Good afternoon everyone, I guess you've all missed me while I've been gone? If you haven't then shame on you. I bet you all logged on last Monday to expect a long blog and all you got was an out of office message. Well I needed a holiday so had to skip the county. I got home on Friday night which was a bit of a mission. I went for short weeks holiday to the Lake district. I stay at a little place in the Southern Lakes called Keswick. I went there last year for a week and enjoyed it so much that I decided to go back again. I stay in a lovely little wooden log cabin on Lake Bassenthwaite. A little bit of trivia for you is that this is the only lake in the Lake district that is called a 'lake' all the rest are called 'meres' or 'waters'.

It's really beautiful and quiet there as you can see. The cabins are very spread apart and secluded. It's just the sort of holiday I needed away from everything and a change of scenery from the smog of London. I had several treks planned for my hols and I wont bore you with all of the walking I did but will show you some of the best I did. Any of those who don't believe I got my hiking boots on a walked can come and check out my blisters!

The best walk I think I did whilst I was there was the trek through Dodd Wood and up the mountain to the peak overlooking Lake Bassenthwaite and surrounding Keswick. I was very lucky with the weather I had during the week and on particular this day was a real scorcher although once I got to the summit I almost got blown back down again.

The view from the summit was absolutely amazing. It was really worth the extra slog to get to the top. Once you trek through the dense forest for about a mile or so climbing you way up through the sometimes treacherous path it was a beautiful view as you can see from the pictures below.

The Lake you can see on the left hand picture is Ullswater. It was one of the towns I visited during my weeks stay you can just make out the little islands that split up this impressive looking open water space.

The picture below is to the right hand view of the summit. You can see Lake Bassenthwaite. My little lodge was to the right of this picture and hidden away so don't think you can make it out.

It was a real nice day when I went up this summit and a really good experience so if any of you wanna go for a long walk one day then head down to Dodd Wood.

The other good walk I thought I would mention was the trek up Thirlmere. I can't remember what the mountainside was called but the resevoir and surrounding area was called Thirlmere. This was a bit of a tricky climb and I managed to twist my ankle a couple of times so if your going to get up this one, make sure you take some decent shoes and maybe a stick to help you climb. The weather that day was great again which made it really hot and sweaty to climb and it also meant the midges were out in force but it was worth all that to get to the top and take a look at thew views. I think this was probably over 3,000 feet up and on a clear day you can see for miles and miles.

These are just two amazing walks you can do in the Lakes with great views over our wonderful countryside. Why do you need Spain or Florida when you have all this on your doorstep? Another place worth visiting (that's not much of a walk for those of you that don't do walking) is Aira Force. Aira Force is a tumbling waterfall close to Ullswater. It will take you about an hour or so to get to the top but once you get to the 70 ft drop at the top (21.3m) and the giant Oak trees cover you in it's really peaceful and when it's hot you get a lovely spray from the water. If any of you wondered what Aira Force meant it is a Scandinavian word meaning 'gravelly stream'.

I won't go on about all the other things I got upto whilst away. I managed to visit a lot of the towns that I never managed to get too last time I visited like Kendal but I also visited Ullswater, Windemere, Keswick and also had time to relax and finish my third Dan Brown book.

As I said at the beginning of the Blog I traveled home on Friday morning. I was sad to leave but happy to be coming back to see Bobby and my Mum (who had been looking after Bobby whilst I was gone). I got lots of licks from Bobby when I got home, he wouldn't leave me alone I think he had missed me.

On Saturday my Mum and I took him to the beauty parlour to get trimmed he wanted to drive there himself and I was quite surprised what a good doggy driver he was. He he

He doesn't like having his hair cut. I'm not too sure why yet. He seems to have a phobia of electric razors and hair brushes so I have to give him a pill before we go so for the past day or so he's been a bit dopey but he likes having his hair short and he's not so hot and doesn't need to be panting all day long.

Today being Sunday I have been busy tidying up after my hols and just doing a bit of washing although my Mum did most of it for me whilst I was away. It's back to work tomorrow and I definitely DON'T want to go! I've had a lovely week off and to go back to work I know is going to be grief.

Right that's it for this week. Quite a lot there for you all to read I hope it doesn't drag you away from your work for too long? Just one last thing before I go I need to say a special 'hi' to Raks and Eileen and all of Team 4 for reading my Blog. I hope it keep you entertained and takes you away from work for a few minutes a week.

Bye until next week,

Stu.

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