister Pass; and the company of people (relatives) we had never met who welcomed us onto their homes (Harknesses, Pearsons and Farrimonds) and fed us with warm food, drinks and stories of past and present.

Glasgow City Council Chambers and University

Glasgow Cathedral and Necropolis

Glasgow

We were building up for 'the big cold' in Glasgow after earlier snow falls in the hills and floods in the north of England. But none of that! We visited an elderly brother and sister, Edith and Jim Burke, relatives on Shelley's side of the family and were made to feel very welcome. An afternoon (we stayed about 7 hours!)of family talk merged into a lovely dinner especially put on for us: New Zealand lamb. From there we caught a taxi into town, Apartments in Oswald Street and so handy to everything. Really warm and comfortable and light (all night long from the 24hr high rise car park across the street) and lacking not much: only a can opener and toilet paper!But that aside, we spent two chilly days in Glasgow under brilliant blue skies and cold, but still air. Our first port of call in the city centre was the Information Centre but because police had cordoned the building off as we were arriving because of an 'incident' we were not able to follow through with planning our city attack.But armed with a free map (given to us by an employee from the Information Centre - free because they couldn't till any money on the street frontage?) we, as usual, walked from dawn to dusk, catching first of all an open topped bus to take a guided 1 hr 20 minute tour of the city as orientation. And then over the next two days we retraced some of those steps as we walked from historical site to site. We even through in some contemporary attractions but the Science Centre was closed. Not a good start - the first two places we visited: Shut!! So we checked out the tours for the Council Chamber (sounds boring?) but some of the rooms were closed that day and we should go back the next. (We did and they were Shut!)However, from there on, everything was open: We spent time wandering the streets to the Glasgow Cathedral, to the Necropolis (an imposing cemetery with hugely ornamented tombstones and plaques) with its extended views (and paths for runners) over the city and to the 1437 house, the oldest surviving in Glasgow, which was once home to the Bishops of the early city. The Kelvingrove Art Gallery was well worth the visit with Dali's interesting painting of Christ on the Cross and loads of other interesting history. This was certainly a once thriving city, which over time lost its way as industry waned and competition from abroad took over. It is now in the process of rebirth: Glasgow is a very friendly city and, like Edinburgh. it gave us a very warm and positive experience of hospitality in the north.