hike glorious hike

Friday 27 June 2014

Today we woke up in the Lakes District to the sound of many children.  There is a group here of many children and adults.  I'm not sure if it's a school group or a different group--the children were not wearing uniforms like most schoolchildren here do.  There were many adults with them.  They were so loud in the hallway--finally an adult rounded them up and took them away.  There was a pile of their toys in the restaurant last night and one of the lounges was reserved for their use.  We saw some of the women adults with them in one of the other lounges last night drinking wine and eating snacks.

We woke up and showered while Randy went to the store for breakfast food.  Then, hiking boots on, we were off.  We stopped by Lake Thirlmere and hiked in the Thirlmere Forest.  The path we took was marked fairly well and was considered medium difficulty.  The first mile was straight uphill (ugh!), but then it leveled off for a bit before working it's way slowly downhill.  It was beautiful--very green with trees, grass, moss, vines, and woodland flowers everywhere.  You expected a few fairies to jump out at you.  Little streams tumbled down the mountainside over rocks--stereotypic English countryside!  :)  We even heard some sheep as we walked!  :)  Here are some photos.

sheep on our road!

happy hikers

Joshua proud of the glacier-formed rock he found!

Foxgloves growing wild everywhere!

A moss-covered stone wall we found in the forest!

our car--a VW Polo

Then we decided to drive through the mountains and small villages of our area.  We passed countless signs pointing out hiking paths everywhere--each one made me want to stop and hike more.  We drove through storybook perfect little villages and houses all with adorable names.  Last time we were in England, we decided to name our house--we're still working out what!  My favorite is Pagan Gardens, Randy's favorite is Paganwick.  The children don't like either!  We passed a slate mining company and slate was everywhere (as well as sheep!).  We stopped at a nice area, crossed the stream using rocks and found a grassy area not full of sheep droppings for a picnic lunch.  It had been warm earlier, but had grown colder.  Unfortunately, Joshua and Shelby had not brought sweatshirts and wore shorts--Shelby was freezing!  There were pieces of slate and rocks; Joshua enjoyed picking up the rocks and throwing them against other rocks to see them smash open--it wasn't hurting anything and his aim wasn't very good, so we let him.  We felt kind of on display once when a tour mini-bus stopped and people got out taking photos.  :\

Anneliese with Shelby huddled behind her trying to stay warm!

Joshua

The grassy circle in the middle was our lunch spot.

A hotel made completely out of stone!

The road we were on had a sign as we entered that it was inadvisable for caravans (campers) or coaches (big buses) to drive on the roads--we could see why!  At one turn, we met a mini-van and he and Randy rolled down their windows trying to work out the logistics of getting by.  I rolled down my window and stuck my head out to keep Randy informed of how many inches he was away from the rock wall next to us, while the minivan was driving with it's left wheels up on the hillside.  Finally we made it and we all smiled at each other!

Then we stopped at a stone circle I saw a sign for (Castlerigg Stone Circle).  It was first recorded in the early 1700s.  It became quite a tourist destination (including Wordsworth and Coleridge), but it became a problem in Victorian times when tourists began chipping pieces of the stones off to take with them as souvenirs.  The National Trust took over, but it is great to be able to walk into the circle and walk around with no fences or guards or anything!  Just a stone circle in a field.  There is also a ring of mountains around the area as well providing a great backdrop.

When we returned, we had a rest time with all of us sleeping at least a little.  Then we went to the shops to get take-away (Chinese and fish-and-chips) to eat here at the hostel.  We're sitting in the restaurant which is closed, but allows people to sit here.  We scored a few couches.

Our hostel is the white one on the left with the green railing

Our stream