Month: June 2023

Lake District 2023 14: Keswick

Continuing my series about my holiday in the Lake District with a post about our visit to Keswick.

Welcome to the latest instalment in my series about my holiday in the Lake District. Today deals with the last activity of the Tuesday – after concluding our explorations of Grasmere we went on to Keswick before returning to Ambleside.

ABOUT KESWICK

Keswick looks down on Derwentwater (although this area is called the Lake District very few of the bodies of water in question actually have lake in their title – they are either -mere, -water or water (Coniston Water and Brothers Water to name two of the latter). Those of you who think the Derwent part of Derwentwater looks familiar are probably right – you almost certainly had pencils which had Derwent stamped on their sides, and they were made here – there are graphite deposits in the area. Keswick has its place in Rebecca Tope’s Lake District series – main character Simmy Brown’s other half, who becomes her second husband during the course of the series, is an auctioneer and his auction house is in Keswick.

EXPLORING KESWICK

Grasmere to Keswick is a short and scenic bus ride, and I enjoyed it. Keswick has an old meeting hall, a pencil museum which we didn’t visit and a general museum which we looked at but opted not to visit given the price. It is also home to a splendid park in which we spent some time. A bus journey back to Ambleside, alighting at Ambleside bus station at my initial suggestion – I had figured it was close as the bus was going to get us and I was right – it is a much shorter walk than from the garden centre which would have been the next stop.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

A rather scenic cricket ground.
The significance of this sign is the top line (see also the next picture) – Ellie Threlkeld is England Women’s second choice wicket keeper at present, and this sign provides a clue to the origins of that surname.

Lake District 2023 13: Grasmere

Continuing my series about my holiday in the Lake District with a look at Grasmere.

Welcome to the latest post in my series about my holiday in the Lake District. After Brockhole the regular mode of transport changed from boat to bus and the focus of our explorations shifted away from the immediate vicinity of Windermere. There is a very comprehensive bus service in this part of the world, and my parents car remained parked in Ambleside from our arrival on the Saturday until the Thursday morning when I was given a lift to Oxenholme The Lake District station. If I find myself staying in Ambleside again I will book to Windermere and catch a bus into Ambleside, avoiding car use altogether.

THE TOPE CONNECTION

One of the books in Rebecca Tope’s Lake District series is called “The Grasmere Grudge”, so I was interested to see the place for myself. There are more places connected with this series of books to come.

THE BUS JOURNEY

We had long wait for the bus due to epic quantities of car traffic using the road (I reckon a lot of people had had the ‘cunning’ idea of delaying travelling to the Lake District until the Tuesday after the bank holiday and that is why it was so hugely busy on that occasion – we saw fairly heavy traffic on other occasions but nothing quite like this), and the first bus was too full to admit us. The second which arrived very shortly after was very sparsely populated and we got seats in the open topped section, which made for a very enjoyable journey through a very scenic area.

GRASMERE

Grasmere is where the poet Wordsworth along with many relations was buried, and there is some good riverside walking (the river in question being the Rydal) there as well. The church at Grasmere is at least the third to have stood on that site, there having been churches there since the seventh century.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are the photographs…

Lake District 2023 12: Brockhole Exhibition

A look at the exhibition at Brockhole, which proved well worth a visit.

Welcome to the latest instalment in my series about my holiday in the Lake District. This post is the second about Brockhole, and has a single focus, the exhibition about the Lake District.

A VERY EFFICIENTLY ORGANIZED EXHIBITION

Considering how small an area it occupies this little exhibition covering many details about the Lake District is remarkably comprehensive. The pictures will tell the story…

The fish that live in the depths of Windermere.

Lake District 2023 11: Brockhole General

A look at Brockhole as part of my series about my holiday in the Lake District.

Welcome to the latest post in my series about my holiday in the Lake District. This post is the first of two about Brockhole, as I felt the exhibition about the natural history, geology and wildlife of the Lake District deserved a post to itself. Brockhole marked a switch in the focus of our explorations – it was the last of the places around Windermere that we visited, and it was our last use of the cruising boats as a mode of transport – when we had finished at Brockhole we headed for the bus stop, and that mode of transport remained our choice for the remainder of our explorations.

A NATURE RESERVE

Brockhole is a nature reserve with a former stately home housing the gift shop and the exhibition referred to in the introduction. There was much to see between the landing jetty and the house, and a bit more once we had finished in the house. If I am ever in the area again I would certainly hope to revisit this place, and see more of it than I did this time round.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Lake District 2023 10: Wray Castle

A look at Wray Castle as part of my series about my recent holiday in the Lake District.

Welcome to the latest instalment in my series about my recent holiday in the Lake District. We are looking at Wray Castle in this post. Having seen if from afar various times earlier on the Monday we visited it as our last activity of that day before heading back to the cottage.

