Tuesday 16 July 2013. Calgarth Cottage, Windermere in
the Lake District. Visit to Cumbria Crystal,
Ulverston & Barrow-in-Furness.
After a great nights sleep we
awoke to a sunny morning. Well Mick awoke to a lovely mist on the lake but Lyn
didn’t quite catch it.
Lyn wanted to go to the
Cumbria Crystal in Ulverstone where fine lead crystal items are made and we
were able to watch them making it for free which makes a change.
We headed south on the very
winding narrow road and after traveling for about 20 minutes Lyn noticed a car
at the side of the road which appeared to be on fire. Mick did a quick u-turn
to see if we could help.
It turned out that what
appeared to be smoke coming from inside the car was in fact the powder that
they put inside airbags both of which had deployed as the lady driver had
decided to stop on the verge. In doing so she had run over a large steel drain
with a concrete surround which was a little higher than the underside of the
car and the car had stopped abruptly, triggering the airbags.
Some posh bloke came out of
his country house and thinking that we had been driving said that it was illegal
to park on the verge. Dickhead. The two women in the car had no idea what had occurred
until we pushed the car back off the drain cover to reveal that the car had
pushed the cover and the concrete surround about 15cm off centre.
Mick thought that since both
airbags had deployed the damage to the cars underside would have been
considerable. One of the ladies was complaining of a sore knee which had hit
the dashboard.
We offered to take them to
Windermere but the lady driver said that she would call her partner to come and
help so we made our exit.
Anyway on with the trip.
After no more events we arrived at Ulverston to find the small factory was
being redeveloped and they were building a brand new showroom next door.
We made our way inside and
from behind a small barrier we got a very good view of the manufacturing
process from creating the items to grinding the patterns on the glass. We
didn’t realize that the whole process was done by hand.
It was quite hot inside the
factory with the furnaces roaring away and we had a good chat with one of the
glass blowers who was making whisky/sherry/port decanters. Another guy was
making small swans. The lead crystal was very expensive. Lyn managed to come
away empty handed as she really didn’t have any need for such exquisite items. They
tend to get broken in the van.
The showroom contained all
manner of creations, completely designed and created there and there were many
seconds for sale at very good prices as their quality control process is very
strict.
After our visit we decided to
go and have a look at the city of Barrow-in-Furness
further south. Here we found a 3g O2 service so Mick got the laptop out and
published the previous day’s blog.
Moored at the wharf at the
harbour was a very large ship which had been turned into a restaurant.
We then returned to
Windermere via the coast road from Barrow which gave us a great view of the
coastal area. The tide was out and the there was plenty of sand for sunbathers
(there were none) but swimming and paddling in the sea required a considerable
walk (we spotted 2 people in the distance).
Across the sea we thought we
could see Heysham. That is where our ferry leaves from when we go for our week
in the Isle of Man.
A very nice day and the weather
was perfect.
Lyn at our cottage on Lake Windermere
Michelle came to visit. On the lawn outside our cottage. Poor Canon 450D photo though
Plenty of sand but a long walk to the sea. A hot day and no people. Can you see the Mum and tot paddling?
Wednesday 17 July 2013. Windermere. The Queen, Honister Pass.
Today was yet another beautiful day with some high cloud early.
A neighbour walking up the
lane told us that the Queen would be on Lake Windermere
today sailing past our jetty on a cruiser on the way to Kendal. Since we had no
idea what time and we didn’t have the Internet to be able to find out, we
decided to continue with our plans to go to Keswick to follow a circular route
up and down the Honister Pass and then the Whinlatter Pass.
Just as we were leaving the
Queen’s cruiser came past and Mick got a couple of pictures. Unfortunately
her boat was on the other side of the lake so she was about a kilometre away so
we couldn’t make her out in the pictures. But Mick “Did but see her passing
by…….”
We then went on our way
towards Keswick and once there we took the B5289 past Derwent Water down
Borrowdale to the Honister
Pass.
The pass has a 1 in 4 (25%)
incline at times in the drive to the top. The drive was on narrow, winding bitumen
roads as dirt roads are rare in this country.
The scenery was spectacular
as we traveled along with huge mountains and deep valleys and there were many
ramblers with all their kit tackling some very steep terrain. On one steep
climb we saw a female cyclist who was just about done in after attempting to
cycle up it. She stopped near the back of our car looking very distressed
gasping for air in the 26c+ heat.
