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Six Stars The mist hung in the mountains shrouding the church in the valley beneath the peaks. In the morning, along Buttermere Lake, sheep lay on the road. The lambs, legs tucked beneath them, resembled enormous fuzzy black slugs. I came across a hand printed sign in the local Cumbrian dialect: Tek Care Lambs Ont Road. We climbed a pass rated at twenty-five percent! We wanted to take a picture at the top with the gradient sign and fuzzy sheep, but the lambs were shy. Sharon endeavored to round them up, making them more insistent on tearing off in the opposite direction. The downhill was full of turns. I squeezed my brake levers intently and still the hairpin curves felt too fast. A Japanese tourist, in a rental car, came around a narrow corner in my lane. His face looked amusing as he twiddled the steering wheel: It's my first time driving on this side of the road! Muesli and Weetabix were breakfast, enjoyed by a clear stream, flowing lazily under an arched stone bridge. Sharon swung on a tree branch, ready to jump in. Tourists packed Keswick. Hundreds of people milled about the pedestrian-only area. I found scones and ice cream bars and chose an unknown variety of green apple in a fruit shop. The woman told me, "Those apples are for baking." I wanted it anyway. She looked at me and shook her head, "Well, you are a nutter!" Two cyclists were across the street at the bank machine. I went over to say hello. They were from Australia and had started in Rome, April 2. I didn't talk to them for long as the heat was quickly melting my ice cream. I returned to where Sharon was waiting in a small triangle of grass under some trees. I told Sharon about the two Australians I met. I looked up and the Aussies were cycling out of town on the main road. I ran and flagged them down, asking if they had time for an ice cream. Being normal cyclists they accepted. "We always have time for ice cream." Neil was an elementary teacher; Ralph secondary. They had taken thirteen months off to tour Europe. Both were born in the UK, so they had British passports along with their Australian. They showed whichever passport was better for the particular country they visited. France wanted Australians to buy a visa, so Neil and Ralph flashed their UK passport and entered, no questions asked. Convenient. The UK passports enabled them to work in Europe too. Neil was thinking of teaching in Germany where his girlfriend lived. They made sandwiches for lunch, spreading their bread out on the grass and slapping hunks of cheese on it. Right next to the dog poop. Sharon chuckled, "Our standards may be low, but they haven't slipped that low." "Would you like a sandwich?" Ralph asked. "Ah, no thanks," we replied in tandem. Neil and Ralph had a star rating for accommodation: one star: free camping; two stars: campground with pay showers; three stars: campground with showers included; four stars: hostel; five stars: invited to a family home; six stars: invited home by two blondes. They added they hadn't experienced any six stars yet, but remained optimistic. |
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