England 1 – The Lake District

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.

This is the place for another panorama – I know that it is sometimes difficult to see properly in the blog, but it is the only way to really show what this place looks like – so here is a 360 degree panorama of Orrest Head!

The light kept changing and the surface water of the Mere changed color and shape.  There was occasionally a strange set of ripples on the lake which I was not able to explain (Windermere Monster?) – unfortunately the photo does not capture these very well…

More typical English countryside – sheep, stone walls, clouds and water.  In this case, not falling from the sky but already on the ground.

There are several marinas near Windermere and Bowness.  I am not sure how far you can go, other than back and forth in this one lake, but it would be a nice place for a two or three day sail at least.

Before long (if you consider that spending 90 minutes on one spot is not long) it was time for me to come back down for dinner.  On the way, I could not help admiring some of the gardens and houses in the waning sunlight.

The next day, I had decided to explore Windermere (the ‘lake’) by land and water.  I started by walking down from Windermere (the town) towards Bowness-on-Windermere (the full name, even though I will generally use Bowness in this post) and discovered this view of the local church.

On the lake, you get an immediate impression of the history of this place.  The boats which ply the lake were built over 80 years ago and were originally steam-powered.

Even the smaller boats, used for private parties or shorter crossings, are vintage here.

I took the first boat to Ambelside Pier and from there, a smaller boat just like the one above to Wray Castle.

On the way to Ambleside, we were entertained by a water skier who seemed to be quite good.  I took me a lot of attempts to get the combination of splash, man and boat just right!

There are beautiful villas along the way, some of them more of the mansion variety, built by wealthy professionals or merchants from Liverpool or Manchester.

Another example of lake architecture – this is a copy of Victorian architecture built in the early 1900.

Wray Castle is a modern (a little over 100 years) copy of a medieval castle built for a wealthy doctor from Liverpool.  I did not stop to visit it as I was on my way along to lake to Ferry House, about a 2.5 hour walk at a leisurely pace.

Two and a half hours of these!

The boats continue to go back and forth offering more opportunities to view them with the spectacular background.

While I was walking, I was regularly buzzed by fighter jets – they looked like Harrier  ‘jump-jets’ to my untrained eye.  However, occasionally, the sound would be quite different and a WWII fighter would fly across.  I missed the first few passages, but did manage one reasonable shot.  They make the most wonderful growl!

From Ferry House, I took the Windermere Road Ferry back to Bowness (as I arrived ten minutes too late for the Windermere Cruise shuttle and there is only one of those every 90 minutes) and walked back to Bowness for lunch.  I took advantage of my “all day pass” to take the next boat to the Southern end of the lake at Lakeside.  On the way, more mansions (this is now a hotel).

Lakeside is where the original railroad first arrived in the Lake District.  Many Victorian and later tourist had their first glimpse at the Lake District from here.  The switch house near the docks is a throwback to that time, with large manual levers to operate the switches.

There is an opportunity to re-live this era with a short trip on a steam powered train.

Just like the people above, I was also fascinated by the ‘cockpit’ of the train, where the engineer sits (Yes, the original name of my profession was reserved for people operating an engine!)

If you sit on the train, you cannot take pictures of it as it leaves the station, hence …

I missed the train, but did not miss the pictures! Another sound that we do not hear any more but that was so meaningful less than 100 years ago.

I was able to get the boat back towards Bowness as soon as the train left.  I get another opportunity to see another one of the vintage cruisers which match so well with the scenery and atmosphere.

Day two and I am going further a-field.  First I decide to drive back across Kirkstone pass to take the pictures which I did not on the first day.

A very different environment than the lakeside of yesterday, but we are only 10 km away from the lake…

The road towards Ambleside and the northern end of Windermere.

Back down to Ullswater

Than off to a stone circle older than Stonehenge!  Another discovery I was not expecting when I decided to stay in this area.  The Castlerigg stone circle is near Keswick and is probably the best situated circle in the area.  Not easy to find though, but well worth the effort once you get there.

These stones are not worked to the same level as those at Stonehenge – they are just left in their natural state, but carefully assembled into a near perfect circle.  the view all around is worth the trip too.

On the other side of Keswick there is an area where Ospreys have made a new apparition after completely disappearing from England.  One couple has been breeding in the hills above Bassenthwaite Lake for over ten years.  The walk up to the observation area goes through a forest, on the side of a small river – this almost reminds me of the Ardennes in Belgium.

I was lucky enough to capture the female coming back into the nest after going out to feed.  I am told it is the female as at this distance, I am not able to tell.  While she was away, the male sat on the nest and the eggs.  they are only a week or so from hatching, I was told.  If you cannot tell where the nest is on the first photo, do not despair, it will all become obvious with the second one.

These are just four shots of a sequence of 10 that I took just as she was coming back.

A picture of Bassenswaith Lake on the way back down the hill.  that is where my car is parked, so it was quite a climb to get to the area from which you can see the nest.

Before heading back to Windermere, I made a stop at Grassmere.  This was once the home of William Wordsworth and I can say that he had good tastes when it came to choosing a place to live!  Another short walk along the lake brought me to more nice vistas.

Quite a nice way to complete my stay in the Lake District.

Next, off to Brighton for one night – but you already know that…

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Winderemere Lake Cruises

http://www.windermere-lakecruises.co.uk/

They have many different formulae for enjoying the lake and all that is around it.  One particularly interesting is their Friday Special where you can get a Whole Day ticket (valid 24 hours) at a significant discount if you buy it before Friday 10:30.  Taking these boats to travel around the lake is easier and more relaxing than trying to drive on the narrow roads – and there are no parking problems.

Rayrigg Villais a great place to stop in order to visit the Lake District. Wills is a great host with a lot of very useful information on the area.  the location at the center of Windermere is also hard to beat.  Definitely something I would do again if I decide to return to this area.

While in Windermere, I ate at Giotto’s which is a really good Italian restaurant on Birch street.  I had dinner at the Lighthouse restaurant on Main Road and Lazy Daisie’s on Crescent Road.  All have outdoor eating when the weather is good enough (and it was when I was there) and offer good food for the money.

The Lake District Osprey Projectis well worth a visit.  The headquarters are near Keswick, in Whinlatter while the viewpoint is on the other side of the lake in Dodd Woods.  The Facebook page indicated that the chicks did hatch in June as anticipated and are doing well.

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