The Lake District - Day 2

For the second day of our trip we decided to take it a bit easier.  We opted for the mile walk back to Bowness to catch the Lake Cruise up to Ambleside.  Ambleside was a super cute town and I wish we would have taken more pictures of the town itself.  Because it was lightly snowing on us throughout the day it felt like we were in a tiny ski village.  But unfortunately there is no skiing to be had.

We did take a walk through a Roman Fort on our way in to town.  There's not much left to see but it's neat to think that it's been there since AD79.

  

From there our stroll took us by some interesting sites.

This tree is growing out of a rock!

Unfortunately day 2 was much colder than day 1 so by this point we were craving a warm meal and somewhere inside to defrost.  Ambleside is a VERY pup friendly town and we found a super cute cafe with lots of pups and really good food.  After lunch, we walked up to a lovely waterfall.  We were warned that the falls might not be running too high because it hadn't rained in a while.

At home that would mean that the waterfall would only be a trickle.  Here that means it's still pouring like crazy.

The path took you up one side and down the other.  Because for a waterfall to work the water has to actually fall we were pretty high up for most of the walk and Luther was a bit upset that he couldn't get to the water.  But he got to go swimming when we got to the bottom so the world was right again.

There were a few neat things on the path.  Here are a few pics.

This tree had all kinds of coins wedged into it.  Not sure who started this tradition or why.

We left the following morning but not before having breakfast.  Unfortunately Windermere is not quite as dog friendly as Ambleside so we had to dine al fresco.  However, the restaurant did have heat lamps and blankets which was nice.  And I had a very handsome date.

It was a short weekend but it was definitely much needed and was a lot of fun.  I'd love to go back in the summer when everything is in bloom.

Love you and miss you,
Aubs, Luke & Luther

The Lake District - Day 1

Back at the end of February (yes, two months ago and I'm just now getting this posted), Luke and I took a long weekend and jumped on the train to Lake Windermere, England.  It was a great weekend with acceptable weather and beautiful scenery.  

I rented a cozy little flat through airbnb.com in Windermere.  It was perfect for us for 3 nights but any more and I think we would have gone a bit stir crazy.  But it was a 5 minute walk from the train station and 2 minutes to the store. 

On the Friday we packed lunches and headed out to do a LOT of walking.  We stopped by the tourist centre, picked up a map for £1 and headed off.  The first leg of the walk took us down a walled path out of the town centre and into the Lake District National Park along the Wynlass Beck (stream).

From here it took it right to the lake which we walked along for a while.  Lake Windermere is the largest natural lake in England.  Because we went in February, there was still snow on the mountain peaks which made for some pretty cool views.

From here we left the lake and crossed a field of sheep to head to our next stop on the walk.  Trespassing is not really a thing in England so most defined walks will cross private property at some point.  We just have to be careful with Luther because he hasn't learned that sheep think he looks like a wolf rather than the cute, cuddly puppy we all know he is.

Our next stop was Brant Fell which is a hill over the lake that gives you a great panoramic view of the countryside.  This too was in the middle of a sheep farm so we had to keep Luther on leash.

Rather than complete the circuit at this point, we headed down to Bowness-on-Windermere and caught the ferry to the other side of the lake.  It was £1.50 for each of us and only took about 10-15 minutes.  Our goal was Wray Castle which is a 4 mile walk from the ferry.  Either we didn't see the correct signs to the castle or it wasn't marked because rather than take the easy flat road along the lake we took the steep hike up the mountain to get there.  It was a beautiful hike, but it was tough.  Luckily we found a spot where we could come back down pretty easily to take the lake path the rest of the way.  

Unfortunately the castle was closed due to renovations, but we took a few pictures and walked around the grounds for a bit.  And that's where we found the giant picture frame at the top of this post!

We also found this guy!  Not sure what the heck he's doing in the UK.

And then we walked by Wray Church on our way back to the ferry.  As is typical for any British church, the yard doubles as a cemetery.  Apparently the ground is a bit rocky because there were a few who weren't buried very deep.

   
All in all - I think we determined that we walked about 15 miles on Friday.  Needless to say everyone was exhausted and both boys were asleep by 9pm.  Luckily we were all able to sleep well and get rested up for day 2.

Love and miss you!
Aubs, Luke  & Luther