Day 20 - Waterfront and Day 21 - Manchester

July 21:  Today was  mostly quiet, getting prepared for my sister's arrival.  We stocked up the refrigerator with food for three and organized the flat.  And we had drinks at the Queen's Pub, a pub that we have not tried up until now.  We sat outside and people-watched so I can't really rate the pub itself.  Later we read and nodded off in the quiet afternoon.

We finally had to move and decided to stroll around our immediate neighborhood and on to Waterhead, which is the name for the area of Ambleside bordering the lake.  The pier for the lake cruisers and several boat rental companies are located here.  We found a forest garden that was created by a National Trust employee in 1959 and is now open to visitors.  I noticed that it was one of the few places highlighted on the Ambleside "Heritage Trail," a local walking route around the town.

July 22:  My sister Elaine arrived from Virginia, by way of New York today.  Betsy and I caught a bus to the Windermere Train Station, then a train to the Manchester Airport Station, and walked into Terminal 1 to wait for Elaine to emerge from Passport Control, Baggage Claim and Customs.  She flew in from New York on Icelandair and was on time.

We next caught a bus to the car rental 'village.'  After something of a wait, we got into a Mercedes, automatic transmission diesel car for the drive back to Ambleside.  Traffic was heavy; there was an earlier accident on the M6 that produced a "queue" -  the local name for a traffic backup or congestion.  We had several more slow downs and one more queue before turning off the M6 for the local road to Windermere.  We made a brief stop at Booth's, a full-size grocery store, for a few things that our local Tesco Express store does not have.  We made it home safely with only one wrong turn.

I walked Elaine around the town showing her some of the sights.  We just happened to go by the Golden Rule Pub, so I had to stop to show her a real English pub.  We enjoyed a drink and arrived home in time to help Betsy finish up dinner prep.  We enjoyed a roast chicken, wedge potatoes and salad.  Elaine is now dozing on the sofa, which is to be expected after an overnight flight.