On our third day in England, we drove to Windermere in the Lake District. We didn’t have much of a plan about where to go, so we picked Windermere on the recommendation of the hotel manager in Moreton-in-Marsh. We were not disappointed. Our hotel/B&B was a little impersonal and not as nice as the Redesdale Arms, but it was also a lot cheaper. Our room was in the attic and our “windows” were really skylights. I’m too short to look out, but I am sure the view was very nice. The room was also HUGE and the bathroom was also huge so lots of space for Fi to spread out.
The weather was not so great, though. It rained most of the time we were there. Windermere is basically a tourist town, although it was not very crowded. We walked up to Orrest Head, which was a nice little hike, and drove up the valley to Keswick, stopping in Grasmere on the way back so I could go to Wordsworth’s grave. We had a really nice little soup and tea break at a cafe next to the cemetery after all the coach tours left.
“Downtown” Windermere:
Luckily, we brought raincoats and umbrellas:
The hike up to Orrest Head:
Wordworth’s grave, and a bridge:
Fi playing in the lounge and lining up dominos:
Every trip we take, Fi learns how to do something new. On this trip, she figured out how to button her own cardigan and butter (and spread jam on) her own toast:
The second skill was especially important considering we had scones with jam and butter almost every day.
Warming up in my jacket, just before delicious soup arrived:
Paddington Bear:
And so, we bid adieu to the Lake District and England, and made our way to Scotland, with a stop at Carlyle and its very old castle. Many towns these days have blocked off streets and made them pedestrian ways, and Carlyle was no exception. It’s really nice to be able to walk around and to let Fi run around without fear of her being hit by motor vehicles. We had a nice little lunch and visited the castle. There were very few people there, so it felt like we had the place to ourselves, another theme of this trip.
Carlyle is interesting because it is considered a border town and was the site of many battles between England and Scotland. The castle keep dates back to the 1000s. The city has a university and looks like an ordinary city. There weren’t many tourists around, and we liked that.
This building is almost 1000 years old.
Some stones in the tunnel that runs under the road to get to the castle:
Actually, it was one stone and I took photos of several sides. I have no idea what it actually says, but if you looks at the third photo, you can see that it says “I curse thaim (I curse them)” so I’m thinking someone was not happy when they wrote whatever it is that is quoted there.
The rain held out until we were back in the car, and we drove to Glasgow and the Scottish Highlands, where we spent the next week or so. I will write about that in the next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment