Day 12

Managed to erase today's entry by forgetting to save it before changing it to the next day's entry. Not that anyone would have known if I hadn't mentioned anything. I'm only mentioning it because as I recall, it was probably the best entry I've written so far - witty, erudite and devastatingly perceptive in its clarity of observation. Sadly, I do not feel the muse flowing through me now that I realise what I have done, so it is going to have to be pretty much the same old drivel as we are sadly getting used to. Well, don't blame me - you're the one persistently sitting through all this - you've only got yourself to blame.

Now, as I recall, the day was rather wet and blustery, so we made it a fairly indoorsy kind of day. Drove up along the coastline [is the edge of a lake a coastline or simply an edge?] of Lake Windermere to Keswick. First stop The Puzzle Place - not a particularly Lakes-specific sort of exhibition/display, but it was a bit of fun and kept everyone entertained for about an hour - especially entertaining were the interactive displays involving altered perspectives. From there to the Pencil Museum, looking at the history of the Derwent pencil specifically, and the manufacture and history of the pencil generally. Normally a seemingly fairly dry subject, but it had been suggested to us as worth investigating, and sure enough, it was absolutely fascinating. Especially of interest was the story of how secret pencils were made during World War II for air force airmen who may have been shot down whilst flying over enemy territory. Because of the nature of the work, only a select few employees knew anything about these pencils, so they came back to the factory late at night and worked in secrecy. Because the Official Secrets Act meant that those involved were sworn to secrecy for a period of 30 years, the secret of how the pencils were made was largely lost to history. An attempt was made a few years ago to replicate the manufacture of these pencils, and whilst coming close, they still didn't fully work it out. The pencils had a central core hollowed out to hold a very thin, delicate, rolled up map of Europe, and a teeny tiny compass placed just under the ferrule holding the eraser. It also had to look exactly like one of the usual pencils made to avoid attracting suspicion. The man from London who apparently commissioned and orchestrated the work was apparently the chap upon whom the character of 'Q' in the James Bond series was based.

Also of interest was the recent manufacture of the world's first genuine, real actual lead pencil. It turns out that pencils have never ever been made with any lead in them at all, and no-one is quite certain why they were ever initially referred to as such - perhaps the colour of the graphite compound was lead-coloured enough to warrant the description. A researcher from a technical college or University (I forgot which) setting about making one, and his finished product is on display - apparently it is quite a serviceable item, although it doesn't allow for the shading and texturing that graphite pencils afford.

Drove out to Grange, a small village where a rather unusual double arched bridge spanning a bifurcation of the river had been built. Of particular interest though, was that a painting of this bridge by Cheryl's father was given to Julianne's parents as a present when they were visiting. We had taken a photograph of it when we were last here, but it was certainly a lot more overgrown, and it was rather difficult to clearly make out the 2 arches, but we were fairly certain it was the same bridge. We shall see when we get back home and compare photos.

Drove back down to Ambleside. Stopped to look at the Bridge House - a tiny 2 storey, 2 roomed home spanning a stream, in which a family of 6 once lived.