Another delicious David breakfast....forgot to mention that he is training for a weight lifting competition. So not only is David watching his diet but also getting up at ungodly hours every morning and going to a nearby gym, when available, or running somewhere. We enjoy our last breakfast together on our patio.
Sadly, this is the day that David and Kenz must return to London. He wants to get there early, be sure they have tickets, etc. So we rise and shine and out the door by 9:15 a.m. Below is the train station....we arrived at 10:00 for an 11:00 departure.
Well, so much for our early arrival.....decide to cross the street to a lovely garden and the remains of the local Castle (seems like nearly every town has one)
Built in 1398 as a defence against Scottish raiders.
It is reputed to have been the one-time residence of King Richard III.
Its walls are of red sandstone which is steadily crumbling.
Back to the train station....
I REALLY don't like good-byes...so we say: "see you soon".....just not sure when "soon" will be.
David taught us lots about doing selfies.
On board just in time.
As we return to the waiting room, we notice things we hadn't before...
Seriously behind with our blog, paying bills, etc due to the fact that our lodging does not provide any internet.....we find the closest facility to do some work...
Right next door at the McDonald's. Our experience with the McDonald's in NZ was not good. Each time we tried, the wifi was either not working or so slow that it was useless. This was ok....slow, but at least we could do something....so we stayed....
and stayed....
After 2.5 hours, we are hungry for more than coffee....go for a walk, trying to find something other than a Big Mac to eat. Passed by the "New Vic" which reminded us of the wonderful evening at the "Old Vic" and The Crucible.
We liked the name of the Agricultural Hotel rather the name of the Station Hotel....regardless of menu.
Tom had a diversion from his usual fish n chips....steak n ale pie with chips.
and I had lamb shank which was moist, tasty and fell off the bone.
After another blogging stay at McD's we went off to find our breakfast for tomorrow. After stopping at (read stumbling around looking for) a few grocery stores, we came to the realisation that grocery stores close at 4 PM on Sundays -- a lesson learned. So we decided to return to Cockermouth, go home, perhaps find an open store, by chance....no chance!!!!! It took us 1.5 hours to get from Cockermouth to our "nest".....wtf????? We know Cockermouth....we know the area....we went around the same roundabouts several times.....we ended up in rural areas we had never seen....we kept meeting the same cars....we went the wrong way on a one way, thinking that was the solution. Turns out that the roads in the middle of town are closed due to a flood that happened SEVEN years ago!! When we FINALLY made it, I threw in that load of clothes....our "green" landlady is gone and not due back till midnight. So I thought perhaps it would be OK to use the tumble drier....well, she shows up at 10 pm which is broad daylight here....and sure enough, she has put three!!! laundry baskets in the laundry room door to keep them open, letting me know that this is not acceptable. Don't think I had mentioned that here recycling is a minimum "green" effort....we are to separate our garbage in to compost and just waste food.....that was never mentioned in the brochure..hey, the world recycles, but the world does not separate egg shells from meat bones....that is your job as caretaker!!! So we are outta here....I paid the bill at 10:30 pm as we met at the laundry room as I guiltily removed our laundry from the tumble drier.....
Back at our "nest", we explore the rest of the property which we intended to do the previous two nights, but somehow, it didn't happen. There is a gravel path leading away from the cottages...
a croquet lawn....
a bridge crossing the creek which runs parallel to the property....
a pond which she says is suitable for swimming.....yuk, no thanks....but very pretty to look at...
a very peaceful resting place near the pond, complete with stone seats and various boulders for chairs...the structure to the left is an enclosed gazebo with seating...
and a fruit/vegetable garden.
It is so quiet without David and McKenzie....we miss them....Hey, Tom, I will go put a load of clothes in the wash, but not in the drier.....and I will be sure to drop our smelly bacon fat/egg shells in the trough! The night ended peacefully with a full moon rising at about 11 PM.
