England 1: The Lake District

Ambleside:  a train ride from Inverness via Edinburgh takes us to Penrith, a gateway to the Lake District in the northwest corner of Elgland. From there we rent a car and drive 45 minutes to Ambleside, an attractive town much smaller than nearby Windermere. Our B&B is down this street on the edge of town. I have just a little time to amble about before heading to our dinner location on the south end of the Lake District.

Cartmel: driving another half hour in narrow lanes lined with stone walls (I don't want to be stonewalled again!) to L'Enclume, the most acclaimed restaurant in the Lake District. 

L'Enclume: just behind our table is a nice garden. The staff here are overly casual and gregarious, not creating quite the ambiance you would expect in the top kitchen in a small town within the Lake District. When the Maitre D' greets you loudly, "are you excited about tonight?" it may not be a good sign, but fortunately the food is superb.

L'Enclume: a snack based on pumpkin is a good start - tasty, creative and artistic.

L'Enclume: fresh crab with seaweeds, presented with salted gooseberry and herb tart (in the back). Good that the detailed menu is presented on the table at the beginning as we have a hard time understanding the description by the servers who are mostly foreign. Who's going to do their job after Brexit?

L'Enclume: a pear dessert with sweet cheese and a little liquid nitrogen action soon to be added

L'Enclume: another find-your-real-treat-in-the-bonsai game 

Hill Top Farm: perhaps the No. 1 non-hiking attraction in the Lake District - a farm house where Beatrix Potter often retreated to and worked. A very slight drizzle and we take "I am borrowing a brolly at Hill Top" umbrellas. We had set out from our B&B a little later than planned because we commiserated with a Canadian couple at breakfast about American politics, but fortunately we were able to just beat the rush. 

Near Sawrey (as opposed to Far Sawrey): a short walk from the ticket office to Hill Top Farm is through a charming neighborhood, including this guest house, Buckle Yeat, featured in Potter stories.

Near Sawrey: entering Hill Top Farm

Hill Top Farm: this house is dark and small, and now crammed with visitors, but has been kept essentially the same as Beatrix Potter left it.

Hill Top Farm: a view outside the window of Treasure Room is punctuated by wisteria.

Hill Top Farm: the vegetable garden, an important part in the Beatrix Potter world

Near Sawrey: this little town with rhododendron in full bloom has a number of attractive B&Bs.

Near Sawrey

Driving along Esthwaite Water, much smaller than Lake Windermere, to a second Beatrix Potter site, the Gallery

Beatrix Potter Gallery: a rotating exhibit of her manuscripts and drawings at her husband's former office. Photography of individual items is not allowed because the copyright is owned by Penguin, while the books and drawings themselves are owned by the National Trust.

Grasmere:  clematis-covered Dove Cottage reveals itself. We are now in Wordsworth Country. 

Grasmere: compared to the lines at Beatrix Potter's Hill Top Farm, there is much less foot traffic through this humble entrance to a place where William Wordsworth wrote many of his best-known poems.

Dove Cottage: a slate floor typical of an old ale pub, which this house was before William Wordsworth moved in with his sister Dorothy.

Dove Cottage: the chair in which Wordsworth liked to sit and write. The sofa, with original quilt and pillow, according to the guide may well be the one mentioned in Daffodils - "For oft, when on my couch I lie..." 

Dove Cottage: in a small garden in the back, among other quotes, you find the ending of Ode: Intimations of Immortality.

Dove Cottage: highest point in the garden. 'The spot commands a view over the roof of our house, of the lake, the church, Helm Crag, and two-thirds of the vale.' (Grasmere Lake is barely visible now.)

Dove Cottage: the adjoining museum is practically empty, but for the Wordsworth enthusiast it is a gold mine. A book in the display case, explains the curator in the video, is a compilation of Dorothy's writings that survived the travails of Wordsworth's good friend Samuel Coleridge during his trip to Malta.

Dove Cottage: the newest version of the visitors' book is still left at the entrance, which had been signed by Woodrow Wilson, Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, the young Beatrix Potter...

Rydal Mount: next stop is the large estate, practically a mansion, where Wordsworth moved in at age 43 with his family (Dorothy, his wife Mary and children) and lived until his death. 

Rydal Mount: upstairs you can view the bedrooms of William and Mary, Dorothy, and Dora (the oldest daughter who would die of TB later and in whose memory his parents would purchase "Dora's Field" and plant daffodils).

Rydal Mount: the living room has portraits of William Wordsworth and his great great grand daughter who re-acquired this estate in the 1960's.

Rydal Mount: success bought him this large estate and he lived here longer than at Dove Cottage but he was not as productive and was criticized for selling out.

Rydal Mount: I would love to return here in April when daffodils are in full bloom in Dora's Field.

Keswick: a half hour drive up north from Amberside to explore the northern lake district today. The TI is in the market square but so are an old phone booth (who's using it now?) and a defibrillator? (not a great endorsement for hikers who start out from here!)

Derwent Water: we take a ferry in this popular lake from Keswick to Hawse End to start a hike.

Catbells Walk: only after a brief ascent on this popular trail, the hiker is rewarded with a nice view of Derwent Water .

Catbells: many hikers we see today seem surprisingly unfit and are having difficulty with a little rock scrambling

Catbells: on the other side from the lake is Newlands Valley

Catbells: the second faux peak is a good place to stop and consume the savory mince pie we bought in Keswick.

Keswick: the row of B&Bs in the Heads section of the town is where I originally planned to stay but decided to go to Ambleside instead. This would have been a fine choice, too.

Keswick: Pencil Museum. Graphite discovered in this area ultimately led to the invention of a pencil.

Keswick

Newlands Valley: negotiating one-track roads again, we go on a circular driving route around Keswick. Many farm houses in this valley also serve as B&Bs.

Newlands Pass: to his friend who is already waiting at the summit, this biker yells, "Why the hell did you pick this route on our first trip here?" A glimpse of Buttermere Lake at bottom of the hill. 

Buttermere: definitely more sheep than people in this little village

Buttermere: an idyllic little hamlet

Buttermere: going down to the lake shore

Buttermere Lake: a popular walking route around the lake

Honister Pass: no other cars. At the summit is a still functioning slate mine.

Castlerigg: after having some trouble finding this stone circle, we arrive exactly at sunset. Although there is little color at this time, the 5,000 year-old site in silence is definitely worth visiting. And an appropriate last sight in the Lake District (or "the Lakes" as they say.)