Today’s post is 1150 words, 26 photos, an 5 minute read. Enjoy!

Hi everyone,

This week we’ll drop down into England with a drive through the Lake District to the village of Keld in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. This where we begin the four-day 52 mile Herriot Way Walk through the countryside. If you missed the first six stories in this series about our time in Scotland and England, click here, here, here, here, here, and here.

On the Road to the Lake District

We were up early to pack the car and head out from Dumfries taking the most scenic route to England. We passed the towns of Lockerbie (site of the downing of Pan AM Flight 103 in 1988 committed by Libyan terrorists), Gretna, through/over Hadrian’s Wall (the border between Scotland and England, around Carlisle, and on to Maryport by the sea. Traffic was moderate to heavy even on secondary roads, Later we learned it was the first weekend of May, a three-day weekend bank holiday.

Maryport

Maryport is a lovely seaside town with a population of about 12,000. We went directly to the docks where at one time coal from the nearby mines was shipped out to power the blast furnaces to make iron and steel. Now it’s mostly fishing and pleasure boats that set out from the docks. While the tide was out during our visit, it was fun to walk along the piers and waterfront to smell the breeze blowing off the sea. We stopped for lunch at a seaside restaurant attached to the aquarium. The meal was unremarkable but the setting and view were perfect.

While eating lunch, I noticed this sign on the metal railing along the pier. We didn’t feed the seagulls but were entertained by their fighting. They locked bills and tried to throw the other off the side of pier, luckily they can fly!

The Maryport Lighthouse is made of cast iron and went into service in 1796. It’s no longer in use but acts as a beacon to tourists.

From the sea, we drove east 20 miles to Keswick in the center of Englands famous Lake District.

The Lake District

The Lake District is an area that the Cumbrian Mountains (four over 3000 feet or 900 meters) and sixteen major lakes covers 912 square miles (2362 km2).  A National Park was created to protect the landscape from the over reach by industrial or commercial companies. It was recently designated an UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the UK, most of the land in National Parks remains in private hands, in the case of the Lake District National Park, it’s ~75%. The Lake District receives nearly 19 million visitors a year.

Our visit to the Lake District was limited to a couple hour stop in the bustling town of Keswick. With a population of over 5,000, the town sits on the north bank of one of the largest lakes in the district, Derwentwater (aka Derwent Water). After scoring a parking spot in the large pay lot near Main Street, we walked to the nearby tourist information center for maps and a chat with the friendly attendants. The town square was filled with people celebrating the spring three-day weekend.

We did a bit of window-shopping then walked past the lovely, peaceful Hope Park to the lake front.

I can see why the area draws visitors from all over the world. The scenery is stunning with the lakes, mountains, and quaint towns spread throughout the park. The Lake District is known as a place where writers, poets, and artists crafted their work. Folks like author Beatrix Potter of Peter Rabbit fame, poet Lord Alfred Tennyson, poet William Wordsworth, and many others. While it was a cool, overcast day, it was good weather for photography.

Even though it was early in the season, there were already boats out on the water including tour boats. 

As we walked along, we noticed this sign about the preservation of the Keswick Red Squirrel, an endangered species. Apparently the aggressive gray squirrels are overtaking the food source and habitat once the home of the reds. In addition, the grays are spreading a pox virus, the grays are immune, the reds are not. Good luck to the group in their endeavor to save a threatened species.

One the way back to the A66 to the Yorkshire Dales, we stopped at the Derwent Pencil Museum and Retail Store. We didn’t have time to visit the museum to see the world’s largest colored pencil and lots of information about the creation of the first graphite pencil in 1832 right here in Keswick. Who knew?

It was fascinating to see the variety of pencils available in the retail shop. The Youngest purchased a number of specialty pencils for her botanical drawing class. 

With that we were off to Keld in the Yorkshire Dales.

Keld

Back on the A66 going east, we noted the heavy, bumper-to-bumper traffic heading west to the Lake District for the holiday weekend. When we turned off the A66, we quickly noticed the much narrower, curvy roads with very little traffic. The hundreds of white, grazing sheep, the green rolling hills, the rock walls, and the many crumbling limestone buildings gave us a clue of what to expect for the next four days.

We arrived at the Butt House in Keld where we would lodge for the next five nights. Chris and Jacqui are the proprietors of this six-room bed and breakfast. More on them in a future post.

After checking into our room, I took a walk to snap a few photos of the stunning scenery. It is quite quiet and peaceful in ruralest parts of the Dales, all I could hear was the bleating of lambs looking for their mothers, the screech or pheasants looking for a roost for the night, and not much else. Here’s a few photos from Keld.

The Keld Lodge is down the street from the Butt House. During the hiking/walking/biking season, they are said to be full every night and have a lively bar scene.

I was struck by the War Memorial along the road. Four men perished from Keld during the Great War (World War 1). This must have been quite a blow to the remote, rural community. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, these memorials are in every village, town, and city in the British Commonwealth. I even found them when I traveled to Australia five years ago. When traveling, I try to find and stop by these memorials, a good reminder of the cost of war.

Back at the Butt House, we enjoyed a delicious dinner cooked by Chris. I had the baked chicken with potatoes, vegetables, and a salad. Washed it down with a draft beer. We were seated at a large table with the other guests, all of whom were doing one of the many walks available in the Dales. Conversation revolved around walking, the highlights and perils, boots, walking sticks, and occasionally world politics from many perspectives. It was an enjoyable part of the experience. The next day we would begin our walk on the Herriot Way.

Until next week, happy travels!

Tom

PS: Click here for a link to the post about my book “Farm Boy.” Contact me if you are interested in purchasing a copy. Thanks to all have plunked down your hard earned dollars and read the book. TM