Oct 21, 2012 - Lake District

Now it was the trip to Lake District! The biggest lakes and highest mountains in England. I went on this trip by myself but quickly made friends with a German girl named Laura. So we stuck together for the day. We first went to Low Sizergh Barn. Laura and I decided to go in the tearoom for a scone and tea. I tried some peppermint tea. Pretty good. After that we looked around in the shop and such. After a short while there we were off to Windermere. Usually, the lake district is very rainy but today we were in luck as it was a very gorgeous...

Sep 26, 2010 - Leisurely Lakes

At last after a month of looking at the BBC forecast, it finally displayed full sun shine for Cumbria. My little Renault, sat nav and Celtic CD collection all became friends on the 1.5 hour drive north. I was impressed that a large percent of the journey was on a three laned motorway. It amazes me to come cross areas that fully cover my Nav Man with lines depicting complex series of overpasses and massive round-a-bouts. Unlike the houses over here that are frequently lacking a number the motorways are well marked, which is assuming that you...

May 3, 2007 - Windermere - the Lake District

Windermere is gorgeous, and very peaceful. My hostel is amazing, although it's quite and not very busy at the moment. I have some strange occurrences in town today, though. Some weird man on the bus tried to get me to meet him at the train station at 11pm...he also tried speaking to me in mandarin, then tried to get my number. He was a little odd, but not scary and left me alone after I gave off my "I'm not interested...ever!" vibe. Then, a swan tried to steal a bite of my ice cream cone. And finally, as I was leaving Queen Adelaide's Hill,...

Sep 25, 2006 - A weekend in Windermere

My mom was just over for a two week visit - we met up with her in Amsterdam then she came to stay with us in Edinburgh. In addition to her comprehensive tour of Edinburgh and surrounding area, we took a trip... The first weekend of my mom's visit we rented a car and went down to the Lake District in England...Cumbria if you know England by region. Mom had last been to the Lakes about 40 years ago and we figured we should go and see if they were as beautiful as she remembered them. Full points to mom on this one - the Lake District...

Jun 25, 2006 - Day Five of the Road Trip - Bangor to Carlisle

Day Five - Bangor to Carlisle in England. Well we have arrived back in England for a night, ready to venture onto Scotland tomorrow. Staying at a nice guest house we chilled out (yet again) with a few drinks after another big day. On our way we stopped off in Liverpool...The birthplace of the Beatles (my mum's a huge fan and couldn't come to England and not visit this place). We visited the Beatles museum and shop and then took a Beatles tour, riding on the same bus they used on their Mystery Magic Tour way back in the ages. Liz was like a...

Mar 16, 2006 - The Lake District

Hi everyone!! After leaving the Cotswolds, I took a train (actually a few trains) up to the Lake District and stayed in the little town of Keswick (pronounced Kes-ick). The Lake District is up in the northern part of England and its landscape looks much like parts of the U.S.; lots of nearby mountains and lakes. This area is known for its slate and is where the pencil was invented (I know you are going to be very disappointed to know that I didn't go to the pencil museum). It is also apparent that the main pastime here is hiking. Nearly...

Nov 20, 2005 - So Thankful!

Really quickly, let me give you the details of the weekend. I went to the Lake District... to three cute little towns -- Windermere, Bowness, and Ambleside (see the map on the front page of the trip journal). Shona and I left Friday and stayed two nights at a bed and breakfast in Windermere. We basically spent the whole weekend hiking, looking in little shops and just relaxing. The pictures pretty much tell it all. The area is beautiful with a mixture of mountains, farmland and lakes (obviously, that's why it's called the 'Lake District')....

Oct 7, 2005 - The Lake District

Yet another misty day, cool (around 13C) but quite acceptably pleasant. We arrived in Ambleside around 2pm and settled into our B&B. Then headed up to the village to wander around for a hour or two. A lovely place where the streets are narrow and the footpaths even narrower! Booked into a restaurant and movie package. The restaurant is a vegetarian one so it will be a change from the masses of meat one gets with English breakfasts. The movie is a new one that has just opened - Kinky Boots. If those of you in Oz and NZ haven't heard about it...

Jul 31, 2005 - Damn public transport does not like me!

I had an awesome hike this morning up to Orrest Head, with a great view of the villages of Windermere and Bowness down below, as well as the whole of the lake, and the mountains further away. I sat and enjoyed the view from the top for awhile and what do you know, starting chatting with an old man! Seriously, I'm starting to get concerned about this....anyways, he was a local man and had lots of great stories about the area and its history. Beatrix Potter lived in the area and I guess she was an old bat! His father used to deliver groceries...

May 11, 2005 - Haggis Full Monty UK Tour Day 3

Back in England and the town of Chester was our first stop. Another old Roman town with the city enclosed within a wall. Most of the buildings in the main strip are original old Tudor style and look nice, even if they are all shops now. Kenny's taste in music is much like mine so I've been really happy with the tunes. Today I heard a song I knew but it took a while to name the wobbly headed singer, Dave Grey. Thanks Kaz. Windermere Lakes were next. We all hired some boat and rowed out to a couple of island where I enjoyed a tasty beverage...

Feb 15, 2005 - Building a website and travel hiccups

This web site has been a long time in development, Ellen even went on a course to help design and build websites. Two attempts at using a web build site ran into problems, so were abandoned. An attempt to go it alone was given up as numerous pieces of information disappeared into the ether never to return. Then the easy job of booking tickets are cited below!!! Round the world tickets: There are many different types of "Round the world" tickets, some have a mileage allowance, others have alliances with certain airlines, and all have...

Sep 12, 2004 - The Lake District

After spending the night at my cousins house in Bedfordshire and a good hearty Sunday Roast I headed for the Lake District and when I arrived it was dark and raining which wouldn't have been a problem normally, except that the hostel that I booked into was a couple of miles out of Ambleside. The directions read ok but actually where impossible to follow, mainly because the road the hostel was on was so small that it didn't warrant a name. But I finally found the place which was an old Victorian manor house and was very nice. The next day I...