At the top of the pass there
was a slate mine, a café and shop which sold all manner of slate items. We
stopped for a cuppa and Lyn bought a couple of items. We had been thinking of
buying our son a very nice slate number for his house but unfortunately he is moving
so we didn’t know what number to get!
After a rest we continued
around the loop back to Keswick finishing our ascent and then descent down
Honister pass to the bottom of the valley.
A few kilometers further on we reached the
next pass called Whinlatter
Pass which had about the
same level of climb and descent but the road appeared much narrower. We had to
pull into several small areas on the left to allow other vehicles coming the
other way to pass.
On one hilly, narrow, tree
shaded stretch we almost collided with a deer on the road as we rounded a bend
but as we were traveling relatively slowly, we were able to slow to avoid it as
it leapt over the fence and down a steep bank.
When we reached the bottom we
were happy to get back onto some wide smooth roads again and headed home.
Thursday 18 July 2013. Windermere. Lake
cruise to Ambleside.
Since we have been here we
have seen several RAF jets flying past at very low altitude over the lake. They
have triangular delta wings but since our Internet is rubbish, Mick has been
unable to check what type of plane they are. He thinks they might be Tornadoes which were designed and built in a joint project by the Brits, Germans and Italians?
Mick wants to take a photograph of them but by the time we hear them, it’s too
late.
With an even hotter day
forecast, we decided to go for a cruise on Lake Windermere which is 10 miles
(16klms) long, up to 1 mile (1.6klms) wide and up to 220m deep.
The closest Quay is at
Bowness-on-Windermere, just a couple of minutes down the road so we drove down
there to find the usual busy area around the quays.
It didn’t take long to find a
nice parking spot for £4 for a full day and Mick had picked a departure time to
coincide with the sailing of one of the larger boats of which there are 3 namely
the Swan, the Tern and the Teal which is the boat the Queen travelled on
yesterday.
As luck would have it we got
the Teal so we got a very regal feeling when we boarded.
The trip cost £10 each, which was for a return trip to Ambleside with
a return on any of the boats which operate about every 30 minutes throughout
the day until about 6.30pm.
When we disembarked we found
a guy with a small electric bus waiting at the wharf offering a ride to town
for £2 each for a trip of about 2klms. We
thought we would ride in and walk back as it was a very warm day.
After we had spent some time
looking around Ambleside, which was a very nice country town, we decided to
amble back to the wharf. We estimated the temperature to be close to 30C.
We tried to grab as much
shade as we could walking back as despite the fact that we hadn’t had any rain
for a while, it did feel a bit on the humid side.
The trip back on the boat cooled
us down a bit although there was no wind to speak of except that which the
traveling boat generated.
A nice day out on a very warm
day and cold showers were the order of the day when we got home. (Yes this is
the UK
believe it or not!).
The newspapers are full of
warnings about the heat with people drowning and dying of dehydration.
Joyce and Mick used to stay in YHA hostels when traveling
Friday 19 July 2013. Windermere. Kirkstone Pass
to Penrith, Kendal.
The newspaper headlines today
screamed “95F and more to come…” in the paper Mick picked up on his walk this
morning. (That’s Fahrenheit which they still use here). Whatever, it’s quite warm.
We are thankful that our
cottage has a little fridge, up until now none of the places we have stayed have
had a fridge.
Today we took the A592 up the
Kirkstone Pass,
passing Ullswater, one of the several Lake District
bodies of water. The scenery across the valley to the mountains was
spectacular. At the top of the pass the car’s GPS read 1500ft.
The road followed the edge of
the lake for many kilometers. Just lovely.
On the way we stopped to
visit the National Trusts Aira Force, which is a heritage listed waterfall
which runs a twisting track down a hillside. It was a steep difficult climb and
the temperature would have been about 30c. We both gave up before reaching the
top but got some nice photos.
Mick, who went a little
further, saw the ridiculous spectacle of a father carrying his daughter on his
back because she was tired and couldn’t walk any further. The wife and son
trudged ahead. The girl would have been about 13 years old.
On the way we stopped at Pooley Bridge,
a cute little village where we had an ice cream and looked around the shops.
We ended up at Penrith and
after a look around we headed off down the M6 to Kendal, the town the Queen
visited during the week.
We then made our way home to
finish our day out walking around Windermere. It didn’t take long as it is
quite a small town.
29c. We are traveling beside Ullswater lake.
This was very steep, very rocky and with protruding tree branches and roots. He is an idiot.
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