As far as plans go, it was a good one. Drive 15 minutes to Lakeside on Windermere, catch the boat to Bowness-on-Windermere and walk to Windermere village for lunch, jump back on the boat at Bowness and head up to Ambleside for a walk into town and maybe afternoon tea, then sail all the way back to Lakeside in the afternoon – perfect.
After a perfect, millpond cruise up from Lakeside, we realised that to make the round trip, we’d only have about an hour in Bowness and a little more in Ambleside, neither sojourn sufficient for extended wandering. Perhaps we shouldn’t have done our washing this morning?
Charles Darwin noted that “It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the one[s] most responsive to change.” With that in mind and the sun warming our backs, we opted for a nautical appreciation of the Inns of Windamere. In Bowness, we made the short stroll to The Hole in t’Wall where a cloudy cider and a wine sparkled delightfully in the small beer garden where Dickens once sat. The squat, round-faced bar manager acknowledged our good fair-weather-fortune whilst bemoaning her own (stuck indoors), but regained her good humour upon recalling her friend’s predicament, “they went to Tenerife Island in Spain to get some sun, and it’s pissing down!”, she chuckled delightedly. Di checked, it was simultaneously flooding and snowing – in a state of emergency. Her laughter followed us down the small backstreets to the dock.
In Ambleside, the Water Edge Inn, lived up to expectations with a Sav and a Shiraz on comfy chairs on the lawn – right on the water’s edge and, lest passengers should succumb to the jitters heading back to Lakeside, our comfy ‘sunset cruise’ vessel stocked a small bar.
Time on the water was a fitting finish to our Lake Side stay, quiet fishing boats and quaint wooded islands backdropped by a sunwashed mountain canvas, glorious. At the Lakeside Hotel and Spa, we reflected fondly on our short visit here (with a couple of wines, of course) before heading home.
Concerned mothers may be interested to know that the consumption of alcohol described herein occurred over a period of approximately five hours and included food. We drove home safely and promptly walked the 25 steps from our cottage to “The Farmers Baycliff” for dinner…and a quiet glass of wine.