We've just returned from a week-long holiday in northern England's Lake District. What a beautiful region, filled with unspoiled lakes and mountains -- hands down the prettiest area we've seen in this country. We were unbelievably lucky to have had fantastic weather for the whole week -- not a drop of rain in 8 days! (The weather is so notoriously unpredictable there that we packed everything from t-shirts and shorts to long johns, gloves, and knit hats. We never needed anything heavier than windbreakers -- or as our English friends call them -- "windcheaters".) We hiked every day but one, and on that day we took a long drive over an incredible mountain pass to the shore of the Irish Sea. We took a LOT of photos throughout the week -- around every bend there was an "Oooh, look!" view. Here is a taste of our trip to the Lake District.
We stayed in the upstairs left-most apartment in this recently converted lakefront manor house. It was spacious and comfortable and gave us a great view across Lake Windermere.
On our first night in town, we went to the annual Torchlight parade in the nearby town of Kendal. It was a typical small-town parade; this one had lots of floats, bands, horses, old farm equipment, stilt-walkers and these cool large puppets.
Our first hike on the abundant public footpaths in the area was from the quaint town of Hawkshead to the Tarn Hows lakes.
We also stopped at Coniston Water lake.
Our second hike was one of the most rigorous -- from the Derwent Water lake up the Cat Bells peaks.
The steep climb was so worth it -- the views from the top were amazing.
The following day we did a long hike from the town of Keswick on the Derwent Water lake up into the forest.
From there we traversed along a ridge to the Castlerigg Stone Circle, which is considered to be one of the most impressive prehistoric monuments in Britain and is believed to be older than Stonehenge. The stones at Castlerigg were smaller than at Stonehenge, but we had it nearly all to ourselves and could walk right up to the stones -- something you can't do at Stonehenge.
The following day we set out to do a hike in the western lakes region, but we became so excited about the mountain pass drive that we abandoned our hike plans and just drove around instead. (My leg muscles thanked me later.) Our drive included the Hard Knott Pass, which was essentially a winding 12-mile single-lane road with two-way traffic -- thank goodness for the occasional pull-off to let people pass! Here's the view from the passenger seat:
The road had inclines of up to 30%. (We took a photo of this 20% grade sign, but I was too busy white-knuckling the arm rests to photograph the 30% sign!)
The views along the way were breathtaking.
You can see the narrow road winding back down the mountain in this photo:
At the top of the pass, you could look down to the west and see the sea -- that's it beyond the hills in the upper left of this photo:
so we decided to go there too. Along the way we saw a helicopter mountain rescue:
we explored an ancient Roman fort founded under Hadrian's rule in the 2nd Century:
and we stopped at another lake, called Wast Water.
This one had a more ominous feel, as the shore was dark rock and the far side of the lake was a 2000' sheer cliff of rock scree:
We finally made it to the Irish sea. It was such a contrast to go from that mountain pass to the sea in just a few miles.
The beach was mostly sandy (not just rocky like in Southern England) and remarkably wide. Those are people at the waterline in the distance:
The next day we hiked a loop from the town of Grasmere (known for being the home of the poet Wordsworth, and for it's gingerbread -- and we indulged!) to Rydal and back, around two lakes.
Our final hike of the trip was through the Grizedale Forest. Grizedale's trails are well known because the Forestry Commission has embedded sculptures along the way. It was fun to "discover" them as we walked.
Another feature of the hike was the portion of the trail that goes beneath a public ropes course. As we walked, there were people on zip lines:
and on rope bridges:
right over our heads. Wow! Because our apartment had a great kitchen, we cooked our own meals. But we did go out for one special dinner at Sharrow Bay restaurant on Ullswater Lake, where this was our view from the cocktail lounge. Nice!
It was a fantastic trip, and a vacation location I'd recommend to anyone. If you are interested, the full album of our photos from the trip is located here -- just click on the photo below to open.
We've just returned from a week-long holiday in northern England's Lake District. What a beautiful region, filled with unspoiled lakes and mountains -- hands down the prettiest area we've seen in this country. We were unbelievably lucky to have had fantastic weather for the whole week -- not a drop of rain in 8 days! (The weather is so notoriously unpredictable there that we packed everything from t-shirts and shorts to long johns, gloves, and knit hats. We never needed anything heavier than windbreakers -- or as our English friends call them -- "windcheaters".) We hiked every day but one, and on that day we took a long drive over an incredible mountain pass to the shore of the Irish Sea. We took a LOT of photos throughout the week -- around every bend there was an "Oooh, look!" view. Here is a taste of our trip to the Lake District. 
We stayed in the upstairs left-most apartment in this recently converted lakefront manor house. It was spacious and comfortable and gave us a great view across Lake Windermere. 
On our first night in town, we went to the annual Torchlight parade in the nearby town of Kendal. It was a typical small-town parade; this one had lots of floats, bands, horses, old farm equipment, stilt-walkers and these cool large puppets. 
Our first hike on the abundant public footpaths in the area was from the quaint town of Hawkshead to the Tarn Hows lakes. 
We also stopped at Coniston Water lake.
Our second hike was one of the most rigorous -- from the Derwent Water lake up the Cat Bells peaks. 
The steep climb was so worth it -- the views from the top were amazing. 
The following day we did a long hike from the town of Keswick on the Derwent Water lake up into the forest.
From there we traversed along a ridge to the Castlerigg Stone Circle, which is considered to be one of the most impressive prehistoric monuments in Britain and is believed to be older than Stonehenge. The stones at Castlerigg were smaller than at Stonehenge, but we had it nearly all to ourselves and could walk right up to the stones -- something you can't do at Stonehenge. 
The following day we set out to do a hike in the western lakes region, but we became so excited about the mountain pass drive that we abandoned our hike plans and just drove around instead. (My leg muscles thanked me later.) Our drive included the Hard Knott Pass, which was essentially a winding 12-mile single-lane road with two-way traffic -- thank goodness for the occasional pull-off to let people pass! Here's the view from the passenger seat: 
The beach was mostly sandy (not just rocky like in Southern England) and remarkably wide. Those are people at the waterline in the distance:
1 comments:
The Lakes look very cool.... Almost looks like a national park area
lots of hiking.....next stop the Alps?
-B
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