Lakes District and it's crazy roads!

We set off today to drive around the Lakes District and the first thing that comes to mind is crazy, narrow roads!


If you have driven around Gaston Gorge in Sydney, Jenolan Caves or Myall Lakes you still won’t get an exact picture of what these roads are like. These roads make them look like 4 laned highways! Nuts is all I can say. Many times we had to flip in our side mirrors to be able to fit 2 cars past and let me tell you seeing buses try and maneuver around some of these little roads, I have no idea how they did it.


We could honestly say that we went for a Sunday drive out in the country yesterday and it was delightful!


The scenery is filled with bright green paddocks set against hilly mountains, imagine a child’s drawing off hills and that is what it was like!Every now and then you would see a gushing waterfall cascading down the hills, joining into the beautiful large lakes nestled at the base. It was a little weird seeing such beautiful country side surrounding lakes; it seemed a little out of place.


The weather was cool. 10 degrees when we left and as we climbed high up in the mountains it grew colder and windier and it started to rain.


Now a sight to see is a beautiful winding country road that hugs the edges of vast mountains is a traffic jam or a half dozen Winnebago vans but it happened. Throw in a few sporty cars tearing up the roads, going way to fast for the twisting, tiny roads you could only imagine how many people had accidents along the drive?


Now we didn’t time our visit to well as it was a bank holiday long weekend and not only did we have tourists like ourselves but locals getting away fro a few days. Some of the beautiful little townships were so crowed with people we just drove right through them. It was like nothing I have ever seen and felt so out of place in these little towns. It was also funny to see the amount of people on the lake in canoes and kayaks given back home it would have been too cold for such outdoor activities but I guess the sun out and the temp steady on 10 -12 degrees was a fine day from a locals viewpoint!


Snaking in and out of the lakes and hills was hair-raising yet beautiful at the same time. The landscape would vary so quickly from lakes to rolling hills with sheer drops, once again that wow factor was back and you didn’t know which way to look first. We pulled over to let some maniac drivers pass and saw sheep crossing the road! At one stop we found a beautiful little cascade or babbling brook you could say. Once again the little townships were right along the road and some of them I felt I could literacy reach out and knock on their door as we drove past.


We picked up some English fish and chips in Windermere and drove down to the lake to eat it. I mentioned to Tom that we have eaten in front of many beautiful views of late. The food was good but greasy. The chippy shop owner was on for a chat and we made another friend.


We then drove on to Hill Top to see Beatrix Potter’s house. Wow, to think we were standing in her house and gardens were all her inspiration was born from for her books was pretty cool! I didn’t think her house would be so big! It was left as she had left it when she died. After she married she only wrote 4 more books, not feeling the need to escape into a happier place I think. She bought 14 farms around her farm and worked them all!! They are all held in a national trust. I felt like a child again during my visit.


We drove on home back to Carlisle as we had decided to stay another night. At 52 pounds it was a bargain! Once again we went to the Table Table restaurant affiliated with the hotel and once again had a yummy meal delivered by excellent staff. Last night we had Damien a sheep shearing snow instructor who was thinking of coming out to the snowy for work. I think we convinced him to. He gave some some great local tips and was always chatting with us.

He asked us where we were from I told him to guess, he narrowed it down to Australian and NZ, asking me to say the number 10 before he gave his final answer! It was a good night!


We went back to the hotel and booked accommodation for York and read some emails. We had decided to have a little sleep in in the morning as we were both tired and didn’t want to burn out just yet. We have realised we will need to have a quieter day here and there to keep our batteries charged, sanity in tact and marriage strong!!

No, we are not sick of each other yet and have been doing really well living in each others pockets. All I can say is thank god for sat nav…it has saved our marriage! I could only imagine the arguments we would have had if we didn’t have it to guide us to our next destination! I will put this out there to all who are thinking of doing a drive leg of a holiday. Don’t be tight and opt for the car without sat nav. What you save there you will pay in marriage counseling!!!

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Part of trip: Living The Dream

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