Sept. 27 Back Home in Idaho

We are back home with lots of new experiences and memories to share with our friends and family.

Dales Way was a wonderful hike and I'm glad we did it. It was a hike we'd only do once, though. I had a couple of really hard days, but those were due to my age and ability, rather than the difficulty of the trail. It would have been easier for me 10 years ago. The countryside was lovely and the history of the little villages fascinating. But the main thing that made it so enjoyable was visiting with the local residents along the way--other hikers, inn keepers, B&B owners, farm workers, shop employees and local customers in the many restaurants, pubs and inns along the trail. Not one person was rude or even unfriendly. Taking 10 days to complete it, meant we weren't rushed and had time to stop along the way. 

Was it as enjoyable as Hadrian's Wall hike? No, I don't believe so. It was a lovely walk, but there were probably more historical, and interesting places to see on the Hadrian's Wall Trail with more diversity and changing topography. Also, since HW  has more walkers, the trail was better maintained and the route better signed.

I give the Brits a thumbs up for their beautiful national trails and a big thank-you for the great welcome they give their visitors. And thank you for visiting my blog.

Judith Holt

Sept. 25-26 Enjoying London

Enjoying London

We would have preferred to fly home immediately after our hike, but since we flew on  United Airline's frequent-flyer miles, we had to take the dates available. That meant we had a couple of extra days in London. We have been traveling to England off and on for about 25 years, and have seen and done the usual touristy things to do.  We'd also just about exhausted all of the smaller art galleries and museums as well, so we did a lot of walking, riding around the city and window shopping. Some things we never tire of though. Here are a few of the places we visited during these two days.

Wellington Arch in Hyde Park

 

London Eye on the Thames



 

Here's a couple of pictures from the Eye that I took on a previous trips

 

 

 

Our favorite landmark, the Tower Bridge

But here's a picture Russ took on a previous trip when we were out walking late one night right before Christmas. He was very proud of this shot. 



 

 

Big Ben....very big!



 

I tried to get a picture of the British Flag flying over parliament, but the wind just wouldn't cooperate.

 

The Shard--87 stories high. The tallest building in Western Europe.

#10 Downing Street. Didn't see the Prime Minister, though..



Anyone need a bus? Apparently the answer is yes! 



After watching Masterpiece Theater's "Mr. Selfridge," we were interested to see the store which is still very much in business. It was probably the most up-scale dept. store I've been in. And the window displays were amazing.



And here I am with the only thing in the store I could afford...a Coke. 



 

We went to the theater the night before we left. I think it was the only time on any trip we've made to London that we didn't see Les Miserables. This was a cute production though, and we enjoyed it.

 

And speaking of Masterpiece Theater, I was a little underdressed to be meeting Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham in Downton Abbey. Better known as Hugh Bonneville. He's tall!

 

George was busy getting ready for his wedding in Venice, but still took time for a short photo op...

 

Oh I know, he's very young, but still a great, if not a little creepy, actor! I've always been fond of Johnny! 

 

  And I nearly fell off the stage in the middle of the royal family.

Oh well.  So ended Russ's hour and a half of torture at Madam Tussaud's. I thought it was fun!

And early the next morning....

 

And after 18 days we boarded a plane and headed for home. Yea!

 

 

Last entry: Sept 27 Back in the USA

 

 

 



Sept. 24 Windermere & Train back to London

 

Morning in Bowness on Windermere

Yesterday, after reaching the end of the Dales Way and checking into our B&B, Russ walked a couple more miles to the train station in Windermere to buy our return tickets to London. So this morning our order of business is to (1) pack our bags for the train trip; (2) eat breakfast; (3) make sure our B&B hosts arrange for a taxi to the train station; and (4) use the remaining hour or so for a short sight-seeing walk around Bowness and the beautiful Lake Windermere which was only a few blocks from our B&B.

It was a beautiful crisp, sunny morning--just right for walking. Lake Windermere has been attracting visitors since at least the mid-1800s, and no wonder. It's a beautiful lake. The lake and town are one of Britain's most popular tourist destinations with more than a million visitors each year. Bowness and Windermere are sister towns that have grown together. Bowness is actually the older of the two.



This little traffic circle was just a few steps down the hill from our B&B. After being in the countryside for the past ten days, we have to remember when crossing the street that the cars here insist on driving on the WRONG side of the street. I'm surprised more Americans aren't run over in Britain than there seem to be.

We came across this old church and its peaceful grounds a short distance further down the hill toward the lake. A great place to spend a few quiet moments on a sunny early morning.

The Old England Hotel is slightly more grand than our humble B&B!



A small portion of the ten-and-a-half-mile long lake with some boats pulled up on the shore.

  

It wouldn't have been England if there hadn't been a brief rain shower--and neither would there have been this lovely rainbow to set off the beauty of the lake.

I had to have Russ take my picture with these flowers.

