Day 10, June 23, 2024 Windemere, England to Glasgow, Scotland

We woke up knowing this was a moving traveling day. We have been able to get into a good rhythm of what it takes to pack things up, clean up the room, have a little breakfast before we head on out. We realized today put us right at 1/4 of a way through our trip. We’ve already had so many nice experiences and travels.

We had a fond farewell chat with our hosts, Richard and Judith. Their bed and breakfast is really one that was run with loving care and  attention to details. It was a lovely spot to visit and they wanted to be sure to send us on their way properly.

We walked one last time through the downtown of Windermere, remembering happy meals and the experiences that we’ve had here.

Then, on over to catch a train that will go to Glasgow, with one change. Our train was running on time and leaving at 10:53.Dick did not have a window to take photos out of, but before we knew it, we were arriving in Scotland. It was an easy about three hour train trip to where we will be met by our next Servas hosts: Duncan and Roisin.

Roisin met us at the train station in Paisley, a suburb of Glasgow. We were pleased that we were able to join Duncan who was giving a tour of the local Peace Gardens. It was very fun, walking around and hearing the stories and learning more about the plants in this garden as well as understanding the history of garden. We really enjoyed seeing all of the beautiful plants and hearing some of the philosophy about this garden that was dedicated to peace in of its facets. Both Duncan and Judith knew so much about all the plants, so that was especially fun.

After the tour we were invited up to the community garden where we had tea and sweets. There we had a chance to hear a little bit more about the community gardening and other work that is happening in this area. Lots of people caring for the earth.

On the way home, we heard much more about this area that at one point was the major manufacturer for thread in all of Europe. There were so many textile manufacturing that happened here in terms of milling and weaving. It was quite an industrial area.

Eventually, we went back to their lovely home and had a chance to see how they had planted both in front and back area of their yard or “garden” into lovely green with flowers and fruit. We had a delicious dinner and then opportunity for great conversation. 

We made plans for the next day to go to a wonderful art museum. Staying with Servas people is always an adventure .

Following that tour, they drove us around for a quick site seeing trip through the Paisley area. Although its history was as a more industrial area, it has now become quite a center for art.

We arrived back at their home and settled in for a long visit. Getting to know Servas hosts and travelers is always interesting. We all knew a bit about each other from the bios on the Servas website, but there are always fun additional details and stories to share. We had a lovely dinner, then it was off to bed.

Day nine, June 22, 2024: a quiet day in Windemere England

 

We both felt a quieter day was in order and snoozed on and off until after 10 AM. Luxurious. Taking nice showers and getting things together for a bit of a hike. We headed out for a beautiful brunch a few blocks down the road. On the menu was a full English breakfast. Sounded like just what we needed. This included a couple of pieces of ham, sausage, hash browns, a fried tomato, a couple pieces of toast, and a fried egg. When Patti asked if she could have her egg scrambled, and it caused a bit of a fuss. Apparently that’s not how it’s done, but they were able to produce it. Oh, and there was also a little dish of baked beans. We both thought we’d probably never eaten baked beans for breakfast before so that was also interesting. It was clear it was a “stick to your ribs” kind of brunch and that was exactly what we needed to get us through our little hike to the top of the hill. 

We followed recommendations of our Airbnb host and walked to a footpath that was to take us to Orrest Head. This was a large hill, the path was about a mile up, including switchbacks to give us a glorious view of the town as well as the lake. We were grateful there were well marked signs and places that you had the choice of going a more difficult route or an easier one that was called “miles without stiles”, meaning an accessible less steep trail with no steps. We decided to do the easier one on the way up and the steeper one on the way down. Although they said the walk should take about a half hour, we ended up taking nearly 45 minutes going up because we had to keep stopping and taking pictures of the beautiful trees, the wildflower and the paths. There were people on the trails, but everyone was in good spirit and it was a very, very lovely walk. there was bright sunshine, and it was beautiful weather.

This path  on the top has been donated by a family who wanted to make sure this would be open to the public forever. We’re so grateful for generous people who share the beauty that they could’ve kept for themselves. When we got to the top, it was a lovely view and we and many other people took it in, took photos, and some people ate their lunch.

On the way down, we took a little side path off into a pasture where sheep were grazing. It was about us pastoral of a scene as one could get, and it was very lovely just walking in that area and catching some photos of sheep. We followed the path down and really felt like we had had another quintessential Lakes area experience.

We tried to see an exhibit at the library, but it was closed by 1 o’clock. Apparently libraries in Great Britain are dealing with some of the same funding and staffing problems that it is not possible to keep libraries open as many hours as would be good for the public. So instead, we went back to our room and had a quiet resting afternoon.

For dinner, we went out and end up having a very delicious locally-sourced meal of mushroom soup and seafood pizza. More than enough food to get us through. And then back to the room for time working on photos, writing, and reading. It has definitely been a quiet and restful time here in the Lake District.

Day eight June 21, 2024 exploring the Lake District UK

So we woke up to blue sky with a few puffy clouds. Both Patti and Dick were very happy that Patti got a decent night sleep with the new nighttime cough syrup. Yay for good medication.

Did a few things in the morning, including dropping off our laundry to be washed, going over and picking up some meal deals at the local grocery store to take on a picnic, and then heading off to go on what we thought would be a hiking walking adventure. We first followed a beautiful path that went through the neighborhood and then more of park area heading down towards the lake.

We were very surprised to see a couple of small Roe deer over on the side. Our first real wildlife that we saw on this trip.

