June 18, 2018

June 18, 2018

We packed up and left York after breakfast headed northwest across the Pennine Hills that form the spine of central Britain. We decided to take the scenic route through Yorkshire Dales National Park. Scenic is code for narrow winding roads. The terrain consists of steep windswept hills surrounded by large swaths of open grazing land. The region is crisscrossed with walls made from the rocks collected from the stony soil.

After a couple hours we descend into Windermere, a tourist town/lake of Lake District National Park. This park has dozens of long skinny glacier-carved lakes set in a mountainous area. Because of the Viking heritage, all the lakes either go by the name -mere or -water. The region is a major holiday spot for outdoorsy Brits.

Windermere looks very crowded so we make a U-turn and head north, crossing steep Kirkstone Pass and descending into the Ullswater Valley. On the north side of the lake we stop at Aira Force and do a short hike to see the namesake waterfall. It is a very pleasant hike that makes both of us long to revisit some of our favorite national parks in the US. Nearly 300 years ago the local lord started an arboretum by planting some foreign tree species. Because of that effort the short hike passes a very unusual Monkey Puzzle Tree and an enormous multi-armed Sitka Spruce.

It seems the Brits are still Druids at heart. Many of them make offerings to the Forest Deities by hammering coins into trees and logs on the trail. Some have so many coins they are now solid metal. I guess I was wrong when I told Aimee that money doesn't grow on trees. I just wish I had a pair of pliers with me to help pay for our expensive airfare here.

Leaving Ullswater we head west and stop at Castlerigg Stone Circle. This is a 5000 year old Stonehenge look-alike built by the original Druids of Britain. It sits on the top of a beautiful hilltop surrounded by mountains. Afterwards we descend into the nearby town of Keswick, where we find our next B&B home.