Oh what a beautiful morning!!! The sun is shining!!! Nisha had a good nights sleep…her first words…’Good morning…we need to exercise the same amount everyday like we did yesterday!!!…I’ll cycle to the gym…’ then reality set in…’but I won’t cycle when it’s raining, or when it’s windy…’ well, the thought was good while it lasted…as the kettle was bubbling away, Nisha took out her pre breakfast plate of pastries…the plate she nabbed from Inverness 🤣🤣🤣..ate a quick chocolate pastry before anything else!!! After showering and packing our bags, breakfast was needed…I’m not sure who needed it more…Nisha or myself 🤣🤣🤣

Porridge for me, followed by fresh fruit (3 types of melon and pineapple) and plain yoghurt, yep, the same as yesterday. The consistency was a tad better but nothing to write home about. Nisha decided to be healthy and had scrambled eggs, potato scone and mushrooms, followed by fresh pineapple and strawberry flavoured yoghurt. Usual decaf coffee for me and tea for Nisha.

I would give breakfast a rating of 6 / 10. Yep, same as yesterday!!!

There was no time for table tennis or even badminton…to be healthy, we walked up to our room to collect our luggage. Now, do we walk down to reception or take the lift…well, out of nowhere Nisha says ‘let’s take the lift down to -1 which will give us easy access to the car’. I think Nisha needs to eat more chocolate pastries in the morning 🤣🤣🤣. So we took the lift down to the car, rammed everything in the boot and then waked up to reception to check out. It was only about 9.30am now so we took a wander to Peebles town centre. It’s not big but was absolutely heaving. It’s Saturday so not surprising. After about 30 minutes, we were already heading back to the car. All in all, Peebles is a lovely town and the hotel was lovely. Thoroughly recommend it and we will visit again soon!!!

Over breakfast, we had a discussion about where we wanted to go next…guess what…we had two options 🤣🤣🤣…option 1, we go to Leeds and visit Nisha’s friend Mina and her family (I just want to know what Mina said to her daughter about not being able to come to our wedding 😜), from there we would head to Nottingham for a night….option 2, drive down to The Lakes, stay the night there, visit Mina on Sunday and then head to Desborough on Sunday afternoon. Both of our votes went to option 2. If there’s ever a split result, the car has the deciding vote 😜🤣😜🤣😜.

The sat nav was programmed for Keswick, journey time of just over 2 hours.

The journey was fantastic, once again, the roads were a drivers paradise, and the views were spectacular!!!

30 minutes into the journey and down a single track country road, we went round a corner and I slammed on the breaks!!! I was stuck, the car couldn’t move. There could be the potential of the car getting damaged!!! What shall we do??? There was no chance of Nisha getting out of the car (we all know about Nisha and cows….moo 🤣🤣🤣🤣)!!!

They wouldn’t move!!! They kept looking at us with a totally perplexed expression and just continued munching on grass!!!

We waited….

And waited…

And then there was slow lazy movement…ah ha…there was a gap for me to squeeze through….but if that cow lifted her tail them we’re done for…more so Nisha than me…🤣🤣🤣…either the cow felt safe with us or she’d already spent a penny…we got away unscathed!!!

On we went…before long, there was a fork in the road….the sat nav said go straight, the highlighted image on the sat nav showed left…we went straight (right), don’t forget this was a single track road…we’re gong the wrong way…luckily, these single track roads have passing points…I was about to discover that these passing points aren’t big enough to do a three point turn…it was more like a 5 pint turn, and with each turn, either the back or the front of the car had a meeting with the shrubbery!!! Ok…so…now back to the junction where we should have gone left…there was no chance we could make this now right turn in one go…this time it was a 3 pint turn, with close dealings with the edge of the road…I thought I heard a scrape…a look in the wing mirror didn’t show any bits of my car on the road…on we went…the road changed from single track to double track and with hardly any traffic, we flew!!! While I was driving and enjoying the views, Nisha was trying to book a hotel and eventually booked a room at Hundith Hill Hotel. The receptionist had asked Nisha if we were part of the wedding party…yeah right…But maybe we could gatecrash??🤣🤣🤣. Nisha also booked seats for a play at The Theatre By The Lake to see a play called Beryl. Nisha said that the story reminds her of my story.

Keswick arrived soon enough and we parked up, in search of a light lunch.

