Kendal and the lake district.

We wanted to visit our friend Louisa who Pauline has known for forty years so we planned to take the 11:30 train from Euston.

The day started off well with a pasty at Euston station.

Our fast train was cancelled so we got a slower train to Preston and changed there for Oxenholm and then arrived at Kendal at 3:30, just as the sun was setting! Lovely day though.

This is the oldest inhabited building in Kendal, 14th century. Remodeled in 1560 it still retains many of its original features.

We were excited to find a fish and chip shop next to the pub we were staying in. They were tasty but there was far too much food even for me.

The next day we spent some time with Louisa showing us around Kendal and we visited her mum. It’s a pretty little town but the weather was not conducive to taking photos really.

One of the widest churches in England apparently (this picture courtesy Wikipedia)

Louisa, Pauline and myself having a mulled wine at the Duke of Cumberland while waiting for our laundry

Today we took a ten lakes scenic tour in a van. I’ve read a bit about the lakes district and enjoyed the Arthur Ransome books but I’ve never been here before, although Pauline has. Weather was quite rainy but we had some sunny patches. The tour was just us and the tour guide so that was nice.

This is Ullswater I believe. Picturesque!

We stopped at this little lake where there was a guy feeding the swans. He has been coming here to do this every day since the covid lockdowns when he started doing it for something to do. The swans have adopted him.

Castlerigg stone circle, one of Britain’s oldest stone circles dating back to the neolithic period, 5000 years ago.

It was the winter solstice today so there were some hippys but practically speaking we had the place to ourselves as they were in their vehicles.

View from the stone circle in the car park direction.

This is Derwentwater from a place called “Surprise View”

This bridge is apparently the most photographed bridge in the lake district

The hills are not high by NZ standards but they are pretty.

We stopped at the last remaining slate mine in this part of the UK, Honister slate mine.

I’m not sure if this train is in use but I liked it.

The actual mine entrance is up on the top of this hill somewhere.

This is lake Windermere, the largest of the lakes.

It was an interesting day, we learned a lot about Beatrix Potter who bought a lot of land around here and saved the area from developers, and a bit about Wordsworth who lived here for most of his life. It would be a great place to come and spend some time in and do a bit of hiking. I’m very pleased we saw some of it.

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