England 1 – The Lake District
pierreo July 22nd, 2010
I had often heard of the Lake District in England without ever knowing why it was so popular, or exactly where it was. When I made my plans to go to Ireland and realised that I would be finishing somewhere in the North of Ireland, I started to look for something to do in England on the way back South to the coast. The Lake District became the number one candidate and am I glad I stopped there.
From the very first sight of it, the drive from Ullswater to Windermere across the Kirkstone Pass, I was mesmerised by the scenery – I never expected the type of terrain and vegetation that I was seeing.
But I am getting ahead of myself. I need to link this back to the last entry in my Ireland series. I had taken an early ferry from Belfast to Stranrear in Scotland and therefore I needed to drive about 200 km South to the Lake District. It was an easy drive, a lot of it on motorways.
I finally arrived in Windermere and found the Rayrigg Villa where I had booked a room for three nights. As always, I received a very long and thorough introduction to the area and what I could expect to do while I was there from the host Wills - extremely helpful in every way. The best advice he gave me was the directions to the beginning of a short walk that leads to the top of a hill overlooking the whole area called Orrest Head. I immediately headed that way and spent the next two hours getting there (it only takes 15 minutes), looking around (90 minutes) and coming down (15 more!). It must be one of the best places for sunset in the area, unfortunately I was too early and did not want to wait until 9 PM when the sun would actually set.
Even on the way up to Orrest Head, I was taken by the view and could not resist a shot or three.
Such a typical English countryside, with the hills, trees and old fashion stone walls. Once at the top, the view gets even better, especially with spectacular clouds all around to increase the perspective in the distant hills.
Any direction I look is picture perfect. the South of the lake with Windermere and Bowness in the foreground.
