July 04, Coniston walk

There is nothing like having to make a choice about how to flush the toilet!  I really get a kick out of this instruction.  Whether to obey or not to obey is a whole other matter.

 

There are lots of walks around Coniston, but about 90% of them are entered around a rock formation called "The Old Man of Coniston;" the routes just vary in terms of length.  All involve a long, steep, rocky climb, and I just didn't feel like it in the rain.  Actually, I didn't feel like it even had it not been raining.  Rocks are not my favorite kind of scenery.  Anyway, I found a lovely walk that was a figure eight kind of thing that passed through beautiful countryside..

This photo requires some contemplation and consideration.  We see, on the left,  a baby slug—or a snail minus its shell (but isn't that what a slug is?) cozied up on a foxglove petal, lying next to what seems to be a giant slug but is—I am quite sure—a big stick that looks like a giant slug.  So I am wondering, what is that baby thinking?

As I approached these two beasties, seeing as they did not move, I thought, "Maybe they are not real," like that cat from the other day:

But they were!

It rained, then it didn't then it did, but not very hard, and it blew, and it was misty and foggy:

And yet the air was very heavy.

One problem with rain is that it makes sticks and stones very slippery.  Por ejemplo, tree roots, such as these, especially on the downhill,  require extremely careful footwork.

The top part of the figure 8 was a tour around a lake:

Ahh, this is the life if you are a goose:

Tree down!  Detour required!

The thing is, they don't WANT to be on the path...do they?

I met this merry band of revelers as I was headed down and they were going up!  Were they enacting A Midsummer Night's Dream?  Was this the local version of Bay to Breakers?  They were celebrating the upcoming wedding of the guy dressed as a donkey (he asked to have his head patted) and having a rollicking good time!

After getting back to town and making the rounds of the three, yes, three grocers—the Spar has competition—all of which sell just about the same stuff, all replicas of 7-Elevens, and within about a block of each other, and then having something to eat, I went out for another walk, this time along the lake.  

It was 60 degrees and a girl was swimming!  The water was also about 60 degrees!  (I looked it up!)  That is crazy!

Just for the record, according to my Apple watch, I am hardly doing anything these days! What?  It does not measure exertion, or if it does, then I am being cheated.  You schlep around all day in heavy hiking boots, up and down hills, skirting tree roots and nasty rocks, mud and bog, thick wet grass, in 90% humidity (I looked that up, too) and see if you feel as if you did nothing all day!