The Lakes District, England
January 21, 22, 23
The 3 1/2 hour train ride from Scotland to Windermere was “lovely”. There were lots of sheep grazing in rock enclosed fields, doing their job of mowing the grass . Eventually the rolling green fields turned to white. Our ears began to pop and we knew we were heading up high.
At first the train was uncrowded….then all of a sudden it was full... boy & girl scouts returning from a 48 hour tour of Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland….they were sweet and inquisitive about Americans. They had been camping in the light rain the entire weekend and were happy to be on their way back to their home, Wales. They asked if we were going there and since I had always wanted to go to the home of Dylan Thomas (Sr. Clement made me memorize Fern Hill in the 8Th grade), I was again surprised at how, even with the length of our trip, we couldn't fit it all in.
On the way to Windermere , we had to change trains at Oxenholme but we missed our train connection by one minute . We were shocked that they did not wait for us. It turns out there are many companies operating trains, including Virgin, the airline. All trains are given money compensation for leaving on time but arriving late doesn't seem to matter. We had to wait in Oxenholme for an hour. There was a lady waiting with us here with an old golden retriever.... dogs can travel on trains here.
Windermere is part of the Lake District of England. It is the home of Wordsworth as well as other romantic poets . Wordsworth's sister, who was a prose writer actually coined the phrase, "...a host of golden daffodils".
We stayed at Rosemount bed and breakfast
run by a self- professed communist, as least as far as health care was concerned.This place is nice and private, seeing as how we were the only people checked in. Here I had a deep tub for bubble baths and even a sitting room within our room so Gerard had a place to go if he should wake up in the middle of the night, as he sometimes does. Again, the English breakfast was not much to my liking but Gerard got into it.
Breakfast at Rosemount.
Here we are taking a long, expensive ride to the other side of Lake Windermere for a hike and a different vista of the lake. 10 minute ride for 50 pence, about $1.00. These fellows were on their bikes making the crossing to continue on one of the many bike paths . Along the way we met Mollie and David from Leeds. There were fully outfitted for walking in the wet grass with the added help of walking sticks. We also ran into them in the pub where Gerard was inspired to write a limerick....
Mollie and David from Leeds
Were walking in their English tweeds
DA DA DA DA DA
DA DA DA DA DA
And satisfied all of my needs
Of course by definition a limerick is salacious so you will need to fill in the DA Da's yourself since this is a PG blog.
Here we were introduced to the "Brandy Snug". A mixture of hot cocoa and brandy...tasted good after our hike in the crisp but sunny weather.
Those are snow capped mountains in the background. Otherwise, the hills are all green and dotted with sheep. The lake is peaceful and the lake side is full of swans.
On our walk we came across a fellow building a fence by putting up stakes and filling in between the stakes with pruning from nearby small trees....recycling
We then went out on the town, which is very hilly, lots of puffing back up to our b & b but it gets easier every trip.
Tea for Two, the lady actually said this... The local butcher shop which had the freshest looking merchandise. They also make meat pies which I sampled. These actually tasted good, which I was happy to find since I had become a fussy eater, not caring for the "bacon", sausage or eggs without black pepper...but the mushrooms that come with breakfasts are great.
It was cold and the tea shop was welcoming. Of course, all the streets are paved with these stones. Across the street from this tea shop was a church that had a listing of pastors going back to the 1400s. There had only been 19 pastors in that period of time. Their names were all listed...guess it was a great job, not too many transfers.
Beatrix Potter Land
Windermere is Beatrix Potterville. She moved here as an adult and lived out her life. At her death , she willed over 4000 acres to the English Land Trust. Luckily Miss Potter was showing at the local cinema here. Miss Potter was right up my alley. Gerard stayed home at the b & b and met me afterwards. It was a old fashioned movie house with about 100 seats. It was something I won't forget as the scenery in the movie was where we had hiked that day.
Here is a new monument in commemoration of Beatrix Potter's work. Renee Zellweiger had been here a couple months ago for the unveiling.
The townspeople, for the most part, seemed to care less that we were there. This was a change from Ireland, where people reached out to us. This ia a well to do area, almost entirely relying upon tourist dollars. We checked the listings in the windows of real estate offices and most of the properties were, at a minimum ,in the 7 figure range.
We only saw a small part of this district, but what we did see was truly beautiful.
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