Windermere - Lake District
I found this in my old archives and felt like sharing with you; hope you enjoy 
So, finally here it is, the memoir of our wonderful trip to Windermere, Lake District. It took us months to decide on the place, weeks to plan and couple of days to enjoy. Yes, Manu was indeed planning last summer itself, but had to postpone for various reasons. This year too I was rather reluctant when he came with the proposal for a summer outing. Reasons again are various But Manu insisted we go this time, and I definitely need to appreciate & thank him for being so obsessed, it’s because of him that we went ahead with the trip.
On 25th (Wednesday, August 2004), I was really restless. We had to travel the next day, haven’t packed a thing, too much work at office, too much traffic on roads - guess everything possible/feasible goes wrong at the same time. As we rushed home in the evening, both Manu and myself were tired out to the maximum. It was very late in the night, by the time we finished packing, eating & cleaning. I couldn’t get proper sleep too that night and was worried whether I would be able to get up in time, the next morning. But to our surprise, we were rather more fresh the next morning.
26th Thursday, August 2004
Our train was to start around 10:40AM from Euston(around 1 hr journey from our place) Noopur and Dhiraj decided to join us at the station only. We reached around 10AM and there was no sign of the Dutta couple till 10:30AM. Ok, they did finally get to the station and we boarded our train. Before we could really get angry on them for being late, Noopur said she packed lunch for us - Poori with aloo subji and mutton curry. Now, who would let their anger out after hearing about such a meal, we know now why they were late, so only option left was to wait for lunch time The total journey to Windermere was about 4.5hrs, we had to change trains at Lancaster. Never realized how the 4+ hrs passed with all that talking, pulling each others legs, hogging loads of food ( yeah, poori subji was really yummy!).
We reached Windermere at around 3PM. The place was bustling with visitors. Took us few minutes to find out the correct turn at the cross-roads to get to our pre-booked B&B. As we walked thru the small lanes of the village, surrounded by hills & mountains, we could clearly see that this place is indeed beautiful. The roads are narrow, the shops have a typical village look, it was lush green all around, most of the houses are converted to hotels, B&Bs or cottages … and everyone seems to have a dog They do have a ‘Prince of India’ - rather surprising to see a Indian restaurant in a England village. We decided to have our first dinner there. Hilton House, our pre-booked B&B, was slightly on the higher side than the hotels opposite the road. The lady who received us was friendly enough, she showed us two rooms, one on ground floor and one on first floor, informed us that breakfast would be served between 8:15AM and 8:45AM and left us to decide who would prefer which room. We decided to toss, ala, Amit & Dharam in Sholay! Dutta couple on the first floor and us on the ground floor. The rooms are small, but well decorated. There was a large mirror, a table with 2 cups, few sugar sachets, 3-4 tea bags and milk. A portable TV was hung diagonally above the bed. I guess I would never forget the toilet, it was like a jumbo sized match box!!!!
We got ourselves freshened up in the next hr for a stroll in the village, to find about trekking/ trails/biking and other activities the place has in store for us. Went to the ‘Tourist Information Centre’, decided we would go for the ‘School Knot’ walk and bought few maps for the next day trek/walk. As we strolled out of the Information Centre, big, fat rats were running in our stomachs. Just then we remembered the Greg's store we saw in the next lane. But alas, the shop was closed. Though a tourist place, it is a village, so shops do shut down pretty quickly. Yeah, we did realize this, but how are we going to get those rats in our stomach quietened? There was a small store on the corner, we went there but couldn’t find any sandwiches. The funniest part is, sandwiches were right next to the check-out counter, but we were in such a hurry to find food that we never saw them!!! After searching thru two other lanes, finally we entered a take away Pizza shop, bought burgers & wedges, sat on the small wall near a bus stop and ate. We were not allowed to take any food inside the B&B.
We went back to the B&B, gossiped for some time, chalked out the plan for the next day and left to have our dinner at ‘Prince of India’. It started drizzling when we left the B&B and was heavily drizzling when we got to the restaurant. The dining hall was on the first floor, and the small iron steps were narrow and slippery due to rain. The place was dimly lit, but looked good. And as it was fully packed (sort of gave us confidence that this IS indeed a good place), we thanked our stars for getting such a place in a remote village. As we settled down, the waiter bought us menu cards. It looked like an encyclopaedia - you name a dish, they have it on the list. They have some 10 odd categories like Karahi, Kashmiri, Bhuna, Mangalorean, Punjabi, Madras style etc. Wondered how talented the chef must be. We placed our order for drinks, starters (chicken tikka) and main course (chicken curry, chick peas curry, dal, raitha, roti & rice). When he served us the starter, we were surprised to see the quantity. Yes, indeed surprised and may be blanked out for a moment. 1 portion of the starter has 6 pieces of tikka - the size of each piece was roughly about a medium sized amla!!!! The chicken gravy and the chick peas gravy tasted the same, curd was rather sour. The quantity was too less and the food too expensive. May be we should’ve gone to some English restaurant for dinner, rather than to this place. We dared not to order any dessert, paid the bill, sweared not to enter this place again during our stay and left the place. It was around 9:30pm and it started to pour down heavily. We had 3 umbrellas to share among 4 of us. With a shoulder dry and a shoulder wet, we reached our B&B, said good night to each other and tucked ourselves into beds.
