The cats got delivered on the Saturday to Grange Cattery in Waterbeach, to be looked after by the reliable Phyllis. There's at least a pond with fish in it for them to look at. The road there is so uneven it's like driving over the sea if the sea were frozen in a split-second of time! Saturday evening saw packing, I only took the iPad for reading currently I'm reading my way through the works of Edgar Wallace, a prolific writer of thrillers. He also did the screenplay for "King Kong". This time among other books I read his minor novelette "Planetoid 127", a rare excursion into Science Fiction for him. This had in it the idea there's a second Earth on the opposite side of the sun to us so we can't see it - an idea used later on.

A long drive on the Sunday up to the Lake District, made more miserable by the cloudbursts, seeing dead foxes along the road, seeing sheep crammed like sardines into a lorry, by miles and miles of roadworks, by being ripped off for diesel at a service station. The markup is extortionate. We reached Abbot Hall Hotel safely, after some confusion thanks to the Satnav. I would have to describe the hotel as pleasantly run-down, it has character due to its haphazard history, the staff were friendly, we shared meals with the other residents (though we did lower the average age somewhat!) It made a good base. Rooms have been recently renovated there so run-down is a little unfair. The food was pretty good though Virginia is on a dairy-free diet and felt the choice was limited to non-existent at times.