The Lake District - Episode 4

Thursday 8 August
A relative sleep in this morning. Breakfast, then off on our Keswick adventure. A bus ride north took us well into the more mountainous regions of the Lake District. We changed buses at Grassmere then on into Keswick.

Views from the bus on the way to Keswick.

The pumping station that pumps water from Thirlmere (actually a dam) to Manchester for drinking water.

Our first stop was the Cumberland Pencil Museum, makers of Derwent pencils, invented by the factory on Derwent Water. There were comprehensive displays of the making of their various pencils and of the history of pencil making which started in the Keswick area. We were even given a souvenir pencil as part of our entry. I bought a great travelling pencil pouch and a couple of new art erasers as mine are now making dirty smudges when I use them. There was a short film about how the spy map pencils were made during WW2. The little museum was great!

As it was market day in Keswick we strolled through the market stalls and followed with a visit to a very poor dinosaur museum. At least I got to stroke a tiny Screech Owl.

Our next stop was the Puzzling Place - an active museum of illusions and puzzles. We spent a long time there and were quite fascinated with all the illusions.

Off to Booths at the bus stop to find gluten free meuslie for Elaine then on to a bus to head south again We asked a local about getting to the stone circle but directions were too vague to take on.

As we had plenty of time we got off at Rydal and visited one of Wordsworth's homes and garden at Rydal Mount. At least this home was reasonably lit! The garden was beautiful. There are lots of hydrangeas in this part of England with very rich and different colours, especially a deep pink and a rich vivid blue. I wonder if it is genetics or the soil?

On to the bus again down to Bowness where we bought an ice cream and headed for home.

Dinner at the Carvery was followed by a wine on the verandah of the Belsield Hotel waiting for Sue. Such a beautiful place to sit overlooking the lake and watching the sun set. Thursday must be practice night for the church bell ringers as we were privaleged to be immersed in the beautiful peels. So English!

Unfortunately Sue could not join us as she had a call to collect her son but we did enjoy the relaxed evening in the summer dusk. She eventually came up to our room to unwind a bit and sat for a chat. Today we only accomplished 9500 steps.

Friday 9 August
Today was another booked tour so we were picked up at our B&B at 9am and headed to the other pickups. Eight passengers in all.

Our last pickup was at Ambleside and we took the shortest route up to the Kirkstone Pass which just happened to be The Struggle. I was thrilled that this was the choice of road as I'd seen it on various documentaries and it was amazing - very steep and windy and narrow.

Up The Struggle in the rain

The view from the top of Kirkstone Pass.

 We continued through stunning countryside and along Ullswater to Penrith then took the M6 north to Carlisle. From there we headed east to Brampton to look at the red sandstone St Martin's Church with beautifully painted stained-glass windows. It also had a stunning timber vaulted ceiling.

St Martin's Church, Brampton

 Our next stop was the Lanercost Priory. Elaine and I only went into the church itself. The building complex was again red sandstone and the church roof was very high.

Lanercost Priory church

Lanercost Priory

 Then to our focus for the day - Hadrian's Wall. We stopped at a few places to actually touch the wall then visited the Roman Army Museum. This had great displays and a 3D movie about life for the centurians at the time. However, I was disappointed that we did not see Vindolanda, the large Roman fort that is now an archaeological dig.

Tower on Hadrians Wall

Tiny mushroom in a tree at the Roman Army Museum.

Hadrian's Wall

The driver saw my disappointment and the next thing we were driving down a very narrow country lane past the Crindledykes Limekiln with its fascinating stonework then to a stop where we could see Vindolanda in the distance.

Crindledykes Limekiln

Vindolana Roman ruins

 During all this Roman experience I started chatting to Lillie and husband Guy from New Jersey (USA) whose camera had just run out of battery. So I offered to email her mine and that started even more dhat during the afternoon about plants, teaching and experiences in The Lakes. We all agreed that the Beatrix Potter tour was not good.

Our bus then turned for home via some more delightful views towards Alston. But the most impressive views were from Hartside Summit where we could see the Lake District mountains and the Solway to the north.

View from Hartside Summit

Then we had a steep descent into Penrith and stopped at Rheged at the driver's insistence. This seemed to just be an upmarket motorway service stop with a grass roof. However, I did have a Luscombe's Elderflower drink which was delicious.

Then followed some choice about which route to take home. When I realised that it could take us very close to the stone circle we did not get to yesterday I mentioned this fact and the driver obliged and took us there. That magical experience just topped off a great day. The stones are not as big as others we'll see in the south but the views of the stones in the foreground of such magnificent scenery was certainly a wonderful way to end our time in the Lake District.

Lillie and Guy

Lillie, Guy and Elaine

Off to the Carvery for a quick dinner then back to our room to catch up on diary and start packing ready to leave tomorrow.