In May 2010 Marie Tisi organised what had become a biannual walking holiday but since then there have been doubts about the frequency of such walkking holidays in the future.  In 2010 the venue was the wonderful Holiday Fellowship Centre "Monk Conniston" in the Lake District.  My memories of the week are shown below and if I can round up some more taken by other people on the holiday I will add them later. 

 I hope I have put them up in roughly chronological order, beginning with some views of Monk Conniston, ending with our trip to Ruskin's house by Lake Conniston on the penultimate day and in between there are views taken on walks during the week.  Where my memory serves I have added some captions.

This was a well manitained arch in the grounds of Monk Coniston house itself opposite the flat which I ocupied for the week

Ant this was the entrance to the flat where I lived in luxury!!

Entrance to monk Conniston House followed by a close-up

And a nice view from outside the entrance

On Day 1 one of our three trusty guides, Richard, took us on a walk which led straight into the beautiful Lake District scenery

Early in the walk we looked down on the beauty of Barn How

Beside the lake were some Belted Galloway cows

Soon we got to the famous Beatrix Potter Cottage

And a close-up of the cottage

Richard gave us plenty of information about the sheep you can see in the cottage garden.  They are a breed which are black for the first year of their life, grey for the second year and in the third year the graduate to white.  Their wool is so rough and scratchy that Richard told us if you had a pullover knitted from it you woul never want another!!!  Here we can see one born in each of the three years.

A blacl lamb in its first year

The black lamb had been sternly reprimanded by the white sheep here for straying too near those humans!!

And here is a clearer shot of the three generations

Richard stopped regularly to share his vast knowledge of the Lake District.

On another walk led by Richard we stood and watched in awe as a daring lady climbed a rock face over a disused quarry.  She is the red spec in the middle of this shot

And I zoomed in to get a closer view

Elsewhere on the walk we saw the remains of some disused mountain buildings and wondered what history they held

Here is a great high level view of a Lakeland scene.  Unfortunately I did not note the name of the lake

We had lunch high up in the mountains.  In the best tradition of the club this was the second venue chosen - just as I had made myself comfortable in the first choice they all got up and walked away to find another spot!!

Later in the walk John takes a rest

We had an anxious wait as Richard called the air rescue to one of our number

Marie could not resist a swing in the tree!!

And then we get ready to press on

On one of our walks we came by a cairn which provided some diversion

All around us all the time were stunning views

Our guides were merciful in allowing time for rest!!

One of the many "tarns" we saw on our walks

A most memorable day of tghe week was spent at Ruskin's house by Lake conniston.  Our three  Guides had a well deserved rest from us and we made our own way to Ruskin's house by gondola

The Gondola pilot kindly stopped to point out the spot where Donald Campbell's famous "Bluebird" overturned killing him in 1967

In due course the Gondola arrived at Ruskin's house

Ashore in the surrounds of the great house we saw many natural creatures, including this bird who seemed happy to pose for a photograph!!

From the grounds of the house we looked down on Lake Conniston

And these two views from the house garden

A view of the steamer on the lake

Getting closer

One of the gardens is called "The Professor's Garden"and we recorded the memories of our visit there

In the house itself we saw a plaque with a well remembered motto from my student days "Age quad Agis" or "Do what you are doing"

The dining room table was set as it was in Ruskin's time

The view of the lake which diners would have enjoyed

Outside was the garden of the house proper

After some more walks around the gardens and hills surrounding Ruskin's house the ramblers took their place in the queue for the return journey on the lake

And in due course took their turn to board

There were good views back to the house from the boat

And the serpent figurehead on the boat led the way back to Conniston