Lakes District, northern England

June 10

I am not sure if I have explained that we are travelling with Wayne, Shon’s cousin from Vernon, and his wife, Nancy.  Great travel companions!

Our drive from York to Keswick in our Volvo SUV was a rainy one.  We stopped in Richmond, a historic town in the northeast corner of the Yorkshire Dales.  We loved the castle ruins above the town but were not so happy with the parking ticket we received.  (Update:  We emailed the town council to say the parking signs for the 'free' parking were not clear for tourists and they agreed to waive our 25 pound - about $50 - fine.)

The town of Richmond from the castle tower

Richmond castle ruins from castle tower

Wow!  The Lakes District is incredibly gorgeous!  We are staying in an old stone building that has been made into different ‘flats’ – a perfect place as we make our own breakfasts and dinners here and eat out at lunch.  

Our Volvo and our 'cottage' building

Our first day here, we took a ‘launch’ (beautiful old wooden boat) across  Derwentwater  and hiked Cat Bells, a mild hike up a 1482’ summit.  I say ‘mild’ because here in the Lakes, everyone comes to ‘walk the fells’, the hills around here.  Cat Bells is one of the easiest fell walks but, to us, it was a challenge!  Nancy and I quit before the summit but it was still a good workout for us!    Once we were down, it was still quite a walk to the return launch so lunch was very late in Keswick – and boy, did it taste good!!

Nancy on Cats Bell looking down to Derwentwater (lake) where we started.

Shon, Wayne and Nancy - not at the summit yet!

Day 2, we explored south and southeast of Keswick – walked into Aira Force (force means waterfall in local dialect) by Ullswater Lake then had lunch in Windermere, had a walk by a river near the north top of Windermere Lake (mere means lake) and ate gingerbread from Sarah Nelson’s shop in Grasmere.  Sarah developed the recipe in the mid 1800s and the shop has been selling the same recipe’s treat ever since – yummy and VERY gingery!  All the towns/villages around here are delightful – full of stone homes and churches and pubs!  While driving from Ullswater to Windermere, we passed over the 1500’ Kirkstone summit on a single lane (but two way traffic) road lined with stone walls – stunning views and hairy driving but Shon was a great chauffeur. 

Aira Force (waterfall) by Ullswater (lake)

 Today, Day 3 here, we set off in pouring rain, to see Hadrian’s Wall, built by the Romans as the outer limits of their empire – they controlled all of England but not Scotland.  Luckily, the rain stopped soon after we left Keswick.   To get to the wall, we took a secondary highway that wound up and over the Pennine Range, a climb of 1900’.   Today, it was Wayne’s turn to navigate narrow, winding roads.  To our amazement, a cyclist almost beat us to the top (we had a photo stop) and another, almost our age, wasn’t far behind!  Also, we passed a covered wagon pulled by a horse (like a gypsy caravan)and it, too, arrived at the summit café – horse and driver both running up the hills!  We think these wagons are itinerant salesmen, not Romas, judging from the writing on them. There are highway signs occasionally alerting us to the possibility of coming across a horse and buggy around the next corner.  Incredibly expansive views of tundra-like surroundings from the top of the Pennines. 

Hadrian’s Wall with walls of Roman Housesteads Fort in foreground

Aerial shot of Housestead Roman Fort showing excavated parts - officers' quarters and central administration buildings in the middle; barracks in top right; communal latrines in bottom right.  More barracks would have been down the left side and lower right.

School class learning about life as a Roman soldier

Housesteads Fort, along Hadrian’s Wall, is a National Trust site, with the remnants of a Roman fort – stone foundations show where the buildings were and a film tells about daily life at the fort.  Very interesting.  The wall itself was a surprise as it is not even as high as a person – how could it keep people out?  It was situated on a ridge, though, so the Romans would have been able to see intruders arriving in the distance.  Next stop was Carlisle, a larger city near the Scottish border which has been attacked many times in history as the border was often under dispute.  We didn’t tour its castle but did enjoy its cathedral.

Other impressions of northern England – sparsely populated by humans but many, many sheep in paddocks.  The paddocks are all surrounded by low stone fences, some amazingly far up on the hillsides.  We even had sheep for company on our hike up Cat Bells.  Woodpigeons, larger than city pigeons, coo all around the area while bunnies run wild throughout the property where we are staying – I watched 11 young ones scurry down one hole tonight on my evening walk around the farm!  Wayne and Shon are doing a great job of driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road.

bunny by our cottage

In summary, we all fully understand why English people love to come to this area for their holidays – to trek, relax or learn about their country’s history.  Five days is not going to be enough to fully explore the Lakes District but we are doing our best!