The Lake District

Although it has been awhile since I actually went to the lake district, Imma try to write a little something about it.


Thursday:  Thursday we left Harlaxton after class and started a 5 1/2 hour journey to Ambleside.  I took a dramamine so needless to say I passed out.  When we got to Ambleside, I was still feeling the effects so I decided to stay behind and go to sleep instead of go pubin' with Nata and Rosa.

The view in Ambleside

Friday, I was our free day, so Rachel, Caylin, Taylor and I decided that we wanted to go horseback riding, but we talked to the front desk about it and they said you'd have to travel pretty far to do that.  So, instead we bought a ferry pass and boated along Lake Windemere.  First, we took the ferry to Bowness which is where Beatrix Potter is from.  We went to the gift shop, Caylin and I snuck into the exhibit from the exit and then we had some tea and cupcakes in her adorable tea room. 

After that, we caught to boat and walk ferry which dropped us off at a dock by wray castle and picked you back up at a dock 5 miles down the road.  Quit a hike.  We messed around the lake-side for a bit, then we realized we were on a bit of a time crunch to catch the last ferry so we started at a steady pace.  I had my first pee in the woods which was uncomfortable to say the least, we stopped and ate our packed lunches and then we picked back up our brisk walk running the last half mile to get to the ferry.  After that walk, we were quite tired and by the time we got back to Ambleside it was already dinner time.  The first decent-looking place we found was a little restaurant called the "Chinese Cottage".  Inexpensive and decent, but it didn't really hit the spot and there was an evident language barrier so we didn't exactly get what we ordered.  After that, we headed higher up the hill into Ambleside and we found a pub, of course.  We got a couple of drinks and decided to call it a night when we stumbled upon Nata, Rosa, Sammy and Brian who told us that we were planning on taking a UET excursion with all of UET to a place near our hostel with live music that night.  We were all super excited and we went to get ready.  However, after going to the place and seeing how lame the music was we decided to just go back to the hostel and go to the bar at the hostel.  We had a nice UET chat and went to bed.


Saturday we woke up and headed to our choice of activities that we had signed up for.  First thing on my agenda was kayaking with Sammy and Caylin.  I kayaked for about two hours on the lake and was rather bad at it.  I of course tipped over first and had to get to shore to get back in my kayak.  However, Caylin followed suit and tipped over within minutes of my capsize.  After getting back to shore we decided that we were already so wet that if we were going to jump off the dock now was going to be the time.  Caylin and I jumped off the dock into the coldest water I have ever been in.  The water is so cold it almost paralyzes your lungs and makes it so hard to breath.  We went back into the hostel to change our wet clothes, eat our packed lunches and get ready for our next activity. Then, we got on the bus to Langdale for our next activity, Ghyll Scrambling.  Ghyll is a Gaelic word meaning water fall, so this activity was literally climbing up a water fall.  One of the hardest and most rewarding things I have ever done in my whole life.  I might have been slower than most, and I got more than a few bruises and even a couple of scrapes, but I made it to the top.  At some points, you are pretty much climbing with water running over your feet, at some points you are flat out swimming in the freezing cold water with your head dunked in, at some points you are hooked to a harness and rock climbing with water rushing down on the top of your head.  It was so much fun, but so hard at the same time.  I will probably never do it again, but I am so glad I did it!  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this day because I was in the water so much and I couldn't bring my camera.  Dumb.  After changing into dry clothes and getting the bus back to our hostel, we climbed up into Ambleside and found the most delicious, cheap restaurant in town.  Sammy, Brian, Caylin, Rachel, Nata, Rosa and I had a delightful dinner and some drinks and then went back down to our hostel to sleep after a long and draining day.


Sunday, we had to wake up and pack up our things immediately and then get on the bus back to Harlaxton. However, we did stop in a cute little mountain-side town called Keswick but pronounced Kez-ick.  Brian, Rachel and i shopped and walked around the town at a leisurely pace and then got some delicious pizza for lunch.  We got back on the bus and we were back at Harlaxton in time for some great refectory food.