6/11 Near Windermere.

Today we walked the Tarn Hows loop walk (extremely scenic)
We drove up the eastern side of Lake Windermere, admiring the many scenic views of the lake as we went.
The roads got narrower and narrower.
Eventually we started stopping and letting others pass etc.

We found the car park.  National Trust own the car park and land, but Thom and Laura have a pass  so they put their card into the machine and we had a free park!! Who knew that this was a benefit of National Trust membership??

Thom had found last night that there is a Permanent Trail Orienteering course on this walk, and had downloaded the pdf map, so we were able to practice our trail orienteering (multiple choice... which control of the three is in the correct place, or is it none of them?)- It was surprisingly tricky, with some long views across the lake, and other shorter views.

This also gave me a chance to practice some of the new photography info I had gained on our trip to Italy, so we took extra time while Laura and I tried some new techniques- blurring the water on the waterfalls, and adjusting the dark/light balance.

After the walk we drove a short distance to have a stunning lunch at a cafe at Coniston.

We still had a bit of energy left, so went in search of the cathedral Quarry walk that Laura had found last night when web surfing- sure enough, we finally made it to a very narrow lane, made use of a wider part to park. and walked in from there, across a lovely bridge and stream, to an old quarry.

The rock appeared to be a greenish marble.  We walked through tunnels to get to an impressive towering opening, and then the rest of them went on down the slippery marble to a giant cavern (cathedral like) while I stayed up and tried to take a photo form the top looking down. Then back out through the tunnels.

We drove home in the fading light via the tiny supermarket to buy wine(Jacobs Creek)  and tea supplies for a light dinner at home after our sumptious lunch.