It was the boy's birthday on Saturday, and as he gets older he seems to get more and more disinterested in celebrating. I can't quite get my head round this, any excuse for cake and presents is worth celebrating in my eyes. Anyway, I decided I'd treat him to a jolly jaunt to help him realise that getting older isn't all that bad...and hopefully he'll return the favour in three weeks when it's my big day!
We started the day with presents and a special birthday breakfast baked by me. Spanish style eggs with chorizo...but more of those at a later date, they're were so good (even if I do say so myself), that I'm going to dedicate a blog post to them.
We then hoped in the car and headed to Keswick, if you don't know it, it's a beautiful market town in the Lake District. The sun was shining, and the tourists were out in their hoards. A leisurely wander round the street, and a bargain picnic blanket purchased, we headed to the lake. As you can see we took one terrible photo, with the camera balanced on a rock, and facing directly into the sunshine, does not a good photo make.
Next stop was The Filling Station Cafe. I heard some rave reviews about this place (including the very lovely Jo's) and had wanted to go for a while. I figure the best way to get to go the places I want to is to disguise them as a treat for the boy, but as soon as I mentioned milkshakes, burgers and pancakes he didn't look too disappointed.
This retro style cafe is just off the A66 and so biker friendly, expect to see a big row of motorbikes as you pull up. Having heard that both the burgers and pancakes were amazing, we opted to share a burger and nachos with good intentions of a second course of pancakes. Perhaps choosing a milkshake on the side wasn't the wisest idea as it meant once we'd cleared our plates, there definitely wasn't room for pancakes. 
But I'm putting the chilli nachos up there as one of the best nachos I've ever had, and the burger wasn't far behind. And what's even better?! The boy has since suggested we go back this weekend to give the pancakes a go...result.
We then hoped back in the car and started heading to Bassenthwaite with plans to find a nice, gentle walk to burn off some of those fries (who am I kidding), but instead got distracted by the Lake District Wildlife Park, which was much more fun...plus we got to see some animals I never even knew existed. We must have looked like a couple of big kids, as the only adults there without children, but hey, life's too short to not enjoy a good zoo!
We ended the day with (one too many) drinks with friends, and a hefty portion of homemade Guiness Cake...again, blog post to come at a later date because darn is this cake good!
