Smile....
The last few days of our adventure have rattled through far too quickly, so let's see what has been going on.
Nicely ensconced in the Lake District (somewhere between a lake, a bay and a few soggy fields) the husband and I are desperately trying to keep our smiles on our faces having left Scotland. I'll be brutally honest, there were tears on the way down to the Lake District, and I only got into the car for the onward journey after the husband pinky-promised that he would bring me back to the Highlands next year some time.
But there were still adventures to be had, and the husband, on a 'cheer up the missus' mission, said to me over breakfast, 'Fancy a train trip this morning?' That man sure knows his way to this woman's heart, as I love a steam train.
This one went on a very short journey, and having bought our tickets, we settled down on the deserted platform with a cup of coffee and some very peculiar cake (Nut and Almond Rocky Road with a Mars Bar drizzle) while we waited for the train to arrive.
And then all hell broke loose...
Four coachloads of lovely Chinese tourists descended on the train station, armed with cameras. Nothing was sacred or off limits, and we watched as they posed by strategically placed stacks of replica suitcases, and various bits of railway memorabilia. They were very interested in the two dogs. One gorgeous lady came up and asked us very politely whether she could take a photo of them (not us, just the dogs). I was very pleased that they were wearing their tartan collars and scarves, and I said that that would be no problem at all.
'Are they Scottie dogs?' she asked, as she fiddled with the rather large camera and raised it to her eyes.
'Oh no', I said. 'They are Schnauzers'.
The camera was lowered slightly. 'Schnauzers?'
'Yes', I said, and I added helpfully, 'they're German'.
Well, that camera was back in its case faster than you could say Box Brownie, and with a small level of apology, the lady said that no photo was needed after all.
This happened two more times, by which time, Percy and Reg had got fed up of trying to put their best photo faces on, and instead chose to lick their balls (Percy) or lick the floor (Reg - he has no balls).
The train journey itself was a bit of an anticlimax. I'm not saying it was slow, but we reckoned that we could have walked it more quickly.
The two dogs loved it though, and Percy managed to steam up one window with his heavy breathing, We had to drag Reg away from the window at the end of the trip as he was using his nose to write something on the misted up glass.
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