Grange over Sands day 3

Hello. It was a lovely sunny morning on the last day of my hols. I did think about setting off back home after checking out of the hotel, but then thought, shame to waste a day, I'll go and have a little bimble. I walked along the coastal path towards town.

 The duck pond in the park was full of birds chattering away as they scavenged for food. The little girl was quite overwhelmed by them all as they came close to her.

I strolled around the gardens and saw this wonderful tree, isn't it gorgeous. It's a Metasequoia glyptostorboides, or a Dawn Redwood if you want an easy name, quite a rare tree in the UK apparently. Read about it here.  I stopped to chat with the man seen in the picture, who was sketching the trunk. He is an artist and lives in a cottage just across the road from it. 

 I set off up Windermere Road road looking for a footpath to take me into Eggerslack Wood, and caught up with three people and their dog going in the same direction. I went ahead of them for a few minutes then came to a junction where several paths met and wasn't sure which one to take. Luckily the walkers caught me up and pointed me in the right direction. From then on I went ahead and stopped for a minute, and they caught me up again. It was handy having someone with local knowledge to chat to, we ended up getting to the top together.

Almost there, keep going.

Just over the top of that last rock on the horizon.

And this is what you find when you arrive at the top of Hampsfell. The Hospice was built in 1846 as a shelter for travelers. There are some pictures of it on this site. And some more here. 

On the top of the tower in the middle is a dial, the arrow can be pointed in any direction and the corresponding numbers can be seen on this list to indicate whereabouts all the places are.

Some of the views from the top. A little bit hazy in the distance.

Time to set off back down, my new walking buddies are going for lunch, and I have to get back to the car still in the hotel car park. That's Archie the dog by the way, he is lovely. We parted company ten minutes later and I followed a track past High farm, Spring Bank, and Grange Fell, down to the road.

My holiday was over and all I had to do was drive back. I was a bit sad to leave, it's a really nice area, with nice people, everyone was so friendly. I sent a text to Janet when I stopped for a break at Harrogate, giving her the eta of 7.30pm. And I was dead right, 7.30pm it was. The kitties were pleased to see me.

I took three of my pictures to the Arts Centre today. Judging takes place tomorrow to choose the ones for the Open Exhibition. Keep your fingers crossed, I hope they pick mine.

Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip