Mark & Jan celebrating

It was 1974, when we first met each other at Primary School and since then, Mark and I have gone on to share many formative moments, schooling, sports, games, travelling and socialising together and now was his turn to get married, Jan being the lucky lady, after 12 years of them being together. Don’t they look happy?

Left to right; Paul, Mark, Paul, me & Neil

Our timing was fateful for us to be able to attend their special day in Bowness-on-Windermere, in the beautiful Lake District region.

backpackers scrubbed up

Nestled up in the mountains overlooking the Lake is Linthwaite House, where they exchanged their vows while the sun beamed across the landscape, one day before a torrential downpour.

bestest pals

It was great to hang out for the evening with my oldest and dearest friends from England and of course my bestest buddy, affectionately known as ‘ugs’ alias Benny, who, coupled with ‘nelly’ alias Neil, ‘prez’ alias Mark and the indomitable ‘fb’ alias ‘fb’ and if you are wondering about mine well it’s ‘little man’ or ‘lm’ for short if you pardon the pun.

deep in conversation

Sharki3 and I had got cleaned up big time, with our hair done for the first time in 2 years, (not mine of course) and our outfits purchased and I feel I need to clarify for some people who asked if we had been carrying these in our backpacks for 2 years, the answer is ‘No’.

But it was great to see my backpacking other half all dressed-up in high heels, that probably hurt her feet all day.