Visited Ulverston Thursday Club on...you guessed it-Thursday! I addressed the club about dystonia-spreading the word and had a great response. They were kind enough to present me with a cheque for £25 in donation and I also sold 5 books of which £2 per book will go to the society too.

Friday was amazing. Had a stint at Barrow Archives and got some information I needed. Then, I was kindly given permission to visit the archives at the Dock Museum to help me with my research. Wow! I saw the real Rampside sword which was nothing like a sword to look at-but was brilliant considering how old it was! I have also been able to leave books in the shop to be sold and am looking forward to a signing in the summer when my new children's book is released. I forsee a great future relationship and would like to thank Keith and Liz for their care and help! Popped into Abbey Mill Cafe for a chat with Jackie and a lovely latte.

view towards Coniston

Did a good 13 miles today for K2B training from Lowick to Barrow. A fantastic and beautiful day, but unfortunately managed to acquire a massive blister on my heel! This will now need to be addressed and I may need to reassess the trainers!

Stray sheep on Kirkby moor

This week we are having our first meeting for a new group to aid and assist the future of Furness Abbey. I'm not saying we can even do much...but we can have a go! We need to encourage a new approach re marketing and events-its ok saying its off the beaten track and won't attract visitors, but I am sure we could change this! If we looked at the situation for Furness as a whole I am sure something could be done to improve the number of tourists and visitors. English Heritage have spent a fortune-but seem reluctant to improve marketing and are evidently prepared to accept that nothing can change. It seems that they are unaware of the resources here in Furness and we must encourage them to look deeper. If anyone who is actually reading this-please join us on Thursday at 7-30pm at the Red Lion in Dalton. We may be able to do nothing...but we won't know until we try!

Weird synchronicity

Productive day today at Barrow Library Archives with help from Mike and Glenn. Researching for Raven's Hoard and not for the first time had a spooky moment. It happened before whilst researching the last book-I would have an idea, research it and then find that my made up idea fitted very closely to the reality. Happened again today...without giving too much away, a certain item I am including in the book led me to a report which outlined the story I wanted to tell. However, it got weirder...the choice of my title was random-or so I thought -but there it was a MASSIVE link to the name in the very location I have chosen. Next I found a date which was an actual time frame for an event...and I had selected-without prior knowledge a date just 8 days later! And all this because I selected one particular half remembered discovery in the locality! So am  psychic? Or is it that there are no original thoughts and ideas? Either way its a bit spooky! But the other thing it demonstrates is that this area, much maligned and ignored in the recognised historical record really does have an amazing past and the more I delve, the more fascinating items I come across. This may well keep me going for many books to come...watch this space!