Organic consuming vegetarians travel by train through England and Scotland
Jun 16th, 2010, 08:04 PM
#21
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Our last night in Bath and I must tell you of one caveat regarding the apartment. Because it is situated in this neat square with some grass and a large tree in the center, some benches and a nice pub on one side, you may get some young people hanging out in the square, talking too loud and just in general acting young and noisy. P fell asleep, but they got my attention so I watched them from our window for a while. They got bored after a half hour or so and moved on. Also around 9:45 pm nightly the Bizarre Bath guy and his customers come to “our” square. It’s the second to last stop before the tour finishes at the starting/ending point. So if you don’t want to hear people laughing or offering applause and laughing some more before 10 pm then this apartment may not be right for you. As mentioned previously, I would take it again in a heartbeat. They’re only out front around 7-8 minutes. She may have a flat that does not face the square though.
I forgot to mention that the day before we left Bath and headed to the lake district, we walked over to the train station from the flat. I had our Britrail passes with me. Thanks to Fodors contributors and Palenque for speaking about the passes in depth. Thanks to this forum I was also able to learn about and receive a free day pass added to my 4 day Britrail flexi-pass.
I learned that I would have to have an agent validate them before I used the pass for the first time. I wanted to know how long of a walk it was from our flat (I knew it was close, but how close) and I also wanted to see the inside of the station to see how big (or small) it was. I told P that we should just get the pass stamped at that time so that if we are running late in the morning we don’t have to worry or mess with standing in line.
So before eating at Demuth’s we did just that. The agent at the train station was a really nice man and since it was slow we got into a conversation with him about his birthplace and my husband told him a story about an experience in Africa. We found it so easy to strike up conversations with people. Anyway, I felt good knowing that we were ready for our rail journey. Thanks to the ticket agent, I knew which stops we needed to reach Keswick (the "w" is silent) and the times of arrival and departure of our trains. They print them out for you like ribbon from a cash register receipt. We loved the transportation system in Britain. I really felt prepared to get this vacation started! P knows that I like to research and check things out on the internet so he was more than happy to leave the destinations and activities up to me. He really wanted to be surprised, which was cool with me.
We got to the station without a rush. It’s a small station so finding our train was easy enough. We had to change trains after only 15 minutes. On our second train, after about 1/2 an hour I went to look for my Rick Steve’s book which was in our black messenger bag. The bag was gone! I said, “Oh no we left it on the last train!” I was wondering how we were going to get it back when I decided to dig a little deeper. Sho nuff it was hiding under my trench coat right above us in the overhead rack. Whew! After that whenever we left or arrived anywhere with our bags, I’d do a count of our hand bags and carry ons--a couple of times! We made our way to Penrith via Birmingham, which was a large and busy station.
As we rode on our last train ride toward Penrith, I decided to make some calls to see if we could find a B&B for 4 nights. I started striking out with all of the Rick Steve’s suggestions. One woman said, “We are having the Mountain Climbing Festival, you’ll be hard pressed to find a room for all 4 nights.” Another said that all the B&B’s on his block were full. I had basically given up. We knew that we could get a room that night at one place, but based on the proprietors I had spoken with, I suggested that we consider busing in to the lake district every day and find lodging in Penrith. Or maybe just stay one night and move on. P told me not to give up and to call the rest in his book. The very next one I called said YES that they could house us all 4 nights!
At Penrith we were supposed to have 40 minutes before the bus arrived to take us to Keswick, but because our train was delayed, we arrived with only minutes to spare. I saw a large van with “Keswick” written on the outside. I didn’t know for sure if that was our “bus” or if it was supposed to be a large bus we were expecting, so I asked if they were going to Keswick. One of the men said “Yes, we’ve hired this van” while another man said, “Come with us!” I said, “I have a husband with me.” To which he replied, “Oh.” That’s when I realized that this was for sure not the bus to Keswick. Our bus (a bus sized bus) soon arrived however, I handed the bus driver £11, and we enjoyed the ride.
The bus from Penrith stops right in front of Keswick’s large supermarket, “Booths”. It’s a busy little bus stop. I get the impression that all of the lake district buses stop here at some point during the day. If I had studied the Rick Steve's map I would have easily found our B&B. I didn’t and so it took a couple of phone calls to find it. Oddly enough in this town that I thought for sure was “sold out” as far as lodging was concerned, we saw many a vacancy sign. Lesson learned. Rick Steve's suggestions are not a comprehensive list of all lodging available!
I forgot to mention that the day before we left Bath and headed to the lake district, we walked over to the train station from the flat. I had our Britrail passes with me. Thanks to Fodors contributors and Palenque for speaking about the passes in depth. Thanks to this forum I was also able to learn about and receive a free day pass added to my 4 day Britrail flexi-pass.
I learned that I would have to have an agent validate them before I used the pass for the first time. I wanted to know how long of a walk it was from our flat (I knew it was close, but how close) and I also wanted to see the inside of the station to see how big (or small) it was. I told P that we should just get the pass stamped at that time so that if we are running late in the morning we don’t have to worry or mess with standing in line.
So before eating at Demuth’s we did just that. The agent at the train station was a really nice man and since it was slow we got into a conversation with him about his birthplace and my husband told him a story about an experience in Africa. We found it so easy to strike up conversations with people. Anyway, I felt good knowing that we were ready for our rail journey. Thanks to the ticket agent, I knew which stops we needed to reach Keswick (the "w" is silent) and the times of arrival and departure of our trains. They print them out for you like ribbon from a cash register receipt. We loved the transportation system in Britain. I really felt prepared to get this vacation started! P knows that I like to research and check things out on the internet so he was more than happy to leave the destinations and activities up to me. He really wanted to be surprised, which was cool with me.
We got to the station without a rush. It’s a small station so finding our train was easy enough. We had to change trains after only 15 minutes. On our second train, after about 1/2 an hour I went to look for my Rick Steve’s book which was in our black messenger bag. The bag was gone! I said, “Oh no we left it on the last train!” I was wondering how we were going to get it back when I decided to dig a little deeper. Sho nuff it was hiding under my trench coat right above us in the overhead rack. Whew! After that whenever we left or arrived anywhere with our bags, I’d do a count of our hand bags and carry ons--a couple of times! We made our way to Penrith via Birmingham, which was a large and busy station.
As we rode on our last train ride toward Penrith, I decided to make some calls to see if we could find a B&B for 4 nights. I started striking out with all of the Rick Steve’s suggestions. One woman said, “We are having the Mountain Climbing Festival, you’ll be hard pressed to find a room for all 4 nights.” Another said that all the B&B’s on his block were full. I had basically given up. We knew that we could get a room that night at one place, but based on the proprietors I had spoken with, I suggested that we consider busing in to the lake district every day and find lodging in Penrith. Or maybe just stay one night and move on. P told me not to give up and to call the rest in his book. The very next one I called said YES that they could house us all 4 nights!
At Penrith we were supposed to have 40 minutes before the bus arrived to take us to Keswick, but because our train was delayed, we arrived with only minutes to spare. I saw a large van with “Keswick” written on the outside. I didn’t know for sure if that was our “bus” or if it was supposed to be a large bus we were expecting, so I asked if they were going to Keswick. One of the men said “Yes, we’ve hired this van” while another man said, “Come with us!” I said, “I have a husband with me.” To which he replied, “Oh.” That’s when I realized that this was for sure not the bus to Keswick. Our bus (a bus sized bus) soon arrived however, I handed the bus driver £11, and we enjoyed the ride.
The bus from Penrith stops right in front of Keswick’s large supermarket, “Booths”. It’s a busy little bus stop. I get the impression that all of the lake district buses stop here at some point during the day. If I had studied the Rick Steve's map I would have easily found our B&B. I didn’t and so it took a couple of phone calls to find it. Oddly enough in this town that I thought for sure was “sold out” as far as lodging was concerned, we saw many a vacancy sign. Lesson learned. Rick Steve's suggestions are not a comprehensive list of all lodging available!
