The Lake District

The Lake District, Cumbria, in England's north west, is one of the country's most popular holiday areas. I can see why. Mountains and lakes always make for spectacular scenery. It's a very popular spot with walkers, hikers and climbers - not that I'm any of those! There were plenty of them about though, even in near freezing temperatures. Hardy souls.
I stayed one night in Ambleside, at the north end of Lake Windemere and one night in Kendal, the south end. Windemere is England's largest lake. It's quite narrow (1.5 miles) but very long (11 miles) and is very scenic.




Ambleside is a pretty little town. Quite hilly though. It's less touristy than the bigger towns - Windemere, etc. Every second shop sells outdoor gear for the serious hiker. I bought a hat :) I stayed in the Queen's Hotel at the top of the hill. Haha, every time I went up to my room I had to pass a portrait of Betty Windsor. Kind of an old fashioned place :) Comfy though and reasonably priced for bed and breakfast. Wifi too.
From Ambleside I drove up to Keswick, past Thirlmere - another of the lakes. I took the back road rather than the main A road so was able to stop a few times to take pics without having to worry about getting in the way of traffic.



Keswick is also a pretty town. The central section is for pedestrians only - very pleasant.
From there I headed back to Windemere. I had thought about taking the lake cruise to get some pics but the thought of standing about in the freezing cold for a couple of hours changed my mind.
I decided to just drive back to Liverpool but only got as far as Kendal - just a few miles down the road. I'd had enough of driving by then.
Woke up the next morning to discover it had snowed overnight.



It wasn't a lot of snow by local standards but it looked very pretty. I was a bit nervous about driving in it though. You have to drive for hours up into the alpine areas to see snow in Australia and I haven't done that for many, many years. So it was all a bit new and fantasy land like to me.
It took a while to get the car cleared so I could see where I was going - very thankful it has a good heater!
The drive back was uneventful. Just a few miles down the road is the motorway and there'd been no snow there at all.
English roads are in excellent condition given the incredible volume of traffic they carry and the dreadful weather. Not just the motorways either, the A and B roads are just as good. (Unlike the US where the roads are terrible.)

Anyway... apart from the cold it was a pleasant couple of days. I think I'd like the revisit the area when it's warmer - cruise the lake, take more pics, etc., because it really is a pretty area.



Next trip is to Egypt. It'll be good to get warm!
Later....