27th Friday 2004
The night was very cold and I wanted to just lie down under the warm blanket. Manu, still in bed, watching BBC news(or was it the Olympics fare??), reminded me about the breakfast timings and I was up on my foot the next moment. By 8:20AM both of us were ready, just then Noopur/Dhiraj knocked at our door. We walked past the main door, thru the small reception, into the dining hall. Approximately 7-8 tables were laid out. 3 other tables were filled with guests. We were seated on a corner window table from where we could see the B&B’s main entrance and the road. The flower vase with artificial flowers placed on the window side was really beautiful. On one side, cutlery was arranged in the wall sized show case. Just below the show case, was laid out, part of our breakfast - cereals, corn flakes, juice, jams, jellys, marmalade. Each one of us filled our cereal bowls and juice glasses and sat down at our table. The caretaker asked us whether we would prefer a complete vegetarian breakfast or would eat eggs too and asked us our preference of tea/coffee. Milk was available on the table already. As we started working on our cereals, the warm breakfast was served. Poached egg, baked tomato, hash browns, mushrooms and loads of toast with butter. My first thought as I finished the breakfast - this is better than the dinner we had last night!
We got ready by 9:30AM and as were about to leave for our pre-decided ‘School Knot’ walk, the caretaker stopped us for a formal chat. She suggested ‘Orrest Head’ walk for better view of the Lake. We went to the Information Centre again and bought the trail/trek map to Orrest Head. As per the initial instruction, we had to walk ahead and take a slight left across the road. But we mis-read and took the right turn and walked for about a mile, before realising our mistake. Or may be all of us wanted to warm up a bit before the actual trek :-)) We walked back to the starting point and laughed at ourselves for not seeing the sign board right in front of us. We followed the sign posts/map and started walking on the small foot path, surrounded by huge trees all around. As we continued to walk further, the trees became more denser and more taller and it was not a well laid out foot path either. It was liking climbing a mountain in some jungle. Not a soul to see around. All we could see was trees and more trees. And all we could hear was the sound of the rustling leaves. Of course our own little nothings and wide roars of laughter in between. We couldn’t see the sky too from where we were walking, it was all covered by the green branches.
After walking for about 30min, we saw a huge farm on one side. There was a small gate into the farm, but was signed ‘Private Property’. We could see white sheep & lamb from a distance on the green grass. This place was certainly on a height and the green farm looked as if a large green carpet was flowing down. From there we had to climb up few huge steps - I did hear about the Mokalu Parvatam earlier - that our knees would come up till chest when we climb this mountain - it was like that walking over these steps here. Being the heaviest of all, I had trouble climbing and lagged behind. This continued for another 15min and lo…behold - suddenly we were a top the Orrest Head. On one side was the huge lake, the other side we could see the valley, village and then the green farms all around. The sky was back on our heads and thankfully it was not raining. It was too beautiful all around, we were so close to nature. Yes, though we ARE a part of nature, yet we feel that distance sometimes, but here we were, feeling one with the nature. I had trouble controlling my little hair falling all over my face. May be the wind wanted to untie my hair and play with it. I allowed it to do so Manu held me close for a moment and I locked that moment in my memory database. For few moments both of us haven’t realized that Noopur & Dhiraj disappeared from there. They went around exploring the small peak. Once they returned, we took few snaps and started our journey back.
Walking down the hill was pretty fun. Our map took us inside a farm and around few country houses. Theoretically it was little dirty in the farms, but it was fun walking along side the sheep & lamb. Lost in the beauty of the place and our little nonsensical talks, we missed directions again. A couple helped us back into the track and by lunch time we were back at the Information Centre - from where we started off our walk. We walked towards the railway station from there and went into the bike renting shop. The simplest route was around 17miles, we paid the money & reserved our bikes for the next day. I had an uneasy feeling thinking about 17miles. I did try to voice my uneasiness but Manu, Dhiraj & Noopur brushed it away and assured me that we would have a great day. I shelved my apprehensions and we all moved over to ‘Little Chippy’ for lunch. Fish & chips, mashed peas, boiled peas, bread/butter, salad - lunch was too tasty and very filling.
After the sumptuous lunch, we took the open top double-decker bus and reached Bowness Pier just in time for the cruise to Ambleside. Once we were aboard the cruise, it started drizzling heavily - we had to move to the cafe area inside. The lake is around 10miles in length and 4 miles in width, surrounded by green mountains all around. It took us around 45min to get to Ambleside, from where we got on to a small boat, which dropped us at Wray Castle. Luckily, it stopped raining now. Only the four of us got down at this side and that caused a small stir in our little brains - whether this Castle had any thing to offer us? Our doubts were cleared as we approached the small castle - which lacked any architectural beauty. It was closed for public too. So we set off for another 4mile walk along the lake side towards Bowness, Windermere. All along, we could see people ski-ing on jet boats, speed scooters, private rowing/sailing boats. The lake was full with people, yet everyone had space for themselves. The walk up & down the small peaks was tiring. We took a small boat to cross the Lake and reach Bowness, from there again on the open top bus reached our B&B. It was around 6PM. Our legs were aching, muscles were too tight to move. The only way to refresh ourselves was to have a hot bath.
