Museums

You travel - You do museums. You just do. Museums are repositories for our culture. For the culture you are visiting. You may eventually reach a point of, 
“NO MORE!!!! Aghhhh!”
But so far I have enjoyed all the museums we have wandered through. Today we did a museum I did not think could exist. How can you have an entire museum dedicated to such a small interest group. But here it is. Almost in the centre of Keswick in the Lakes District we found a museum dedicated to - the pencil.
It makes sense to those of us of a certain age. I am sure many of us had a set of Derwent coloured pencils. Or perhaps Lakeland coloured pencils. This museum is run by the company responsible for these coloured pencils - and it was great.

Giant pencil to dominate the display.

Just as I remember.

If they had these tins as souvenirs, they would sell a ton of them.

Sculpting the lead of a pencil.

We arrived early. It is kind of a habit with us. We start our tourist days early and often arrive as a place is opening. We arrived here to an empty carpark.
Holds breath! not wanting to begin the “Pay and Display” discussion just yet. It will happen!
As we entered we met wonderfully ebullient hosts to welcome us to their domain. It was not expensive and they had a wonderful idea,
“Do you wanna do our quiz? There will be a prize at the end.”
As we soon learned, everyone does the quiz. They hand you a clip board with a two sided question sheet to answer as you wander through. Many of the questions were easy and obvious. Most were easy to find among the displays but just as she said - 
“two of the questions will make you work!”
We wandered around the small but tasteful exhibition of how pencils were invented. How they are made today. The amazing contribution to espionage in WW2. And the contribution to children of the 60s.
As we cruised, the museum began to fill. Soon it was wriggle room only as everyone hunted the quiz answers. Everyone, I should note is adult. I saw only one child here the whole day. Of course, it is a school day. So many grown ups doing a quiz. And all so enthusiastic for it too. Some moved to the colouring in room and took time using the pencils to colour in images. Or just watch the video of how artists use these pencils.
In a glass cabinet in the final corner of the room we found pencil tins from the 60s. The kind we had 50 years back. Lakeland and Derwent coloured pencils. And in the same cabinet we found the answers to the 2 tricky questions on the quiz. 
Quiz completed and prize awarded - couple of pencils of course. Then as always after a museum, time for coffee. I only mention it because this was the best espresso I have had for 2 whole weeks.
The Lakeland coloured pencil tin was famous for its picture of Derwent Water. Of course, we wanted to try to find that picture for ourselves.
Keswick has every access to the lake covered. If you can see the lake there is a Pay and Display carpark. If there is no carpark, trees block the view. So we drove.
Many Km (miles) down the side of the lake we found a weird turning with a hidden gem of a carpark. 6 spots and easy space for us. From here we managed a walk to the lake. We climbed a tiny wall, clambered down some steps and stood on the edge of the lake.
At that moment the cloud lifted. The rain stopped. The sun came out and we saw the view we wanted. Perfect light. Hence another hundred photographs.
What a way to top a brilliant morning. Easy walking alongside the lake.
This afternoon would be steep decent to water falls… the word falls echoing in my ear. 
Three points of contact at all time… 
I think I can, I think I can. 
This afternoon is to see falls…
​not to have any more.