Day 28 (17th July 2022)

 Yes it did (rain) but it stopped at around 04.45. Despite ever such a slight hangover after hogging a whole bottle of Prosecco all to myself (Lady Bradshaw has taught me well), I was able to make a reasonably early getaway, crossing the English border well before noon. I had wanted to see another Scottish ruin, but the two closest to Castle Douglas are both closed to the public at the moment. 

So instead I made my way slightly more inland than usual to visit Lanercost Priory. I had a great chat with the volunteer (who was Scottish) and discovered she hadn't been to Rievaulx Abbey. Once we'd looked it up in the English Heritage handbook, she realised it would make a great day trip, and that made me very happy.

Lanercost Priory is an interesting part-ruin, part-functioning parish church, with the church part preparing for its Sunday service, so my visit there was a bit rushed. I was able to dawdle amongst the ruins which have a healthy population of nesting swifts in some of the more sheltered parts.

After a while, my stomach started to rumble, so I had a slice of courgette and lime cake (delicious) and got back behind the wheel as I had a bit of a busy drive ahead. My one and only proper Sea Power related stop today isn't a Germinal CCXXIV place name but the title of a B-side from the 2008 single "No Lucifer". And no, it isn't a potato farm. Far more challenging to find, I give you stop #50

THE PURPLE HOUSE (SITE OF)

As you can see, despite the plea in the Sea Power "Save the Purple House", the Purple House is no more. It burnt down in 2008 as it happens, a couple of months after the release of the single. Former home of  Varya Vergauwen, it became famous for its various lodgers including Victoria Wood, Bob Hoskins and Ted Hughes and its purple and pink walls, becoming very much a well loved local landmark on the Newlands Pass between Buttermere and Keswick.

I ended up asking 2 locals for the exact location. They weren't particularly helpful, with one man in particular coming from the "get off my land!" school of  citizenship. But once I found a bit of signal and was able to compare Google images with my surroundings, got it exactly right.

The Lakes are swarming with hot people and their hot dogs. By the time I found my campsite I was quite stressed at having to navigate the Alphard through tiny country roads constantly coming up against people who think their Audi is about 10 feet wide. As one angry colleague of mine once screamed out of the ambulance window "If you can't ****ing drive, get out and walk!"

I made it without resorting to yelling at anyone. Just.

Allons-y 

Douglas Germinal CCXXIV Brain over and out