Lake District
Goodbye York. Hello Lakes District, but just because I like driving in England, we're adding about an hour to the trip to go more North via Durham and Hadrian's wall.
I know you'll just think we're visiting Durham to see the old cathedral there. Yes it's been at least a day since we've vistited an old cathedral.
Construction on this one started in 1093. Good to know that a lot of generations have stood where I took this photo from hey?
These are huge buildings and of course you can't but feel very insignificant when you start reading about the history and human activity that has come before us.
But no it wasn't the cathedral that attracted me here... I wanted to get to the extreme North of the Roman Empire before turning South towards home. Durham was just a lunch spot before getting to Hadrian's wall:
Not much left of it now after years of locals removing the remains for building materials.
You probably know that Emperor Hadrian ordered the construction of this wall back in 122AD to protect the empire's North West boundary. It crossed the entire breadth of England. Apparently this part is the most well preserved part of the wall!
Again, just being here gives us a perspective of what came before us.
Onwards and upwards... To the Lake District now. Looking forward to natural wonders after seeing these man-made ones. Just stopped to snap this one on the way to Ambleside:
The terrain is so green.
We're here for 5 nights. Now this is a special hotel - part of the Small Luxury Hotels chain. We are being spoiled big time here in Ambleside at the Rothay Manor. Clearly we are in good company - some German residents brought their Aston Martins for a driving holiday. You can see the hotel's grounds in the background. Great spot for a G&T after touring the countryside before dinner:
That was the view out of our bedroom window.
It will be hard to leave this place - the food (breakfast and dinner was included in our package) was stunning. Gourmet actually. The service from staff also tremendous. I don't get this at home!
Off to do some touring.
We started off with a combination walk and lake cruise. First stop was all about feeding your addiction of seeing photos of old buildings:
This is Wray Castle - built 1840. Now... moving right along.
We walked about half the length of Lake Windemere to "The Hatch" - about 8km through very pleasant surronds.
These fishermen found a way to ensure they were inseparable - those floating chairs have a metal connecting bar to make sure that it's not too far to throw a bottle of beer should one of them run out.
Needless to say, the fish were not at risk from this pair.
Even the birdlife seemed bemused:
This area of UK normally has a lot of rain, however, in preparation for the Josem visit, rain was put on hold and sunshine turned on to 90% of maximum. There was evidence of the normally sodden terrain:
It's a bit hard to tell, but you can see above how a tree has fallen, uprooting it's base. There were many trees growing nearly horizontally with just a small proportion of their root systems actually feeding the tree from the ground.
Oh yes... much more my scene looking at huge houses from the luxury ferry (for tourists) on the lake. It was very relaxing after that monster 8K walk.
The walk home from the Ambleside pier had an interesting moment - came across a herd of cattle sharing our walking track back to the hotel. Moooo! Apparently everyone has access to graze their animals on these commons.
Oh yes... back to where I belong. There's 2 or 3 million bucks sitting there soaking up the sun:
Next day we drove to a spot to go for a nice walk. Oh... I just had to stop and take this on the way:
And this one too caught my fancy
The idea is we drive to Keswick and we do a circular drive around Derwent Water. It was really wonderful - absolutely gorgeous scenery plus many spots where you can just get out and enjoy the environment. We were told to do this by our guide Rick Steve - He talks our language.
First stop was Braithwaite - a valley between two mountains. This gives you some appreciation:
But yes... you really have to be there. There was a carpark and we climbed onto a grassy knoll and ate our sandwiches for lunch in this stunning environment.
We had to spend time enjoying this.
A theme that keeps recurring here is Brits and their dogs. I know 1) I'm not a fan of pets, and 2) I'm not the fittest climber in the world, but I just don't get why people would take their pets for a climb up this mountain....
Please explain why anyone would 1) take their dog here, and 2) carry them up a mountain.
I can only come up with:
1) They don't relate well to other humans, or
2) Just because they can
Whatever!
Moving right along, a bit further was a slate mine.
And a bit further on was this scenic gem:
That was taken at Buttermere. Next day we went to visit Beatrix Potter.
Wow... what a wonderful woman she was.
And who wasn't brought up reading about Peter Rabbit?
We visited Beatrix Potter's property where she did a lot of her writing. This place was her inspiration... check out the gate and the illustration from her book:
I couldn't really capture it all but this place clearly gave her the inspiration. Here she meticulously developed and illustrated her 24 Peter Rabbit books.
The dresser and an enlargement of the page in one of the books:
Nice hey?
And outside, the authorities made sure drivers were careful to avoid squashing Peter with their vehicles as they drove past the property:
Apparently she left most of her wealth to the National Trust - and much of the Lakes District National Park is due to her generosity and care. Wonderful woman indeed.
I have gone on long enough on this post... We're still here in Lakes District... I'll continue it in the next Blog post. In the meantime, my tummy is rumbling recalling the magnificent feast that we enjoyed after returning back to Ambleside.
Bye for now.
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