Duke of Edinburgh Hotel Barrow-in-Furness

... albeit a spouse) and very happily printed out FOC (free of charge) tickets for us, on seeing our BR passes.

We boarded a small ferry called Tern and sat downstairs. It was just too chilly on deck. My car thermometer had been reading 6C on the way over. The ferry happily chugged its way across the lake, taking half an hour to get to Bowness-on-Windermere. We peered at the passing banks through ...

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... up the backbone of Weatherlam. The dried bracken was a vivid orange, broken up with jutting grey rocks. As we climbed higher, the bracken gave way to closely cropped green and yellow grass, interspersed with russet coloured reed and wet moss. The local woolly sheep grazed contentedly, barely raising their heads to look at us struggling up through their territory. The still tarns reflected the perfect blue sky and jagged rocks.

Coniston, England, United Kingdom rachelkw

... in the first three hours. We stopped for something to eat before slogging onwards. It was 9.30 when we finally arrived at Coppermine's Cottage, a whole six hours after we'd started off. It was dark and the cottage was empty.

The key was nowhere to be found and I couldn't face driving back down a very long, steep, rickety track with a sheer drop on one side, to look for the rest of the Bewdley ...

Once we had left Blackpool we made our way to Windermere in the Lake District.

Windermere is the home of Beatrix Potter and is one of the most scenic places I have ever seen. The place is surrounded by grassy peaks giving way to heavily vegetated slate quarries and lush walking trails. There are huge ridges interspersed with glassy lakes.

We spent a few days here ...

Busy busy busy today. First we went to Castlerigg Stone Circle, which dates from the Early Bronze Age - around 3200 BC. Pretty old. The setting is amazing - surrounded on all sides by mountains, and hardly a sound to hear...except for this annoying little **** who kept climbing on the stones. I realise I'm a killjoy, but for ****s sake, a bit of respect please? If you ...

You can't visit the Lake District and not hike to the top of a mountain, and being the sheep we are, we decided to go visit the Conniston Old Man. One of the more popular mountains to hike, it has a decent sized path all the way to the top, and isn't particularly hard either. At least, that is, if you researched it before hand and not just turn up and decide on a random path. Yup, we went the back way, and saw barely another soul the entire way up ...

... way. You great some cracking views of Lake Windermere from up there, at least until you drive into the clouds.

From there we made our way north, past Ullswater and onto Aira Force waterfall. The weather was stunning, and the stroll to both waterfalls (High Force, further up the stream and far less visited) was fantastic. I even managed to spot my first ever wild Lizard in the UK, which I was stoked ...

... whilst at it) we ended up past
Manchester and Liverpool, and entering a whole different world - The Lake District.

We ended up at Low Wray campsite, on the banks of Lake Windermere, on a National Trust property. Having a modest tent meant it could be put up in two minutes, and having more time to go see the area. We ended up in the nearby town of Ambleside, which is pretty much the centre of tourist ...

... that I was on the Great Wall of China, or appreciate the scenery, but occasionally I'd realise, and when I did I'd stop for a moment, give it a look, and console myself that... A. This was the last, not first, day of my Holiday. B. Sometime, (maybe not then), but in the future, this would make a great little funny annecdote! When we finally got back to the bus where the others had had the benefit of an extended meal and drinks in the sun, (which they all seemed to enjoy so ...