What a busy few weeks we have been having dodging showers, getting muddy and totally irritating the humans as we have moped around the house, when it seemed that the rain would never stop.
The weather people say it has been a very wet summer, and we have to agree especially as we have not been able to go exploring as much as we had hoped.
On Sunday we did manage to get out and we headed for a small village to the north west of Carlisle called Rockcliffe.
Parking the car in the large village hall car park we headed towards the hub of any community the pub and the church.
The Crown and Thistle came into sight first, down quite a steep driveway we trampled only to find it has been closed for many months.
That put pay to any chance of lunch or a licky ice cream so we wondered where else we could go. A path escaped from the far end of the large car park and being in an adventurous mood we decided to explore.
After walking over a few scaffolding planks laid in the mud to stop us splodging we exited through a wooden gate on to some playing fields.
The whole area was wet. As you can see from the photo above, the cricket pitch was under a good few centimetres of water and was ideal for a paddle once the birds had been scared away.
Rockcliffe parish church
Deciding that we could go no further down this path due to the soggy conditions we headed back up to the main road using a flight of steps alongside the pub.
Ahead was St Mary the Virgin church, bathed in sunshine with strong shadows littering the graveyard.
On the stone floor around the wrought iron gate evidence of a recent wedding. Twinkling like little jewels, foil and paper confetti lay abandoned and discarded caught up in the occasional wisp of a breeze.
Atop the church spire the weather vane remembers the boat and shipbuilding past of the village. The village was also a busy port with several excise men based here. They were trying to stop the illegal trade of spirit between Scotland and England.
The remains of a 1,000 Norse Cross is in the churchyard.
Plant pot shortage
We spent quite a few minutes looking around and taking photographs. We even had time to stop to sample some fresh water from a tap situated near to the church.
Refreshed, we followed a single track road down beneath the church towards the River Eden.
Along our path a number of concrete bollards had been planted with small flowering shrubs.
This was most unusual and quite a feature lining the very soggy walkway.
A notice nearby advised of the theft of a few of the planters and the shortage of suitably sized pots to replace the stolen containers.
Eden Benchmark
Scattered all around Cumbria are works of art and you never really know when you are going to spot one.
Hidden ahead of us, in the corner of a playing field on the edge of the river, is this work by Anthony Turner.
It is one of 10 works positioned along the River Eden known collectively as the Eden Benchmarks. They were commissioned by the East Cumbria Countryside Project and were commissioned to mark the Millennium.
No details were available at the site and sadly given it’s location many people will pass by without noticing it.
Beyond are the red sandstone cliffs from which Rockcliffe gets its name. It is from the Old Norse, rau_r (red) and the Old English, clif (cliff).
Another series of artworks in the north of Cumbria include painted ceramic tiles as location markers.
This area it seems was a key smuggling point and the four inch square tiles reflect the history. This is one of 84 tiles in the area.
Demesne Marsh
Our path now rose away from the river and past some very nice houses with no doubt fantastic views out to the Solway and into a tree and hedge shaded lane.
This gave us a chance to cool down a little as the sun started to warm the air.
This route is on the 7 and 10 national cycle paths so we needed to pay attention to any vehicles or bikes.
Given the time of the day, the tide was starting to come in and so we avoided the path down to the marsh but headed to our right hoping that the road would curve back towards the village.
Rockcliffe
Using the church spire as a reference to our right we followed the road back to where we had started.
Much of this road does not have a path so we were kept of short leads and looked out for cars, some of which did appear to be driving a little fast for the twisty lanes.
Arriving back to the car and a big bowl of water we settled down for a rest and the drive home.
Other bits and pieces.
On Friday and Saturday evening a number of big white balls appeared on the lawns of Carlisle Castle.
These it seems were part of an art installation spread across the length of Hadrians’ Wall called Connecting Light.
The installation consists of hundreds of large-scale, light-filled balloons transmitting colors from one-to-another, creating a communication network spanning over seventy miles.
Sunday, 2 September, saw the workmen busy in Carlisle installing a new road surface on Castle Street.
The ad-hoc street closures led to some confusion with motorists.
Sprouts
Highlight of the weekend has to be the arrival of some sprouts.
Dad was in Kendal on Saturday at Mintfest, a street arts festival, where he spotted a big box full of the delicacies.
Charlie was straight into the bag and has filled his tummy ever since, every time the fridge door has been opened.
Until next time
Buster and Charlie