Jun 16th, 2010, 10:38 PM
#22
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"Vegetarians: be prepared for two choices, cheese and tomato sandwiches or pasta dishes. "
I'm afraid Alihutch is 100% on target.
I've lived vegan for months without starvation, or anything remotely resembling it. As for vegetarian: which Britain were you visiting? Is there a parallel universe somewhere?
The idea of a Britain with M&S's that don't sell hummus wraps, roast veg sarnies, veg/couscous pots or sag aloo is almost as bizarre as the tiniest British village without a score of Gujerati-run (and therefore veg-stuffed) Indian places.
In the ulikely event of finding either - what's wrong with baked beans on toast? Far more nutritious, tasty and filling than the muck churned out in those ghastly "vegetarian" horrors.
I'm afraid Alihutch is 100% on target.
I've lived vegan for months without starvation, or anything remotely resembling it. As for vegetarian: which Britain were you visiting? Is there a parallel universe somewhere?
The idea of a Britain with M&S's that don't sell hummus wraps, roast veg sarnies, veg/couscous pots or sag aloo is almost as bizarre as the tiniest British village without a score of Gujerati-run (and therefore veg-stuffed) Indian places.
In the ulikely event of finding either - what's wrong with baked beans on toast? Far more nutritious, tasty and filling than the muck churned out in those ghastly "vegetarian" horrors.
Jun 17th, 2010, 02:24 AM
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One word of warning. Some traditional British beers are not vegetarian at all. They have isinglass in them which is made from the swim bladders of fish.
However, these days most use artificial substitutes.
However, these days most use artificial substitutes.
Jun 17th, 2010, 06:46 AM
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FlannerUK: I remember welcoming your help while planning this trip. Maybe if we shared the same sense of humor you wouldn't take things so literally. I wrote the following at the beginning of this trip report for people like you and alihutch. It appears to me that the rest "caught it". I'm sorry you missed it:
<i>"Do keep in mind these are MY general impressions, I speak for no one else, and also there are always exceptions. In other words, and it shouldn’t be necessary to state this, (but I will): The following list does not necessarily apply to every single person I encountered nor every single situation.</i>
And BTW, There is no M&S in Arisaig, Portree, Keswick. Even in Edinburgh we were next to the Parliment building so going to the station is what we had to do (and did do) when we wanted just a small bite to eat. I was partial to the tabouli wraps. But I won't eat their stuff that has preservatives or food coloring. They had some salad that came with a tortilla with a bunch of junk in it, so I didn't eat the tortilla. Actually Boots has an organic sandwich "Bugs" which amounts to a grated carrot sandwich. P loved it, me not so much. And besides, we're on vacation. Part of the enjoyment is to dine out. We looked at a lot of menus.
If one wanted to cut way back on expenses you could live on M&S food for breakfast and dinner and eat out for lunch. But it really helps when you have access to a small fridge. It's tougher to eat in when you don't.
<i>"Do keep in mind these are MY general impressions, I speak for no one else, and also there are always exceptions. In other words, and it shouldn’t be necessary to state this, (but I will): The following list does not necessarily apply to every single person I encountered nor every single situation.</i>
And BTW, There is no M&S in Arisaig, Portree, Keswick. Even in Edinburgh we were next to the Parliment building so going to the station is what we had to do (and did do) when we wanted just a small bite to eat. I was partial to the tabouli wraps. But I won't eat their stuff that has preservatives or food coloring. They had some salad that came with a tortilla with a bunch of junk in it, so I didn't eat the tortilla. Actually Boots has an organic sandwich "Bugs" which amounts to a grated carrot sandwich. P loved it, me not so much. And besides, we're on vacation. Part of the enjoyment is to dine out. We looked at a lot of menus.
If one wanted to cut way back on expenses you could live on M&S food for breakfast and dinner and eat out for lunch. But it really helps when you have access to a small fridge. It's tougher to eat in when you don't.
Jun 17th, 2010, 10:50 AM
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<b>Keswick in The Lake District</b>
We had a lovely stay at the Brundhome guest house. To find it, put your back to the buses and look across the road (the one that slopes up and to the left) you should see a white sign, knee high on the slate (or rock?) fence that says “Headlands”. Walk across the street to the sign. Now look to your right and start going up that slight hill which bends to the left. About 3 houses before the end of the block you will see it. It overlooks a lovely park. It’s only minutes by foot to the lake and a few minutes to the main drag in town. Nice. Quiet. Clean. Great location. Good food.
http://www.brundholme.co.uk/
When we got there, she told us that we may have to move on the last night to a different room. We had a lovely room overlooking the park. We would have been just fine in moving but it turned out that we didn’t have to after all. We asked her to point us toward town which she did. That’s when we started seeing many vacancy signs. Here I was ready to give up on finding a place to stay when the first 5 or 6 calls fell through. We came to discover in our walks a few areas that would be nice to stay in Keswick.
We were hungry so we got cash from the ATM at Booths upon arrival by bus and went to the main part of town to look for a bite to eat. We didn’t see much that appealed to us so we took a dining suggestion from the room’s book and had vegetarian fajitas at Salsa. We liked them very much, and the two cold Coronas went down easily. Later on we met another traveler who ordered a beef main course from Salsa, but was not happy with it.
We just wandered around a lot before heading back for the night. One of the places we stopped by was into a small store within the post office building. I was looking to see if they had Bournville chocolate. My sister and her husband fell in love with the chocolate on their trip to Cornwall last year. I promised to bring her back a nice supply. I wanted to try it to see what all the fuss was about. I thought it was fine, but the chocolate I went nuts over was by recommendation from the woman who owned/ran the store in the Post Office building, “Green and Blacks”. (It’s organic chocolate, of course.) At first I was confused. I <i>thought</i> she had said that the Bournville was good but that they made a chocolate in a green and black wrapper that was great and that one was 85% cocoa and the other was 70% cocoa and she was working her way up to the 85% chocolate bar. So for a day or two, I was looking for a Bournville wrapper in green or black instead of red, but she cleared that up for me down the road.
They serve a big (check that...HUGE) English breakfast here for those who are interested, but I just wanted cereal, two scrambled eggs and juice the first day. I couldn’t decide between two cereals, so she mixed them and gave me both. I really liked that idea. I liked how she gave us our own pot of coffee for our table. Being a semi coffee snob, I was really pleased with the coffee. P was happy simply with plain toast, coffee and juice.
It was during this time that I checked my email (thanks to the free wi-fi they offer here at the B&B) and learned that I booked a job that would send me to Alaska for a week at the end of June. I was VERY excited because I have never been there, but have heard so much of its beauty that I have really wanted to go. We were sent to the post office because on the second floor they have a whole internet, fax, copy center with some knowledgeable guys to help you out. They helped me download the forms from the email, I filled them out, and he helped me scan them back into my email and send them off. All for less than £3.
It was a very sunny day. Unusually so (we were told) and I made sure they knew that we brought this weather with us.
So far we had experienced no rain on our brief journey. We started to go on an easy walk when we popped into a tiny market to grab some water and the young man suggested we go down to the lake, get on a ferry, get off at Ashness and walk back. Great suggestion!
While waiting for our boat, we had time to kill so we went to the Mountain Climbing festival right there next to the lake. The entry was free and we looked at the exhibits. They had a mountain climbing exhibit which allowed people to get hooked up to a safety harness and then hoist yourself up the “rock”. The “rock” had those plastic pegs nailed to it that you would use to pull yourself up and climb it. It was free, which was very cool. I had always wanted to try that so when I said so to P, he said, “No you don’t”. I said, “Oh yes I do, hold my bag! and please be sure to take lots of pictures.” It was a lot of fun. I scampered up to the top and have the pictures to prove it!
