Day 7, Thu 21 Aug
Leave Cheshire, negotiate torrential rainstorm on the M6 and arrive in the Lakes in time for lunch and rendezvous with the good doctors C and their deux fils J&Z in timeshare complex in Elterwater. Weather dries up and small boys are persuaded to go for a stroll along the river to Skelwith Bridge and back. Les petits much more enthused by prospect of late afternoon splash in the pool. Day of moderate wining & dining is completed by dinner in the café and retreat to the calm of our hotel.
Day 8, Fri 22 Aug
Meet up with la famille Clerc again in the morning and all set off for a wander around Grizedale forest. After lunch, wave goodbye to les docteurs et leur fils, and then undertake a more strenous stomp with a circular route from and to Elterwater, via Little Langdale, Colwith Force and Skelwith Bridge.
Retire to hotel, exhausted, with one soleless boot, after huge lamb dinner in the pub.Day 9, Sat 23 Aug
Drive into Ambleside to buy new boots, then embark on another circular walk from Elterwater, this time over the top to Grasmere, and back via Loughrigg Tarn. In the afternoon base of operations shifts to Waterhead to take part in annual gathering of the Sandford sisters clan. The majority of the 20 odd family members arrive during the course of the afternoon and evening.
Day 10, Sun 24 AugLe beau-frère et la belle-soeur make a rare appearance, enticed by the loose 40th birthday celebration of trois des cousins. Stroll into Ambleside is interrupted by demand to play a 2-a-side football game with 3 of the under-10s. Weather stays just about clement enough for a BBQ dinner, cooked under umbrella, and birthday cake.
Day 11, Mon 25 Aug
Starts raining, though initially not hard enough to discourage biking expedition to Grizedale forest. Leaving the hardcore mountain bikers to attack the 'North Face', the rest of us enjoy an easier seven mile rollercoaster in the drizzle. The septuagenarian in the party enjoys it so much that he persuades 'the youngsters' to do it all over again. The party of four, combined age almost 200, breezes past a twenty year old throwing up at the top of a stiff climb. Age sometimes has little to do with fitness. Spend less strenuous afternoon watching the drizzle, shopping in Windermere and an evening enjoying roast lamb dinner.
Day 12, Tue 26 Aug
Still raining, yours truly mopes indoors with heavy cold, gift from nièce numèro deux. Le beau-frère et la belle-soeur return to Wales to relieve parents of dog-sitting duties while la bienheureuse et la belle-mère go for an amble in the drizzle.
Day 13, Wed 27 Aug
Weather and cold dry up enough to allow flying 600 mile round trip to London, via Cambridge, to witness les cannoniers comfortably qualify for the group stages of the Champions League. Back in the wet lakes les cousins enjoy a well watered night out sans enfants.
Day 14, Thu 28 Aug
Drive back to Lakes, picking up une nièce et deux neveux en route, to find that it has stopped raining at last. La soeur eventually arrives from Bradford, and the afternoon is spent kayaking and jumping off the jetty into a frigid Lake Windermere. Evening spent celebrating the triple fortieth.
Day 15, Fri 29 Aug
The weather remains dry but we don't. An hour of canoeing on the lake is ended by a raiding party of petits pirates, egged on by les frères H, and la bienheureuse and I are unceremoniously capsized and dumped in the lake. The latter part of the afternoon is taken up by a football match, with the Sandford clan providing a few representatives amongst a multitude from the other large quaysiders family gathering. Discover the embarrassment of being beaten in a tackle and then taunted about it by a 15 year-old girl, and that my body thinks I'm too old for football. Fish and chips for dinner then wave goodbye to la soeur, la nièce et les neveux as they head back down to opposite sides of the Pennines.
Day 16, Sat 30 Aug
Apartment cleared by 9.30am, family goodbyes are waved and we set off on the drive down towards Cambridge. Arrive mid-afternoon chez le grand M et lady K, for a pleasant afternoon and evening in Hilton. Clear plate of delicious, but enormous lasagne, then somehow manage to swallow apple pie as well.
Day 17, Sun 31 Aug
Homeward bound. Leave misty Cambridgeshire and arrive in hot, sunny Lyon. Violent thunderstorm in the evening. Welcome back to France.
