The Lake District

For the final phase of our whirlwind UK tour with Kim and Ed, we headed to the English Lake District. A popular retreat for hikers and campers, it is famous for its lakes and its mountains (or fells), and its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth and the Lake Poets.

We decided to stay in a little town called Ambleside, which is just near the largest of the Lakes, Windermere. We lucked out and had fabulous weather the entire time we were in the Lake District, so we spent our time hiking around the mountains and even took a nice little boat ride out on lake Windermere. There are many pre-planned and well marked hiking paths, so we opted for one that was supposed to take about 4 hours and looped around to lake Windermere, a little town called Troutbeck, and back. The hike actually ended up taking us about 6 hours (maybe we’re slow walkers?) but it was some of the most breathtaking scenery I’ve ever seen in the UK.

We stayed at a fabulous little B&B in Ambleside called 3 Cambridge Villas. We were treated to a full English breakfast every day (toast, eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, roasted tomatoes, tea, coffee) and the owner Sue was simply fabulous.

After our jaunt in the Lake District, we headed back to London.