We went back to the docks and got on our boat. It was a very nice boat ride and a great suggestion to walk back from here. We walked more inland on a path than directly on the sand by the lake. At one point we stayed very still because we could clearly hear a woodpecker. Couldn’t find him in the trees though. For those who seek a longer walk, you can walk around the whole thing. I think it takes about 4 hours. Ours took about an hour as we would stop and soak in the scenery and take photos of each other. Although, I came to realize that photography with my iPhone is not my husbands forté. I either came out blurry or with my head chopped off so I mainly posed him and got the shots to help us remember the extreme beauty of everything we were seeing.
Time for lunch and so we decided to seek out a recommendation from the woman at the store in the post office building. We had told her we were into organic and vegetarian whole foods so she told us about The Lakeland Pedlar:
http://www.lakelandpedlar.co.uk/
OMG! Great homemade foods! I am really grateful for this recommendation because I don’t think we would have found it otherwise. I had the soup and salad and P had a plate that was kind of like a salad sampler. We had an organic blonde beer that was delicious and I HAD to try their dessert, so I tried this chocolate, cocoa, cookie bar that was to die for!! Best. Dessert. Ever! After I raved about the dessert the waitress offered to give me the recipe!!! I couldn’t believe it. I took her up on it before she could rescind the offer. I will have instant hero status when I bring this dessert to the next pot luck event I go to. Guaranteed.
We walked around some more and decided to just relax in the park across from our B&B to watch the people play miniature golf, stare at the gorgeous flowers in the gardens, people watch, etc. We had also stopped at the TI in town to pick up the bus schedule and train schedule so that I could start thinking about how we were going to get from here to Arisaig in Scotland. I found the train timetable confusing. We asked three immigrants if they could decipher the timetable on the pamphlet but even though they tried, they couldn’t so we asked a young couple who happened by. They didn’t get it either but another group of adults came by and offered their help. They didn’t get it either and one said, “well that’s British rail for you.” We brought it back to our hostess who was enjoying a glass of wine out front with her husband. She got it after only a minute and explained how to read it. I decided she too must be good at Scrabble.
Because we had such a huge and satisfying lunch, I wanted something small for dinner. After looking at menu after menu, and with the Lakeland Pedlar closed for dinner, we went into Oddfellows on the main street and each got a pint, I had a potato with cheddar and P had a potato with cottage cheese. They each came with the teenyist of salads but it was all I needed. We kind of marveled at the price-£17 or about $25. This place had a great special for fish and chips. I think it was about 4 pounds, but we didn't try any fish or chips while we were on vacation. This place is a very popular watering hole. They have lots of benches outside where people can drink, smoke and socialize. We ate inside upstairs where it was pretty quiet. They also have live music for a few hours every night and we had a very sweet waiter.
We had a lovely stay at the Brundhome guest house. To find it, put your back to the buses and look across the road (the one that slopes up and to the left) you should see a white sign, knee high on the slate (or rock?) fence that says “Headlands”. Walk across the street to the sign. Now look to your right and start going up that slight hill which bends to the left. About 3 houses before the end of the block you will see it. It overlooks a lovely park. It’s only minutes by foot to the lake and a few minutes to the main drag in town. Nice. Quiet. Clean. Great location. Good food.
http://www.brundholme.co.uk/
When we got there, she told us that we may have to move on the last night to a different room. We had a lovely room overlooking the park. We would have been just fine in moving but it turned out that we didn’t have to after all. We asked her to point us toward town which she did. That’s when we started seeing many vacancy signs. Here I was ready to give up on finding a place to stay when the first 5 or 6 calls fell through. We came to discover in our walks a few areas that would be nice to stay in Keswick.
We were hungry so we got cash from the ATM at Booths upon arrival by bus and went to the main part of town to look for a bite to eat. We didn’t see much that appealed to us so we took a dining suggestion from the room’s book and had vegetarian fajitas at Salsa. We liked them very much, and the two cold Coronas went down easily. Later on we met another traveler who ordered a beef main course from Salsa, but was not happy with it.
We just wandered around a lot before heading back for the night. One of the places we stopped by was into a small store within the post office building. I was looking to see if they had Bournville chocolate. My sister and her husband fell in love with the chocolate on their trip to Cornwall last year. I promised to bring her back a nice supply. I wanted to try it to see what all the fuss was about. I thought it was fine, but the chocolate I went nuts over was by recommendation from the woman who owned/ran the store in the Post Office building, “Green and Blacks”. (It’s organic chocolate, of course.) At first I was confused. I <i>thought</i> she had said that the Bournville was good but that they made a chocolate in a green and black wrapper that was great and that one was 85% cocoa and the other was 70% cocoa and she was working her way up to the 85% chocolate bar. So for a day or two, I was looking for a Bournville wrapper in green or black instead of red, but she cleared that up for me down the road.
They serve a big (check that...HUGE) English breakfast here for those who are interested, but I just wanted cereal, two scrambled eggs and juice the first day. I couldn’t decide between two cereals, so she mixed them and gave me both. I really liked that idea. I liked how she gave us our own pot of coffee for our table. Being a semi coffee snob, I was really pleased with the coffee. P was happy simply with plain toast, coffee and juice.
It was during this time that I checked my email (thanks to the free wi-fi they offer here at the B&B) and learned that I booked a job that would send me to Alaska for a week at the end of June. I was VERY excited because I have never been there, but have heard so much of its beauty that I have really wanted to go. We were sent to the post office because on the second floor they have a whole internet, fax, copy center with some knowledgeable guys to help you out. They helped me download the forms from the email, I filled them out, and he helped me scan them back into my email and send them off. All for less than £3.
It was a very sunny day. Unusually so (we were told) and I made sure they knew that we brought this weather with us.
So far we had experienced no rain on our brief journey. We started to go on an easy walk when we popped into a tiny market to grab some water and the young man suggested we go down to the lake, get on a ferry, get off at Ashness and walk back. Great suggestion!While waiting for our boat, we had time to kill so we went to the Mountain Climbing festival right there next to the lake. The entry was free and we looked at the exhibits. They had a mountain climbing exhibit which allowed people to get hooked up to a safety harness and then hoist yourself up the “rock”. The “rock” had those plastic pegs nailed to it that you would use to pull yourself up and climb it. It was free, which was very cool. I had always wanted to try that so when I said so to P, he said, “No you don’t”. I said, “Oh yes I do, hold my bag! and please be sure to take lots of pictures.” It was a lot of fun. I scampered up to the top and have the pictures to prove it!
We went back to the docks and got on our boat. It was a very nice boat ride and a great suggestion to walk back from here. We walked more inland on a path than directly on the sand by the lake. At one point we stayed very still because we could clearly hear a woodpecker. Couldn’t find him in the trees though. For those who seek a longer walk, you can walk around the whole thing. I think it takes about 4 hours. Ours took about an hour as we would stop and soak in the scenery and take photos of each other. Although, I came to realize that photography with my iPhone is not my husbands forté. I either came out blurry or with my head chopped off so I mainly posed him and got the shots to help us remember the extreme beauty of everything we were seeing.
Time for lunch and so we decided to seek out a recommendation from the woman at the store in the post office building. We had told her we were into organic and vegetarian whole foods so she told us about The Lakeland Pedlar:
http://www.lakelandpedlar.co.uk/
OMG! Great homemade foods! I am really grateful for this recommendation because I don’t think we would have found it otherwise. I had the soup and salad and P had a plate that was kind of like a salad sampler. We had an organic blonde beer that was delicious and I HAD to try their dessert, so I tried this chocolate, cocoa, cookie bar that was to die for!! Best. Dessert. Ever! After I raved about the dessert the waitress offered to give me the recipe!!! I couldn’t believe it. I took her up on it before she could rescind the offer. I will have instant hero status when I bring this dessert to the next pot luck event I go to. Guaranteed.
