Day Five

Day Five

22 July 2014

Accommodation:  Dalegarth House B&B – Portinscale, Lake District

Temperature – top of 26 degrees

Weather – sunny, sunny, sunny!

It was an early start of 4.30am as it was already light so at 5.30am we set out for an hour’s walk around Derwent Water to fill in time until the B&B served breakfast from 8.15am.

An early morning walk and not a soul in sight!

 

Today’s journey took us to the southern and western lakes.  We headed to Windemere with a stop-over at Grasmere.  The sign to the village wasn’t very obvious so we were very surprised to find quite a sizeable village filled with mainly walkers in their summer gear.   We were lucky to get a park right outside the reason we visited Gracemere – the Sarah Nelson Bakery which sells fantastic gingerbread out of a very small shop.  It gets so crowded in the small room that people take turns going in and out.

A very small shop indeed! 

Next door is the church of St Oswald’s where the Wordsworth family is buried including William and his sister Dorothy.  The church was having difficulty keeping up with the maintenance so the rector suggested the sponsoring of engraved paving stones and daffodils which would lead to William Wordsworth’s grave.  The paving stones are all sold but contributors can buy daffodil bulbs and have them planted in the church yard.  I wish I was here in spring to see the field of daffodils around Wordsworth’s grave!

It's a nice touch to see William buried next to his sister Dorothy whom he remained close to all his life.

The sponsored garden path leading to the grave.  Wordsworth's Daffodil poem is at the commencement of the path.

The road to busy, bustling and hot Ambleside was only a short drive down the road.  We walked the streets and it is obviously very popular with tourists.  The dry wall stone houses are a picture with hanging baskets and flower gardens.

 

It's sandal and socks season!!!

 

A glimpse of Windemere Lake...the road is heavily tree-lined so there are not many opportunities to see it until you arrive in Windemere.

 

The trek to Ravenglass was a reasonable drive away so we called into Broughton and accidently found Britain’s Best Bakery finalist.  They were doing a roaring trade and there was a vast array of bakery goods to tempt us.

Very very tempting!

 

A wrong turn and we get this....

 

We made a wrong turn (even with a GPS!) and ended up on a very narrow road crossing cattle grids and passing through unfenced farmland with sheep and goats which were high above the coastal road we were supposed the take.  The views were fantastic so I think it was meant to be. 

Ravenglass was once a Roman fort but it’s now more popular with the tourists because of the 7 mile steam engine railway journey to Dalegarth For Boot.  It’s affectionately known as La’al Ratty.   It’s forty minutes to the station end where there was a great souvenir shop however today the icecream queue was the longest because of the heat.

The little train that took us to Dalegarth.

 

Tomorrow night the Commonwealth Games commence in Glasgow.  Let’s hope the summer conditions continue.  As for David and I, we’ll be in Scotland in Robbie Burns country.