17 September 2005
Okay, there are a few photos; are you ready to sit tight for a bit?
I left for Windermere after work last Friday, and since my train was only a little bit late, I managed to get to my B&B mostly on time -- about 5:30. I didn't do much that evening, but I managed to go into 'town' and have dinner by myself. I had Chinese, which would usually be taken away to eat in the privacy of one's own home, but the B&B didn't allow hot food in the rooms. Fair enough.
The next morning, I woke up bright and early (as usual) and took myself for a walk down to the lake. It couldn't have been more than a mile away, but I was expecting a very long walk, so I was surprised when I reached the end of the road so quickly. On the way, I was treated to some scenes of pastoral beauty:
Pretty nice, if you like that sort of thing. By the time I got to the lake, the sun was up and it was turning into a bright blue type of day. I appear to be cursed in this way when I go to the Lake District. People keep telling me it's a horrible rainy place, but it's been pleasant and sunny every time I've gone.
Ah, yes -- the lake. Lake Windermere is Britain's largest lake, if I remember correctly, which I find funny, as you can clearly see straight across it. Still, it's many times more beautiful than most of Minnesota's lakes, so I suppose it deserves its fame. Some lake and trees and, I dunno, mountainy things in the background:
I was back to the B&B by 8:30, which was when the breakfast portion of my B&B experience took place. Afterwards, I headed up to Ambleside on the bus. I don't have any pictures of Ambleside, as I was too busy buying fudge. From there, I headed down, past Windermere, to Bowness.
Bowness is best known to me for the ice cream, crowded pier, and innumerable shops selling absolute crap. Still, I bought a £5 children's watch from one of those crap stores (mine stopped a couple weeks ago, and I haven't found a suitable replacement), so they're not all bad. Like most of the Lake District, Bowness is also filled with outdoors stores, my new favourite of which is Hawkshead. They don't so much sell actual, practical survival supplies so much as active-type fashion, but they're pretty good at that, anyway.
I loved these natural coloured boats docked off the pier; if I ever live on a lake, I think I might get one for myself. They're availble to rent -- quite cheaply -- and I was tempted to give it a go. But then I imagined A) what I would actually look like attempting to row and B) how tired I would get after two minutes. There was also the possibility that I would get wet. No row boats for me.
Instead, I shelled out an extra pound or two more to sit on a bigger boat that somebody else was driving, filled with other people who would absorb the bulk of any water that came on board. It's a seventy minute 'tour' from Bowness up to Ambleside and back -- a very windy seventy minutes. I took many many shots of the lake and shore, most of which look like this:
Or this:
Again, nice -- if that's your kind of thing.
Oh, dear. Somebody turned this swan upside-down. How undignified. The swans in Bowness are very 'tame' and walk up to people, asking to be fed. Everybody knows that a swan wants nothing more than to break your arms with its neck (or was it break your neck with its wings?), so I stayed away from the killers.
And, the very last photo I took on my weekend away:
It's hard to believe, but this was the best of all my attempts to photograph myself. It's not a matter of framing it right (which I find very easy to do with an SLR), but rather a matter of making a non-stupid face. As you can see, I didn't really succeed. I seem to be saying, 'Oh, yeah the Lake District is super!'
Of course, it is. Even not sarcastically.
Very nice pictures and story. Thank you for sharing. I especially like that you included a picutre of YOURSELF. My goodness you look like a combination of your father and I!!! Amazing how that happens.
posted by momma at September 17, 2005 02:03 PM
Yay! A picture-ized story post! I think the self portrait is lovely, but I know what you mean about trying to photograph oneself...though you have me beat: It is a rare thing when I manage to frame myself properly, leastwise without it looking like my arms are train tracks and my face is an obscure blob at the end of a dark tunnel.
posted by Laura at September 18, 2005 12:07 AM