We walked around some more and decided to just relax in the park across from our B&B to watch the people play miniature golf, stare at the gorgeous flowers in the gardens, people watch, etc. We had also stopped at the TI in town to pick up the bus schedule and train schedule so that I could start thinking about how we were going to get from here to Arisaig in Scotland. I found the train timetable confusing. We asked three immigrants if they could decipher the timetable on the pamphlet but even though they tried, they couldn’t so we asked a young couple who happened by. They didn’t get it either but another group of adults came by and offered their help. They didn’t get it either and one said, “well that’s British rail for you.” We brought it back to our hostess who was enjoying a glass of wine out front with her husband. She got it after only a minute and explained how to read it. I decided she too must be good at Scrabble.
Because we had such a huge and satisfying lunch, I wanted something small for dinner. After looking at menu after menu, and with the Lakeland Pedlar closed for dinner, we went into Oddfellows on the main street and each got a pint, I had a potato with cheddar and P had a potato with cottage cheese. They each came with the teenyist of salads but it was all I needed. We kind of marveled at the price-£17 or about $25. This place had a great special for fish and chips. I think it was about 4 pounds, but we didn't try any fish or chips while we were on vacation. This place is a very popular watering hole. They have lots of benches outside where people can drink, smoke and socialize. We ate inside upstairs where it was pretty quiet. They also have live music for a few hours every night and we had a very sweet waiter.
Jun 18th, 2010, 05:51 PM
#27
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Thank you for your support!! I really appreciate it.
We got a late start today. Washed some stuff in the sink. I brought one of those rubber suction cup on both ends clothing dryer line. It comes in handy for long trips and is super easy to pack. http://tinyurl.com/2v4uqz5
We took a bus recommended by Rick Steve’s called the Honister Rambler. Bus #77. It costs £6.50 for an all day pass and we paid the driver. This route goes both clockwise and “anti-clockwise”. It takes 1 1/2 to two hours. Taking this reaffirmed what we had already learned: Take the bus FIRST!
If I had the chance to do it again, I would have done the following: I would have left early like 9am on this bus, then I would have gotten off at the Whinlatter Valley stop which is this gorgeous forest area. I would have brought a sandwich with me too and walked around one of the trails and then re-boarded the bus a couple of hours later and finished the whole circle that the bus makes. But alas, we stayed on the bus and only did the circle with the driver. Don’t get me wrong-just the bus ride alone was awesome! In fact there is a man who was on the bus who told us that he takes this journey every Saturday. <i>TWICE!</i> It is an eye candy ride.
Upon leaving the bus after completion of our ride, P and I both approached the driver to compliment him on his driving skills. P said he should be knighted for his skill and patience in maneuvering such a huge bus on roads that clearly were never designed to carry such large vehicles. At one point, I was sure that we were going to have to wait until some car owners could be found so that they could move their cars in order for us to pass, but NO! Our driver squeezed by them all without scraping their sides or ours, even though he had to stop at one point to fix his side mirror that was nearly pulled off by a tree. At the end of the journey, I was exhausted for him!
We walked back to the main road where they had a very large street fair every Thursday and Saturday and looked at all the stuff for sale. We gladly went back to the Lakeland Pedlar to try something else and to get the same AMAZING dessert. We struck up a conversation with an English fellow who was on vacation from working in Switzerland at a ski resort. This good food prompted the conversation and once again we really enjoyed the friendliness of the people we met.
After a nap we decided to check out a different street that we really had not checked out before. Station Road. Walking up here you will see a lot of old Victorian homes and a couple B&B’s on the left. Across the street from the homes is a nice park. We wandered around and noted the paved walkway that parallels a river. We also saw an “Old railroad trail” marker. Continuing up the road, it dead ends at the “Keswick Hotel”. On the net you can find it as the Keswick Country House Hotel. This is an old hotel rated 3 stars which, thanks to its mature trees and bushes has really pretty garden walks on the premises. It looks slightly tired but like it may be a nice place to stay, and I kept thinking that I bet it was quite grand when it opened in the 1800’s.
We turned around and walked into Fitz park which is on the same side as the Victorian houses. We walked along the river towards Crosthwaite Rd. It was evening but still really light outside and we came upon about 8 tiny lambs who were playing tag with each other. They were chasing each other REALLY FAST all over the lawn for about 15 minutes. Flat out running after each other. It was so cute and super entertaining. We really enjoyed this walk.
Our walk took us by the Booths supermarket for dinner. P picked up yogurt and fruit and I just ate the other half of my sandwich from lunch. We ran into the woman from the post office who happened to hear us talking. That’s when I told her that I couldn’t find any Bournville chocolate in a green or black wrapper. She walked me over to the candy and that’s when I realized my mistake. On a previous trip I had picked up a plain dark chocolate bar by Green and Blacks, so I already knew I liked the brand, so I had to try a dark chocolate <i>mint</i> bar from Green and Blacks. It’s AMAZING! I did a search and they sell G&B here at Target, CVS and Walgreens. Rats! The price is about the same-dollar wise. I’m glad Target doesn’t sell the mint. Way too tempting for me.
Next day and we had a late start again. Our hostess had a bunch of maps, tourist info, schedules, etc and some mini walking trail books for her guests perusal. She said we could borrow one of the booklets because there was one hike in particular that I wanted to check out. It’s called the <i>“Castlehead Wood Trail”</i> off of Spring St. I wanted to do this one because it was mostly linear and it promised to offer a stunning view of Keswick and the lake. It was true. You start going down a residential street with lovely gardens and you quickly turn up in a forest. When you come into the forest and veer to the right you will see a path that goes up a short but steep hill. It’s so lovely up there! Great photo op. Down below the view area, but in the forest there was an area covered in grass and small purple flowers with a canopy of tall trees acting as shade. I just HAD to get a photo of me in middle of them. I kept P. there for a good half hour trying to get a photo that I liked. I kept throwing them away because I was blurry or half my head was missing or both.
We descended by taking the other fork. It led us by some sheep and eventually to the main road. We crossed it, turned right, walked less than 100 yards before we saw a signpost pointing to the lake. We took this path because I didn’t want to walk along the main road with the cars. It dumped us right back in the heart of everything; lake, festival booths, park.
We went to Jennings for a bite to eat. The day before we had walked by this place (it’s not on the main drag. It’s across from an auto shop one street down from the main street.) Anyway, the day before when we walked by I saw a waitress out front having a smoke as I recall. I asked her what hours they serve food. I asked if they would be open tomorrow (today). They had a dish like vegetables on a skewer that sounded good. So we went in there. We saw the same gal and asked if we could sit “here”. She said, “Sure. Anywhere you like.” as she sped by. We sat there while about 6 people nearby were working on their drinks. That was it. Just the 8 of us. We waited and waited. After about 9 minutes, P used the bathroom. He came back and said, “If she doesn’t come by the time you get back from the restroom I say we leave.” I agreed. Came back to the table and we left. I caught a glance of someone from the nearby table and looked at him and shrugged my shoulders. I think he understood. We thought it was weird because she knew we were there yet she walked past us a couple of times in a hurry without saying anything. Maybe something like, "I'll be with you in a few minutes", or "If you want to eat or drink something you need to go to the bar." But there wasn't anyone at the bar either. She spent her time either in the kitchen or outside-where we had just met her the day before. Weird.
We got a late start today. Washed some stuff in the sink. I brought one of those rubber suction cup on both ends clothing dryer line. It comes in handy for long trips and is super easy to pack. http://tinyurl.com/2v4uqz5
We took a bus recommended by Rick Steve’s called the Honister Rambler. Bus #77. It costs £6.50 for an all day pass and we paid the driver. This route goes both clockwise and “anti-clockwise”. It takes 1 1/2 to two hours. Taking this reaffirmed what we had already learned: Take the bus FIRST!
If I had the chance to do it again, I would have done the following: I would have left early like 9am on this bus, then I would have gotten off at the Whinlatter Valley stop which is this gorgeous forest area. I would have brought a sandwich with me too and walked around one of the trails and then re-boarded the bus a couple of hours later and finished the whole circle that the bus makes. But alas, we stayed on the bus and only did the circle with the driver. Don’t get me wrong-just the bus ride alone was awesome! In fact there is a man who was on the bus who told us that he takes this journey every Saturday. <i>TWICE!</i> It is an eye candy ride.
