It was the best of days today. After the wild wind and rain of yesterday, it dawned fine and bright. My back is freer, and I can cautiously look forward to a walk.
Mary takes me down to the beautiful Swindale Valley. It's a quiet and unspoiled
valley which we access from Shap, cared for by United Utillities and the RSPB.
What a glorious day for a walk with larch trees a yellowed bronze in the sun and bracken a deep umber. We walk on the easy track along the valley floor beside the river,
and make our way leisurely enough to the wonderfully full and gushing waterfalls at the wonderfully named Hobgrumble Gill. We scrambled up to get a view of the water tumbling downwards. We stop for coffee and Mary has brought some wonderfully moist ginger
and carrot cake for us to share. And later we perch on a rock for lunch and spot deer on the ridge above us. We marvel at the project to get the river to meander, and note the new drinking water intake with a fish pass to allow the salmon to move upstream.
UU are doing their best to avoid flooding whilst also improving wild life habitats.
It is altogether a lovely walk in fabulous scenery. We stop at the newly redeveloped cafe in Shap where we have a cuppa and share some delicious gluten free cappuccino
cake. And then to top off the day we have the most amazing sunset as we climb down from Shap towards Kendal. The sun burns brightly as it goes down and the clouds turn from pink to purple. We ooh and ah at every twist and turn of the road, until we drive back
into Browfoot, and the sky turns quickly to black, and the day is done.
My favourite kind of a day! Good company, sunshine (I didn't ever put my coat on!), autumn colours, fresh air, exercise, and a feeling of gratitude and contentment.
I can now settle in for the evening which means a glass of red, a fireside, and Strictly!