6. A festive New Year in Skinburness 🥂🥳🍰🐾🥾

How delighted we were to be invited to spend new year with our dear friends Marie & Declan at their lovely coastal house in Skinburness (Cumbria). Sitting on the Solway coast, fresh sea air and the company of lovely friends was definitely what we needed, and a wonderful way to welcome in the new year 🤣 

To kick off the festivities we had planned a meal out at their local Tapas restaurant- The Bank - on Saturday 30th. Run by a British family who had previously lived in Spain - this definitely sounded promising 😃 The food was delicious, with some of the dishes being somewhat different to the standard Tapas you often get in restaurants - so we were all very happy with our selection 😃

 

Good friends ❤️


Spicy chicken


Mushrooms baked in manchego 


Prawns and chorizo in a spicy sauce


Good friends ❤️


Despite the not so great weather, we decided on New Year’s Eve day to head out into the hills, and hopefully bag another couple of wainwrights 🤣 So after a lovely breakfast cooked by Declan, myself, Dave, Marie - and Ruby set off (unfortunately Declan had hurt his back so didn’t join the walk). The weather was quite blustery, and extremely misty in places, but we did manage to navigate our way up onto Bowscale Fell and then around Bannerdale Crags. A lovely walk (despite the quite steep ascent from the word go!), and even a bit of drama trying to cross a very fast flowing and wide stretch of river, but thankfully with much trepidation and balance, all 4 of us successfully crossed - without anyone actually falling in! 🤣 Ruby was an absolute star, her energy levels being so much improved now that she is on thyroid medication 😃

Great to be outdoors 👍

Beautiful colours across the valley

Onwards and upwards


Rubes enjoying the lunch stop 🤣

Yay, made it to the top!

More dramatic as the day went on



So, two more wainwright peaks achieved, bringing this to bang on half way for Marie with her Wainwright challenge- 107 out on 214 peaks now ticked off 👍 This definitely needed some celebration, so on the way home we stopped off at one of our favourite hostelries - The Pheasant at Bassenthwaite. Pulling up outside was idyllic- festive fairy lights setting the scene and inviting us in - well, that was until Dave read the notice on the door - closed to general public - residents only tonight! We were gutted! Stayed for a lovely photograph, through gritted teeth, then back in the car and on we went. No better luck at our next choice - the Louther Arms at Mawbray - closed for the afternoon in preparation for the festive evening activities 🥳 So, disappointed,  we headed straight home 😞 

Hoping to be allowed in at The Pheasant 🤣



We had a lovely evening at home - a curry feast was hatched between the 4 of us, washed down with lovely beer and wine - then the disco started! Marie had brought her glitzy revolving disco ball,  and Dave very kindly took on the role of DJ as we danced the night away to our favourite tunes  🎵 🎵🎵 Managed to keep going until midnight, welcoming in the new year in style 🥂🥳🥂 No new year resolutions made, but individual goals set instead! We’ll review how we are doing with these in a few months time 🤣

Disco fun 🎵🎵🎵

A very happy new year to everyone 🥳



New Year’s Day brought the next challenge - the annual fancy dress new year dip at Allonby along the coast. Sadly only Marie was brave enough to take part - but I was official photographer 🤣 It was freezing cold! Shame we weren’t brave enough to join in, as it did look great fun! Maybe another time 🤣


Even the Red Arrows made an appearance 🤣


Yah, she did it!


All cosy in her Christmas dry robe 👍

After a fantastic couple of days celebrating and welcoming in the new year, sadly it was time to say goodbye and continue with our travels north. We’d had a wonderful time together, lots of fun and laughter, great food and drink, and activity to go with it! We felt extremely fortunate to have such wonderful friends in Marie and Declan, and yet again reflect on the importance of good friendships and just how fortunate we are ❤️ Thank you and HAPPY NEW YEAR 🥳


Comments

  1. Marie17 January 2024 at 03:03

    Aww I loved reading this - brought it all back - we had such a fabulous time - what a way to start the New Year 😍💃

    ReplyDelete

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