Lake district - part two.

When we awoke the next morning it was so cold that we were glad to have a nice hot breakfast waiting for us downstairs. We set off hoping that the weather wouldn't hold us back too much. However it was still rather grim and the rain had begun to come down. I managed to get a couple of shots from the car before it got too heavy though.
Toni I actually took these for you as I know you love mountains - albeit rather small ones in my pictures.





It did brighten up for a short while so here are some scenery shots and some wildlife we encountered on our day out:

Lake Windermere.



Although this lake is beautiful I much preferred the smaller ones we saw. Here are a couple of them.





Now for the wildfowl we managed to get shots of:







As we were driving to have afternoon tea we came across this sculpture in the grounds of a large garden centre. No I didn't go in as it would have been too much of a temptation and there was no space in the car for plants.



We also noticed that nearly every house and parking lot had at least one Magnolia tree in it. Here's and example:



Now comes the bad bit!!

As we drove away from the café and were heading off for a bit more walking and sight seeing a large truck sped by on the opposite side of the road and threw up loose chippings. They hit our windscreen with such force that we were left with two, inch long, star chips and one huge crack on the drivers side of the glass. The car behind suffered even more as his windscreen starburst. It was a minor miracle that he didn't run into the back of us.
We pulled over to the side of the road and had a good look at the damage. Deciding it was best to get back to the inn we headed off at a slow pace.
The next two days were spent in and around the inn only taking walks with the dog as we didn't want to drive and make the crack even worse. On 'phoning around we were told it could take a week before anyone could replace the windscreen for us which was of no use. After discussing what we should do we packed up and travelled home, very carefully, trying to miss any pot holes or bumps in the roads. Thankfully, although the crack did get bigger, we got home safely.
We 'phoned our insurance company and a chap came round the next morning to replace the windscreen. It only took him half and hour and within an hour after that the car was safe to drive again.

So, as you can no doubt tell, our break away wasn't quite as de-stressing as we'd hoped for. At least when we got home the sun had come out and hasn't stopped shining since. I think someone is trying to tell us to stay at home in future don't you?

 

Oh, I love that first photo, thanks for thinking of me .... can I pinch it for my screensaver file?

Wow, that could have been much more dangerous than it was. So glad the projectile didn't make it through the windshield completely on either you or the person behind you. Yea, I think there might be a message there. Not to stay at home but to NOT go back to the Lake District!

 

Toni take whatever photographs you want to - same goes for anyone else - I'm happy you like them enough to want to use them.
Vitrsna don't worry I was just telling the tale of what happened on our trip and I'm pleased you liked the pictures.

I don't think we'll be heading for the Lake District again any time soon. As they say bad luck comes in threes and the last two trips were - well - shall we say a little fraught!! I don't really want to find out what our third trip would bring us.

 

Vitrsna I think the duck is a Wood duck but I'm not 100% sure. It was its lovely plumage that made me want to take a photograph of it.