Day 5 and 6 - Water fights and bridge jumping

Monday we had a day round the camp, Marsha and Nelly went off to the beach on a camera treasure hunt, trying to take pictures of items on a list we made up for them. Later we all headed to the river for a game of catch, Glumdog learned to swim and Bambi and Mr Fink spent a lot of their time windmilling their arms trying to stay upright in the fast flowing slippery (oddly named) River Lazy. Nelly flew her kite and I took some excellent pictures of her.
For dinner, Mr Fink cooked Bootle sausage with spuds and cabbage. Yum.
Glumdog started to bark in the night so Bambi took him for a walk in the dark. Mr Fink set off to follow but lost Bambi and soon felt he was being followed. He headed back to the static caravan with the intention of getting a torch and a 'weapon', as he was fumbling about in the shed for a shovel, he heard, "'Allo, what you doing?" It was Bambi, returned from his walk.

Tuesday we were going to head up to Coniston but as he weather seemed fair, we went to Ulpha instead.
Ulpha is my favourite place on this planet. The part I love is Ulpha Bridge where a dry stone road bridge, about 20ft high, crosses a crystal clear and deep mountain stream. The grassy banks are nibbled by sheep into lush velvet cushions and the granite/quartz rocks rise up through the turf like miniature skyscrapers.
I get a feeling of calm, peace and contentment whenever I come here. If I were a spiritual person I would say this is my cathedral or place of meditation. I feel very at home here.

We set up our picnic, chairs and blankets on the close cropped turf and the younger ones made for the freezing river, tipping each other in, setting each other adrift on the rubber ring and jumping in off the stantions of the bridge. they slipped and slide downstream and swam in the deep clear waters, only coming ashore to warm up!
Traditionally, young men have jumped off the road bridge into the fathomless depths of the river but horror stories I had been brought up with, of young lives being lost through jumping into the wrong part of the river, have always made me wary of letting my family jump from the 20ft parapet.
Bambi and Mr Fink, ever mindful of their good natured rivalry were leaning on the parapet trying to see where the deep part of the river was but the position of the sun prevented this. Presently 2 young local chaps turned up, stripped to the waist and joined our men on the bridge. they had a conversation about the right place to jump off, where in the river to aim for and how to combat the freezing shock of the water. after a few minutes, the first young man took a short run up, placed his hand on the bridge, vaulted over the dry stone wall and plummeted into the icy stream. he bobbed back up, then his friend did the same, athletically swinging his legs sideways like an athlete on the pommel horse then pencil straight into the clear water.
Our men looked at each other. Bambi took the lead, swung his long legs (he IS called Bambi for a reason!) over the wall, gave Mr Fink a nod and pushed himself off. He let out a loud yell as he went down. The triumph on his face was a picture, "I did it first! Beat ya!"
His glory was short lived when Mr Fink stood up on the wall, took a deep breath and jumped out into the air. A big splash later and a victorious hubby surfaced, smiling. Bambi was not to be beaten, "Oh no, I suppose I've got to go off it standing up as well now?" After a couple more jumps, Marsha and Nelly were asking if they too could jump. We decided, if they had the bottle to do it, they should be allowed to do it.
Nelly went first, blood curdling scream on the way down, such elation on her face when she bobbed back up. Next was Marsha, a little hesitant at first but she stepped off and took the plunge. Unfortunately, I mucked up the camera and didn't get it on video so she had to do it again. Trouble was, I missed her second jump so she had to go again! Finally, Bambino took to the wall and in a very low key way, jumped out into the freezing river.
Everyone congratulated themselves and we headed home (a little sun burned) for tuna pasta a la Nelly and a night of star gazing and meteor watching.

Good times.