LAKES DISTRICT PUBS

Yes!! Finally a day of rain  - well, enough rain for Cliff to agree to no walking. Time for a drive to check out some of the pubs around the Lakes District. Almost all of the pubs were white rather than stone like most of the buildings. 

We had a great ploughmans lunch at this pub "The Wild Boar" and this time I didn't eat all the ham :-)

The Unicorn pub - 400 years old and the oldest pub in Ambleside.

"Golden Rule" this pub only 195 years old

Another white pub - not sure I can keep up this pace & with Cliff sampling 2 pints in each pub it was time to wander the streets

We discovered some beautiful buildings

Our street

our final night we spent back at the Unicorn pub listening to one of the local guys playing guitar & singing - it was a great way to farewell Ambleside.

AMBLESIDE Part 2

No rain - another great day for a long hike - Cliff promised me this walk would be on a low path, no steep tracks along mountain ranges. Beauty - off we set on an extremely pretty walk along the river.

Everything was so green

we did have to walk up a bit of a hill & came across a very interesting cave. The water was full of little fish & they enjoyed Cliff's banana.

we came to a cross roads - down to walk along the lake or up to walk along the side of the mountain range - which path do you think Cliff decided on?

Yes! - after 8 kms we made it to "Tweedies Bar" at Grasmere for a very nice ploughmans lunch - Cliff was a little upset - he accused me of eating all the ham - imagine that - well it just wasn't true, I did leave him a little bit :-)

Setting off on our return trip we detoured to do some rowing on Grasmere lake - Cliff said I was a two headed monster - not very nice.

While rowing, Cliff noticed a trail up the side of the mountain - if you look very hard in this photo, you can see it way up of the hill behind Cliff

Once the decision was made -much to my protest- up we went 

AND went 

Everytime I reached a point where I thought this would be the top - it just kept on going - you can see me sitting on a rock half way down - I really wanted to give up

But - in the end the views were worth it - and, according to Cliff, Nessie enjoyed it too.

Next day only one hill - but this one was 9 kms to the pub Cliff wanted to visit 

"The Drunken Duck Inn" 

Believe it or not - This unofficial title dates back to Victorian years when a landlady of the Inn found her ducks lying stretched out in the road and concluded that they were dead. She began to pluck & prepare them for dinner. Down in the cellar a barrel had slipped its hoops and beer had gradually drained from the floor into the duck's feeding ditch. So they weren't dead, just drunk. According to local legend, the landlady, full of remorse for the rough treatment, provided the de-feathered birds with knitted waistcoats of Hawkshead yarn until their feathers grew back again.

Then hey - why not walk to another pub - great - what's another couple of kms.

We did get to see a tiny little fawn hiding in the ferns, it seemed all alone- no mother deer in sight.

After 18kms we were totally exhausted by the time we got home but at least Cliff didn't make me walk over another mountain. Rain was predicted for our last day - I can only hope :-)