Here & Now 80's Concert

Last Saturday we were treated to a blast from the past when the Here & Now 80's concert series visited Whitehaven. http://www.here-and-now.info/hn_tours.html. The concert was at the Copeland Stadium in Hensingham so walking distance for us The first act on were Johnny Hates Jazz, only the frontman for each group was there with the same backing bands, we think this is Clark Datchler, oops I stand corrected it's Danny Saxon Then on came Toyah & she sang some of her own tracks

And a great rendition of Guns n Roses - Sweet Child Of Mine Andy

We then saw Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot of Curiosity Killed The Cat

A clip from "Down To Earth" Next on was Karen's favourite Midge Ure

A couple of clips of the classic "Vienna", there is always someone with a blow up doll!

In a bid to get a bit closer we moved to the right hand side of the stage & although we couldn't see the band, the vocalists were who we came for & it was a great spot After the interval Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot came & stood a few feet from us to watch Paul Young

Who sang to us from the speakers a few feet from us

"Come Back & Stay" Next on stage Belinda Carlisle (who looked like Bree from Desperate Housewives)

"Heaven Is A Place On Earth" Then to close, Rick Astley who really charmed the audience

"Never Gonna Give You Up"

It was a great night, the camera didn't really do it justice (or the audience singing), we really hope the tour returns to us again next year, only could the organisers have a bigger beer tent as we weren't willing to queue the 45+mins that others did for a pint. The papers reported 5,000 were there so a good turnout.

Malcolms C2C Photos

Thanks to Malcolm for sending these pictures over from our C2C walk a couple of weekends ago. The tide was definitely coming in at this point Leaving the water & heading for St Bees head Looking down on the beach Looking down on St Bees And along the clifftop

Karen

The track to Sandwith

Looking for a suitable lunchspot

Crags First Camping Trip

Last week we were promised a few dry days so decided to get the camping gear out & head for Kendal. We took a list of sites with us, good job as the one we had planned to go to was full, second choice wasn't so we found ourselves camping just outside of the village of Crook to the west of Kendal. This was also a test as to how well Crag would get out with the sights & sounds of a campsite. We got the tent up in about 30mins which was good timing for us There was a lot of space at the campsite so although on leads the dogs could roam a bit We went for a walk from the campsite and spotted the first of many grouse Although we were inside the park boundary it is relatively flat in this area.

Looking across the fields to where the campsite was hidden in the trees

Crag as always has to explore everything

Later that evening, Karen cooking dinner

Crag having a well earned rest

Nobody had pitched near us so after their dinner Andy plays with a tennis ball with them

We are both really worn out!

The next day we drove over to Troutbeck for a walk on the fells.

Looking across to the hamlet of Troutbeck

And down the valley towards the Kirkstone pass

And back towards where we had started with Windermere starting to come into view

Good paths here as we walk along "Garburn Road"

Yoke

And our first summit of the day Sallows (516m), looking down on Windermere, there was no cairn to rest the camera on for the summit picture

Now that's called too much energy

The mucky puppy

Mostly downhill to our second summit of Sour Howes (483m), again no cairn

Most of Windermere is in view from here

Quite a steep descent from here back to the track

That evening another collie was on the campsite (Millie) & the three dogs had good fun playing together along with some of the children on the site

The next day we decided to stay low level, we firstly drove to Brockhole, thinking the dogs could have a play in the water, but couldn't believe just how many people were there

Hundreds of people enjoying the sunshine, we wanted somewhere a bit more peaceful so drove to Staveley

We walked a short section along the River Kent

Bess & Crag played in the water & we only saw two other people which was more like it

A heron across the river from us

Relaxing in the evening sunshine back at the tent

Sleeping on his bed, but wanting to keep an eye on us

As you can see Crag thoroughly enjoyed his first camping experience, we hope that we get some more decent weather in the next few weeks so we can go again. We will however avoid Ambleside/Windermere/Kendal as the traffic & sheer volume of people was incredible, we know we made a good choice to live on the west coast away from all the tourists!