Tag: mazda mx5

Fair shines the day

There is an easy walk I’m very fond of from Elterwater to Skelwith Bridge…..and finally to a very nice café with retail therapy opportunity for the very long of pocket.

So as I was saying, my Dearest and I had come to the conclusion that if we were to get any fun out of the coming weekend we had to put fun first. It was going to be sunny on Saturday and Sunday , but then pour with rain all day Monday, (typical Whitsuntide Bank Holiday then!), and probably Tuesday as well since I’d booked a day’s leave to take my Dad to a hospital appointment.

wild flowers underfoot
wild flowers underfoot

Saturday was to be fun day. I called my sister and planned to take her with us but she had better things to do, which is OK. Getting My Dearest out of bed, dressed, medicated and ablutions performed before lunchtime is always a challenge at the weekend, so we set off for the Lake District by 12.00, picnic packed and fuel tank filled. We took my little precious, my Mazda MX5, top down, hats firmly attached to heads and, in my case at least, sun block applied.

Free parking for National Trust members,that's lucky
Free parking for National Trust members,that’s lucky

There is an easy walk I’m very fond of from Elterwater to Skelwith Bridge, it’s not more than 2 and a half miles and flat most of the way and yet it passes from Lakeland village to babbling brook and marshy ground, from ancient Beech wood, to open meadows full of wild flowers and sheep, a Lake with distant views of the Langdales, and then more Beech wood with cascading waterfalls, and finally to a very nice café with retail therapy opportunity for the very long of pocket.

Typical Lakeland farmhouse in Elterwater
Typical Lakeland farmhouse in Elterwater

I poked round in the shop, admiring the pretty things I had neither wherewithal nor intention to buy, while my Dearest considered whether there was anything on the menu he might eat, there rarely is in these expensive and rarefied places, he won’t eat anything he can’t pronounce.

Skelwith bridge
Skelwith bridge

Then we wandered down to the bridge itself, sat on a slate bench under a majestic mature Beech tree whose leaves were all newly opened and as perfect as they could be, and unpacked our picnic.

if only you could smell it!
if only you could smell it!

Then walked back the way we had come, there are other walks which can be taken from Skelwith Bridge, and perhaps next time we’ll trek back another way but I wanted more time in that Bluebell wood, and to enjoy the wild flowers en route.

Wood Anemone
Wood Anemone
Blossom by the stream
Blossom by the stream

We called in at Ambleside on our way home for coffee, I scored two more 100% cotton checked shirts in the Oxfam charity shop, £2 each, bargain. We returned home tired and someone a little sun burned, but having had a Day Out.

Marsh Marigold
Marsh Marigold
An inquisitive Lamb
An inquisitive Lamb

Reasons to be cheerful part one

I have the great good fortune to own a Mazda MX5, she is my pride and joy, I love her, she goes like the wind, corners as if on rails, she is a pleasure to drive and so much fun to own.

Or a catalogue of disaster, it depends upon where you’re standing.

my pride and joy.

I have the great good fortune to own a Mazda MX5, she is my pride and joy, I love her, she goes like the wind, corners as if on rails, she is a pleasure to drive and so much fun to own. She’s getting on in years now and needs a little tender loving care at times. When she had her annual MOT last month I was advised that she needed a bit of body work, water had got into the body (it’s supposed to; it’s the way the hood drains through the body and out of drain holes in the sill) but the drain holes had been bunged up, and water was sloshing around in the body causing rust. So some remedial work was needed.
At the same time I found myself facing a huge pay cut, nearly 20% of my income slashed from my budget without much notice. So with huge regret, since my road tax was due and also because the Mazda really does not like snow, I decided to take my car off the road for the winter, to save six months road tax and insurance. We’d have to manage with one car, Ha!
I got my car fixed first, rust isn’t something you want to ignore, I took it to my cousin’s garage where I always get reliable service , a good job well done, and planned to put it in my Dad’s garage for the winter, but before I did, the 16 year old BMW needed to get through it’s MOT.