Through the night and next morning the rain continued to pour down, even as we tucked into a full breakfast. I chose porridge followed by Manx kipper, while the others had Cumberland sausages, bacon, black pudding etc.
We braved the rain and headed across the lake on the car ferry to Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's farmhouse. Because of school holidays and the house being small and very busy, there were only timed visits for 8 people, which meant a long wait, too long for us. However I bought a booklet telling the history of Beatrix Potter's life in the Lake District to read later, and we were able to have a good look at the delightful cottage garden and house exterior. We even saw two little bunnies in the field - Peter and Benjamin for sure!
We then drove to Coniston Water and did a very pretty walk, mostly in sunshine, by a rushing stream, obviously fed by a long waterfall we could see high up on the fells, and in turn feeding an old mill.
The rain stayed away enabling us to have wonderful views as we drove up the valley to the Langdale Pikes - an old climbing haunt of the Milners, and we even saw the climbing hut where Richard used to stay at weekends when he was at University in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