Upon leaving the bus after completion of our ride, P and I both approached the driver to compliment him on his driving skills. P said he should be knighted for his skill and patience in maneuvering such a huge bus on roads that clearly were never designed to carry such large vehicles. At one point, I was sure that we were going to have to wait until some car owners could be found so that they could move their cars in order for us to pass, but NO! Our driver squeezed by them all without scraping their sides or ours, even though he had to stop at one point to fix his side mirror that was nearly pulled off by a tree. At the end of the journey, I was exhausted for him!
We walked back to the main road where they had a very large street fair every Thursday and Saturday and looked at all the stuff for sale. We gladly went back to the Lakeland Pedlar to try something else and to get the same AMAZING dessert. We struck up a conversation with an English fellow who was on vacation from working in Switzerland at a ski resort. This good food prompted the conversation and once again we really enjoyed the friendliness of the people we met.
After a nap we decided to check out a different street that we really had not checked out before. Station Road. Walking up here you will see a lot of old Victorian homes and a couple B&B’s on the left. Across the street from the homes is a nice park. We wandered around and noted the paved walkway that parallels a river. We also saw an “Old railroad trail” marker. Continuing up the road, it dead ends at the “Keswick Hotel”. On the net you can find it as the Keswick Country House Hotel. This is an old hotel rated 3 stars which, thanks to its mature trees and bushes has really pretty garden walks on the premises. It looks slightly tired but like it may be a nice place to stay, and I kept thinking that I bet it was quite grand when it opened in the 1800’s.
We turned around and walked into Fitz park which is on the same side as the Victorian houses. We walked along the river towards Crosthwaite Rd. It was evening but still really light outside and we came upon about 8 tiny lambs who were playing tag with each other. They were chasing each other REALLY FAST all over the lawn for about 15 minutes. Flat out running after each other. It was so cute and super entertaining. We really enjoyed this walk.
Our walk took us by the Booths supermarket for dinner. P picked up yogurt and fruit and I just ate the other half of my sandwich from lunch. We ran into the woman from the post office who happened to hear us talking. That’s when I told her that I couldn’t find any Bournville chocolate in a green or black wrapper. She walked me over to the candy and that’s when I realized my mistake. On a previous trip I had picked up a plain dark chocolate bar by Green and Blacks, so I already knew I liked the brand, so I had to try a dark chocolate <i>mint</i> bar from Green and Blacks. It’s AMAZING! I did a search and they sell G&B here at Target, CVS and Walgreens. Rats! The price is about the same-dollar wise. I’m glad Target doesn’t sell the mint. Way too tempting for me.
Next day and we had a late start again. Our hostess had a bunch of maps, tourist info, schedules, etc and some mini walking trail books for her guests perusal. She said we could borrow one of the booklets because there was one hike in particular that I wanted to check out. It’s called the <i>“Castlehead Wood Trail”</i> off of Spring St. I wanted to do this one because it was mostly linear and it promised to offer a stunning view of Keswick and the lake. It was true. You start going down a residential street with lovely gardens and you quickly turn up in a forest. When you come into the forest and veer to the right you will see a path that goes up a short but steep hill. It’s so lovely up there! Great photo op. Down below the view area, but in the forest there was an area covered in grass and small purple flowers with a canopy of tall trees acting as shade. I just HAD to get a photo of me in middle of them. I kept P. there for a good half hour trying to get a photo that I liked. I kept throwing them away because I was blurry or half my head was missing or both.
We descended by taking the other fork. It led us by some sheep and eventually to the main road. We crossed it, turned right, walked less than 100 yards before we saw a signpost pointing to the lake. We took this path because I didn’t want to walk along the main road with the cars. It dumped us right back in the heart of everything; lake, festival booths, park.
We went to Jennings for a bite to eat. The day before we had walked by this place (it’s not on the main drag. It’s across from an auto shop one street down from the main street.) Anyway, the day before when we walked by I saw a waitress out front having a smoke as I recall. I asked her what hours they serve food. I asked if they would be open tomorrow (today). They had a dish like vegetables on a skewer that sounded good. So we went in there. We saw the same gal and asked if we could sit “here”. She said, “Sure. Anywhere you like.” as she sped by. We sat there while about 6 people nearby were working on their drinks. That was it. Just the 8 of us. We waited and waited. After about 9 minutes, P used the bathroom. He came back and said, “If she doesn’t come by the time you get back from the restroom I say we leave.” I agreed. Came back to the table and we left. I caught a glance of someone from the nearby table and looked at him and shrugged my shoulders. I think he understood. We thought it was weird because she knew we were there yet she walked past us a couple of times in a hurry without saying anything. Maybe something like, "I'll be with you in a few minutes", or "If you want to eat or drink something you need to go to the bar." But there wasn't anyone at the bar either. She spent her time either in the kitchen or outside-where we had just met her the day before. Weird.
Jun 19th, 2010, 08:32 AM
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So we left there and headed toward the main drag. P wanted to try something else besides the Pedlar. We ended up on St John's street as we walked toward the main street and we saw a pizza/coffee bar place. This place is small, it only has 4 or 5 seating areas. I had noticed before that it was usually filled with people. Being the pizza fan that I am, I suggested we give it a try. The place was empty except for two gals who were side by side each relaxing on a bench at a table. We sat down and after a few minutes one of the girls approached. That's when P told them about the "service" at Jennings. I tried to suggest that we didn't need to share our experience, but he was incredulous and kept going. That's when one of the girls said that maybe we should have gone to the bar to order. So I chimed in saying that with our accents, knowing we're going to be clueless in some things, it wouldn't hurt to simply say, "If you want to order something, go to the bar." About two minutes later I noticed that here on the table, they had a mini sign on our table stating, "Please order from the bar and we will serve you." I explained to the gal that the sign was a good idea (but I was surprised that it took me so long to finally notice it!)
So we ordered our margherita pizza. The other gal made the pizza next to the bar. She pulled out the dough, rolled it and then started pounding the dough with her fists. When it arrived and I saw how thin, simple and very Italian it was, I said to the waitress that we may want to order another one. It looked like it was made with the real buffalo mozzarella. She hesitated slightly and placed it in front of us. It was delicious. We finished and P went to the bar and asked her for one more. That's when they both said, "Oh I'm sorry! We stop serving pizza at 3 pm. We've turned off the heat." It was 3:05. Oh well. I was slightly peeved because I had <i>just</i> told the girl that we may want another. If I were the waitress, I would have said, "Well just so you know, we shut off our oven at 3 pm and it's 2:50 now." I would have said that of course unless I wanted them gone! So we left still slightly hungry.
We found ourselves on the main street again. There was a man with an easel painting with water colors in rectangular squares. We sat and watched him for a while. When he was done painting he began preaching about God and Jesus turning the rectangular squares into words by adding black lines here and there. Since we were about the only ones who didn’t ignore him, after he was done with his message he and his wife approached us. Thus began a long conversation. P can and will carry on a conversation with anyone and everyone and we enjoyed talking with them.
Still longing for another taste of that delicious pizza we headed up toward “Casa Bella” on Station Street. This seems to be the most popular Italian restaurant in town. Every night it was packed. They are not open for lunch, and dinner reservations are necessary anytime after 6 pm I’d say. It opens at 5 pm and it was now 5 pm so we had to go see what was bringing in the crowds. I don’t think it’s the pizza. It’s certainly not bad pizza, but it wasn’t fantastic either by any stretch of the imagination. The service was excellent, fast and friendly and the patrons around us seemed to really enjoy their pasta, which we did not try.
