Castlerigg Stone Circle

When you awake to a rainy day in Keswick, Lake District, England, UK, you are presented with several options. You could

A) Roll over and go back to bed

B) Spend the morning visiting one of dozens of outdoor shops or tiny bakeries with names like "The Wild Strawberry" and "The Wholemeal Cafe"

C) Visit tourist information at Moot Hall, buy a brochure for a local hike, and then follow its seventeen steps to an ancient stone circle, 1000 years older than Stone Henge

D) Hop on the bus and go somewhere the weather doesn't change every 20 minutes

For Brett and I, the choice was clear. We donned raincoats, stuffed our brochure up one sleeve to keep it dry, and headed for the hills. After crossing a beck (turns out it means a stream) and following a path through the mossy woods, we emerged into higher country and the rain miraculously blew away into the distance, where we could admire it from afar. We dallied along, taking the above photos of sheep sheltering from the wind along a stone wall and of brown cows companionably munching grass and mooing back and forth with Brett. Finally, we reached a huge field and climbed in on stone steps over the wall to explore the stone circle. We had about ten minutes to take photos before the storm blew back and sent us home to Keswick in the car of two friendly fellow photographers.