A few weeks ago we jumped into the car and headed up North to the top of Cumbria.

We stayed in a little caravan park in Silloth - a little town on the shores of the Solway Firth.
I was up there to do a charity walk along Hadrian's Wall, spending a few days with the fam before and after the event.  Unfortunately, I had to cut the walk short after an ITB injury, but every cloud has a silver lining and it meant I got a few more days with the fam before we headed home. 

Although I had to hobble everywhere...

We did our usual stuff - exploring the hills, beach walks, sea side towns, fishing villages, wildlife spotting, stone skimming, trying to keep the kids entertained when it rained...

And of course, we ate lots of chips!

The last night there was beautiful.  We sat by a campfire on the beach while we watched the sun go down and the stars come out.  Perfect.

Going home is always the worst bit, so we turned it into a little bit of a road trip and visited Keswick in the Lake District, then on down to Ribblehead Viaduct in the Yorkshire Dales.


As always, I took too many photos...

Gear used:  Fuji X100F, Fuji XPro2, 35mm 1.4, 50-230, Samyang 12mm.

We thought we'd make the New Year a little different this year, so we headed up to the Lakes for a few days.

We booked a little log cabin through Airbnb and used it as a base to have a little travel around the area.  We stayed at Lowick Green, just 5 minutes away from Coniston Water, so we spent most of our time exploring around the lake.
The weather was a bit grey and cold, so we had to restrict the walks a little bit due to the little monster.  He's usually a good little rambler, but the cold was going straight through to his bones.

Our nights were spent chilling out in the cabin.  We played poker and Pictionary, watched Rom-Coms and scary movies, cooked microwave TV dinners, ate lots of snacks and chocolate and drank a bit of booze.  (Well, we did - the kids just got hyper on hot chocolate and fizzy pop!)

It was a perfect way to welcome in the New Year.  It was also nice to have some time off work and get in some special family time.

Happy New Year folks, here's a few snaps from our trip.

P.S.  If you want a bit of money off an Airbnb booking, just clicky HERE. 

After visiting the castle, it was time for the worst part of the trip - the journey home.
We decided to liven up the drive by taking the scenic route - through the beautiful Cumbrian countryside. 
We stopped off for a picnic at Thirlmere - a reservoir that sits beside the massive Helvellyn mountain range.
We had a little walk through the trees and a mini picnic on the banks of the reservoir.
Our visit was cut short though, as the storm clouds soon came thundering over the mountains and quickly turned our once-sunny-day into a grey drizzly blur!
I'm sure we'll be back soon though - the place was beautiful as well as peaceful.

As usual, some snaps below. 

Day 3 was a perfect blue skies and sunshine kind of day, so we looked for somewhere outside to take the boys and decided on Carlisle Castle.
The castle is over 900 years old and is steeped in history - being built during the reign of the son of William the Conqueror.  Mary, Queen of Scots was once imprisoned here.  It's fair to say that it has seen a bit of action in it's time!
My two youngest boys had fun running around exploring all the nooks and crannies.  My eldest just stropped around like a typical teenager.
Alfie took part in the 'What it's like to be a Redcoat' display and our little Freddie Bear ran riot - wearing a bandana like some kind of crazy, miniature pirate in a castle!
We had ice creams on the grass to cool down, then visited the little Regimental Museum that's there.

It's a nice place to visit - very child friendly and quite a bit to look at.  For more info on the castle click here.

Here are a few snaps.