Now full, we headed back up Station Rd once again to try the Old Station Road trail. According to the marker it is a 4 mile trail one way but I also read somewhere that it's a three mile trail. It took us 1 1/2 hours to walk it, stopping numerous times for photo ops. This is a GORGEOUS linear walk. Mostly shaded with trees along the way. At this time of the evening we saw few on the path coming or going. At one point we did ask someone if the path comes an end. I didn’t know if it was a loop or hit a dead end. She said it doesn’t end! I was wondering just how far we’d walk before we would figure out it was time to turn around. Another said that at the end we’d see a pub in Threlkeld where we could get a drink before heading back. When we finally reached the end we found ourselves on a busy highway with no pub in sight! I looked left then right. My instinct told me that if we went left then around the bend we <i>might</i> find the pub, but by now we were both tired and I decided that if there were no pub around the corner that I would be severely bummed out so we just simply turned around and picked up the pace. With all of the trees and with evening hours approaching, I just didn’t want to be on this path in the dark. No worries as it only took us one hour and five minutes to get back and we still had plenty of light.
http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/index...iles/mws37.htm
Next is the West Highland Rail journey into Scotland.
So we ordered our margherita pizza. The other gal made the pizza next to the bar. She pulled out the dough, rolled it and then started pounding the dough with her fists. When it arrived and I saw how thin, simple and very Italian it was, I said to the waitress that we may want to order another one. It looked like it was made with the real buffalo mozzarella. She hesitated slightly and placed it in front of us. It was delicious. We finished and P went to the bar and asked her for one more. That's when they both said, "Oh I'm sorry! We stop serving pizza at 3 pm. We've turned off the heat." It was 3:05. Oh well. I was slightly peeved because I had <i>just</i> told the girl that we may want another. If I were the waitress, I would have said, "Well just so you know, we shut off our oven at 3 pm and it's 2:50 now." I would have said that of course unless I wanted them gone! So we left still slightly hungry.
We found ourselves on the main street again. There was a man with an easel painting with water colors in rectangular squares. We sat and watched him for a while. When he was done painting he began preaching about God and Jesus turning the rectangular squares into words by adding black lines here and there. Since we were about the only ones who didn’t ignore him, after he was done with his message he and his wife approached us. Thus began a long conversation. P can and will carry on a conversation with anyone and everyone and we enjoyed talking with them.
Still longing for another taste of that delicious pizza we headed up toward “Casa Bella” on Station Street. This seems to be the most popular Italian restaurant in town. Every night it was packed. They are not open for lunch, and dinner reservations are necessary anytime after 6 pm I’d say. It opens at 5 pm and it was now 5 pm so we had to go see what was bringing in the crowds. I don’t think it’s the pizza. It’s certainly not bad pizza, but it wasn’t fantastic either by any stretch of the imagination. The service was excellent, fast and friendly and the patrons around us seemed to really enjoy their pasta, which we did not try.
Now full, we headed back up Station Rd once again to try the Old Station Road trail. According to the marker it is a 4 mile trail one way but I also read somewhere that it's a three mile trail. It took us 1 1/2 hours to walk it, stopping numerous times for photo ops. This is a GORGEOUS linear walk. Mostly shaded with trees along the way. At this time of the evening we saw few on the path coming or going. At one point we did ask someone if the path comes an end. I didn’t know if it was a loop or hit a dead end. She said it doesn’t end! I was wondering just how far we’d walk before we would figure out it was time to turn around. Another said that at the end we’d see a pub in Threlkeld where we could get a drink before heading back. When we finally reached the end we found ourselves on a busy highway with no pub in sight! I looked left then right. My instinct told me that if we went left then around the bend we <i>might</i> find the pub, but by now we were both tired and I decided that if there were no pub around the corner that I would be severely bummed out so we just simply turned around and picked up the pace. With all of the trees and with evening hours approaching, I just didn’t want to be on this path in the dark. No worries as it only took us one hour and five minutes to get back and we still had plenty of light.
http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/index...iles/mws37.htm
Next is the West Highland Rail journey into Scotland.
Jun 19th, 2010, 08:36 AM
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oh! p.s. Thanks Nancy W. I am so glad to hear back from all of you who have responded along the way as I write this. I know this is not the best in trip reports, but I am confident that someone will learn something from our experience that will help them in planning their trip.
Jun 19th, 2010, 10:58 AM
#31
hi Pilates,
so sorry that you had to come across two examples of english not so brilliant service. if it's any comfort, they do it to locals too!
but I'm glad you enjoyed the scenery of the Lake district so much.
so sorry that you had to come across two examples of english not so brilliant service. if it's any comfort, they do it to locals too!
but I'm glad you enjoyed the scenery of the Lake district so much.
Jun 19th, 2010, 02:09 PM
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Rogerdodger, I agree with you but, having two sons who are Vegan, I know that folks with food obsessions like Vegans/vegetarians/organic/etc., do tend to devote an inordinate proportion of their time on food.
When my sons an their SOs visit, for example it is very difficult to get them to leave the house, other than to explore for suitable nutrition. They need to find sources, carefully select what they want, and then spend most of the rest of the day discussing, preparing, and masticating what they have found. Trips to the mountains, or out on the bay are out of the question, as are discussions of much else other than vegetables.
I love then dearly, and respect their choices, but our eyes do start to glaze over after awhile.
When my sons an their SOs visit, for example it is very difficult to get them to leave the house, other than to explore for suitable nutrition. They need to find sources, carefully select what they want, and then spend most of the rest of the day discussing, preparing, and masticating what they have found. Trips to the mountains, or out on the bay are out of the question, as are discussions of much else other than vegetables.
I love then dearly, and respect their choices, but our eyes do start to glaze over after awhile.
Jun 19th, 2010, 05:14 PM
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"..if it's any comfort, they do it to locals too!"
Actually that <i>is</i> a comfort, Ann. Thank you!!
"Good report, howver, much ado about food IMHO."
Thank you, and you're absolutely right! But if you look at the <i>very first sentence</i> I wrote at the beginning of this thread, you'll be reminded of my objective. When one removes a major food group from ones diet, it can be challenging to meet one of our basic needs, and I aim to help. That's why I put "organic and vegetarian" in the title of the thread-to make it easier to find, and thus help someone with the same mind set.
I do hope that the walks I describe, the hotels, or the train rides I describe will be of some value to others who will read this (even though they set no diet restrictions on themselves).
"Trips to the mountains, or out on the bay are out of the question"
I wonder why?
Actually that <i>is</i> a comfort, Ann. Thank you!!
"Good report, howver, much ado about food IMHO."
Thank you, and you're absolutely right! But if you look at the <i>very first sentence</i> I wrote at the beginning of this thread, you'll be reminded of my objective. When one removes a major food group from ones diet, it can be challenging to meet one of our basic needs, and I aim to help. That's why I put "organic and vegetarian" in the title of the thread-to make it easier to find, and thus help someone with the same mind set.
I do hope that the walks I describe, the hotels, or the train rides I describe will be of some value to others who will read this (even though they set no diet restrictions on themselves).
"Trips to the mountains, or out on the bay are out of the question"
I wonder why?
Jun 19th, 2010, 08:50 PM
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You are right, Pilates, and I did not mean to offend. I have enjoyed your posts over the years, and I know you have been on the Forum much longer than I have.
Obviously, you have balanced your life so you can enjoy the pleasures of travel along with your search for nutrition, unlike my offspring who have allowed it to subsume many so many other rewarding things.
Please continue your tale; I am enjoying it.
Obviously, you have balanced your life so you can enjoy the pleasures of travel along with your search for nutrition, unlike my offspring who have allowed it to subsume many so many other rewarding things.
Please continue your tale; I am enjoying it.
Jun 20th, 2010, 06:59 AM
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Pilates, about the place with the vegetables on a skewer and bad service, sounds like it was a pub. Mostly, in pubs, you go up to the bar to order, and they bring it to your table. Maybe they were wondering if you just needed to sit down for a while.