The town has a Saturday market going on, and it was very busy. We had a mooch around the stalls, then along the street to the various shops. We bought a few bits and pieces…Our parking permit allowed us an hour and there was only 20 minutes left for us to find lunch, eat it and get back to the car. Nothing really peaked our interest but eventually we came across a small cafe, the menu looked ok so we ventured inside. The menu on the wall had more variety. I settled for mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes and lettuce on a seeded brown roll, Nisha opted for a humus, falafel and chutney also on a seeded brown roll. Both also had large decaf OAT MILK lattes!! The food was lovely, it didn’t last long as both of us were hungry. We took the coffees back to the car and arrived with a minute to spare. We know how to get value for money 🤣🤣🤣.

From there we set off for the hotel. Soon, we pulled into the entrance, the wedding party are enjoying drinks on the lawn…there were enough empty car park spaces so no panic. After check in, and our luggage unloaded, the bar beckoned!!! Guinness for me and a large white wine for Nisha. The lawn was busy so our drinks were taken in the bar area. Before long, the wedding party went inside for dinner allowing us to enjoy the garden with our next drink of slim line tonic waters with lemon!!! We know how to live 🤣🤣🤣

The views from the lawn…

Dinner will be at 6pm tonight in the hotel restaurant, what will we have??? Perfect time to stay in the garden and have a drink…

The bride and groom were sitting on the table next to us and as always, I congratulated them and we started having a conversation with them. They’re local and told us to go for a walk around the lake next to the theatre. They seem like a nice mellow couple.

For dinner, no starters, main and dessert today!!! I ordered fillet of salmon with root veg, mash and hollandaise sauce, Nisha ordered vegetarian Lasagne with garlic bread. The food arrived, both dishes looked delicious!!! My fish and vegetables were cooked to perfection. Nisha took a bite and straight away realised that she was eating a meat lasagne. The sides came a little later, my mash was smooth with a lovely taste. Nisha’s side had changed from garlic bread to chips. We explained the two mistakes to waitress who went back to the kitchen to check our order. She returned with an embarrassed look on her face and was profusely apologetic and was prepared to take the dishes back and rectify their mistake. Time wasn’t on our side because we had to get to the theatre. Through greeted teeth, Nisha forced down the lasagne…yeah right…Nisha gobbled up the lasagne with a huge smile on her face!!! The garlic bread did eventually turn up. All in all, the main courses were actually very good.

Desserts were ordered, a homemade sticky toffee pudding for Nisha and a rhubarb fool for me. Both were delicious!!!

Overall rating for my food is 9 / 10, Nisha gives 8 / 10.

As we finished our dessert, a couple from the wedding party came sit at our table, probably because the sun was still shining on us, or maybe because there were a couple of empty seats 🤣🤣🤣. Again we got talking to them. We were both civil and soon left the table to make our way to the theatre.

The wedding DJ was setting up as we left. Just how many guests are coming to the wedding reception? I just hope we get parking on our return!!!

Our journey to the theatre took 20 minutes. There was a huge car park next to the theatre. £1 allowed us to park there until 7am.

The time was 7.15pm, the play was to start at 7.30pm which gave us a few minutes to go and look at the huge lake. There appeared to be several water sports available. Mental note to come back and go for a swim or even paddle board.

We joined to quick moving queue going into the theatre.

The play was very good and enlightening!!! You may have heard of the lead character, her name is Beryl Burton. Google her!!!

The play finished at about 9.30pm, and as we were leaving, we noticed in the far distance that the sun was setting. Such a beautiful sight…

There was no traffic on our way back to the hotel. As we pulled into the entrance, everything seemed peaceful, no loud banging music, no rowdy guests…not many cars…at least we got a parking space.

Car locked, we made our way to the room, no dram this evening!!! Coming in the opposite direction were the bride and groom with other family members. There were quick greetings as we went by but then the bride looked back and asked ‘how was the play?’ Both of us were gobsmacked!!! She remembered and even asked us if we went to see the lake!!! Such humble people!!!

I’m finishing the blog, Nisha is pretending to watch tv. I know she’s not watching because when she falls asleep, she has a tendency to make sounds like she agreeing to something.

Breakfast will be at 8am in the pub come dining room area.

We wish you good night and I hope the cockerel and peasants don’t get up too early!!!