Another perfect day of cloudless skies. By late morning we were driving through Keswick and on into Borrowdale, climbing up the steep singletrack road to Asness Bridge with it's stunning views over Derwentwater and Skiddaw. I hadn't been up there for many years and had never photographed it so, despite the view being hackneyed and cliched, I did just that. We then drove on to Surprise View for another vista over Derwentwater. After a sandwich looking out over the lake we continued up to Watendlath for a cup of tea in the tea shop and a wander around the tarn looking for the campsite where my brother and myself, along with a couple of hundred more runners camped overnight on the Saunders Mountain Marathon. Happy days.
The return drive was just as hairy as the way up but we arrived in the car park in Keswick safely. We had time to have a quick look around the town before we had to return to the theatre. We had booked a pre-theatre meal in the restaurant which was excellent, before taking our seats in the theatre for Kate Mosse's one woman show to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the publication of her novel Labyrinth. We both really enjoyed the show, she is a consumate story teller. As Kate said at the beginning, there were no spoilers for anybody who hadn't read the book which is an archaeological mystery novel written by Kate Mosse set both in the Middle Ages and present-day France. It divides into two main storylines that follow two protagonists, Alaïs (from the year 1209) and Alice (in the year 2005). The two stories occur in a shared geography and intertwine. The novel relies heavily on historical events such as the massacre at Beziers and the Crusade against the Cathars in Occitania, now the South of France, from around 1200. The text itself features many Occitan and French quotes. Ultimately the story becomes a quest for the Holy Grail. Kate, instead, sets the scene for the book by telling the historical story of the region, the Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade. There were only tantalising glimpses of the characters in the book. I love the way she feels that the land holds a memory of those who have lived there in the past and how they speak to her, part of my theory ducing my major body of work for my photography degree.
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