Keswick in the Lake District

the Lake District

After a genuinely sorrowful parting from darling Anna, we negotiated some difficult turns and twists on local roads and a busy motorway stretch until we finally got to the rolling hills and quiet roads of the Lake District. We noticed how many hiking groups there were, parking cars along the road-side and heading up into the fields of sheep and over the hills and far away.

The Lake District

Our route took us near Kendal, where William and I had stayed on a holiday with Dad in 1970, and then near Windermere and Grasmere. We didn't go in search of all things "Beatrix Potter" but we did remark on the hordes of tourists wandering the streets of the delightful town of Grasmere. Despite its "busyness", we reflected that it would have made a terrific overnight stop.

Everywhere you look in the area there are tidy grey, drystone walls and buildings: the perfect foil for the bright green of the lush plantings. At every turn you are beckoned onwards until you expect to encounter Lancelot or Merlin or old Arthur himself.
It is indeed the land of fairy tales or at very least a PBS special such as Downton Abbey.


When we finally arrived at our destination, The Queen's Hotel in Keswick, we had been treated to such beauty of landscape and charm of villages, that we were frankly disappointed. 

the main pedestrian area of Keswick

The hotel was smack on the main street but it was old rather than quaint; shabby rather than cared for and it tainted our view of what was probably a charming town.

William and I are the beginning of the lake promenade

 So we did the sensible thing and walked out of town toward the lake. Yes there are lakes, plenty of them in the Lake District.and Keswick sits on a very large one.

Boats on the lake at Keswick

As we walked along the path bordering the lake in the late afternoon light, we encountered many groups of walkers speaking a variety of languages all heading into town and their bed for the night, I am sure.

   
Well behaved dogs were out for a walk, some of them frolicking in the water and retrieving sticks thrown by their owners. Birds in the trees, ducks on the lake and sheep in the bordering fields all added to the happy end of the day feeling.




Soon we were tired of the scene and thinking of our stomachs as we had not really had a lunch time stop.
So we headed back into town and after stopping to look in a cute Beatrix Potter memorabilia shop, we stumbled onto a pub which catered to dogs and their owners. It was packed ... with humans and well  their dogs sitting mostly under tables in a well behaved fashion. There were, of course the exceptions that proved the rule and some rather large brutes came in and had to be forcefully restrained.

The pub was not elegant or fancy but it was entertaining if a little smelly. The beer was good and the fare filling and hearty so we passed a few hours with lots to talk about.

the church in the main square of Keswick

And then we were tired so we toddled back to the main street and our narrow beds in the old hotel.