We also walked along with an English couple on holiday, who were from the area that we had just been staying at earlier in the week. We had some lovely conversation with them about this area, and the lake area. They were delightful and we enjoyed hearing their impressions of the previous night's soccer game between England and Denmark, where they were both disgusted by England’s uninspired play.

Looking on our little map, it appeared that it was going to just be a quick jog over to find the Jetty Boat Museum, where we would also catch our boat to go on a boating ride and then do a walk around part of the lake. However, it was not nearly so clear and we ended up walking half mile in the wrong direction, and then had to turn around and come back. We were quite frustrated and really glad to finally see this museum.

We went into the museum. We were trying to confirm the schedule for the boat. It turns out the trip that we thought we were scheduling ourselves for only happened in the “summer “. That actually means starting in July with the school holidays. So the boat wasn’t going to leave from where we were for another 2 1/2 hours. disappointing, especially as the clouds were starting to roll in and we were hearing reports of rain later in the afternoon. We had to do a little bit of regrouping. 

We had tickets to take a look in the boat museum, which turned out to be a great treat. We saw some amazing wonderful boats. This is the largest lake in all of England: 10 miles in length and a mile wide. It has a long history of interesting boating.  The museum had a fabulous collection primarily of antique wooden boats. We looked at an large number of beautifully kept restored boats.

But the highlight was a talk by one of the boat builders who talked about the whole process of restoring and conserving old boats. Steve, who was a paid staff member and master boat builder was a font of fascinating information about this whole process. One of the things that struck Patti was they are always making the decision about whether or not to acquire  a boat is to ask  what story will this boat help to tell? Steve was an exceptionally good storyteller and had a lot of wonderful information for us as a group.  Then Dick and Patti hung out and chatted with him for a while afterwards. These people with their hearts set on keeping history and imparting wisdom, they are so wonderful and we’re always happy when we find them.

By this time, it was just enough time to have some "cream tea", which is tea scones, along with butter, jam, and "clotted cream". In case you are not familiar with this, clotted cream is a thick cream made by heating full-cream cow's milk using steam and then leaving it in shallow pans to cool slowly. During this time, the cream rises to the surface and forms "clots", hence the name. This is a classic British snack and one that tasted especially good as the weather was getting cold.

We boarded the boat and went partway up the lake, and just stayed on it and came partway back down the lake. No hiking for us today on the beautiful other side, but we had at least a chance to get out on the water for a bit.  Patti had talked Dick earlier into taking some of our cold and wind proofed clothings out of our backpack. That was an error.  It was VERY windy, and even wrapping up in a small blanket, Patti was way too cold.

We also made a quick stop at the Beatrix Potter World site. This year is apparently the 120th birthday of Peter Rabbit so they were highlighting that. We were less interested in paying 10 pounds to go and visit. But this is the area that Beatrice Potter lived for many years. She was also part of a group that bought up all kinds of forest land to keep the heavy development from going all the way around the lake. Thank you Beatrix.

Before we went back to the room, we stopped an picked up our laundry. We were happy that we had decided to have it done for us and now would be challenged to get it back into our little suitcases. In our room, Patti took a well needed nap. Even with our not going on the 4 1/2 mile walk around the lake, we still walked nearly 6 miles today anyway. A nap was in order.

For dinner we had some very nice fish and chips at a nearby pub, and then headed off to bed.  Time for a long night's sleep.

Day seven, June 20, 2024 Colyn Bay Wales to Windermere, England

Patti is pretty bummed out from coughing so much. The cold has settled in and has made sleeping difficult. However, eventually it was morning, and David called us down again to breakfast by playing the piano. After a lovely breakfast he made us sandwiches to take with us on the train.  He could take us to the train station which was really quite close by. We hopped on a first of three trains that would eventually take us up to the Lake District , a special vacation area for the English. All went well, until the second train was delayed by 25 minutes. Which meant we missed the next train also and waited another hour. This was actually the only delay that we’ve had so far. So a little frustrated because we were ready to arrive but OK, sometimes, you just have to pivot. While we were waiting a Royal Mail train stopped at the station, ten cars of mail.  The mail is a big deal to the British.

Once we hopped on the last train, it was just 20 minutes till we arrived at Windermere. This is the name of the village where we will be staying and the largest lake in the area. We got off the train and headed about 10 minutes into the center of town where our Airbnb hosts were waiting for us. There we were able to drop off our bags, greet our hosts and rest. Our home for the next several days is in an old guesthouse and is well set up for a nice stay.

For those of you who’ve been worried about how we are doing this trip with such small suitcases, can be glad to know that we are doing some laundry while we travel. So there’s laundromat close by and we will take care of that in the next couple of days.

The lake is lovely. We are ready to settle in, rest and relax.

We took a quick rest and then walked over to explore our new home: the laundry, the grocery, the pharmacy.

We had a very nice dinner at a tapas small plates restaurant. Right after we sat down, we realized the game on the restaurant television was Denmark playing England. We know family in Denmark are big soccer or should we say football fans. We had some fun text exchanging with a family member in Denmark, as we joined in the cheering. The game ended with a tie, but it was quite exciting. It was fun to be able to share a sporting event, even when you’re not in the same country.

The evening went by quickly with Dick participating in online Servas board meeting. As the board chair, he wanted to attend if it was possible and it was really good he was able to do that for a couple of hours. His fellow board members were very thankful for this, and the internet connection was strong.

Then, we made a few plans for what will happen in the next couple of days, worked on some photos and some blog posting then headed off to bed. Patti has some magic new cough syrup that the pharmacist thought would make it more possible for her to sleep. Cross your fingers on that one.