Marc's Messages

A sort-of rescue operation

Today we went up north, taking a mountain pass from Windermere to Ullswater, in the Lake District. Halfway we went up for a walk to a mountain top to enjoy the wind and the beautiful panorama. While Karolien and the boys went back the same route we came, I descended from another slope to meet them at a certain point. When I reached the point where the path went down, suddenly a helicopter came out of the valley with a roaring noise and wind, hovering right above me and dropping a group of National Trust guys with helmets. I thought someone was wounded somewhere, and thought it would be cool (though not likely) if they could give me a ride down. But not yet...



The helicopter had a bag with which it carried big rocks from one place to the other. Halfway over my head the bag tore apart and the rocks landed twenty meters higher from me, kickstarting a rock avalanche. Great. So I had to jump away to escape the rocks whirling down. The guys realized this was not really cool, and offered to fly me down. So I had my ride, but not after they nearly smashed me, while playing the A-team. Down in the valley we took a dive in one of the lakes. How refreshing with nearly 30 degrees. More pictures here (second part), as well as a few new sunsets for the romantic folks.

Grange-over-Sands

On the other side of Morecambe Bay, in Cumbria, is Grange-over-Sands. Several miles west of that sea resort we walked on a peninsula with a great view to all sides. The boys enjoyed playing in the water. More pictures here.

 

The Arnside coastal path

Today we walked the coastal path around Arnside. A very nice walk, partly rock-climbing, overlooking the sands, that even Peter with his little legs completed. Well done, boy. More pictures here.

Views from the Arnside Knot

The Dutch would call a hill of a few hundred meters a mountain, the Brits call it a knot. The Arnside Knot offers a cool view over the region.

Romantic sunset

I thought sunsets couldn't get much better than in Istanbul, but the evening light over the Morecambe Bay is also special, and romantic too. More pictures here.

Walking peaks in Longsleddale

While Karolien and the boys enjoyed a quiet day, I headed for a hike over a mountain range alongside the Longsleddale valley in the Lake District. I love walking peaks because of the panoramas to all sides. More pictures here.

The Lake District

Today we made an outing to the Windermere area of the Lake District (Cumbria), and returned over the Wrynose pass. What a beautiful scenery, and what a great test for a beginning driver. More pictures here.

Sandy Silverdale

Morecambe Bay is comparable to the Dutch Wadden area. At low tide whole parts of the bay dry up, and a vast area of sandbanks emerges, which is fascinating and stunningly beautiful. The banks can be quite dangerous though, because of quicksand and the relatively fast high tide. Today we made two walks along the rocky coast of Silverdale. The countryside along the coast is very pastoral, with stone walls separating the meadows, creating a small paradise for sheep. More pictures here.

Mitchell residence

The next two weeks we stay in Silverdale, a small village in the Morecambe Bay area, on the north-west coast of England. It's what the National Trust calls an AONB, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and we hope to explore that in the coming days. Roger and Sue Mitchell were so kind to lend us their large house with garden. We met them in 1994 when they co-pastored Ichthus Christian Fellowship, and later in the context of Target Europe, a major prayer initiative for our continent. Roger currently works on a promotion research on 'church and empire', to support the call for a new reformation.

Through Northumberland

It's fun to be on the road, especially in the British countryside, where every curb hides another fascinating panorama. We drove through the Northumberland national park, nearly hit Hadrian's wall, and dived over the Pennine range into Lancashire. More pictures here.