Autumn at home 2021

 After our trips to Spain and Malta we settled down for some time at home.  The weather was very mixed, going from one extreme to the other.  We had floods, snow, wild winds and warm sunny days.

This is Skelwith Force, the lower viewing platform was inundated, you can just see the handrails on the lower left hand side.

Fell Foot cafe flooded - again.

After the rain and floods the sun came out - these are the fields on Heaversham Flats 

We headed up to Keswick for a weekend away in the good weather - another deal! - we took the ferry to the bottom of the lake and walked back, lovely weather and stunning views. we stopped on the lake side for Carole to have a quick dip.

Looking south

Looking towards Keswick from the side of Catbells

Sunset view from the hotel bedroom

I managed to get some Boys Walks in, this one was from Chapel House to Gummers How and back a low level walk but with great open views of Windermere and beyond.

A great shot of Dave Staintion's dogs in woods.

High Dam swimming - water temperature down to 7 degrees!

What a location for a swim.

Another Boys walk, this time up the Old Man but from the west side, as you can see the views were not worth it!

Sheltering from a gale behind the cairn on the peak.

Cathy's 70th birthday with some of the Girls Night In  crowd.

A high pressure period gave us some fabulous calm days on Windermere - cold and clear with almost no wind.

Trying to convince myself there really was some wind on the lake - there wasn't, I had to pump the sails all the way back.

Carole paddled back from here to Fell Foot quicker than I managed to sail...

And then came the snow - not much but enough to make things look pretty.

Low tide at Arnside in the snow

Another Boys Walk, this time up Watermillock and Brown Hills, stunning views but really cold.

Ullswater in the background. Old man Dave Reay, on the right, has just had his 79th birthday - if I can get up there at 70 I'll be chuffed!

Jen and Kyri took us out to a great restaurant in Sutton Park for a delayed 60th birthday meal - a great weekend. 

Live music at the sailing club - first time for ages.

And then came Storm Arwen. it battered the north, thousand of trees came down.  We lost power from Saturday to Wednesday.  The Raeburn and log burner were lifesavers.  It was actually quite cosy for us but many were not so lucky and had a tough time.

Over 60 boats broke free of their mooring and were scattered along the shore many with extensive damage.

Malta 2021

 During the depths of the Covid lockdown we booked a special holiday, more to cheer us up and give us something to look forward to than anything else.  We'd picked an amazing looking hotel (at a fantastic price!) and for once it was a bit of a package holiday including flights and transfer.  We did this because we really weren't sure that the holiday would happen and a package would be easier to cancel if necessary.  

However the holiday wasn't cancelled which was great but as we were in Alicante for my 60th we had to fly back to Manchester to catch the package flight to Malta - which wasn't as great.  We sorted out an airport hotel and flew in late one day with a view to flying back out the following morning - things didn't quite go as planned as we missed the early morning flight!  We ended up booking another night in an airport hotel and a, fortunately, cheap flights the next day!  Got there in the end though.

We'd been to Malta before but we couldn't remember if it was just before or just after we got married - in either case a very long time ago!

We vaguely remembered bits of the island but most was new to us.

Our hotel room, probably the nicest we've ever had

Our room's balcony, sadly the view was only of the hospital next door

The entrance to our room - what can you say?

St Julian's Bay, about 30 minutes walk from Sliema where our hotel was.

Looking into a very expensive marina complex - Portomasa.

Night view of Valletta from Sliema harbour.

Valletta has fabulous building everywhere.

Love the old record sign of this vinyl record shop

One of the many war memorials around Malta remembering the many who died defending the island in two long sieges

Valletta harbour

Looking down from Queen Victoria's gate

We snuck into the super yacht harbour in Valletta, very impressive dry dock for this 200ft long toy!

Our hotel had a rooftop pool - not a bad view but too cold for me, Carole said it was fine...

Marsaxlokk fishing harbour - we took an organised trip - rare event for us - that went around Malta and then on the ferry to Gozo.  interesting but we were well and truly "tripped out" by the time we got back to the hotel.

Qrendi cove, near the Blue Grotto, stunning location

Just to prove that I went for a swim too - the water was warm

Mgarr harbour on Gozo

This is the "inland sea" - a pond really fed via this cave tunnel

A local and very good speciality - a mushy pea pie - it was much, much better than it sounds - the Malta equivalent of a Greggs sausage roll - only healthier! 

The inside of a Neolithic temple on Gozo, built before Stonehenge and the Pyramids.

Roman era salt pans on the coast of Gozo and still in use.

It got windy - no swimming today but very impressive waves crashing on the stone "beaches"

This is usually a popular scuba diving spot.

Inside the cathedral in Valletta, each of the squares on the floor bore the coat of arms of the families that fought for Malta in the 14th century - and helped pay for the cathedral.

"Enjoying" a glass of local wine on Valletta harbour wall,  Malta has many good points, the local wine isn't one of them.

Crystal clear waters after the storm passed through at St Julian's Bay.

Even I got in!

Beautiful rock pools, man made to facilitate Victorian bathing.

We had a wonderful stop in Malta and Gozo, helped by the amazing hotel, but the whole island was fascinating.  The trip back was easy despite the COVID restrictions, testing and paperwork.

And the most impressive fact of the holiday - Malta is smaller than the Isle of Arran!!