A Tale of Two Roads

DRAFT ONLY

We drove out of Windemere yesterday in search of Wordsworth, a poetry pilgrimage for Tess in the footsteps of her favourite Lakes Poets (nothing wrong with my punctuation - Coleridge as well).

We were headed for his birthplace Cockermouth which is about 40 miles from here via the crossroads town of Keswick.

First, however, we stopped at Dove Cottage in Ambleside on the southern(?) shore of Lake Windemere. Here William and sister Dorothy Wordsworth lived from about 1798 - 1808 in a small cottage with a view over the lake. It was during his time in Dove Cottage (a former pub) that he was married and had three children and wrote the best of his poems. Tess enjoyed the tour immensely and it is an interesting little house - the cold room, perched over a creek and always cold, was my favourite room. The children slept in one tiny bedroom lined with newspapers to keep the damp out. It didn't work. The historic homes are kept very dark to preserve the documents so you will need to wear your glasses. Some of the oil paintings are showing their age and could do with restoration but where is the money to come from? There is so much history in Europe generally and I suppose it cannot all be preserved - nor should be.

Anyway, to get to the title of this entry, as we left Lake Windemere and the town of Ambleside we were presented with two roads to Keswick and Cockermouth – the fast straight one of the wiggly tourist one. We turned left and meandered alongside Grasmere, Thirlmere, Buttermere and finally Derwent Water near Keswick (where the coloured pencils came from). It was slow going with lots of photo ops and traffic to contend with.

Keswick is a nice town. We defied the navigator phone by driving around some of its streets. Leaving the town we headed towards Holker Pass. An impressive climb to a slate mine then an equally dramatic descent to??????????

Finally arrived in Cockermouth after hours driving. Learnt how to park in a "Disc Zone". I'll show you my disc if you ask nicely. We were hungry after the drive so before heading to the National Trust (great buy that membership!) estate of John Wordsworth, we settled in the Hotel Wordsworth for lunch. Friendly and efficient barmaid was better than the fish and chips.

Refreshed and with only an hour left of the park, we ventured 200 yds down the main street to Wordsworth's birthplace. I was impressed with what the agent for a Lord could live in/afford and enjoyed the well furnished rooms, especially the kitchen. I wonder if i could organise an excursion there next time I have an Advanced class?

We travelled the fast road back to Windemere although there were still photo stops long the way. We arrived at Ambleside in time for a cruise on the Lake before heading back to collect Emma who had spent the day working on a Uni report. I lashed out on a roast dinner for all at Bowness for 3.75 pounds - fed and watered three of us for 17 pounds! It was a gambling joint but views were nice.

On a sad note, I lost my nokia navigator which had served me faithfully on this and previous trips as phone (only occasionally at roaming rates!), camera (many of all the photos on this blog and all the video) and of course GPS Navigator. I had just paid $15 for a 30 day licence on th UK Nokia Maps.

I was on the Lady of the Lake and moving to avoid the spray off Lake Windemere when my phone jumped from my pocket, bounced on the floor and off to the side of the old steamboat. Unfortunately, there was a two inch gap in the flooring at the sides of the boat which allowed the phone to slip below into the bilge.

I will miss it.

And I would have paid it off by July:(

C'est La Vie