Pennsylvania farmland - About a mile before arriving at Fallingwater

England's Lake District

April 2008 -

Journal

For one week in June 2007, there was no rain in the Lake District, at least in the vicinity of the town of Kendal. The sun was out and the weather was toasty.

The English countryside is so much different than that of the US, but I can't put my finger on it. While some areas are incredibly green and fertile, some places look like you're on some kind of deserted moonscape. It's hard to do justice with words to this area, so I'll let the pictures help me out. However, this is almost a spiritual, magical place to which I will eventually return.

Of course, the thing to do here is to hike and it is well worth it. I could never find the starting points and wound up taking the steep way up most of the time. It was only on coming down did I get a birds-eye view of the trails I was looking for. One thing you notice that you don't notice on flat ground is the advantage dogs have in climbing, being four legged and low to the ground and all that. They have no problems going up. Just a walk in the park.

Some of the trails can be pretty scary. Trails is a bad word - perhaps just well worn areas that make you dizzy on looking down. The drops can be precipitous. It's also frustrating when some trails just plain end. Once you get to the top, or even on the way, you see alot of stacked stones in a pyramid. What do these signify? Boredom? A bad remake of Stonehenge? The views from the top are just spectacular. Definitely do lunch and photos on the peak.

I expected to find plenty of places to buy fresh fruits and vegetables and that sort of thing, plus home cooked pastries, but found none of the sort. The fruits and veggies at the local supermarket were very bland, but of course it isn't really farm country - more of a place to get a good sweater. There was a good selection of cheeses and a good cheese shop in Kendal. One great experience was watching the cows coming home from the pasture. A cow came straight up to my side window and gave it a good lick. Too funny.

Staying at a cottage is well worth the experience and didn't cost much more than a hotel. Instead of this city boy falling asleep to car horns, helicopters, garbage trucks, drunken frat adults, loud motorcycles, etc..., there's cows mooing and sheep bleeping. While cooking, I repeatedly saw the same rabbit through the window rummaging for food. And of course, the view is postcard perfect. Not a bad way to wake up.

Obviously, the area is not a golf destination, but there is a good course a wee bit northwest of Kendal. I was told there was another good course southwest of Kendal, where the first hole literally starts in someone's backyard, but I forget the exact name and details.

I have many more amazing pictures available - I'll eventually get them posted to a gallery.