The Lake District, home to Beatrix Potter. Kendal, the home of the Kendal Mint Cake used by Sir Edmund Hillary and the team as they climbed Everest. A deliciously evil sweet made of pure sugar and peppermint oil. Smells great, tastes amazing and is a great shot of energy that is lightweight to carry in your pack. Disappointingly the Kendal Mint Cake is still made here but they don’t do factory tours.
The real reason we came to Kendal however was the Kendal Mountain Film Festival. Four days of extreme mountaineering, aerial, climbing and cultural movies. After 1.5 days and 9 hours of film later we are all “movied” out. With a great selection of movies, lectures, workshops and general outdoor vibe it has been a good 2 days so far. We have found however that the age groups represented here are a lot older than we are used to at similar Australian festivals and the vibe isn’t as laid back and friendly.
We are staying in Ambleside which is about a 20 minute drive from Kendal as all accommodation had been taken in town. After watching some more movies this morning we did a walk around Kendal township, bought some mint cake, had some breakfast/lunch and then took off back to Ambleside.
This evening we have been very fortunate as the annual lantern parade was on. A whole parade of people with paper laterns lit with candles. Topped off by a fireworks display. It has been freezing all day and we are expecting a bit of a snow shower tonight. Hopefully it will be OK for tomorrows trip home.
