I wanted to look up a picture of the Castlerigg stone circle, which I visited with my Dad and my brother around Christmas 2009, on my blog, only to find that I had never uploaded the photos. So let me take you back to the very snowy winter of 2009-2010, when I was just a slip of a 27 year-old, in the north of England. (I did briefly blog about it
here, without photos.)
My brother and I opening our Christmas presents at my Granddad's house
As mentioned, we visited the Castlerigg stone circle near Keswick, Cumbria (
home of the famous pencil museum). It was a spectacular sight - the prehistoric stone circle is on a flat piece of land and echoes the form of the circle of mountains which surrounds it. Seeing the stones and the peaks covered in snow really gave you an appreciation of why the ancient Britons would have been drawn to the site.
Paul peeping out from behind a stone - no ropes, unlike Stonehenge
Me at Castlerigg
Another ancient site on the list was Hadrian's Wall.
I had visited Hadrian's Wall before in Northumbria, near Newcastle, but I think this was my first time visiting it in the North-West.
Me at Hadrian's Wall. I presume my brother's not peeing on it, despite appearances. Edit: Actually that's not Hadrian's Wall anyway, Hadrian's Wall's in the foreground where I'm standing
Paul and Dad at Hadrian's Wall
We also visited Liverpool, my mum's home town, and caught a match at Anfield
The Empire Theatre, Liverpool - where I think my mum saw the Beatles back in the day?
Me and a Liverpudlian lion
Paul and a penguin
The Anfield memorial to those who died in the Hillsborough disaster
Stephen Gerrard, captain of Liverpool
Fernando Torres making his second blog appearance in as many posts. He must be proud
Me and my brother at Anfield
Me, Mum and Paul, looking like a hobo
Me at Anfield
And, finally a blast from the, um, present. It's sales time, and I have a new dress! I have lots of dresses, but this is the first ankle-length one (not that you can tell)
Paul always has to pull daft faces! Nice dress Gwan! Mx
ReplyDeleteOld Horace does indeed. Thanks x
DeleteLoving your blast from the present!
ReplyDeleteGirl, you are working that dress! I really like it. The pattern is so original and the cut is extremely flattering!
By the way, nice sultry mug... :P !!!
Thank you! Yep, I like that it's quite different in the pattern and length from stuff I have. And unlike a lot of long dresses, it's not just a tent. I'm always sultry in my kitchen :D
DeleteYour mum, your dad, your brother and you - all in one post. I think that I've "met" the entire family now because your sister was in an earlier post! :) I got shivers while looking at the photos of Castlerigg stone circle. Could have been the sight of all that snow or something else...
ReplyDeleteThat's the lot of us! I definitely found it more inspiring than eerie, but I can see what you mean, you can imagine some virgin sacrifices going down or something!
DeleteAlas, MK, it looks like that is the only way we'll meet, too, as we are not coming to Paris after all :(
DeleteGM x
@GM I know! Gwan broke the sad news to me. It seems that a certain someone got his way and that you'll be traveling to Norway. All of my ancestors on my dad's side are Norwegians, so 50% of me approves of the decision. Plus, it's a beautiful country.
DeleteWhy bring Richard Branson into this?
ReplyDeleteThey run a really bad F1 team?
DeleteAnd by the way - no more pictures of that traitor Torres please!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know. That's all for the moment
DeleteIts hard tp believe that these circles are older than the pyramids but they still manage to attract climbing gorilla-apes (aka Paul).
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he'd climb on the pyramids too if he could
DeleteVERY pretty dress!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Promod, I love you
DeleteYou ring back memories of that awful winter of 2009. I had forgotten all the snow! The Uk was not prepared for it as we had not had a hard winter for years and all the councils had sold all thier snow shifting stuff!
ReplyDeleteNice to meet your family.
Love Denise from Bolton.
Yes, it was terrible, and the same in 2010 of course, I'd never seen it like that up there before. I do like a bit of snow though, we don't get too much of that in Auckland!
Delete