The Lake District - Episode 2

Monday 5 August
I woke just on first light but stayed in bed till about 5:30am.

We backed up photos and did a bit more blog writing then went down to breakfast at 8:30am. Sue had confirmed that our tour today would pick us up at May Cottage rather than the Windermere Information Centre which was a good thing because we would have had to walk 2 miles in the pouring rain to get there. The time of our pick up on the booking email was 9:45am.

We packed ourselves up for the day and went to the front door in time when Sue suddenly realised that the time they had told her was not 9:45.  So a few phone calls from both Sue and I eventually confirmed that there was a mistake on the original email and that we would be picked up at 11:45.

This then gave us time to fill. Elaine went for a walk in the rain while I completed the next blog entry and some more patchwork.

We were collected at about 12 noon then finished picking up others and swaping our leaky bus before we headed out in very heavy rain for our Beatrix Potter and Hill Top Farm tour. We've decided the tour description should be rewritten.

We started at Ambleside and drove to Wray Castle where we were not allowed inside anyway and had two minutes to hop out of the bus to take a photo of the front door. We then bypassed Hawkeshead and continued on to Hill Top Farm where we were allowed about 10 minutes inside the house itself. Luckily we got in for free as we are members of the National Trust of Australia but others had to pay GBP8.50 for this visit where the interior was so dark that you could not actually see anything properly anyway. No photos were allowed inside the house either. We then drove back into Hawkeshead and this little village made the whole trip worthwhile. Unfortunately we only had half an hour here but we were able to get inside the parish church (St Michael and All Angels) by ourselves. We also loved the magic little village and bought ice cream for now and some biscuits and vegie crisps for later.

Hawkeshead Village

On then to Coniston wharf and had a cruise on Coniston Water. We got off at Brantwood again with no time to go in. Our last actual stop was at Tarn Hows where we loved the views. Again we only had a 10 minute stop and could have had much longer. It would have been nice to do a bit of a walk and get closer to the water lilies we could see in the distance. On the way back we did a brief stop for a photo outside Yew Tree Farm which was the house used for the filming of Miss Potter.

Tarn Hows

Most of the tour was done along very narrow country lanes flanked by grey dry stone walls which would be very unforgiving if you scraped your car. We even saw Herdwick Sheep that are quite an unusual breed.

We arrived back home by about 5pm for a debrief of the day having confirmed that our Friday tour with the same company will pick us up at May Cottage at 9am. We spent a bit of time spreading rain gear around to dry then headed out for our dinner at the Carvery again. The wine put me straight to sleep for a nanna nap when we got back, waking later to get into pjs then going straight back to sleep, much to Elaine's disgust.

Tuesday 6 August
Up at a civilized hour for me (6:30am) for email and phone catch up before breakfast then straight off to Bowness Pier for a cruise south on Lake Windermere. When we arrived at the other end, not only did we easily find the Lakeside Aquarium we were heading for but also a steam train ride on the Lakeside-Haverthwaight Railway.

As the train was about to come we decided to do that first. Some pretty scenery with a fast flowing river glimpsed through trees, small stone and iron bridges over the line, farm houses and small hamlets. There was the delightfully restored Haverthwaight station at the far end and Newby Bridge Halt along the way.

The aquarium was quite comprehensive for its size. Unfortunately we missed the otter feeding time so did not see any. However, the diversity of other marine and fresh-water creatures was amazing. Things I had only ever read about!

Once we had finished in the aquarium we decided to join the very long queue for the boat trip back up the lake. When we arrived at Bowness we took Sue's suggestion to walk the long way home following a bramble-lined footpath round the bay and back past the cemetery. We then enjoyed a cuppa while we spent time discussing plans for the next few days to fit everything in on appropriate days for local activities. This led to leaflets strewn over both beds. Diary writing followed as well as a bit more account balancing.

The delightful May Cottage where we are staying in one of the back top bedrooms
overlooking the lake and Bowness Pier.

Dinner at the Carvery again. At least our dinners are different every night and only around GBP 5 each. Some of our tours and entries have been rather expensive.

Tonight we were both able to stay awake watching TV until 9:30! We watched a fascinating documentary called "The Kids with no Memory".