Great Britain Road Trip, Part II

Day 2 of our road trip was a super fast tour of the Lake District, before we departed England for Scotland.  We had been told that the Lake District deserves more than a day, but we didn't have more than a day to spare. At a minimum, we figured we would have a scenic, off-highway drive north toward Glasgow, so off we went to Lake District National Park. The scenery turned from typical to breathtaking as soon as we entered the Lake District.

Craggy, rocky hills

Pretty, placid lakes

Sheep everywhere, kept enclosed by these hand-layed, stone walls

Another look at the stone walls-- miles and miles and miles of them

Our guide book, Rick Steves' Great Britain, suggested that the southern Lake District, including Beatrix Potter's and William Wordsworth's historic homes, was not worth seeing, if our time was limited. Apparently, the southern Lake District can get overwhelmingly touristy at times. It looked quaint and lovely as we drove through, but we kept on moving, headed for Keswick (pronounced Kez-ick) in the northern Lake District. Along the way, we took some back roads, where we found hiking trails, waterfalls, and some cool wildlife.

Checking out the mossy wall

Up the trail, following the sound of rushing water

It was so green, I half expected to see fairies and leprechauns flitting about in the forest.  It seemed like a fairytale forest.

We found the waterfall.

Slugs!  We found this guy (about 7 inches long) crawling on the road.

There were lots of these smaller (4-5 inches), brownish ones in the mossy areas.

Our packed itinerary didn't leave us as much time to linger as we would have liked, but by the end of our short hike, the clouds were rolling in (again). The Lake District is said to be the wettest place in England, and on top of that, this year saw the rainiest June on record in Great Britain. We felt lucky to have had any sun at all.  

We headed toward Keswick for lunch. The Thursday open-air market was going on, and people were selling everything from local cheeses to hardware to sheep t-shirts.

Lunch in an outdoor cafe but under an awning to avoid the sprinkles 

The market in Keswick

Keswick street view

Many of the buildings in Keswick are built from the same slate as the dry stone walls in the sheep pastures.

After a brief stay in town, we were back on the road and headed for Glasgow. We had a dinner date with Betty Gilmour, mother our friend Ray. She lives outside of Glasgow in a town called Johnstone. We have gotten to know Betty over the years on her visits to Indianapolis, and it was nice to see her in her neck of the woods. We went to a local restaurant for dinner, where we did our best to follow the Glaswegian accents. Our waitress asked if we would take a seat at the "wee" table in the "wee" corner, where she gave us our "wee" menus, and asked if we would like a "wee" drink. Apparently, "wee" is used to describe just about everything in Glasgow, whether it is small in size or not. We were not brave enough to try haggis or steak and kidney pie, so we stuck with good ol' haddock and chips and some nice, wee Scottish ales. The boys were not on their best behavior at the restaurant, after being cooped up in the car for much of the day, but Betty was very tolerant and sweet with them nonetheless. We spent the night at a hotel in downtown Glasgow, prepared to take in the sights the next day.