Eighteen - The Lake District

A very overdue post indeed but on the 13th of July I finally turned 18! Lee definitely did well by treating me to two lovely days in the Lake District. He had let me know that he had booked somewhere for the night about a week beforehand but I had no idea where (ok, I did kind of guess) until the morning of our road trip, the day before my birthday, when I was appointed the role of getting us there with the GPS. A McDonalds breakfast and a few wrong turns later and we pulled up outside a hotel in Windermere, the Windermere Manor Hotel. We were a little early for check in so began exploring, coming across a little gate leading onto a walk which resulted in us stepping out onto the stones next to the lake. As boats were passing, large groups of people were swimming in the water or sunbathing above it, so we went back to fetch our swimming gear and Lee had a swim while I paddled. We returned to the hotel to check in and freshen up before heading out again.

We headed out on a long walk, passing through the cute little town of Windermere with it's quaint little shops and winding streets where we picked up some chips to feed our tummys. As the lake came into sight again, we ended up in Boweness where we took a rest with an ice cream and looked out onto the lake before trekking back on the uphill journey, fair to say our feet were in agony on our return! After showering and getting ready, we headed to the hotel restaurant for tea, we both chose burgers and were pretty impressed. Just across from our hotel was a magnificent viewpoint, we did try to catch the sunset but just missed it, damn! We still stayed for a while though, chatting away as we admired the view of mountain after mountain rising from the lake. The night ended with a pint in the hotel garden, of course we stayed till midnight to officially welcome my birthday. We were that tired that we completely fell asleep on each other as we were chatting, all of the walking and fresh air definitely got to us.

The day of my birthday began with a drive through some pretty towns and although Lees little car struggled up the steep climbs, we came across a road sign saying 'Aira Force Waterfalls' which attracted our attention so we followed the signs and ended up on a lovely walk where we spotted the 'Money Tree' and admired the pretty waterfall whilst channeling our inner children as we climbed a tree. Being surrounded by so much greenery and the sound of running water as it made it's way through the rocky terrain, creating little waterfalls on it's way, made me feel like I was in a rain forest somewhere far away. After that, we drove a little further towards the lake and found a little car park with signs saying 'boat rental', now this made my eyes light up as I knew that before we headed for home, I wanted to be on a boat of any sort, gliding across that beautiful lake. We went for a traditional rowing boat and Lee really got the hang of it pretty quickly! Of course he did all of the work with his muscles, although I did have a go and my god, it really is like an arm workout. We had an hour on the little wooden boat, taking in the amazing scenery for the last time, wishing we could stay a little longer but of course we had to return to Newcastle so I could end my birthday with the rest of my friends and family. I apologise for the awful quality of the last photo, that's a Blackberry photo for you, my camera and Lee's phone (Samsung Galaxy S3), which actually has better picture quality than my camera, were left safely in the car.

 Overall we had a great time, the weather treated us well as the heatwave was in full force and the sun was shining, it was scorching outside so understandably a little unbearable but we preserved and all was fine. The Lake District is such an idyllic setting with the most breathtaking scenery and friendly people. I found that it was a place where all of our cares from back home were forgotten about for a little while and we could just completely enjoy each others company, just me and Lee in a beautiful, peaceful place. It's crazy how there are many huge cities full of skyscrapers and traffic in our country and then a short time away lies something completely different, the tranquil countryside.

Rachael x