The weather was pretty muggy in Cumbria today which didn't help picture taking.
After a pub lunch at
The Herdwick Inn at Penruddock, near Penrith on the A66 (lunch today was a carvery. The choice was Kendal Fell Lamb, Cumbrian Beef, Cumbrian Turkey or Pork from just over the county boundary in North Yorkshire - good to see a pub supporting local farmers. 2 x plate sizes, normal and Arnie sized. We all ate well) we headed towards Greystoke. Arnie is pictured here coming out of the drive to
Greystoke 
.
You may (or may not) be interested to know that the character Tarzan was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs and was based on Baron Greystoke (John Clayton) who used to live in this parish - see you really do learn something every day.
We then stayed on the A66 (one of Cumbrias fastest & best roads - sadly a dangerous one as well) heading towards the old market town of
Appleby. This is the County town (capital) of the county of Westmorland. We planned to stop here for a brew and some cake but Murphy The Kitten was fast asleep so we pressed on.
We headed towards the village of Orton via the B6260 and we encountered some traffic calming, Cumbrian style
.
This picture was not "posed" in any way. It is common land and is used for grazing by anyone who wants to use it (they used to be called commoners).
It's a bit of a bugger if you're coming the other way over the brow of the hill though.
This entire area covering Penrith, Appleby & Orton was absolutely devestated by Foot and Mouth disease in 2001 - in fact the last case was discovered at Appleby, less than 5 miles from where I took this picture. It is a tribute to the remendous hard work by the farming community and individual supporters in the country that Cumbrian farming ever got back on track. The whole episode is an example of goverment incompetence at it's worst.
We arrived at Orton in mid-afternoon and the traffic was very, very heavy, as seen in the picture
and yes, the traffic does stop to let the ducks cross. The building behind with the blue awning belongs to
Kennedys Fine Chocolates and it was here that Mrs Cat puchased some of their hand made choccies to enjoy later on (in fact I'm enjoying a Whisky truffle while I'm typing this).
We then headed home via my mates house (& a brew). While Mrs Cat looked after the kids, me and my mate went to "ahem" enjoy the finer parts of Arnies handling and performance.
Job done - went home.
Murphy The Cat
p.s. funny 300c related quote of the day.
"Bloody hell mate. All you need is a bitch to pimp from this thing and you'd be sorted. Oh look, here comes my wife she'll do at a pinch" from my mate whilst we were out.