Day 72 Windermere, Lake District

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With Rob and Mary’s generosity we left with Mary’s Mercedes-Benz convertible for the Lake District. Speed along the Motorways was constantly high and even at 70mph and a few times 80mph many vehicles flashed past.

We made for the southern end of Lake Windermere before following its eastern shore north to the town of Windermere. We had stopped on its shores about 5km before the actual town for a brief wander before arriving at our accommodation at Holly Lodge B&B. Our welcome was very warm and friendly and we were shown to our luxurious room. Another accommodation winner. It was so comfortable that we both fell asleep for a couple of hours.

After very briefly wandering the main street we headed off to explore the environment. Now, the Lake District is world renowned for its magnificent scenery of rugged mountains for hikers, canoeing on the many kilometres of lakes, kayaking on rapid streams and many other outdoor pursuits for those so inclined. However, for the driver it is stressful. The roads are very windy and enclosed by road hugging stone walls, covered at times with vegetation, forest as well as the houses of the small villages built right to the roads edge, not to mention the crazy drivers who speed along, cutting corners as well as sitting on one’s rear end, all make for seeing the scenery by the driver a non-event. There are very few opportunities to pull over to let the crazies pass until one reaches a small village.

We drove from Windermere to Ambleside at the northern end of Lake Windermere before heading to Coniston on Coniston Water (lake), following it down to Torver until Lowick before retracing out treads to Coniston and cutting through to Hawkeshead onto the ferry terminal at Sawrey where we looked across the lake to where we were earlier in the morning. We knew the ferry was not operating. We wandered, took a few photos and reminisced as we had last been here in 1984, 34 years ago! We headed back to Hawkeshead before using a different route to return to Windermere 3 hours later. I was pretty knackered from the driving as it did required concentration for every nanosecond.

We didn’t waste much time in finding a great restaurant and with a table on the first floor beside an open balcony and a cooling gentle breeze we enjoyed a more than satisfying dinner. A slow, discovery walk of the surrounds followed. We watched the sun set at approx. 10pm. Yes, that late.

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