The Lake District
So after a night’s accommodation in Manchester, where I discovered after some time that I was looking for a bar/restaurant in the Gay Village of Manchester, I joined the Rabbies tour driver, Stuart, and 6 others for a three-day trip to the Lake District, which I think I last visited about ten years ago, but very briefly.
I love Rabbies tours because they are very personal, with lots of stops, and heaps of chances to walk and explore some of the often slightly less visited scenic areas. The first was at Ambleside, a bustling tourist centre of attractive stone houses, housing either souvenirs, outdoor equipment, food or drinks. Apart from this, you can walk up through a lush forest to a gorgeous waterfall. I didn’t have lots of time, but am thrilled to have made it to the top.
Another Rabbie’s speciality is to take you off the beaten track on extremely skinny roads, often the skinnier the better! With a main pass closed due to a recent landslide, we set off up a very narrow road, 6 ft 6 wide. Perfect for Stuart, who negotiated the sharp, blind corners with ease! Above Windermere, we stopped to enjoy the extensive views of hills, lakes and thousands of miles of dry stone walls.
They must have taken millions of man hours of work to build them, not just along the road, but often reaching far up the hills to the peaks.
Our next stop was another waterfall walk, Aira Force (Foss meaning waterfall) and Gowbarrow Park. Once again, the majority of the group chose not to do the walk, but they missed a very pleasant and not too arduous a walk.
Not far along the winding road we stopped again, this time at the most beautifully situated Stone Circle, Castlerigg. This circle is believed to have been built 4500 years ago, making it older than Stonehenge.
As with most such circles, nobody can work out how they built them, but they were almost certainly used as a setting for ritual or ceremonial purposes.
Although it had been a long day of driving and walking, after dinner I desperately wanted to visit the lake , Derwentwater, at Keswick, where we had our accommodation for the two nights.
It was an absolutely glorious evening, still warm, and with no wind. It was unbelievably still. There weren’t too many people out and about, and those who were, were very chilled out! Of course, mostly with canine companion by their side. This dog sat motionless for ages. It looked as though his owner was reading to him!
Half an hour later, after I had savoured those tranquil moments by Derwentwater, I looked back to see this wonderful, inseparable couple still exactly where I had last seen them! What a friendship.
As the sun started to sink down behind the mountains ( about a thousand meters- hills?) , the rays lit up these fabulous, exposed, tree roots.
It was a mesmerising sight and the perfect end to a long, but wonderful day, a fabulous introduction to this lovely area.
I was so weary after more than 22,000 steps, many up hills to waterfalls!
Early next morning our first stop was at the very popular and picturesque village of Grasmere, famous for the fact that William Wordsworth lived and died there.
His grave, along with those of his wife and children were in a shady corner under an ash tree he had planted.
It was a very pretty church.
As we were there so early, there weren’t too many no massive queues for the very popular, social media frenzy gingerbread shop! Apparently, very tasty biscuits and chocolate. I opted for a very nice Arts and Crafts market. It was so frustrating that I couldn’t buy some of the excellent items they had for sale.
We had all booked the boat tour on Lake Windermere, a one- hour trip around the little islands in the lake. The guide was rather dreary, as was the weather, but luckily we had no rain and could sit outside on deck. Bowles’s, Windermere’s main town, was packed, or ‘rammed’ as the British say. I can’t cope with overcrowded pavements and people walking towards me focusing on phones rather than where they are going!
The highlight for me was our afternoon visits to two tarns, Hows and Blea. Getting to both of them involved, once again, unbelievably narrow, overgrown, one track lanes, and as I was sitting behind Stuart, it was occasionally scary stuff! But, well worth the heart stopping moments on tight corners! Tarn How’s was a very popular place, thus explaining why we had squeezed past so many on our quest to get there.
What a gorgeous place. I would have loved to walk around it, but we didn’t have time.
The road to the second tarn was even narrower in places and involved a fair bit of reversing!
The view across to a popular walking area, Langdale Pike, was even more beautiful with the masses of marsh orchids and wildflowers.
Stuart dropped four of us off here and drove to the pass ahead whilst we walked about 40 minutes through forest and past the tarn. It was fantastic.
Such a brilliant aspect of these small tours. A bus could never negotiate those tiny roads and wouldn’t be able to risk letting dozens loose in the middle of nowhere!
As we walked towards the pass, we could see our little white minivan in the distance.
The area reminded me a little of my walk in the Western highlands of Scotland - dramatic, with foreboding clouds which fortunately never dropped their heavy load.
The road, track, down from the pass was just as winding and narrow, but with more spots to manoeuvre.
Until we came face to face with one of the many local buses. We had no option other than to reverse a good half a mile with stone walls on both sides. I am pleased i didn’t have to do it!
Time flies on these trips, and yet it seemed ages since I had done my lovely walk to Derwentwater on the first evening ( we had seen and done so much in two days). Stuart had changed his plans so that we could go to Friars’ Crag early in the morning, thus avoiding a queue for what was considered one of the loveliest views in Britain! I don’t know who decides these things, though I must say, it was breathtaking.
We passed the boat hire ramps I had photographed on the first evening without clear skies and mountain peaks. Both times were spectacular, but seeing all the mountains clearly was stunning.
The lake was so calm, like glass , with not a breath of wind.
It didn’t matter in which direction you looked, it was magical.
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| And so our last day was spent weaving our way through the less touristy northern part of the Lake District. This meant far less traffic and an easier drive for Stuart. We were even able to safely stop more frequently for shots of the wonderful lakes and mountains. Actually, there is only one official lake, Bassentwaite Lake, the others being’meres’’, ‘waters’ or ‘tarns’! |
Everywhere you see the fascinating Hurdy sheep, which start their lives black and over two years become grey/white. They are bred for their wool, which is particularly hardy and good for carpets. Despite the many stone walls, the sheep are frequently along the roadside, adding yet another obstacle to the already challenged drivers.
One of the most beautiful passes took us to Honister Slate Mine, the last working Slate mine in England. Again, it would have been marvellous to have more time, but…… anyway, the twisting road up was brilliant, apparently not meant for minivans, and the view from the top was breathtaking.
In both directions! I raced up the slope to the left, but actually the best view was from down below,
Shortly after, we had another short walk to the Bowder Stone, a colossal chunk of rock which seems to defy gravity with such a narrow part of it in the ground.
I did walk through under the overhang, though I did stop momentarily to wonder whether after all the years the stone may topple over! No, it didn’t!
A pretty place, and very popular on another very warm day.
And so all good things must come to an end and we made our way back to Manchester. It had been a very good tour and we had seen so much and had the chance to get off the beaten track. Fabulous!
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