An afternoon online in Newtown whilst the van heater was being serviced moved the Russian tourist visa application on a little with a request sent to the Passport Office for my historical passport details via a Subject Access Request which could take up to a month. The Eber bill was lower than expected which was good news and I called at my brother's in Bishop's Castle for a catch up and overnight stay.
En route to Derbyshire I called at the rather chaotic independent VW garage in the Hope Valley who had taken my old white van off me 8 years ago : apparently it is locally owned, still OTR but is doing far fewer miles with only my average annual mileage added on in all that time so currently showing 365,000 miles. I asked them for advice on the coolant after run pump which they suggest changing but I decided to replace the relay first and also the sensor as the pump runs fine, it just won't switch off unless I pull fuse 19.
In Derbyshire I caught up with Pete and Nina who were recently back from Germany and then headed to Sheffield via Meadowhall as I had decided to get a new PC running Windows 11 and Microsoft 365, all a far cry from my last purchase a decade or so ago.
A member of staff took me through the various options with performance, battery life and internal storage options a priority for me as I wish to create GoPro videos whilst offline, off-grid and far from The Cloud.
Thus an Acer Aspire 14" flip screen PC with a 1TB SSID was ordered with delivery arranged for the following day so I headed off to Mandy's to sort the van out. Whilst looking through the paperwork I noticed that the billing and delivery addresses had been transposed and with no option to call the store direct I headed back in pouring rain and rush hour traffic. To cut a very long story short which over 3 weeks has entailed over 60 emails, twenty phone calls and countless delivery and tracking messages I have now had a refund for the wrongly delivered PC. At one stage DPD were stating that the item was not available to collect in Wales, despite CCTV of the driver walking away with said package......
Anyway the store managers Emily and Joe worked very hard on my behalf and deserve many thanks and whilst all this was going on I got to grips with the new device and OS during our time in the Lake District.
We had headed there via Saltaire where we enjoyed the galleries and displays in the original mill and then moved on to nearby Skipton which has a very sensible approach to overnighting vanners with a good deal on multiple day/night stays if you can work out the payment system but basically three days and nights for under £20. We caught the Settle/Carlisle train, always a favourite, up to Appleby for a look round before returning with a quick interruption at Ribblehead to admire the viaduct as a huge timber train crossed high above us. During a walk through Skipton Castle Woods we had a remarkable view of an otter hunting in the old moat before visiting the castle itself which was well worthwhile. The market was lively and vibrant on a cold day but fish and chips warmed us up and we kept the heater running overnight.
Wet weather the following day put paid to plans to do a bike ride so we will have to come back one day and thus we arrived in a rather dismal Egremont and were hard pushed to find much of interest. Cockermouth however was much more lively and we enjoyed exploring the back streets, shops and brewery noting also a building slowly collapsing in to the river after damaging floods in recent years.
Our destination lay at Buttermere where we could park up at Gatesgarth Farm in their yard, although we didn't meet the owner but chatted to three lads heading up to the bothies high above Honister before squeezing in a walk round the lake before dusk.
After another cold night we woke to snow on the upper slopes and a clear blue sky so tackled the steep north ridge path up Fleetwith Pike to emerge with a magnificent vista of snow capped mountains away to the south. We stopped for lunch at Dub' s hut which since becoming an MBA maintained building is much improved by a wood burner since my first stay back in 2012 post MI.
We descended the icy path alongside a stream reaching the van by early afternoon and set off for Keswick via Honister Pass. Stupidly I should have realised why there were several cars parked at the foot as within a couple of hundred yards having crossed the bridge I lost all traction due to ice and the van came to a halt before starting to slide backwards. Fortunately the Cross Climates found some traction but I could only get back down the hill and across the bridge via the bends by using the handbrake only, thus preventing the front wheels from locking up which would mean losing all steering. There were a few tense moments and we were lucky not to end up damaging or stranding the van but eventually were able to turn round and warn others as we headed out. They in turn advised us that other routes were blocked and as Whinlatter would also be dodgy we returned to Cockermouth and took the main road round to Keswick Caravan and Camping Club site. Here we had booked in for two nights and managed to extend this to three due to weather related cancellations. We were soon parked up with EHU and took a walk in to town to check out the theatre for the following night.
Next day we met up with Mandy's family for a walk followed by an evening watching a performance of the Wizard of Oz which was excellent. On the Friday we went to see the Christmas lights being switched on and joined a large crowd who had turned out to see the event.
Saturday saw us heading down to Ambleside after a big food shop and we arrived early at the timeshare but were able to offload the bikes and our belongings before it got dark.
Sunday saw me getting soaked as we walked via Little Langdale and Lingmoor to Dungeon Ghyll so I resolved to chase up a new waterproof. Tuesday was a good day for a bike ride so we rode down to Wray Castle, crossed Windermere on the ferry and returned via Bowness to Ambleside and then took the cycle paths around Rydal and Grasmere before the hard climb over to Elterwater on the back road.
In the evenings I was working on my application form for a Russian tourist visa for next April which has involved a lot of historical data gathering including education and work history, marital details, previous passports, countries visited over the last decade and even details about both my parents and their passing. An official Letter of Invitation was also needed which had to include the entry and exit dates as well as accommodation details for my brief visit, after a few errors a company in St. Petersburg eventually provided the necessary document by email. It was hard work but fascinating and I was grateful I keep a printer in the van and had managed get it talking wirelessly to the new PC, my phone and my tablet as all 3 devices were in use at various stages of the process. After some deft emailing, fee paying and additional form filling on my phone whilst out cycling yesterday I finally got the thumbs up from the Pre Check Service to make an appointment to attend the Consulate in Edinburgh in person for the biometric submission. This appointment is scheduled for Monday so I am currently tucked away just off the A7 waiting to move on to the outskirts of Edinburgh tomorrow from where I will get a bus in to the centre.
However I have digressed from the narrative - back to the matter of a waterproof coat....
I decided to try a Paramo but on the walk back via Loughrigg it let water in so I called the shop to arrange a return. On top of the ongoing calls, texts and emails regarding the missing PC this rather overshadowed the first week but it was good to see Sandra and Marcus over the weekend and we all enjoyed the swimming and a meal in the on-site Stove restaurant after a walk over to the remarkable Cathedral Cave at Tilberthwaite.
They dropped us in Ambleside where I got a refund for the coat and bought a RAB GoreTex from Cotswold Outdoors as should it prove unsatisfactory there is a shop in Brecon.
Our second week revolved around more walking and swimming, a second session in the spa with it's superb outdoor pool experience and a good deli lunch and another good ride out to Hawkshead from where the visa application was finally submitted. We also headed down to Ulveston for the day which as well as being the birth place of Stan Laurel was a very pleasant place to explore and enjoyed a cuppa in the Beatrix Potter cafe whilst returning through Bowness.
So another hugely privileged fortnight in luxurious surroundings came to an end, the area has strong connections to my family and its history and I always reflect on how my parents enjoyed many happy years up here having been in almost from the start. We had enjoyed the talk given by Andy who has worked here for forty years and knows a great deal about the history of the site when it was a caravan park and previously a gun powder works. I hope to enjoy many more years there but am equally content to be back in the van on a wild and windy night.
After Monday's appointment I will return to Sheffield where Currys have some vouchers waiting by way of redress and I will start the packing up of the van as I need to be in Brecon a week tomorrow for a dental appointment. With luck the visa may be issued before Christmas leaving me free to get going, otherwise it is likely to be in the New Year. Should I fail to get it at all then I do have a Plan B but let's wait and see.
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