Watching the activities

My back was very stiff when I got up this morning, and I was moving about very gingerly.

After breakfast we drove to Appleby to photograph the horse fair.  I have never been to this event before and I was interested to see what it was like. I know there are concerns about the welfare of the horses;  I am no expert on horses, but I was glad to see a strong RSPCA presence, with some of their officers filming some of the activities (presumably for evidence if any action needed to be taken).

There were three main activities to photograph - washing the horses in the river (the one I have seen most photographs of in the past), the horses trotting rapidly down the road pulling small carts, and the market.  By the time we had spent all day walking around the town, my back had eased off considerably and I was walking normally with virtually no pain. 

I spotted this guy, leaning against one of the carriages, when we were on our way back to the car park.  He just had to be photographed.

A slow drive back to Braithwaite, because 100 metres of the A66 were coned off, with no work being carried out, and traffic lights allowing a few cars in each direction in turn.  It caused A 2.5 mile queue in each direction. I can see no excuse for that.

After dinner, we had a taxi into Keswick to enjoy the beer festival.