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I was talking with a friend the other night regaling her with boring details of my recent European excursion and realized that I kind of skimped on the details of my trip. Plus talking about England made me want to look at my pictures from England, which made me day dream about going back. For those of you who could care less, feel free to stop reading now. For those of you who would like to know those painful details read on.
The past 24 hours I have been dwelling on a tiny town I stayed in called Ambleside in the Lake District of England. Wow.
When I was originally concocting the idea of going to England, the Lake District was at the top of my list to see. After doing the research and figuring out where things were that I wanted to see I quickly realized that that area was definitely out of the way. With such a limited time frame it was looking more like this beautiful area was going to get cut out. There just wasn't time to fit it all in.
Of course part of my "research" is asking everyone I know who's ever been there what their top spots were to see. Very very helpful, especially when they all started listing the same things. And then I talked to my fabulous sister in law Becky who lived there for her recommendations. One of the first things she said was "you have to see the Lake District." After more conversations and finagling of the itinerary, I managed to find a way to fit it in. I'm so glad Becky gave me that advise.
I really did feel like I was in some romantic English novel. I really didn't want to leave either. Would you?
For the drive from London to the Lake District I had planned about 4 hours, including time to get lost and do some roundabouts. As the little B&B I was staying at didn't do late check in's, I had planned to get there around 6pm. That way we wouldn't be driving in the dark, in the country, on the opposite side of the road, in the rain and cold. We did not anticipate the major highway we were on, basically the only
route there, to close down during rush hour traffic. I think there was an accident of some kind, so all lanes had to be re-routed through only one option - a beautiful little town that was a two lane road all the way through. Without traffic, it probably would have taken about 10 minutes. With the traffic we were in, it took about 3 hours.
I would have enjoyed it but I had drunken and entire bottle of water and wasn't sure I would make it through. Of course I didn't want to pull out because I knew with all the traffic we'd never get back on. The thought did cross my mind to just give up, but after all the waiting there was no way I would give in now. I was determined to make it there if it killed me. By the time we got out, it was 8pm, and we still had a 2 1/2 hour drive ahead of us.
Of course we had to stop as soon as we got onto the main highway that had finally reopened because my bladder was going to burst. Thank heaven's for McDonalds! Once that was taken care of I went in search of a phone. My cell phone didn't work, and the B&B didn't do check in after 9pm and she was expecting us between 7 and 8pm. Luckily I found a very kind woman who allowed me to use her cell phone to call the very kind woman in Ambleside. The goal was to be there by 9:30, but that would be pushing it as it was a rainy night.
After some terrifying driving, in which I just closed my eyes, and getting turned around in this tiny town of unfamiliar side streets, we made it to the door right at 10pm. The 3 hour drive had turned into 7. Of course there was nothing to see in the blackness of night and the pouring rain. I imagine the view driving in at sunset would be breathtaking. In the end it was worth every minute of the traffic jam to get there.
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It was exactly what I had always pictured it to be. It was cold and rainy, with random spurts of sunshine. There were sheep anywhere you looked surrounded by green hills, and tons of hiking trails through what I can only imagine to be more amazing spots. Of course I did not plan on hiking in the rain and cold so that was not an option. But just spending the day driving around was fabulous. I now want to go back during the warmer weather and do some actual hiking.
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Our hostess was fabulous. She told us what we should see, what drives to take, where to stop for tea, all while serving us a fabulous full English breakfast. I admit I've been addicted to grilled mushrooms with breakfast ever since going to Ambleside.
The only down side to all this was the fact that I only had one full day in this area of the country. Next time I will plan more days to frolic through the countryside in a corset and pretend I'm in that English novel. Well, I'll most likely frolic without the corset. And I'll be grateful I'm not in an English novel since I don't do well without plumbing.
Obviously I am sooo glad I made it to this part of England. I knew I would love it, but I underestimated how much I would love it. I can't believe for a while there I was considering missing out on all this. I would have always kicked myself for not just making the trek after going so far. Becky, I owe you a pizza and some gelato.
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