Of course I couldn't sleep properly the night before I was flying out. Anyway, flight to Manchester was uneventful, except for the gorgeous sunrise visible from the plane not long before landing. I went down to the train platform at Manchester Airport and set about figuring out how to get to Windermere. As far as I could remember, last time we had gone direct, but we didn't. And of course I had not bothered to check out what the usual routes were, ie. where were the stations I could connect from. At any rate, I asked an official-looking train person, and he helped me out. Basically, a train to Barrow-in-Furness would've brought me quite close, but it branches off into a dead end and does not actually go to Windermere. I didn't know that last bit at the time, I just recognised the name. Anyway, the train was supposed to have come by the airport, but was late and therefore did not. We were told to jump onto the next train that stopped at Manchester Piccadilly (they all do, I think), and from there jump on the Barrow-in-Furness train. So I did that, off into the blue. At Manchester Piccadilly there was a map of train lines for the region, including the Lake District, so I could pick out the route to get to Windermere. So, instead of going for Barrow-in-Furness, I took an earlier train to Preston, and from Preston I got on one for Windermere, and arrived there about 2pm. It was a lovely crisp and cool autumn day, absolutely beautiful. I had a few bulletins from the others on their journey by ferry to Holyhead and from there by car northward.
Found the Archway B & B easily enough and sat down for a chat with Jenny. Later on, I went for a ramble up to the nearby viewing point of Orrest Head, where we had gone last time as well. Of course I went the long way around, having not really listened to Jenny's directions... Pia knows it all, right...... It had rained quite heavily and I mean HEAVILY the day before so there were lots of new little rivers and lakes all over the place. Didn't really bother me that much, wearing hiking boots, the weather stayed pretty, and I was just rambling around, still being in that sort of mood where I don't care where I go, as long as I know I can't get totally lost. So, this resulted in me climbing the same field twice (it slopes up towards the summit of the hill), from different directions, getting just a tad muddy, and generally taking the very long way around, before I finally stood on Orrest Head - just in time for a glorious sunset.
The others were due to arrive at 5pm, and I had just left the summit at this time, but didn't think they would mind me making the most of the day that was in it. And they didn't, because they didn't get there until 7pm :D Dinner was scrumptious and great fun was had by all - I was the first one to go to bed, late nights and early starts catching up with me finally.
Saturday it rained. All. Day. I swear, it did not let up for even 5 minutes. So what do you do then, when you're marooned in one of the most beautiful regions in England? You go to a pencil museum! In Keswick. It was actually really cool - they had the world's largest pencil there, and some very interesting facts about pencils and graphite. Graphite is one of only two forms of pure carbon - the other is diamond! During WWII they made hollow pencils for pilots and others, to carry escape route maps and tiny compasses! How cool is that? Afterwards we wanted to go see a nearby slate mine, but there were too many deep puddles on the road, so we turned back to Windermere, not wanting to get stuck or risk the car breaking down.
Thankfully, on Sunday, the weather cleared for our birthday girl! I couldn't sleep and went for a pre-dawn walk down by the shore of Lake Windermere to the viewing point of Queen Adelaide's Hill. The shore was a bit further inland due to all the water, but did not cover the path, so I had no problems. On the hill, I waited for the sun to come up and set autumn-clad trees on the farther shore on fire, but before it could get free of clouds, they all gathered very quickly and it started to rain. Fortunately, it was only a wee shower - I took refuge under a tree - and so I waited some more, until I had to be getting back in time for breakfast at 10am. Of course, on my way home, the sun came out and bathed everything in golden glory. Where were you half an hour ago? Hrmf.
Anyway, the weather did stay clear, and we went for a lovely walk around Grasmere, including a brief visit to Dove Cottage (where the poet Wordsworth lived at one time) in search of a geo-cache. Unfortunately, the cache itself was not there, it was only a clue to its whereabouts - 7 km away, too far by half. At the end of the walk we had to cross a completely flooded field, which was actually great fun, and did include hopping from grass clump to grass clump, and jumping over deep ditches. Took us only 45 minutes, but noone fell or got wet above their calves, so that was fine. The autumn colours were breathtaking and we even had a couple of rainbows peeking through a couple of times.
On Monday, we went to the Aquarium of the Lakes, at the lower end of Lake Windermere - it was a beautiful day. Nasty surprise at the aquarium; they had added some very exotic animals to the exhibition since last time (when it was all local wildlife), including a big hairy South-American spider, and some adorable mamosets (tiny tiny monkeys). BethAnne thankfully caught me before I, unsuspecting, had a closer look at the spider cage (seriously, I would've screamed), and the mamosets proved a most excellent distraction. We watched the mother come down to pick a single grape from the keeper's hand, comparable to a melon in our hands, whereas the father stayed in the upper far corner of their cage, with the two wee babies on his back. They were the size of mice, if not smaller. Soooo cute!
On the way home we passed the flooded Bowness harbour - swans were literally swimming in circles around the little ticket huts. And then, it was nearly time for me to get the train back to Manchester in order to catch my flight back to Copenhagen. Next time, I'm climbing Scafell Pike :)
