Day 7 - The Lake and Day 8 - Rain

July 8:  The weather started out dubiously so we opted for boat rides and a couple of short walks on Lake Windermere.  We started late but walked to the pier at Waterhead to catch the first of 3 lake steamers or cruiser rides on the lake.  The first destination was Wray's Castle, which was a private home built in the shape of a castle in the late 1900s by an eccentric husband for his wife .  It is now owned by the National Trust and can be toured inside for a price that was too high for us to visit a fake castle.

We next walked south along the forested west side of the lake to about the midpoint, a distance of 4 miles.  The trees were impressively tall - oaks predominate, with birches, elms, rowans, etc., sprinkled in.  This was an area where charcoal was made in prior times and trees were routinely coppiced to provide wood.  Piles were built on large flat stones, covered with leaves and then soil, and then lit.  The piles burned for up to 2 days, producing charcoal.

At the halfway point down the lake and opposite Belle Island, we caught the second boat for a ride across to Bowness.  This is a tourist town that has pretty much merged with Windermere.  It has lots of shops, restaurants, pubs and hotels/guest houses.  We stopped for afternoon tea, with scones, clotted cream and jam.

We next walked up to a viewpoint overlooking the town in search of the official end of the Dales Way, an 81-mile long walking path.  We got chatting with a friendly man wearing a South Lakes District Council shirt who was out walking his dog.  We ended up walking with him up to Brant's Fell with an  impressive 360 degree view down the lake, to Morecombe Bay on the coast, and toward fells in every other direction.  The man was quite talkative and we only had to listen.  He told us of his favorite spots in the Lakes District, the best pubs and local beer (Collywobbles), and other local tidbits.  His daughter was married a year ago on the lake shore, and he is anticipating a trip to Las Vegas for his son's wedding in 2 years.  He was something of character, joking with us that some cows we were passing were first looking at us and then were fixing to charge us.  They obviously didn't.  We thanked him for all the information; he was off to the pub to drink with someone (aged 86) that "could drink him under the table."  He did this every Friday evening.

We made it back to the Pier, caught a larger boat that took us back to Waterhead by way of Brockhole.  We ambled up the back streets to our cottage and crashed.  We ate in and then watched a DVD - Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels, starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin, as con men on the Riviera, who get conned by a woman.

July 9:  It rained and rained.  The clouds remained low all day.  We hunkered down, though we went out for coffee and to mailed a package to the US midday.  Late in the afternoon, we took ourselves out to the local moviehouse to see Now You See Me, about a team of magicians who use illusions to combat bad guys.  The cast was mostly young Americans but included Michael Caine and Daniel Ratcliffe as the bad guys.  It was an entertaining bit of fluff.  We followed the movie with a nice dinner at a Thai restaurant.  Good food but a bit spicy.