Jun 20th, 2010, 10:47 AM
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>>>Pilates, about the place with the vegetables on a skewer and bad service, sounds like it was a pub.<<<
Funny - just what I was thinking. I know that Jennings is a local brewery in the Lake District, so maybe this was indeed one of their pubs (note that the brewery sign is always displayed outside as well as the name of the pub). See http://www.jenningsbrewery.co.uk/pubs/. If so, Pilates, you wouldn't have been the first foreign visitor to make the classic mistake of expecting waitress/table service in a pub. It's not unheard of, but is rare. The bar staff probably thought you were weird (to use your own expression) for not ordering anything at the bar then just leaving!
Funny - just what I was thinking. I know that Jennings is a local brewery in the Lake District, so maybe this was indeed one of their pubs (note that the brewery sign is always displayed outside as well as the name of the pub). See http://www.jenningsbrewery.co.uk/pubs/. If so, Pilates, you wouldn't have been the first foreign visitor to make the classic mistake of expecting waitress/table service in a pub. It's not unheard of, but is rare. The bar staff probably thought you were weird (to use your own expression) for not ordering anything at the bar then just leaving!
Jun 20th, 2010, 12:19 PM
#39
The bar staff probably thought you were weird (to use your own expression) for not ordering anything at the bar then just leaving!>>
but it wouldn't have hurt them to go and ask if they could help/remind them they needed to go to the bar to order, would it?
if anything, the other experience was worse, IMHO - not to tell people that the kitchen is closing, before it closes, is pathetic.
I've said it before on a different thread - it is a service industry. and before someone says that it's all very well for me to say that, we have a small tourist-based business too, and there is no doubt that going the extra mile [which we try to do, but don't necessarily succeed!] bears [or should that be "bares"?] fruit.
still enjoying the report, pilates, even the foodie stuff.
but it wouldn't have hurt them to go and ask if they could help/remind them they needed to go to the bar to order, would it?
if anything, the other experience was worse, IMHO - not to tell people that the kitchen is closing, before it closes, is pathetic.
I've said it before on a different thread - it is a service industry. and before someone says that it's all very well for me to say that, we have a small tourist-based business too, and there is no doubt that going the extra mile [which we try to do, but don't necessarily succeed!] bears [or should that be "bares"?] fruit.
still enjoying the report, pilates, even the foodie stuff.
Jun 20th, 2010, 06:13 PM
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Thank you nukesafe, ann and Mimar for your encouragement. Yes, Gordon I just did some more research and even though I thought it was a restaurant, this Jennings is one of their pubs called Four in Hand. I did mention that there was no bar staff. Just the waitress who was either outside or in the kitchen. And I must agree with Ann. Going the extra mile is very much appreciated. I spent at least 20 years in retail. I always thought that reaching out to help people when they seemed confused was the right thing to do. I looked at it this way: The customer can spend their money anywhere. If they choose my place of business, we make more money which means we get more hours on the schedule, to hire more people, which gives us greater flexibility in choosing hours to work. etc. One of our customers actually remembered me in his will and all because I was kind to him and used to greet him by name with a smile. Wasn't that amazing for him to do that? You attract more bees with honey. A perfect example would be the treatment we received from a driver in Scotland that I will tell you about later on. We could have taken the bus for our second ride, but she was so great that we wanted her so we chose to ask her to drive us instead...
<b>Right train, wrong coach. We’re going to Oban!</b>
The following morning we said our goodbyes at breakfast. Our hostess had noticed that P had brought an orange with him at breakfast the day before and offered to get him some fruit for today. He told her not to bother as he had plenty to last him but when she offered him some yogurt (her own personal stash which was not on the menu), he gratefully accepted. Once again, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. We had a shower with great pressure and lots of hot water, there was stuff to make tea or instant coffee in the room, she’d leave us biscuits too. We would miss our relaxing time here.
We caught the bus to Penrith and soon found ourselves on our way to Glasgow Central. On the way to Glasgow we were helped very much by the ticket taker who warned us that we may have made a mistake by not reserving our seats in advance. Palenque from Fodors had said that one rarely needs a first class reservation because he has never seen a full 1st class coach. But it turns out there is NO first class train to Arisaig from Glasgow! It's considered a regional service train and on a sunny day like today it could be full, she warned. Also we were planning on taking a taxi from Glasgow Central to Glasgow Queens station to start our journey on the West Highland Rail, but this woman gave us a map and thoroughly explained exactly how to walk there. She was right. It was no big deal to walk over there especially considering we had tons of time-about an hour, and lots of sunshine.
We waited in the Queen's station until our train and its platform showed itself on the screen and then made a mad rush to hop on a coach. We were not able to sit together due to the many reservations but we were only a couple of rows apart. I spoke to the gentleman seated next to me and thank Heavens I said something about Mallaig because he responded that the train splits and he is going to Oban! I asked him, “How much time do we have before I need to start panicking and freaking out?”, and he said about an hour.
So after checking my watch several times and about 20 minutes passed the ticket taker arrived and I told him we were going to Arisaig near Mallaig. He told me that we should move and how many coaches I needed to walk through. He also spoke of a basically empty coach and since this one was packed, I thought that was cool that P and I would be able to sit together. So we grabbed all our stuff and marched through about 5 coaches before we found a quasi empty coach and settled down to relax and enjoy the scenery. So let this be a lesson for you West Highland Rail riders...make your way to the correct coach from Glasgow Queens to Mallaig or you'll find yourselves in OBAN!
Next stop Arisaig. “Sheila” from Fodors had suggested Arisaig as a one night resting place between Glasgow and Mallaig when I was in the planning stages. I want to say, “Thank you!” for this suggestion as I never would have found it, stayed here or enjoyed the experience and delicious meal we had. When you ask P about the vacation, he will always say how much he loved the Scottish Highlands. To find this little village, where it’s freezing cold, in the middle of nowhere-but on the sea!, and THEN get a GREAT meal and such warm hospitality, I can see why he speaks of it with a fond memory whenever asked about our trip.
In googling Arisaig, I learned there is only one place to stay where you can find a good room, a kind and helpful host, and a brilliant and schooled chef. I read promising things about the Old Library Lodge and Restaurant and we were not disappointed. I made the reservation from Keswick as soon as I knew when we’d be heading that way. Fortunately for us he had a cancellation. He said he’d save a seat for us for dinner when I told him what time the train would pull in. This is a very kind and helpful gentleman. I had lost my black hat between Glasgow and Arisaig and he called the Glasgow lost and found for me. Never did find it. Bummer. I got a lot of compliments on that hat AND it perfectly blocks the sun from my face. It rolls and packs without fear of crushing and has a velcro closure for easy adjusting. http://www.sandiegohat.com/catalog/p...age.php?pID=92
From the train station I called Robert at the Old Library for directions but I got lost. He said he’d come for us and he did, bless his heart, but this is how you get to town from the train station: Start heading down the hill. Halfway down look up and to the left for a blue sign on top of a pole. It shows a bicycle as I recall. Follow that path on the left which will lead you down and to the main road. Cross carefully and you will see the rails and the bike sign in blue which will lead you down a residential road. That drops you into the waterfront road. Make a right, go a block or so and there it is on the right.
So we made it and dropped our stuff off and put on a couple of layers to go for a walk. It was going on 6 pm I’d say. We had dinner reservations for 6:45 and wanted to go see the village so out we went. I was glad I had the scarf, hat and gloves, not to mention the several layers of sweaters and polar tec pants. It was freezing. We walked to one end where we saw in the distance a cemetery with two large deer wandering around in there. The gate was locked so we didn’t want to go past it. We turned around and went the other way. Then that brought us back to the waterfront again and we figured, OK, this is about it! It is a wee village, unless I missed something like a big Marks & Spencer or something, ha!
