The sun was out yesterday, or did I dream it? It was certainly back to normal this morning - grey and overcast, although not at all cold, at least. I'd slept very badly and got up, only because it was too noisy to sleep further. I found myself in a bad, irritable mood; a frequent product of a poor night's sleep. I decided I needed to take the day off. It was the Ladies Final at Wimbledon, in any case, so I thought I'd just do some reading, maybe some planning for my upcoming nine-day drive around the West Country, and generally take it easy.

But, I found that even Ambleside was too busy for me today, and, despite my tired legs, I decided that I needed the peace and quiet that only the fells can provide. So I put on my hiking boots and took off up the hill across the street from the hotel. Within five minutes, the traffic noise began to fade, and only ten minutes later, the views began to open up over the hillsides. And, miraculously, my bad mood melted away.

Just a ten minute hike out of town gives you views like this.

Once you get off the lane and start hiking up the steep pike, Wansfell, the going gets significantly harder, and my legs weren't up for it after yesterday; so I stopped half way up and found a place to sit and admire the view. You can see about twenty to thirty peaks from up there, though with the overcast weather, they didn't really photograph very well.

My mood much improved, I made it back to Ambleside in time for the tennis semi-final. Unexpectedly, I got teary-eyed when watching Williams, after her victory, and her ecstatic, entirely natural celebration. She's such a beautiful, perfect athlete, and her sister Serena in the stands even more beautiful. I've always admired that kind of youthful, happy-go-lucky, spontanaiety that you see in American kids, I think more so because I've always been too self-conscious and in-my-head to behave that way myself.

And that's all for today folks - gonna rest up for the remainder of the day. See y'all tomorrow :)