For some reason I’m having brain block against picking less sedate titles. Boring. Maybe it’s all the fresh air we’ve been getting after being in London or something.
The latest polls of the British people are ranking Cumbria holidays higher than Devon or Cornwall this year and we definitely get why – although getting to Cornwall and Devon are high on our list 😁Cumbria is beautiful. The coast is rugged with some wide, sandy beaches, the hills (and some things that could be loosely called “mountain”) are a mixture of lush green and stone and there are lakes everywhere (imagine that!). As is our habit, we headed out for the weekend to explore – this time focusing on the classic tourist areas of the Lake District. We have been asked how we pick the places we go. The answer is…there isn’t a consistent answer. For this particular weekend we knew where we would end up, Keswick (don’t acknowledge the w, it’s only there to shine a spotlight on foreigners), as we had an appointment for Sunday afternoon. Our next step is to look at Google maps. What’s between here and there? What is near there? Sometimes we consult guide books, other times we check out other blogs, sometimes we just guess! Keswick isn’t really that far from us, therefore we wanted to head farther away. And there was this ruined abbey other bloggers were gushing about. Okay, we will go there. And then it builds – most famous lake (Windermere), cutest town, etc.
The drive from our base to Furness Abbey was definitely adventurous. We elected not to take the direct route so we could follow the coast a bit more. That was an interesting drive. Interesting like “what’s the most impossible things we could expect of a driver” kind of interesting. I used a lot of bad words. Big trucks coming at you, one lane bridges, one lane corners (oh, those are rather terrifying). The Husband actually got a bit queasy. Ah, but Furness Abbey. Oh man, how I wish I could have seen it before 1538. What a spectacular place. And even though it is a ruin the vibe of the place is fantastic. I have walked into some fantastic buildings, usually churches, that are marvelous, but they lack something that is for lack of a better word, a soul. But when that feeling is there the whole place lights up with it. Furness Abbey has it.
The Abbey was an amazing place to visit – which was a good thing considering the event that followed. It was lunchtime, we were hungry and so we headed into Barrow in Furness. At which point yours truly managed to do this:
This little nasty thing made the tire flat almost immediately. Two things we were grateful for: it wasn’t Sunday (it was Saturday) and we were in a city – the only city around! But it was Saturday afternoon. And it started raining. Sigh. And the rental car company wasn’t answering their phone. We got a little guidance from the British Automobile Association but not much. It became quite the ordeal! But, in the end, the police were very helpful, we got it replaced (oh yeah, not fixable), and got back on the road – a few hours later. Then the tire pressure light kept coming back on. UGH. We checked the pressure regularly and it was fine but that so added to the stress of the day! I’m not mentioning the rental company name as after all this they did their best to make things right even though it wasn’t their fault I got the flat. We did appreciate it. However, when we finally arrived at our hotel I did announce that someone had better get me a drink!
We stayed that night in Arnside, which is an itty bitty village on Morecambe Bay at the southern end of the Lake District. The tide there is super fast and high when it comes in – it can be very dangerous! It was peaceful and beautiful when we were there though, We stayed at the cutest little in called The Ye Olde Fighting Cocks as it used to be a cock fighting ring. Disgraceful sport but it is a part of the history of the area. And the inn was fabulous!
The next morning we continued our journey up through the Lake District. We didn’t have time to stop in all the great towns along the way, but we did drive through Windermere (the largest of the lake towns), Ambleside (this looked super cute!) and Gresmere. We drove along the shore of Lake Windermere and the smaller lakes on the way to Keswick (don’t pronounce the w) and Derwentwater. For Father’s Day I gave the Husband a new toy – a real camera. Now it’s up to him to learn how to use it! We arranged to take a hiking/photography lesson with Jay Gilmour ( https://www.jaygilmour.co.uk/ ), nature photography extraordinaire. What an amazing, educational, fascinating experience! We both learned a great deal about composition, light, framing and an endless array of other photography details. And the incredible natural beauty around us certainly made it easy.
We really liked Keswick and we loved the hotel we stayed at there! The Royal Oak has been a coaching inn of some kind since at least the 16th century. In the 1700s and 1800s it attracted many of the well known poets and writers of the time including: Taylor, Coleridge, the Wordsworths, Tennyson and Robert Louis Stevenson! Definitely some literary giants. The rooms were incredibly comfortable and the restaurant was excellent. All in all we did well this weekend with our choices! However, with all of the photographing we did we failed abysmally at photos of Keswick itself!
Our final stop on this weekend was at the Castlerigg stone circle. There are several of these circles (like Stonehenge, just smaller) throughout England. This one is just outside Keswick. It’s not very grand now but I’m certain it was incredible thousands of years ago!
All in all another fabulous weekend (minus the whole tire saga)! I have created a bit of a monster by buying the Husband that camera though…he may need a separate suitcase to carry all of his gear….