Team Lucy’s alarm goes off like clockwork – Tuesday 7.30am.
The rain is bouncing off the windows at The Crown Inn, Coniston. The drops are so big it’s sounds like hailstones.
Outlook is not looking good, both from a weather and a Microsoft point of view.
Sandy opens the curtains onto the high street to…..

And Susan can’t open her email to send your intrepid reporter the photos from Day Two

The mood clouds over but Lucy rallies the troops, ‘It’s only 20k, it’s only torrential rain, it’s only a few swans, but it’s the Langdales, it’s the best scenery and the best walking in the Lakes! Come on girls, first stop, Tarn Hows…’


Next stop is one of the most beautiful scenes between Coniston and Dungeon Ghyll.
But today, with all the rainfall the next stop at about 3pm was the most spectacular and dramatic, and is not normally as forceful as Colwith.
The girls didn’t get to close!!


By 3pm, everyone is soaked to the bone. Even Shorty’s coat is so wet her webbed feet (yes, they really are!) squelch through the grass. And suddenly, there is an oasis in the dark clouds, all their Christmases have come at once. Ok, a little bit of poetic licence, there isn’t a Christmas tree but the fairy lights look festive.
Vicargate 7pm.
The phone rings. Beeb… beeb… beeb… a coin drops. I’m transported back to the 1970’s.
Susan, ‘Hi, it’s me, we arrived about 6. There’s no mobile service in Dungeon Ghyll but there’s a payphone.’ (that’s like a big red box with a door on it, and there’s a phone inside. You need 10 pence coins to make a call?) ‘Is everything ok?’
Me, ‘Fine, can you send me some photo’s for Day Two?’
Susan, ‘I’ve tried to, but they won’t leave my outbox, it’s really spooky. Do you think email had reached here yet? Haha, joke. Anyway, there’s a guy in the bar, he’s looks like he played bass for Showaddywaddy and he’s drinking snakebite.
Me, ‘Just re-boot your machine, sometimes the router doesn’t pick up Apple devices’
Susan, ‘Ok, I’ll try that. But listen, the menu in the bar is really retro, they’re serving ‘Chicken in a basket’, how cool is that?’……………Beep……………………………………………………………………………………..
‘Hello? Sue??’