The Lake District

After the charm of Gretna Green we were looking forward to seeing the beautiful ‘Lake District’ in northern England as we headed towards Ruthin Castle in North Wales, where we were to spend the night.

All was well when we headed off towards the village of Grasmere along a typical English country road, with green hills and cattle and sheep grazing contentedly on small farms. Unfortunately, however, a serious accident occurred some distance ahead of us and we found ourselves at the end of a queue of cars and coaches that was at least one kilometre long. Traffic was banking up behind us too. After waiting half an hour, with it looking like there would be at least another two hours before the traffic cleared, our driver decided to try a back road, even though it was very winding and narrow, not built for tourist coaches. That was the beginning of a very exciting ride. It was my turn to be in the seat behind the driver, so even though the drive was particularly hairy in some spots, especially when we went over a misty, narrow mountain pass, the spectacular views of lakes and hills and valleys we saw were worth every moment of clutching onto my seat. (How that would have protected me had we gone over the edge I cannot imagine!)

This showed a more rugged side of the English countryside, where shepherds really do have to watch over their sheep as they graze on top on the craggy slopes. The sheep we saw there were most unusual too. Never before have I seen a white sheep with black spots on it, or grey and black sheep. 

The following photos show you some of the unforgettable sights we saw on that journey. Almost all the photos were taken through the window of the coach.

Instead of going to Grasmere as planned, this journey took us to Windermere instead - a really delightful village on one of the lakes. So although I feel dreadful for the victims of that crash, thanks to our highly skilled driver we ended up having a very special, wonderful experience. I will talk about Windermere on my next post.