Walking up to Rydal Hall felt like walking home - which it was 13 years ago - being enveloped by the achingly beautiful green of the high fells above, and the generosity of place, space and strangers. The campsite here is just lovely and the perfect place to rest for two nights. Places which have held you at pivotal points in your life never really cease to have that feeling of home, even if it's a long time since you lived there. And then in the shower block (but not in the shower!) I bumped into Mags, and had tea with her and Peter in their van. They had been colleagues here 13 years ago and by chance we coincided. Later on, lunch in Ambleside with a very good friend and we talked until closing time. As I returned to the campsite a lady was having trouble putting up tents for her son and husband cycling coast to coast. I only half-successfully helped her and then gave up and went to the pub. The two chaps had cycled LEJOG 2 years ago, and asked me if I was walking it because I didn't have a bicycle.
So, I will always be grateful for this place and the memories it holds and still creates. And there might have been a tear or two as I walked away.
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