The Lake District II - England Part Four

Thursday 19 May 2016

One of the things I told Peter I really wanted to do was a hike in the Lake District.  So we looked one up Wednesday night and got up early Thursday morning to do it.

Goslings are so cute!

We saw these huge black slugs all over!

There were sheep on either side of some of paths we took, and there would be gates set up in various places that we had to close behind us.

This is one of those passing places I was telling you about earlier - do you see how much (or how little) space they give you? I don't even think that's 3 feet.

After our hike, we went back to our B&B to get breakfast.  Then we headed down to Bowness-on-Windermere.  We were able to get on a boat that went up to Ambleside and back.  This was another tender mercy moment.  While we were waiting for the boat, I needed to go to the bathroom, but by the time I got back there were no good seats left, so we decided to wait for the next one.  We wandered Bowness a bit, and when we came back for the next boat, we discovered it was cooler than the boat we were originally going to get on, and we got seats on top at the front.

This let me get better pictures, but it was quite cold and windy, so we went inside.

They sold hot chocolate inside, which helped warm us up.

Our Boat, The Swan

After we got off the boat, I tried my first fish and chips!  Yum!  Peter doesn't like seafood, so he got more pasties.

A Pretty Church in Bowness that contains George Washington's family coat of arms.

Next we took a ferry across the Mere so we could go to Beatrix Potter's house.

It was cute, but I'm not sure going inside was really worth it.

Peter, bless his heart, as tired as he was, drove me all the way out to this house that was supposed to have an awesome view.  I'm sure the view would have been excellent, if it hadn't been so foggy.

We decided not to pay to go in the house and grounds, and instead went back to Ambleside.  We'd made reservations at a restaurant called Lucy's on a Plate that my coworker had told me about.  They print their menus every day, and they include a little newslater.  They included our names in the newsletter, but unfortunately I'd just said my name and asked for a table for two, so they didn't know to put us down as a couple and just said "the Jessica twosome".  I felt a little silly for not saying something like "my husband Peter and I..." since I knew they did this little menu thing.  But it was a cute place.  Peter's food was okay, but mine was very good.  And this is where I got to try sticky toffee pudding - it was HEAVENLY. 

The Lake District I - England Part Three

Wednesday 

18 May 

2016

We got up fairly early on Wednesday and took a scenic route (suggested to us by the kindly neighbor) through Lake District over to Windermere.  This drive was gorgeous.

 So be prepared for a ton of pictures.

There were a lot of lambs the whole time we were in England, and they were super cute!

We saw a neat staircase cut into the side of this hill.

We were on a single-lane, two-way road, and these "passing place"s gave you maybe 3ft extra to let cars around you.  They were tiny.

We were told we should look for Ashness Bridge, so we stopped there to take some pictures.  While there, we saw there was a short climb up to surprise point.  We started hiking it, but I was worried because we hadn't paid to leave our car parked long enough, so Peter went back and got the car so I wouldn't have to worry (he's sweet like that).

I let Peter carry the camera to Ashness Bridge - hence all the random pictures of me.

On Ashness Bridge

These were lambs I saw on the way up to Surprise Point.

At the top of Surprise Point I was able to send pictures to our families because I suddenly randomly had data.

The View from Surprise Point

Next we stopped in Keswick (pronounced Kessick), which was a cute little town Peter remembered liking from His mission.

We got Cornish Pasties here, which tasted AMAZING.  They were one of my favorite foods of the whole trip.  They are like portable shepherds pies - basically savory pastries filled with gravy, meat, and veggies.

We wandered Keswick for a bit and did some shopping; then we drove on into Windermere.  This was our B&B, the Hilton House.

 We weren't able to check in immediately, so we wandered into town.  We were a little surprised - we didn't feel like Windermere was as cute as Keswick.  

Our room once we checked in was lovely, although the wifi was rubbish.

I was restless, so we went back up to Ambleside and wandered around a park near the Mere.  It had some ruins from a Roman Fort there, which was rather interesting.

I took so many pictures I split the Lake District into two posts.