Unlike most of my recent weekends spent with Bob, the one just gone was, in fact, surprising lighthouse-free – almost!

We had a great weekend in the Lake District and Ayrshire, starting off with a visit to the Castlerigg stone circle, which I had visited a couple of years ago whilst in Keswick. We then took a boat tour from Ambleside on Lake Windermere and had a very enjoyable evening of Christmas dinner and dancing (apparently, the only dance that was recognisable as a genuine ceilidh dance was The Gay Gordons, which Bob requested).

The following day we travelled to Troon in Ayrshire where Bob’s parents live. This was the first time I had been to Troon since “the bird incident” and it was great to see the place again and realise how much of it I recognised. We did pass the place where I plucked the bird out of the front of the car and I couldn’t quite bring myself to look at the spot. This was where the only two lighthouses of the weekend appeared. Troon lighthouse is on the end of the pier, which we were unfortunately not able to access as it always seems to have railings preventing you from doing so. We did stop off and have a look at the lighthouse though, mostly because it would have felt wrong not to! Nearby we also had a great, if distant, view of the lighthouse on Lady Isle. As the light was fading we were able to see this one in action. Hopefully we will make it out there at some point in the not to distant future. After paying visits to some of Bob’s family and former neighbours we spent a lovely evening with his parents.

The following morning we had to leave early to get to Whitehaven (back to Cumbria it was) where Bob had a meeting. On our way back to Carlisle from Whitehaven we stopped off at the Honister Slate Mine and took a tour in the old mines. The mine itself is still very much in operation, but you can join tours of the fascinating caverns that were left inside the mountain after it was mined earlier in the century. The tour guide has some rather dramatic and pretty scary stories to tell about young children working in the mine and the poor conditions in which the workers found themselves. It was a really interesting place and I would encourage anyone to go and visit. You also get a free piece of slate too!

Although the weekend, unusually, did not revolve around lighthouses it was still a great three days and really nice to get back to the Lake District and to see Bob’s parents again 🙂