Thursday 9 July 2009

Looking Out The Window

The 'must see' place in England seems to be 'The Lake District'. Everyone is always telling us how lovely it is and that we must go there. It's over 4 hours drive from our place so we haven't been able to just go there on a day trip, but when we decided to spend a week travelling north, The Lake District was first on the list of places to go.

After our short stop in Preston we were back on the road and heading to Cumbria, and from here the views really did just keep getting better and better!



They may not look that exciting to all you people living in beautiful, mountain filled Tasmania - but seriously, most of England is so flat and seeing these hills (mountains to the Brits) was a glorious sight!!!




No matter how many rock walls I see, they amaze me everytime! I can't help but imagine someone standing there building them and I think about how much hard work it must have been. The paddocks are just lined with them.




We were heading to a B&B in Eskdale which is West of the more common Lake District Towns. It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere at times, but it was a pretty good looking nowhere!


It was a beautiful evening, and such an interesting drive - kinda scary at times though - going up these tiny roads, no knowing what's around the corner.



There were a few times that we wondered where the hell we were going.... surrounded by wild sheep, no one else to be seen.....


... apart from the odd MG!! (actually not really sure what kinda cool car this is... but it looks a little like an MG so we will call it that!!)


Eventually, we reached our B&B! Eskdale is a tiny town and was so peaceful. This was our rooms view.... quite refreshing really!



We headed up to the pub for tea, and the kids had a great time on the playground! I think they were just glad to be out of the car at this stage!!! Couldn't stay long into the night though, because even though it stays light here until about 10pm-ish the Midgies start coming out (little flea-like things that bite)!


Lani made herself a cuppa in the morning...



which she needed because it was good bye beautiful weather and hello rain!


Actually, it was pouring.... not raining, so our full day planned in The Lakes kinda got ruined! But there were still some great sights and our drive to Hawkshead proved to be very entertaining!

We decided to take the road over Honister Pass from Eskdale to Ambleside, even though we were warned that going the shortest way isn't really the quickest way and that this part of road is the most 'dodgy' in all of England. (The guy even tried to tell us that there is nothing like this road in the whole of Australia.... and that I may have to sit in the back with the kids!)
We weren't really sure whether we should give it a go or not, but all this talk made me wanna take the challenge!

We really wished we were in the Subaru, and would have felt a lot safer if we were, because our dodgy Peugeot doesn't have the best brakes, or much power!



The road turned out to be not so bad... but a little stressful for the driver at times! Think Proctors road with no safety rails, twice as steep only 1/2 the width with cars wanting to go up and down!! This road took us over the steepest passes in England, but I don't think he was right when he said 'there is nothing like it in Australia'!




We reached our destination and it was still raining quite hard... but we did what we could!

9 comments:

Poppa said...

Hi Han,
The adventures just keep on for you guys! Love your descriptions and the photos, although your phone account made the road sound far steeper and wilder! Sorry the rain spoiled some time this time out but you seem to be in front of the English weather so far.

Elle said...

Sucks that it rained!! Looks like you had a good time though and lucky Lani made herself a cuppa ha ha ha. Veiws looks pretty good in the pics so they must be 10 times better in real life!

Claire said...

Road looks a little scary Han! Glad you guys survived. I love the look of the old rock walls too, beats the ole barbed wire any day!

Ange Carmichael said...

the countryside really is gorgeous, those stone walls are awesome!

Nikki said...

Love the stone walls.....that last photo is beautiful, so lush and green. Gorgeous views too.
I can see how it would have been nerve-racking driving in all that rain though!!!

The Kings said...

The scenery is so beautiful!

lauracritchfield said...

what is up with the rain? It's rained here quite a bit too. I don't get it!!! I like Lani wearing her boots while making a cuppa..ha ha. Does she realise she doesn't need to wear boots in the house or was she afraid of the germs in the hotel or something!! Anyway seems like you guys are getting around a lot anyway..

Kate Jury said...

I love all the pictures of the countryside...

Carli said...

I would not handle a steep wet road like that well at all! I do love the stone lined walls on the roadside though.

Because everyday is different and we can't remember them all, I thought I had better start writing them down. Welcome to life in the Challis home - where everyday is different!