The place we are staying in Keswick is about seven minutes walk away from the convention entrance but that does include a stretch where you have to go along a busy road with no pavement on either side. Yesterday afternoon we went the opposite way out of the front gate and tried a route that leads through a local park, across a bridge and through the back streets; it takes longer but is very pleasant. We even saw bats and rabbits on the way home last night.

One thing that was very helpful was spotting a group of other likely convention goers ahead of us once we had cross the bridge. I wasn’t quite sure how to do that last bit of the journey but, following their footsteps, we discovered what is probably the quickest route. It is still slower than the more direct one but will probably remain our main choice. Not least, you get to appreciate the landscape more when you don’t have to keep an eye out for cars, like the moment we crested a hill and saw Grisedale Pike (which I painted on our previous visit) rising up ahead of us behind the town: