Fish & Chips, Famous Cars and Well-Trained Sheep

After a leisurely morning and a frosted-flake breakfast, we headed for Keswick.  This was a great little village with all sorts of neat shops.  One was a Tea Pottery.  They had piano teapots, car teapots, marmite teapots.  Nearly anything you could want to make tea in - they had a teapot for it.  The main attraction in Keswick, however, was the World Famous Motor Museum.  We got to see a bunch of famous rides including the General Lee from Dukes of Hazard, K.I.T. from Nightrider, and the piece de resistance, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.   Keith bought a small model.  It was a pretty cool place.  After a fish and chips lunch (the best fish and chips we've had thus far), we decided to skip the Lakeland Pencil Museum (no joke) and headed down the road to the Lakeland Sheep and Wool Visitors Centre.  I have never heard of anything like this before.  After spending some time in the gift shop deciding what sheepish things to purchase, we took our seats and waited for the real show to begin.  We were thrilled as one by one a sheep would appear from a doorway, and march up a podium and take his place while a lady told us information about what breed they were, where they were found, how long they've been in the UK and the various pros and cons of the breed.  We also learned the difference between beef and dairy cows and watch a sheep dog herd huge white geese around the stage.  One goose kept wiping out on the sawdust.  At the end of the show we were able to go up on stage and pet the cows, sheep and dogs and a couple of little kids got to help bottle feed a lamb (who practically throttled the kids as they tried to pull against the lamb's suckling).  Our favourite sheep was a Ryeland - who we nicknamed Muttonhead.

Whitehaven was our next destination - away to the west coast.  It was raining when we got there and despite the weathershield over Isaiah, we were both cold and windswept by the time we left.  Keith got some great shots of the ocean (which we hope will do it some justice).  We were able to walk way out on to a pier where the lighthouse stood and took in the bay at low tide and the ocean crashing against the breakwall on the other.  It was worth it, in spite of the wind and rain.

  We retired to our lodge happy to be home, but feeling great about our busy and successful day.