Where Do I Begin? - Part 2

The morning of our journey up to the Lakes started well.  I amazed by family by being on time, which was 6.00 am round at mom’s house.

To be honest I amazed myself.  If you have children you know time keeping can never be an exact science.  But, I am also nothing if not determined and boy was I going to make sure we got round to mom’s on time.

Even better, they weren’t ready because they thought I’d be late - ha ha!!

We set off at 6.15 am and despite having to travel on the M6 which is a pig especially around Birmingham, we made it up to some services near Junction 32 for our first pit stop in really good time.

My plan was to come off at Junction 36 and head over to Windermere and Bowness on Windermere for a look around, which we duly did.

The only down side was that as we got closer it started to rain . . . and rain . . . and rain!  Now if you are a lover of the Lakes like I am (and mom to be fair) you know you can never guarantee the weather and you just put up with it.

However, my sister and her daughter had omitted to tell me that a) where they live, if it rains they never go outside and b) tootling around the shops is not their thing and c) combine a and b together they "ain’t gonna be happy".

Anyway.  We parked by Lake Windermere in Bowness and after walking the dog, had our picnic under the shelter of a wooden seating area and happily shared our food with a family of cygnets who were with their dad.  They were so beautiful. (Awaiting photos from sister’s camera).  Update courtesy of sis (thanks) 21.07.07.

We then had a walk around the town before taking the ferry across Windermere to Hawkshead.  More rain and shopping with afternoon refreshments thrown in.

By this time everyone was starting to get tired from the travel and the children were excited about getting to the hotel.  It was about 3.00 ish and because that was the earliest we could get in, decided to head over.

I knew the hotel wasn’t that close, but to make it interesting had planned a route up along Ullswater to enjoy the scenery instead of getting back on to the motorway for a couple more junctions.   Second BIG mistake . . . . .

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