With BRAPA having safely left the Lakes, having drained it of barley wine, I thought it was safe to stop for a half (or whatever I didn’t tip in the plants) in Cumbria.
It took over 3 hours to trundle up past Penrith, as some dreadful family from Sevenoaks (probably) chose to break down on the A66 just outside Centerparks.
So Wreay was as much a comfort stop as a tick, and I’m always curious to see what lays ahead of our Si.

Well, a quiet village with a parish church decorated with alligators, commemorating the great Carlisle alligator invasion of 1561.

No sign of alligators, but astonishing birdsong I captured for you here.
I know Si loves these cultural tips. Quite what he’ll make of the Plough is a deep mystery.

Tiny village, tiny gentlefolk dining pub.


I know that 88% of Trip Advisor reviews start like this, but the food looked and smelt amazing.
The Landlord/waitress/barman said “Won’t be a minute” as he brought a succession of pies to Floras and Ednas and Alberts while I stood at the bar, fistful of silver in hand.
The gentlefolk stopped him to enquire about the “Cheesecake of the Day” (I guess strawberry), but I’m a patient man.
Only two beers, too much choice confuses gentlefolk.
“Your food looks good, shame I had a tuna wrap from Greggs” I offered.
“Aye, our food is 1.5 tines better than the rest. Just like Eric Bristow”
A random analogy, but that’s life.
His beer, the Hawkshead of course, was good too.
And the music choice would have impressed Old Mudgie.
The beer peaked when I took it out to see the Lakeland Sun.
Only about 324 Cumbria GBG entries left. Just stay off the barley wine.
Loved the bit with the “Floras and Ednas and Alberts.”
Looks like a lovely area of the country. Thanks for including the recording of the birdsong. We don’t tend to get stuff like that on Simon’s blog as the birds become very hard to hear when you’ve had too much barely wine. 😉
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I’m no twitcher, all animals should be either released into the wild (Swindon) or deep fried if you ask me.
The sound of that birdsong was quite something.
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There’s nothing wrong with Sevenoaks, thank you very much! 🙂
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I’ll be the judge of that 😱
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