abbey, castle, and lakes oh my!

This weekend was a three-day weekend here with a national bank holiday. We took advantage of the extra time to drive, drive, drive.

On Saturday, we went to Rievaulx Abbey ruins which was about an hour or so away and then we moved on to Middleham Castle ruins (about another hour on the road) after a brief stop at the Sutton Bank overlook (breath-taking). And after some excellent fish and chips in Middleham, we headed home (around an hour and a half or so). Another beautiful drive through the moors and an absolutely beautiful day to take it all in. A big two thumbs up for all sites visited. It was a good day. More posts and pics to come during the week.

We became members of the English Heritage group that owns/runs many of the ruins. Now we can get in free as many times as we want for a year--all of those entrances add up and we think it'll be beneficial.

On Sunday, we drove out to the Lake District. We took the scenic drive which only added on a little more time (around 2 1/2 hrs). We stopped for lunch at Country Harvest along the way--the British version of Cracker Barrel. It was really good food and they had an outdoor terrace where you could eat while you watch the sheep and cows graze next door.

Our first stop in the lakes was Windermere on the south edge. With the caveat that we probably came at the busiest possible time (kids on break, adults on a holiday weekend, relatively sunny, relatively warm), it was a nightmare. Traffic was horrid, the place was packed, and we spent all of our time waiting in line for the car park and/or trying to find a space in the car park without success. At that point, we called it quits and reprogrammed TomTom to get us the hell out of there.

We drove on to Keswick (another hour or more), driving through Ambleside, Grasmere and others. Ambleside looked picturesque and more peaceful. The buildings are all made out of slate (there's mining nearby) and are quite impressive.

Keswick was packed too, but wasn't as bad and looked like a nice place to stop. But, once again, after milling about several car parks trying to find people to follow to their cars, we couldn't find a spot and were growing increasingly frustrated. So, again, we found a road to get the hell out of there and squeezed into a turnout spot along a highway so we could get out of the car. We ended up climbing a hill on a public footpath so we could get above the trees to see the lake and then we crossed the highway to climb down to the lake shore. We don't have our hiking shoes yet so we didn't do real hiking yet, but there are tons of possibilities.

From there, we decided to get back on the road to go home and make a quick stop at Castlerigg Stone Circle (prehistoric standing stone circle). Well that required going back through Keswick. After sitting in a non-moving line of traffic for a while and hearing a passerby say that it would be faster to go around the lake since it would take us at least 2 hrs. to get to Keswick, we agreed and pulled a U-turn. With TomTom protesting almost the whole way, we drove around Derwentwater over the Honister Pass to Buttermere and back to the Keswick area.

Our rather long detour turned out to be our favorite "must see" area in the lakes. Amazing scenery, free-roaming mountain sheep, steep slopes, babbling creeks, slate, quiet, and not a tree in sight. The road you're on is a little nerve-wracking since it's a one lane road masquerading as a two lane road with very tight turns you can't see around and jagged rocks a couple of inches from your mirror. The British don't believe in guard rails either.

We had a good hamburger in one of the two restaurants in Buttermere and watched the sun start to set over the hills/mountain. The restaurants were full of hikers and, after seeing the scenery, we definitely plan to go back for hiking when we have our shoes. And then, on the road again.

Although exhaustion was setting in, we made a quick stop at Castlerigg just as the sun was setting. Then home. Poor Pat's hands were almost in a permanently wheel-clenching position, but 12 hours later we were back.

Oh, but wait, there's more. Today, we walked into York for a walking tour. There are some you can pay for on different topics, but this one is given by the tourist information office and is done by volunteers. Therefore, free. Can't beat that. It was a very good 2 1/4 hr. walk/talk giving an overview of the city and it's history. As the guide said, he thought that after we were done that we had seen maybe a 1/3rd of what York has to offer. Yes, there's a lot. We give the tour two thumbs up, not only because it's free, but it's very informative. Most importantly, they do these walks every day of the year, rain or shine.

So that's it. Another whirlwind weekend :) As soon as I can dig my way out of the pictures, I'll create more specific posts.