All Wet in England’s Lake District

I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting of the Lake District in England but mountains wasn’t it. I think I expected rolling hills and smooth lakes with idyllic little villages alongside. I expected beautiful, and it was, as we’d been forewarned. And, of course, I expected sheep. We are in the UK after all.

We arrived in Lake District along the banks of Ullswater Lake and through cute little Glenridding (a small village worth a stay if you’re looking to stay off of Lake Windermere) then up over the narrow and winding Kirkstone mountain pass on the A592 which will test your nerves more than a few times.

We’d been relatively on the go since the Isle of Skye, hopping along down the west coast and on to islands of Scotland so, while the forecast was bollocks for our first few days with a rainy outlook reminiscent of our time near Loch Ness in the Highlands, a more relaxed pace was welcome for a bit.

We stayed in Troutbeck, a tiny village overlooking a valley just outside of charming little Windermere, famous for its Beatrix Potter connections. The roads to Troutbeck are mildly treacherous, narrow and steep, winding and walled. We are back in England now, Dorothy, where the narrow and winding roads are accompanied by no visibility to either side through walls and hedgerows and with an alarming absence of the frequent and well-marked pull offs of Scotland. Now that’s something to get a bustle in your hedgerow about, Zeppelin fans.

Troutbeck is on a hillside in between Ambleside to the north and Windermere to the south. Windermere is a good base if you want a more bustling town with lots of hotels, a good grocery store, a bus station and plenty of pubs. But we quite fancied Troutbeck with its stunning views, marvelous walks, coffee shop in the old post office and the Queen’s Head Pub. If we were to stay again and wanted the town experience, we’d choose Ambleside over Windermere (sorry folks, we only drove through so no photos).

We also rode out to Kendal one afternoon. I’d read about the famous “mint cake” (peppermints) available in Kendal and the only shop we could find in a stroll about the town was “unable to be reopened at this time”, a cryptic reference to what must be an illness or injury or financial woes of some sort. We wish the owner well. Kendal would not be my choice for a place to stay (or frankly, visit). It is quite sizable and a bit industrial and there are plenty of other more quaint options about.

Lake Windermere is the largest of the Lake District lakes and was formed 13,000 years ago when two glaciers melted. In fact, Windermere is the largest body of water in England. It is 10.5 miles long and holds up to 300 billion liters (65 billion gallons) of water, though I’m quite sure with all the rain they’ve been getting the overflowing banks were holding more than that.

So as the rubbish weather improved and the fall storm which was swelling the District’s rivers and overflowing its lakes’ banks into the roadways receded and the skies cleared, we knew it must be time for us to part.

We’d planned to take a 45-minute cruise (the yellow cruise) out of Ambleside on our way out of town but the parking lot for the steamboat company was closed as it was substantially flooded, so we headed for Lakeside to the south to see about a cruise from there. All options from Lakeside being longer than we had time for that day, we set off for our next destination to the south in Lancaster.

If you’re planning a visit, this site has a lot of interesting facts about the Lake District. Looks like we’ll be reserving a room in Ennerdale when the zombie apocalypse arrives.