We got ready for dinner by 7:30PM. Our choice was to have something Chinese - so we went to this Cantonese restaurant, which was just opposite to Little Chippy. We had - Veg Spring Rolls, Egg Fried Rice, Noodles and 2 side dishes. Food was tasty, but they did make us wait too long for the bill. We got back to B&B by 9:30PM and tucked ourselves in bed, for we had to get to the Bike shop early at 9AM the next day.
28th Saturday 2004
It was 10AM, by the time we got ready, finished breakfast and got to the bike shop. As it was Saturday and the long weekend just began, there were too many people all around. The narrow streets were pretty crowded. The bike shop too was bustling with people, we had to wait for sometime before the shop-keeper attended us. He bought us our cycles, a pump, and head gears. He adjusted the seat and helped us with the head-gears. Then he explained about the gears in the bike and let us off on our biking adventure. As we cycled thru the parking area, I felt a slight fear again - touching the bike after so many long yrs, it’s not India where the avg speed on roads in ~5km/hr, 17 miles is too long - oh, there were so many questions, but our enthusiasm was so high that all fears were brushed aside.
We cycled thru the small roads, under the railway bridge following our map; Dhiraj & Manu were our navigators. Just when I was feeling a little comfortable, my bike’s chain came off. Dhiraj helped me fix that and we ended up with greasy hands Manu and Dhiraj enjoyed their cycling, Noopur seemed to enjoy it, but I had problems. I was comfortable riding on flat roads and downwards on slopes but I had to get off my bike and push it along at the slightest peak. We were lost too in between, and a very fine lady helped us back onto the track. We biked thru farms, dense trees, mud/stoned paths, slightly trafficked road and reached the ferry. We had to cross the Lake before starting our actual mountain biking. I actually gave up at that point and said we are not going to bike thru the entire route and just return back half-way thru. But none of the other three agreed with that.
There were quite some people biking along that day, but everyone crossed us as we were too slow. Moreover, we were walking & pushing the bike half way instead of riding. At some places, where it was too steep, I couldn’t push my bicycle and Manu/Dhiraj would reach the top fast, leave their bikes and come back to push my bike. Noopur seemed tired at places, but she never gave up as I did. Every 15 minutes, we had to take a break because of me :-)) It was fun riding down the slopes, but equally tiring riding upwards. Dhiraj was enjoying it to the fullest, Noopur commented a couple of times that he is a ‘mountain goat‘ - he didn’t seem to be tired at all. Manu was enjoying the ride, but he looked a bit troubled as I was struggling all through. The Greg’s sandwiches that we got packed were very tasty.
We had to bike thru the mountains to this village/town called ‘Hawkshead‘. We did not roam around the place much, just bought few sandwiches and drinks and continued our ride back to the ferry. Just before arriving at the ferry dock, there was these rather lengthy steep road down the mountain and I guess, I enjoyed that the most :-)) If just Manu & myself were on this trip, then I would have forced us back half-way. It was because of Dhiraj, supported by Noopur that we pulled thru the whole 17 miles. The credit for this feeling of pride that we indeed finished the entire biking trip - goes to Dhiraj and to a very little extent to Noopur We were so slow that the 4+ hrs trip took us around 6+ hrs to complete. The bike shop guy did tell us that he would close shop at 5PM, we had to rush to reach in time. We were rather late, but Dhiraj managed to get before us and made the shop guy wait.
We were literally not able to move our legs once we returned our bikes. It was some 7-10min walk from this place to our B&B and I insisted we take the bus rather than walk. Dhiraj, not yet tired, wanted to walk. So we dispersed - the Dutta couple went walking while Manu & myself waited for the bus. Finally, we too had to walk as the bus did not arrive even after waiting for 10min. It was damn painful walking - we couldn’t lift any part of our body properly. We got back to the B&B and had 2 cups of watery tea!! Later, with great difficulty, we went to have our dinner at ‘Little Chippy’. God knows, how we came back to the B&B and slept almost un-consciously.
Oh, the next morning too we found those pains lingering around - our legs felt like some heavy iron rods!!!! We finished our breakfast in time, checked-out from the B&B, but left our baggage there itself and went to the market place. The market definitely looked better than the London high-streets. We didn’t buy much, other than few memoirs. Got back to the B&B, collected our baggage, got some sandwiches packed from Greg’s and left for the station. Our train was around 2:50PM, but we took an earlier train and changed trains at Oxenholm, Birmingham, Banbury, Marylbourne, Green Park …. (too many engineering works on tracks during the weekend) and finally reached home at around 9PM. That’s the end of a lovely summer outing.
