Lake District
I am writing this blog at the risk of turning people off! Surprised??? This is the next edition of my travelogue and this time our car made way towards Lake District. As this region is to the south of Scotland it is a general perception that the landscape is like that of Scotland. This brings me back to the first line of my blog. As I have already written about our journey to Scotland, my faithful readers might quit reading this blog assuming it to be very similar to the previous one. I couldn't me more wrong than that!!!
Rather than the actual journey it is the planning that gets me pumping. Things were simplified by the fact that we planned to find accommodation in one place and travel to the rest. Easier said than done! It seemed as though every traveller in the world was heading to the Lake District and unless you were looking to lodge yourself in a manor rather than a B&B you were out of luck. But, we were destined to be lucky and found a cosy ale house of the 1800s turned into a B&B. With a clean, compact and cosy dwellings it was our dream come true!
Thus our journey started on a fine sunny Sunday with a mild surprise that we started 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Since it would take about 5 hours to reach our destination in Lake District, we decided to take a small break en-route at Doncaster. We very well chose a funny activity here. It was to get through to the center of a maze. So you would ask me as to what's so great about that? Well it was a maze created in a maize farm - it was a maize maze (hmm a good tongue twister indeed). As usual the two of us jumped at the first sign of adventure and started tackling the maze. The goal was to reach 4 flags at different stages of the maze and finally reach the center where we would meet the prized possession - a cardboard cut-out of Maizy, the heroine/goddess of the maze. With a lot of laughter, shouting and very little effort we managed to find all the flags and caught up with Maizy too. Whew! That was a lovely kiddish adventure. As a reward for meeting Maizy we were given a lollypop.
As we headed north west we could feel the scenery changing. The long stretches of flat grassland gave way to gradually undulating hills and mountains. Sheep and cows were to be seen grazing everywhere making us wonder when the sheep would take a break from eating. The weather too changed from being hot and sunny to cool and windy. With no difficulty and ably guided by our SatNav device, we reached the B&B in Barrow-in-Furnace. The first impression about the B&B we got was that of it being ancient. But this was the added advantage. With its mighty oak paneled roof it was an epitome of coziness. After settling in we went out in search of an Indian restaurant. Again with the help of he SatNav device it was not a big deal. After a sumptuous meal we got back to a good night's sleep.
The first place to be explored was the Windermere lake and the cruise. But owing to bad weather the cruise was cancelled and we had to hide inside the aquarium. It was a delight to see huge fish as big as vitrified tiles. They were very colourful and vibrant. We got to see the antics of quick shiny otters and weird Chinese turtles; weird because of their close resemblance to real Chinese people!!! The journey with the animals continued with the Alpaca farm in Penrith. It was nice to see all the Alpacas huddled together in their woolly coats. They were sitting calmly at the end of the enormous farm not giving us a good chance to see them up close. Then something crazy happened that made them walk slowly up to the fence. Two of the domesticated midget donkeys were gamboling around kicking each other. This interested the alpacas so much that they came out of their comfort zone; good for us! We had a nice cup of tea in the farm house and a delicious slice of chocolate and carrot cake. Trust me, carrot cakes do taste very good especially when there is a slight drizzle and a cool breeze is blowing on your face. After bidding a farewell to the alpacas we drove out of the farm only to find that we could get a much closer look straight from the road. Cheekily we parked the car on the side of the narrow road praying for no other vehicle to come along for the next 5 minutes. It was very funny to see them up close. They do have a disproportionate body visible only when they have scanty hair.
Keswick was our next place of visit. What started as an aimless walk around the beautiful town turned out to be the most magical moment I have ever witnessed in my life. Keswick is known for its lake and the beautiful trail around it. As we started on the trail well covered in our jackets and gloves, we witnessed innumerable boats bobbing up and down on the swirling lake. It was so windy that we had to hold on to each other for support. Surrounded by green mountains and bleating sheep we were led to the sheltered spot of the lake to an unbelievable sight. The heavy clouds were opening up a crack to let the sunlight in which resembled a giant flash light being shone through the veil of clouds. The wind picked up speed to such a great extent that we were almost blown away like giant birds. This was truly a 'once in a life time' scene which left us speechless. The drive back to the B&B was equally enjoyable with patches of sunshine and intermittent showers.
Wild animals have always fascinated me. Hence the next stop was the zoo in Dalton. Not knowing what to expect we bought a bag of food for some of the animals and birds while purchasing the tickets. What met our eyes was something that blew us away. We were standing face to face a large emu. I always knew that being one of the largest birds unable to fly the emu was a huge species. But no program on Discovery and Animal planet had prepared me for this sight. With eyes as big as overgrown walnuts and a beak as hard as iron, it was initially very terrifying. But we were brave enough to feed it and thankfully we returned in a single piece. Later it felt really thrilling to have done that! We went around feeding peacocks, ducks, wallabies and wombats. There was one duck in particular which was making a peculiar noise which remotely sounded as an old grumbling woman with a low complaining voice. We fed it an extra portion of food but unfortunately it was chased away by the rowdy peacocks. A huddling group of Madagascar lemurs reminded me of the movie Madagascar and I gently started humming "I like to move it move it……". We found tigers, beavers, lions, giraffes, baboons and truck sized smelly rhinos in their natural surroundings. It was indeed time well spent among the animals.
The day ended with an amazing cruise on the Windermere lake. It will be cruel on my part if I don’t mention our lunch. We had a very delicious pizza and a pizza sized garlic bread in an authentic Italian restaurant called Zafferellis. Since the menu was authentic Italian we sheepishly asked the waitress to point out the vegetarian dishes. She gave us a weird look and announced that it was a vegetarian restaurant!!!
The final day of our vacation took us back to Petey town. On the way back we visited the famous Sherwood forest in Nottingham. I am sure all of you will remember your middle school lessons in English describing the escapades and adventures of Robin Hood and his band of merry men. It felt nice to walk through the forest which was once their home. We even tried our hand at archery at which we were pretty successful. The long walk under the cool trees was a fitting end to our trip to celebrate our first marriage anniversary!!!
Comments
Post a Comment