Pre-wedding Honeymoon – Day 3

With the weather forecast saying more rain was on the way we decided to take a break from the walking and get in the car and have a little driving tour round west coast of Windermere instead.

After a lovely drive round some rather narrow lanes we arrived at Hawkshead, in the rain!

We had a look round the shops, picking up a new top for me and a lovely new scarf/snood for Shelli, and then headed to a lovely tea room (can’t remember the name now, sorry) for a drink and to get out of the rain.

Drinks drunk we made our way to the Beatrix Potter Gallery for a look round seeing as we were now signed up members of the National Trust. All very interesting and actually surprising to find out how much she did for the environment, bequeathing more than 4000 acres, roughly the equivalent area of five Central Parks, to the National Trust!

With the skies now a little clearer we headed up to St. Michael and All Angels church to have a look round. It was a lovely little church with some great views from its position overlooking the village.

The weather closed in again as we made our way back to the car with the rain and hail getting harder and harder. Lovely, and it didn’t look like it was going to let up any time soon.

Sitting in the car we planned a route to Sticklebarn, a National Trust owned pub; how could we not go there?

It was a bit of a trek in the car, at one point heading over quite a high pass – my ears felt the pressure change – but, surprisingly, the weather looked to be taking a turn for the better.

We got to Sticklebarn, parked up and as the weather was looking okay we thought we’d put our boots on and try a little stroll so that we could get a proper look at the Langdale valley. So, we headed off towards what looked like a well used path, following some other people, and headed out for what turned out to be a very enjoyable circular walk before popping into the pub for a pint and something to eat…just as the heavens opened up!

Making our way back to the hotel we stopped at Ambleside to see if Shelli could find some new sunglasses, having lost her other pair on our first day in the Lakes. Thankfully we did, some lovely new Oakley sun glasses, and following that extravagant purchase we headed to the Ambleside Tavern for a well deserved pint, especially as the rain had started to fall, again.

After booking a table for dinner in the hotel restaurant – it being our last night and all – we chilled out in the room for a bit before getting dressed up and down to the bar for a pre-dinner drink.

Again, the food was absolutely delicious and a very vert pleasant final evening in the Lake District was had.

If you’re interested you can download the KML file and/or GPX file of the plotted route. Please be aware though that the route was hand-plotted and so may not be 100% accurate.