We have had three C2C visitors this last week stopping by at the cottage on their way across the country on the marvelous coast to coast bicycle route.
Ian and Greg, good friends and former colleagues of mine at the WEA had with Les set off at 8.30 in the morning from St Bees on the Cumbrian coast and arrived, muddied and wet, at The Larches bang on time as predicted four hours later for a hearty lunch of soup and sandwiches.
We had pressed them to stay over for the night but 30 miles on the first day was too slow for an intended two day crossing, which was to land them up at Tynemouth on the east coast.
By the end of the first day they needed to have done 40 more miles and crossed the M6 to reach Great Salkeld beyond Penrith.
They were still arguing as they left about the exact distance they had to travel! But did not dispute that it was somewhere between 125 and 140 miles. Good going we thought for two days, particularly as they had to cross the high country of the Pennines via Consett in County Durham.
PHOTO The Larches is less than 300 metres from the C2C route, which cuts down through the forest from the Whinlatter pass and the Visitor Centre to reach the Thornthwaite road. It’s an excellent stop off for C2C bikers but is a good base too for anyone interested in road and track cycling in the northern lakes.
It’s also only ½ mile from the start of the Altura cycle trails through Whinlatter Forest, regarded by many as the best in the country. The garage provides good storage facilities for bikes and equipment. The photo opposite shows Ian after bringing in his bike from the rain.
We had another lovely week at The Larches over Easter and I had hoped that I could persuade one of my girls to write about it, but unfortunately they all were too busy with school. The photo opposite is an early morning view we had from the Belvedere of unusual cloud patterns in the valley with Skiddaw above. 
We’d been seduced into choosing that walk by the prospect of the ridge walk along to Hopegill Head and it didn’t disappoint, particularly because Hopegill Head was in the clouds by the time we reached there. (See photo opposite)
After my blogging complaint a couple of months ago (January 25th) about 
But it’s obviously not a simple matter. I’ve complained about wasteful packaging. Others complain about damage from too little packaging!
Wondering what the picture opposite is there for? Out of context, it may look rather insignificant. But some of our visitors may recognize this blown up fuzzy image of Causey Pike as the February page of the Larches 2012 Desk calendar, which we give to visitors and guests when they come here. 
The Silent Traveller was an instant success and had been reprinted three times by 1944; and since then has been re-published many times. It was to provide too a successful format for his further Silent Traveller books, covering Paris, London. Edinburgh, Oxford, New York, San Francisco and Boston. An early version of the Lonely Planet series!
It was about 5:00 pm yesterday when this happened. Poppy (our brown cocker spaniel) was barking away outside the cottage. My dad went cautiously to see what was the matter. A prickly hedgehog was curled up hibernating, intimidated by the noise. 