Lake District National Park, UK

I was coming to UK from Ireland. Arriving at Luton (at least I think it was this airport) late evening. P. picked me up and we drove the motorway into the night. I remember being surprised how few petrol stations are on the way.

When we got there we parked in the hills and tried to get some sleep. It was 5am when we gave up trying. We got out of the car and walked into the hills. It’s just so beautiful. Colorful. Lakes spring out from behind the rocks and amaze you with theirs picturesqueness (if a word like this exists).

We walked across swamps and streams among lush moorland. We had a chinese instant soup for lunch cooked with water boild on gas stove brought by P. I used to camp a lot as a child and loved it. I was so glad P. had this survival knowledge and I felt safe that he knew what he was doing. We found a place between rocks to shelter the gas burner from the wind.

When we got back to the car I was wet and tired, cold but happy. My cheeks were red from the wind and my soul peaceful. I love walking and trekking. Communing with nature. I should do it more often.

When we drove to our hotel I couldn’t keep my eyes opened. I was exhausted. The navigation told us to go around the globe to get to our destination but I couldn’t even think so tired I was. I can’t remember if I showered before falling into bed but the second my head touched the pillow I was fast asleep.

The next day we rented a boat. This was outside the season, quite cold and so it was hard to find tourist services opened anywhere. We got to this farm house and asked to rent a boat. The owner agreed on one condition. We will remove the freezing water from inside the boat ourselves. And so we did… or rather I did. It made me warm up.

We ate a dinner cooked on this boat. Simple travel gas cylinder and burner allowed rice and curry. We had some whiskey as well. When we got to the opposite shore we met people who wandered around the lake with a dog. I think they wanted a lift but we refused not knowing how long we wanted to stay. We passed them on the way back and they looked quite unhappy. Silly me I waved at them in recognition and then their faces went even more grim.

We went to Windermere and Whitehaven. In the latter we had an amazing dinner. Lamb served in metal bowls on tripod stand. As we figured out later we were supposed to put the food on our plates not eat directly from the bowls!

Anyway I liked it so much better than Peak District. If you live in UK do go and visit!

Some attractions that we haven’t visited are:

• Lowther Castle

• Muncaster Castle

• Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway

• Keswick Brewery

• Roger Savage Gyro Planes

• The Rum Story

• Rydal Mount

• Laurel and Hardy Museum