We went down for breakfast earlier this morning so we could avoid the rush and it paid off…although we heard several,other people saying the same thing! In any case we were on the road out of Liverpool before 9 o’clock and headed North. We had one detour out to the coast for a brief visit in the seaside town of Morecambe, the sole reason to see the statue and memorial that the town have set up to honor Eric Morecambe (one half of the comedy duo, Morecambe and Wise) I’d never really been a fan but Neil had grown up watching and loving their TV show, so of course we had to stop by. I was really impressed, as I’d only expected the statue but below it is a large forecourt filled with his famous quips and sayings, Neil really enjoyed going around and reading them all, brought back happy memories!
it only took another 30 minutes or so from here until we entered the southern end of the Lake District, driving first through the town of Windermere which lies on the shore of its namesake lake. The Lake District National Park is the largest in England and is famous for its high fells (bare hills and mountains), its many beautiful lakes , its quaint towns and its literary connections – it was the home of Beatrix Potter and William Wordsworth. It’s an area that I have been very keen to visit so I was particularly pleased that we’d arrived on another lovely sunny day. We stopped at Waterhead, a tiny town on the northern tip of Lake Windermere to take in the sights. There is a jetty here where small steamer boats take sightseeers and hikers to other points on the lake, and we sat on a lakeside cafe to have a coffee and enjoy the view.
a short walk along the shore we also took a look at the remains of Ambleside Roman Fort, they weren’t as large or as extensive as the ones we’d seen at Wroxeter but they had a prettier location!
back on the road we drive through Ambleside, one of the major tourist towns, very very cute. We didn’t stop as it was packed to the rafters with people, and this was a Monday before peak season. I’ve heard the Lakes towns are almost impossible to get into and around in August. We drove through and detoured up a narrow , steep road to Kirkstone Pass. As we drove up and over we started to see the magnificent fell views that the district is famous for. Like Snowdonia, the area is crisscrossed by miles and miles of grey stone walls, and there are sheep everywhere.
We drove over the pass and down to Glenridding, another quaint little village on Ullswater. We stopped and walked out to the lake to see their steamer dock. Lots of people were enjoying the day on the pebbly beach, some canoeing on the lake. Back in the town we stopped to have a pork pie for lunch and I bought some Kendal Mint Cake, the world’s first energy bar . It was invented in Kendal in the southern lakes area and is pretty much pure sugar flavored strongly of peppermint. It’s a favorite of mountain climbers as it provides easy to digest energy and the strong peppermint flavor helps as high altitude dulls taste buds. It basically tastes like the inside of an after dinner mint!
We drove around the lake and stopped to do a short climbing walk up to see Aira Force (waterfall), Force derives from an old Norse word, “Fors”, meaning waterfall and it seems that it’s widely used in the north of England . In a pretty woodland area the Aira Beck winds down to the lake. The falls have little stone bridges across at bottom and top, very pretty.
We were now headed towards Keswick, the northern lakes town where we’ll spend the next two nights but on the way we stopped to see Castlerigg Stone Circle. This circle of 38 standing stones is one of the oldest in Britain, it’s been dated back to between 4000 and 5000 years old , and has the most picturesque location high on a hilltop. There were several people there, and interestingly everyone was very quiet. The place had that effect on you!
Finally we arrived in Keswick, and after a brief stop at the Co-op to buy some supplies we checked in to the Highfield Hotel. It’s in a gracious old tall Victorian building which overlooks the small gold course and looks across to Derwentwater. If booked us a roo. With a balcony and we sat out there and enjoyed some chips and drinks and the view. The sun was so hot I pulled out my umbrella ! It was fun watching the varying abilities of the people in the golf course below us, it’s very much a fun course, no serious golfers here.
We only have a short walk from here into the town, it was very busy still but we found a table in a small pub for dinner, very tasty Chili Con Carne.
Tomorrow we have plans to enjoy the northern end of the Lakes.