Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report UK Trip Report So Far....

UK, cont.

I have been remiss in continuing this report. I had more downtime in Edinburgh than I did subsequently....

We left Edinburgh for a relatively short train ride to Windermere in the Lake District. There we stayed in Bowness in a B&B that had a breathtaking view of the lake. Aside from that, not sure if I can give the place a recommendation.....we were greeted, after ringing the bell of the locked exterior door several times, by a woman who seemed a tad annoyed at being interrupted. It was 3:00 PM, so a very appropriate arrival time. Another 3 flight climb to our room---thank goodness we can still do this carrying luggage!! :)-- and we entered a smallish room, altho there was a seating area, and of course, the gorgeous view!

Upon further examination of the room, I noticed a row of laminated 8X11 sheets of paper on the back of the door. Altho they began by saying "Welcome" (a good start), they went on to inform, warn (threat?) that there be NO take-out food brought into the room, NO ironing, and NO need to run the water the entire time that one was in the shower. They ended with some rather sternly worded language about check-out time. It does seem that many B&Bs we stay in over the years seem to have the spirit of Basil Fawlty alive and well! I do sometimes wonder if some people are sent to run them as their community service in lieu of jail time.. :) Seriously, I do believe that Fawlty Towers has endured so long, b/c John Cleese tapped into some quintessential truth about many who become B&B proprietors! Lest I sound as though I am whining, one of the things I LOVE about travel, is meeting quirky characters, as locals, fellow travelers or hosts. ( I am also quite aware that *I* may be playing the role of quirky in someone else's journey.....)

The room and bed were comfortable, the view was spectacular and with a southwestern orientation of the view, was ever changing during the day with the different ways the light and clouds appeared. The dock was there and the tour boat looked to be right out of the 1800s, so if one did not see cars, the view was as if looking back in time. The breakfast room was nice, and set up w/individual tables.

Thanks to Fodorite wisdom, we knew to contact Mountain Goat tours. B/c of my motion sickness concerns, we booked only a 1/2 day tour, which we did on our last full day there. DH thought it would be short and on a relatively flat area after studying the tour details in the brochure. It was anything but! We went over high and winding, impossibly narrow roads that require an intricate "dance" of cars giving way to each other to be able to pass. Anyone not familiar with the dance, is a potential menace to everyone else on the roads! Even if DH were inclined to try driving in the UK, we would never have survived the trip! The tour took us to the Beatrix Potter home which was such a lovely refuge, and I could feel her spirt in the house and the gardens.

On our second full day there, we took the Stagecoach local bus line, which was great. For 7 pounds each, we could ride all day. We went from Bowness, thru Ambleside, (where we did not get off, but it looked lovely) and then we got off in Grasmere. What a lovely place, so peaceful w/a babbling brook and lovely picturesque streets. We saw Wordsworth's grave in the church yard and went into St. Oswald's Church. We also went into Sarah Nelson's gingerbread house, which sells something that is a chewy cake-like gingerbread cookie that may be the best thing I have ever tasted in my life, and unlike any gingerbread/cookie ever! Be sure to go if you are anywhere nearby! The place was about a 12X12 cottage w/a line outside. We were there on a week-day off season and the line had 10 or so people. I can only imagine in season that the line snakes for hundreds of feet! This trip finally made DH a true believer about traveling off season, or at least in shoulder season.

That is it for the Lake District, and as I did with Edinburgh, I will post recommendations for pubs and restaurants on a separate thread so that they will be easily searchable.