A 19TH CENTURY FOLLY

Castle Wray is not a real castle, it was built in the mid 19th century for a certain Dr Dalton. It is approached from a jetty with a boathouse that has been designed to look ruined. There is a very scenic pathway up from there to the castle itself. Immediately outside the castle there are some incredible views out over the lake. There is a large jackdaw population in this part of the world, and the castle was designed with various ways for the birds to fly in. They are a decent substitute for ravens, belonging to the same family. I did not actually go into the castle, preferring to enjoy the scenery outside.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Lake District 2023 9: A Steam Railway Journey

A look at the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway as part of my series about my holiday in the Lake District.

Welcome to the latest post in my series about my holiday in the Lake District. Today I look at a train journey that formed part of the Monday’s activities, which all focussed on cruising on Windermere. There will be one more post about the Monday, dealing with Wray Castle, before we move on to Tuesday.

A HERITAGE RAILWAY

Lakeside, about as far from Ambleside as one can get and still be on Windermere, is the terminus of a heritage railway which runs for a short distance alongside a river heading towards Morecambe Bay where it joins the Irish Sea. There is one intermediate stop at Newby Bridge and then the inland terminus at Haverthwaite. In our case we stayed only a few minutes at the Haverthwaite end before returning to Lakeside to resume cruising. The line, like so many others now operated as heritage railways, fell victim to the Beeching directed axe in the 1960s, though it was closed for only a few years before opening again in its heritage railway guise in 1973.

THE JOURNEY

The train was a fraction late setting out as they wanted to get more people aboard but thereafter ran quite smoothly. We faced away from the river on the journey to Haverthwaite and towards it on the way back, and I was in forward facing window seats both ways. There was a lot to see on both journeys, and I recommend you to include this little journey in your itinerary if you are in this part of the world.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Lake District 2023: Birds of Windermere

A look at the bird life in and around England’s largest lake as part of my series about my holiday in the Lake District.

Welcome to the latest instalment in my series about my holiday in the Lake District. In this post I focus on the bird life in and around Windermere, of which there is a considerable quantity.

BIRDS OF MANY TYPES AND SIZES

As well as expected water birds (swans, ducks, geese, gulls, terns etc) there were also species that live close to the shores of the lake, including pied wagtails. I have also included in this post a few birds seen a little further from the waters edge.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Lake District 2023 7: Cruising on Windermere II

A second post about cruising on Windermere as part of my series about my holiday in the Lake District.

Welcome to the latest post in my series about my holiday in the Lake District. This post completes the general picture of cruising on Windermere.

AN OUTLINE OF THE ROUTE

After Bowness the boat went on down Windermere to a place dubbed Lakeside from which a steam railway runs to Haverthwaite (this journey will get a post of its own later in this series). Then we journeyed back to Bowness and Ambleside, paused for an hour in Ambleside before taking the Green route to Wray Castle, Brockhole and back to Ambleside. We stopped to visit Wray Castle, which will get a separate post later. On the Tuesday morning we completed our cruising activities with a trip to Brockhole (also a post in this series). At that point we switched transport modes to buses for the rest of our explorations on Tuesday and all day on Wednesday.

CRUISING THE LAKE

The Lakeside Pier is almost as far from Ambleside Waterhead as one can get and still be on Windermere, so these cruises between them gave us a view of the entirety of the lake (and I was sat outside in good viewing positions for the whole of it). Wray Castle pier gives a clue as to what is to come – the boathouse is a remarkable structure in its own right. Brockhole pier is equally distinctive in its own way, advertising what that location has to offer in no uncertain terms.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Lake District 2023 6: Boats of Windermere

A look at the number and variety of boats to be seen on Windermere.

Welcome to the next post in the series about my holiday in the Lake District. All the photographs I took are now edited and ready for use. Today, having begun my coverage of cruising on Windermere yesterday I am focussing specifically on the boats that were on show.

BOATS ON WINDERMERE

We were blessed with excellent weather for the entirety of our stay in the Lake District, which meant that all manner of boats were out and about from tiny one person crafts to the cruise boats that we travelled on. While Windermere operates strict speed limits the variety of boats is not so limited, as the photo gallery below shows…

Lake District 2023 5: Cruising on Windermere: Ambleside to Bowness

A look at the first part of the lake cruising experience that occupied most of Monday. This post focusses on Ambleside to Bowness.

Welcome to the latest post in my series about my holiday in the Lake District. This post commences coverage of the first major activity of the holiday, cruising on the lake. We did two separate cruises on the Monday, and this post deals with the first part of the first cruise. the journey from Ambleside to Bowness.

GETTING TO THE PIER

Ambleside Pier (known as Waterhead) is slightly separate from then town itself, and the route to it poses one question: take the main road or divert down a side road. On the Monday morning my parents stuck to the main road while I went the other way. The main road is possibly the quicker route, but the other is undoubtedly pleasanter walking, reflected in the fact that we all went back to our cottage in the evening by that route. We were at the pier in good time and able to take good seats on the boat for the journey.

THE CRUISING EXPERIENCE

In spite of the shocking behaviour of the local water company Windermere remains a very scenic lake, and we benefitted from very pleasant weather, which meant the journey was smooth. There are lots of things to see while travelling on the lake, and I kept my camera busy for most of the day.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Even with many photographs filed elsewhere and this being only one part of the first cruise there is a generous gallery to finish this post…