One of the early morning excursion boats was already filling with passengers. If we hadn't needed to catch a train in a few minutes, it would have been tempting . . .

That ought to give thoughtless car owners second thoughts!

The Union Jack and a red door make a perfect picture opportunity. Bowness and its sister town, Windermere, are picturesque almost anywhere you look.

 

Somehow, I've lost the pictures I took of the train station at Windermere and our train. But these pictures give you a good idea of the English landscape from the train window as we leave Windermere and the Lake District, on our way to London.

Clear blue skies, white clouds, and green pastures. Who says it rains a lot in England? We've had virtually no rain for the past ten days on our entire walk. But we did hear that it's been one of the driest Septembers in this part of Britain for years!

A few miles down the track from Windermere, we changed at Oxenholme from the local train to the express train to London. We had plenty of time between trains, which was a good thing, because we had bought restricted (i.e, cheaper) tickets that were non-refundable and non-valid if we missed our connection here to the London train. We made sure we didn't !! Some thoughtful individual had placed a bench out at the edge of the little station where Russ could relax and watch for the London train!

No London train in sight yet!!

Judy bought some coffee and took her turn relaxing and watching for the London train. We were NOT going to miss that train!

We're on the train to London!! More green pastures and more sheep. We're covering more miles in a few minutes than we did all day on the Dales Way!

The view from our hotel in London, looking down on the little park at Norfolk Square, near Paddington train station. We have two more days here in London before we wing our way back to the U.S. of A. :)

The great Dales Way walk is over. Ninety-four miles. Hundreds of gates. Thousands of stiles. A million memories!! 

 

Next entry: In London

Sept. 23 Day 10

Day 10 Stavely to Bowness-On-Windermere  (7.6 miles) The End!

 Well, here it was the last day of our hike. We slept well and had a very nice breakfast downstairs before stopping at the front desk in the Pub to check out. Sort of a final look at our last quintessential English Inn/Pub

 

We had about 7 miles to the finish in Bowness on Windermere, so it would be an easy day. Walking in the Lake District had so far been lovely, but not as picturesque as Yorkshire. We were just on the southwest corner and would not get into any of the higher mountains further in the National Park that make it so spectacular.

This day, like many of the others was be spent in the remote countryside, with only a few sparse farms and no towns. The pictures will give you a last look at Dales Way.

 

With rested feet and full stomachs from a great breakfast, we started out with a few clouds, and some sun. The morning was beautiful with very few people about. We had a nice walk by the River Gowan which flows in front of the Inn.

Then under the railroad tracks,

 

Over the A591,

 

And back on the trail.

 

 

The Guidebook said we would soon start climbing, and they didn't lie. The picture is deceiving, the road was quite steep. I had to stop and take a rest.

 

 Ok, 30 minutes later we were still climbing and I had to stop again to breathe!

 

This fellow looked about as energetic as I felt...

 

The clouds were getting bigger and darker and we were glad we were prepared for rain which was surely coming...Except that we had  been expecting rain every day for 10 days, and other than a few drops early the 2nd day before breakfast, we didn't have any rain at all. Unbelievable for this part of England.

 



 

 Road still climbing and the scenery beautiful with huge trees.

 

We came across this sign, so I started looking for the you-know-what.....

 

Well, at first he was a long way away... 

 

but unfortunately the path was headed in his direction....

 

 

But there was still a fence between us, until a ways down the pasture it turned into this.....uh, uh...

Homemade Handyman Cattleguard ???  

It was ok,  we didn't see this....so we continued on our way!

 

Soon, the landscape changed and we started up to the high fells.

  
 

At the top of one of the fells, before we started descending, there was this wonderful tree standing out against the sky, and it was just beautiful. The one lone sheep in front made the picture even better.  

 





 

Ok, where are we Russ? 



 

 

 

 

 After a couple of hours of walking, we started seeing a few houses and then crossed a road where we walked passed past these farm buildings. Bless the Brits love of flowers! 

 

 

 





 

Russ again reading about our location....

  



Oh boy, Windermere 1/4 mile! Our hike is almost over....

 

Then we started seeing the Lake in the distance. It also started drizzling rain on us, wouldn't you know! 10 days of dry and then it starts.

 

Still have to laugh at those narrow little gates. They certainly weren't designed for overweight Americans!

And that, my friends is the stone bench at the end of the trail.

 

I look tired, and I was, but it was a little anti-climactic for the walk to be over. We're going to miss the beautiful hills of Yorkshire and the Lake District.

 

We were both a little sad to see it come to an end, but it's been great and a nice accomplishment.

After walking through the town, we found our B&B which was only 2 blocks from the Lake. The downstairs was a sort of sandwich shop-but it was closed when we were there. The owners, Dave and Manny, were interesting to visit with as they prepared our breakfast the next morning. We had a huge room, good nights rest and a lovely breakfast.

 http://www.lakeview-guesthouse.co.uk/





 

 

 

 

Next entry: Sept. 24 Windermere and train back to London