The Yorkshire Dales and Windermere

On the road again, as Willie Nelson so wisely put it. We were back in our familiar spots in the Audi before 9am, heading out of York. The first stage was north along the motorway - I'm not sure how they do it, but all the motorways here seem to be through the most drab and unappealing countryside imaginable. They are always jam packed full of trucks and other traffic, over-charge mercilessly for fuel at their "service centres", and people in black German cars are always speeding past you as if you were standing still. Still, motorways do get you from one place to another pretty fast and directly.

Before we knew it (which is easy when you don't know where your SatNav is taking you), we turned west off the motorway through the Yorkshire Dales. What a beautiful drive it is. We stopped at a village called Hawes right in the middle of the Dales so we could have coffee and cake, which was nice without being remarkable. Bugger it! When there is scenery like this, who wants coffee anyway?

We continued through the Dales and almost straight into the Lake District in Cumbria. We first made our way to Bowness-on-Windermere, parked the car and immediately set off on a 90 minute cruise of the lake down to Lakeside and back. Nice and relaxing after the drive, and we spent most of the time out in the fresh air. On the way back we had to go inside for a bit due to a freezing cold wind and rain. Didn't last long though.

On our return to Bowness we found a pub for lunch. Say no more.

We then went to Windermere itself, parked the car near our guest house and went for a wander around some quirky shops in the village. Eventually we tired of this and checked into our guest house for a bit of a rest. After a bit though we decided to go for a walk up to Orrest Head Lookout, which is on a huge hill behind Windermere. It was quite an effort to climb up there, but it was worth it. It was approaching sunset and there was still rain around, so the differences in light and colour were spectacular.

By the time we climbed back down again it was time for a trip to the pub. Petra is keeping count of how many pubs we have visited, for the statistically minded among you readers.