Today we traveled to the Lake district north of Lancashire. This is a beautiful area of England that is a huge attraction for anyone from backpackers, bikers, daywalkers, or the casual visitor who enjoys seeing this by bus, boat or car. We did a little of the daywalking and boat and car touring. The town of Windermere on Windermere (mere means lake) is a touristy town with tons of shops and tourists, so we crossed the lake on ferry, drove along a narrow, windy road to a little town for lunch, then hiked along Tarn Hows, which is a series of ponds or tarns, all linked together into one large tarn. THe hike gave us a good impressions of this beautiful area of Britain, with the high fells, which is what they call the high hills here, and the dales, or valleys. The fells are not like our mountains, they are more rounded and barren but not alot of exposed rock. And at 3200 ft. at their highest, they pale in comparison to our mountains, but with the surrounding beautiful lakes and countryside, they are beautiful in their own right. We also cruised on a boat on Coniston Water (water is another term they use for their lakes). I saw a cool-looking mansion on the shores of the lake and I exclaimed, "Cool!", and the lady in front of me smiled and asked, "Is that Canadian or American, when you say 'cool'? " I guess they use different terms to express something that is, well, cool, like "smashing" or "excellent".
Windermere
We were given these important reminders of behavior at lunch
Tarn How
We found this interesting stump along the trail where people had pounded coins into the log
Unusual color pattern for this herd of cows
Typcial winding, narrow roads with stone walls in the countryside
Steam-powered gondola on Coniston Water
Oh Brittania!
Birthday Girl