Ring Around the Country, Part 12

Sunday - Thursday, June 17-21, 2018 - The Lake District

Sunday

We left Carlisle, going southwest into the Lake District National Park. This is a walker/hiker heaven. There are marked trails and paths EVERWHERE!

 We started at Aira Force. This is a 2.5 mile round trip up to several falls along this stream.

 They are spectacular

 With my knee, I had to pay attention on the path

 Then it was down to the Ullswater to see if we wanted to take a boat ride.  Too cold for me! we'll go on another lake.

The Ullswater steamer

Then it was on to our campground, where we set up camp in this pod.  Not bad, it has heat, lights and a place to plug in our chargers.  And it cost about 1/4 of what a hotel in the area would run. Plus we had carried our camping gear this whole way, seemed a pity to not use it.

Monday

We headed to Grasmere and Ambleside on the Windermere lake.  This is the land of William Wordsworth and farther south, of Beautrix Potter and Peter Rabbit.

We saw so many walkers as we drove south on the A591 that we decided to find a walk once we got to Ambleside.  We started from the marina.

Along the river

You really had to watch where you put your feet

Another interesting church

We had lunch in Windermere.  While there I talked to my cousin Andy who said "You have to go to Tarn Hows."  What he didn't tell us is that we would be driving on a bunch of really narrow roads to get there.

We found this Oreo Cow trying to eat the tires off of this car in the look-out car park

Then we went down to Tarn Hows.  There is a short walk around the lake that is very scenic, even on a cloudy day.

What a great way to spend the day

Then it was back out on itty-bitty roads and back to camp.

Tuesday

We started our day at another stone circle, this time at Castlerigg. It was built about 4500 years ago in the Neolithic period.

 Then it was through the Lake District and down to Derwent Water to take a boat ride on the lake.

 It was a cloudy day, but still full of lovely views.

 Way too cold for me to do this kind of thing but they are having a ball.

I had to take a photo of one of these Awnings that are so common here.  It is a great way to extend the living outdoors when you have a small rig.  We see them on vans as well as caravans (trailers). The supports are air tubes.  Cool idea.

Wednesday

 We started our day in Whitehaven, where we went to see the sea.  What is it with Wayne?  All the dogs love him.

 The tide is out in Duddon Channel

 Then it was down to Walney Beach near Barrow-in-Furness

We went back inland and I was surprised to see a lighthouse, but we were at the head of Ulverston Channel, so I guess it makes sense.

 We spent a lot of time in search of restrooms.  We would end up at interesting places during our search.  This time we ended up at the south end of Windermere Lake.

 Cool looking Inn at the edge of the lake.

 It looks like a seagull, acts like one, it's a Black-Headed Gull.  Of course it is...

 We had time to kill, as we wanted to have dinner in a town before going back out to the campground so we stopped in the town of Kendal. We spent about an hour walking around.

 We walked along the river and found some interesting bridges.

 This one is closed, thank goodness.  Look at the boards on it.

 We still had time so we went to one last castle, The Brougham Castle

 Nice setting

 The stairs (78 of them) to the top of the keep were open.  Great view.

 What is left of the inside of the keep.

 Archers opening

One last look at the country side. 

Thursday

We headed back to Andy and Sharon's to get ready to return the rental car, then head off for the next part of our adventure, Ireland and Wales. It was an easy drive down the motorway. It was a nice way to end our trip around the country.  When we returned the car we had spent $349.30 USD to go 2,924 miles. Because our gallons to theirs is like comparing apples and oranges, I didn't bother keeping track but all indications are that we got over 50 MPG.  Nice.