Touring around The Lake District. June 5th, 2010

http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg288/multreda/Cumbrian%20Way/?action=view&current=30e440bb.pbw

I flew to Birmingham from Pittsburgh on June 2nd, landed on the 3rd. I use Kayak and Booking Buddy-checked them daily for three months until I found a deal for $800.00 $400 cheaper than any other, so I flew Aer Lingus. Lovely people. We had a bit of Turbulance about two hours in, the pilot went a bit higher and we were fine. Airbus 330. Sit in the back row or two in the middle-no one likes to sit there so I had the four seats to myself! Some man kept talking, so I put on the headphones and listened to Tony Bennet till I fell asleep.
It was a 21 hour flight because of a 5 hour stopover in Dublin. I met some young men in the airport pub and had a lovely time...sleepless in Dublin. Pam met me at the airport, I slept, we drove to Keswick the next day...you have seen my pics of the Tudor place. So, we had a lovely little cottage in Keswick.
The way Footpath Holidays works it, you get your own accommodations, they provide the sorry excuse of a guide and the transport to and from the walk every day. I like Footpath because you can save money on where you stay! Their guides should walk the trails first though. :-(
We got there a day early and drove around to do some sightseeing. We went to these lovely gardens with the azaleas, then to Townend. The Hall had been lived in by the same family for hundreds of years, till some spinster sisters were left...they left it to a cousin who donated it to the National Trust. If you want to travel in the UK you should join the National Trust because you get into all these places for free. Oh! The farmers at Townend raised(I think) Souay(sp) sheep because they were hardy and could survive in the hills better. And the carvings and dates? One of the owners in the 19th century did most of them, and added whatever date he fancied. The carvings are wonderful! Evidently he made some people angry, because he petitioned to add on to the farm or something and the townsfolk told him no. They had a special smoking place over the fireplace for the meats. If you stood in front of the fireplace and looked up you could see the space. The servants lived next to this area...had to breathe the smoke.

We tried to get into the Beatrix Potter place, but they were closed. We did see a little building that has a great many of her original drawings. That was cool. There is a little place on the road to park so you don't have to pay.
We spent too much time at "Chesters",(look for the pics with the blue VW van in them...we sat on the terrace on the left-overlooking the little river. Sun was wonderful. ..... which has the most wonderful cream tea! There was a couple there who invited us to share their table...originally from London, but who had retired to the lake district. We discussed politics, and he told us about a friend of his who was a policeman...on duty when Bush was at some conference...The policeman walked somewhere he shouldn't have, was tackled by a Secret Service man(although he was in uniform)and had his arm broken. He was in the hospital the next day-recuperating-in pain-when he got a phone call. The man said he was President Bush. The policeman, not believing this, told the caller to bugger off, shove it up his ass...you know. Turns out it was Bush. It makes me glad to know that someone..even because of a case of mistaken identity......well, you know..

This is why I love traveling. This was just the second day of my stay and we already met these lovely people with their fabulous story. It made our day. So many stories I have from this trip! It seemed that every day there was a little incident that defined the day-made it good. The sun shone the whole day, everything was beautiful, and the cream tea was sublime. Neither Pam nor I are timid eaters. :-) This set the tone for my encounters along the way...interesting people with interesting stories. Wait till I tell you about P. G. Wodehouse!.

We toured, then went back to Keswick(silent w)..ate dinner, made our lunches for the next day, watched tv and settled in for the 16 mile first day of The Cumbrian Way.

Pam and I travel well together.