So by 6:30 we are pretty hungry and we went inside and hardly anyone was there so I wondered if we could have a seat. Not a problem. We started with drinks. They just need to space everyone out because he can’t feed a full house all by himself all at once. I had vegetarian special of the day, a 3 cheese tortellini with mushrooms. P wanted to try the scallops which kind of surprised me. He hasn’t eaten fish in a long time. He LOVED it! He had szechuan rice with the scallops, which were huge, and a plate of perfectly steamed veggies of cauliflower, sugar snap peas and baby potatoes. £34 for the meal-well worth it. Every table was taken by the time we left. Highly recommended. We both feel that he went above and beyond in helping us and accommodating us. He offered to make P an egg white omelet for breakfast which of course was just great with P. He is an excellent host.
http://www.oldlibrary.co.uk/
We enjoyed going through the beautiful, scenic ride of the West Highland rail to Arisaig. It was so green! There is also a wild plant, like a bush or shrub which has these yellow flowers all over it. I can’t remember its name, but it’s ubiquitous on this train ride, even still my eyes never tire of seeing it. I hear it flowers for about 6-8 weeks. A bright golden yellow flower.
On the West Highland journey, we met a retired gentleman “B” who told us so much. He knew the history of the land we were passing through. He knew the names of the lochs and the names of the mountains. We were all ears. It turned out that he too was headed to Mallaig but stayed instead this time in Arisaig. He was staying at the other hotel in town.
The next day we took the short trip to Mallaig. We paid the ticket taker as there is no one who mans the Arisaig station. As we were heading to the station in Arisaig on foot we came upon B once again. We all finished the walk to the station together and we spoke more to B along the ride to Mallaig. We compared dinner notes. He told us that he wondered why he was the only one in the dining room of his hotel the night before! When we arrived to Mallaig he walked with us to the ferry that we would need. See how nice people are? He told us that if we ever came back this way that we should stop in and visit Mallaig’s tourist office. He said the man in charge of the TI is very knowledgeable about the area.
<b>Right train, wrong coach. We’re going to Oban!</b>
The following morning we said our goodbyes at breakfast. Our hostess had noticed that P had brought an orange with him at breakfast the day before and offered to get him some fruit for today. He told her not to bother as he had plenty to last him but when she offered him some yogurt (her own personal stash which was not on the menu), he gratefully accepted. Once again, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. We had a shower with great pressure and lots of hot water, there was stuff to make tea or instant coffee in the room, she’d leave us biscuits too. We would miss our relaxing time here.
We caught the bus to Penrith and soon found ourselves on our way to Glasgow Central. On the way to Glasgow we were helped very much by the ticket taker who warned us that we may have made a mistake by not reserving our seats in advance. Palenque from Fodors had said that one rarely needs a first class reservation because he has never seen a full 1st class coach. But it turns out there is NO first class train to Arisaig from Glasgow! It's considered a regional service train and on a sunny day like today it could be full, she warned. Also we were planning on taking a taxi from Glasgow Central to Glasgow Queens station to start our journey on the West Highland Rail, but this woman gave us a map and thoroughly explained exactly how to walk there. She was right. It was no big deal to walk over there especially considering we had tons of time-about an hour, and lots of sunshine.
We waited in the Queen's station until our train and its platform showed itself on the screen and then made a mad rush to hop on a coach. We were not able to sit together due to the many reservations but we were only a couple of rows apart. I spoke to the gentleman seated next to me and thank Heavens I said something about Mallaig because he responded that the train splits and he is going to Oban! I asked him, “How much time do we have before I need to start panicking and freaking out?”, and he said about an hour.
So after checking my watch several times and about 20 minutes passed the ticket taker arrived and I told him we were going to Arisaig near Mallaig. He told me that we should move and how many coaches I needed to walk through. He also spoke of a basically empty coach and since this one was packed, I thought that was cool that P and I would be able to sit together. So we grabbed all our stuff and marched through about 5 coaches before we found a quasi empty coach and settled down to relax and enjoy the scenery. So let this be a lesson for you West Highland Rail riders...make your way to the correct coach from Glasgow Queens to Mallaig or you'll find yourselves in OBAN!
Next stop Arisaig. “Sheila” from Fodors had suggested Arisaig as a one night resting place between Glasgow and Mallaig when I was in the planning stages. I want to say, “Thank you!” for this suggestion as I never would have found it, stayed here or enjoyed the experience and delicious meal we had. When you ask P about the vacation, he will always say how much he loved the Scottish Highlands. To find this little village, where it’s freezing cold, in the middle of nowhere-but on the sea!, and THEN get a GREAT meal and such warm hospitality, I can see why he speaks of it with a fond memory whenever asked about our trip.
In googling Arisaig, I learned there is only one place to stay where you can find a good room, a kind and helpful host, and a brilliant and schooled chef. I read promising things about the Old Library Lodge and Restaurant and we were not disappointed. I made the reservation from Keswick as soon as I knew when we’d be heading that way. Fortunately for us he had a cancellation. He said he’d save a seat for us for dinner when I told him what time the train would pull in. This is a very kind and helpful gentleman. I had lost my black hat between Glasgow and Arisaig and he called the Glasgow lost and found for me. Never did find it. Bummer. I got a lot of compliments on that hat AND it perfectly blocks the sun from my face. It rolls and packs without fear of crushing and has a velcro closure for easy adjusting. http://www.sandiegohat.com/catalog/p...age.php?pID=92
From the train station I called Robert at the Old Library for directions but I got lost. He said he’d come for us and he did, bless his heart, but this is how you get to town from the train station: Start heading down the hill. Halfway down look up and to the left for a blue sign on top of a pole. It shows a bicycle as I recall. Follow that path on the left which will lead you down and to the main road. Cross carefully and you will see the rails and the bike sign in blue which will lead you down a residential road. That drops you into the waterfront road. Make a right, go a block or so and there it is on the right.
So we made it and dropped our stuff off and put on a couple of layers to go for a walk. It was going on 6 pm I’d say. We had dinner reservations for 6:45 and wanted to go see the village so out we went. I was glad I had the scarf, hat and gloves, not to mention the several layers of sweaters and polar tec pants. It was freezing. We walked to one end where we saw in the distance a cemetery with two large deer wandering around in there. The gate was locked so we didn’t want to go past it. We turned around and went the other way. Then that brought us back to the waterfront again and we figured, OK, this is about it! It is a wee village, unless I missed something like a big Marks & Spencer or something, ha!
So by 6:30 we are pretty hungry and we went inside and hardly anyone was there so I wondered if we could have a seat. Not a problem. We started with drinks. They just need to space everyone out because he can’t feed a full house all by himself all at once. I had vegetarian special of the day, a 3 cheese tortellini with mushrooms. P wanted to try the scallops which kind of surprised me. He hasn’t eaten fish in a long time. He LOVED it! He had szechuan rice with the scallops, which were huge, and a plate of perfectly steamed veggies of cauliflower, sugar snap peas and baby potatoes. £34 for the meal-well worth it. Every table was taken by the time we left. Highly recommended. We both feel that he went above and beyond in helping us and accommodating us. He offered to make P an egg white omelet for breakfast which of course was just great with P. He is an excellent host.
http://www.oldlibrary.co.uk/
We enjoyed going through the beautiful, scenic ride of the West Highland rail to Arisaig. It was so green! There is also a wild plant, like a bush or shrub which has these yellow flowers all over it. I can’t remember its name, but it’s ubiquitous on this train ride, even still my eyes never tire of seeing it. I hear it flowers for about 6-8 weeks. A bright golden yellow flower.
On the West Highland journey, we met a retired gentleman “B” who told us so much. He knew the history of the land we were passing through. He knew the names of the lochs and the names of the mountains. We were all ears. It turned out that he too was headed to Mallaig but stayed instead this time in Arisaig. He was staying at the other hotel in town.
The next day we took the short trip to Mallaig. We paid the ticket taker as there is no one who mans the Arisaig station. As we were heading to the station in Arisaig on foot we came upon B once again. We all finished the walk to the station together and we spoke more to B along the ride to Mallaig. We compared dinner notes. He told us that he wondered why he was the only one in the dining room of his hotel the night before! When we arrived to Mallaig he walked with us to the ferry that we would need. See how nice people are? He told us that if we ever came back this way that we should stop in and visit Mallaig’s tourist office. He said the man in charge of the TI is very knowledgeable about the area.
