Windermere: Part One - August 2015

Having learnt our lesson at Bassenthwaite not to bite off more than we can chew, John and I decided 10 miles (or 16km if you are so inclined) was much more appropriate for our weary old legs. But we wanted to do Windermere as it's so easy to get to from the Fylde Coast: on a snatched 'good weather' Sunday, we wanted to get to a lake asap! Those of you who know such things will be aware that Windermere is the biggest lake of all of them, so we have broken it into sections, (no, not literally) and walked our first one on Sunday 23rd August.

So, how to walk along 10 miles of lake shore in one direction, yet return to your car?
Use Windermere Lake Cruises of course! They even allow dogs on the boats, so Usko came along too.  

Our first boat of the day

Hmmmm - not sure how this would pan out when they realised we just had 'a dog'.

Settling down in the shade. Bless him. You can see where his fur is all clipped and his stitches were from his attack on our last (attempted) walk.

We got on the first boat out of Lakeside, Newby Bridge and went all the way up the length of the lake to Waterhead in Ambleside.  It was breezy, but beautiful. I loved seeing the shore from the water itself, rather than the opposite shore.

our first view up the lake

one of the 'horseshoe' mountain ranges in the haze

both 'horseshoe' mountain ranges in the haze

the man's voice told us what these mountains are but I've long since forgotten

Where I would like to live please

Approaching Waterhead

Once at Waterhead, we had about 10 minutes turnaround to buy our next ticket (practically no-one else makes the same journey as us, it seems, as the woman in the ticket booth had to phone someone else and ask what ticket we should buy), and get on the much smaller boat 'The Lady of the Lake'.  

To my concern, there was another dog on this boat, and in close proximity to Usko. On first sight, they both lunged to greet each other, but then I told Usko 'leave it' and He Only Went And Did It!!  He turned around and did this:

Amazing behaviour!!

After a shorter journey, we disembarked at Wray Castle and began the walk itself, already nearly full-to-bursting with gorgeous lake views, but hungry for more. We had first, though, to enjoy the sights and sounds of a woodland walk.

Before sneaking out at the edge to see this:

And although we endeavoured to get a dog-on-a-log pose, it was not to be, the shadiness of the forest put paid to that. However, we managed the ultimate dog-on-a-rock picture, as you can see:

Looking snooty?...

...with good reason!

Love my doggy :-)

We continued along the lake edge, and found the shade of a tree to sit and have a cuppa (just ahead of me to my left in the photo below)... but then found it to be inhabited by many wasps, and I didn't fancy being sociable with wasps, so we had to go a bit further before we could stop for our brew.

Said brew. Which actually turned in to lunch. Usko not smiling because he's desperately trying hard to be good so's he can have some of my sandwich.

In contrast to our walk at Yew Tree Tarn, where we saw absolutely no-one, whilst on this walk, we saw vast throngs of people. (Well, comparatively, anyway.)  Costa del Windermere.  There were folks sunbathing, swimming, getting changed under towels, everything you expect to see in well, St Annes actually!  Although we felt very under-privileged not to have taken a yacht with us.  The west side of the lake is where everyone seems to take their vessels to escape the busy-ness of the east side of the lake.  Except it creates a busy-ness on the west side of the lake.  But a very attractive boaty busy-ness. And I can hardly complain because I'm only jealous really.

one of the handful of water-skiers we saw

all those boats on the right are 'tucked away' from Bowness, hiding behind an island in the middle of the lake.  On an aerial shot, it must look to be *the* place to hang out on a yacht.

Where I would like to live please (part 2)

Shortly after this was taken, Usko went for a paddle on the shallow rocks just in front of the jetty.  Except he didn't worry about keeping to the rocks, and ended up shoulder deep in Windermere.  He looked startled for a second, I hoiked him out, and after a thorough shake off (on to yours truly; don't worry, it was quite cooling on the ol' legs) it was as though it had never happened.

Ok, if I can't have the first one, I'll make do with this lakeside property.

 

even the stiles in the Lake District are charming :-)

the man's voice on the boat also told us about this jetty. And true to form, I have forgotten that too.

two of my boyfolk

There were many boathouses along the shore line, but this was the best named

 The last couple of miles back to Lakeside were along a road, which although pretty, was more than a little hazardous, and Not Much Fun. 

Looking up WIndermere again, at the other end of the day

 The cloud cover forecast for 8pm had turned up to the party about 5 hours early.  But we managed to perfectly dodge being out in the rain... it started to spit just as we drove out of the car park!  And then on our journey home, it turned a bit more torrential:

The joys of the English weather!