The Lake District

We had heard a lot about Lake District and despite the obvious meaning, were struggling to figure out what the place would have in store. As always, Mr Google and Mr Wikipedia helped us out. Lake District is an area in North West England which contains more than 20 peaks and lakes. Needless to say the resulting landscape is spectacular. 

There are many choices for where to stay and what to do but being first timers we opted for the touristy thing to do and stayed in Bowness-on-Windermere. Windermere is the largest lake in Lake District and Bowness is situated near the centre of the 10.6 miles long lake. Staying in a B&B (Bed and Breakfast) is the best option (and the most economical one). I recommend using www.golakes.co.uk. Found the site extremely well structured and very user friendly. We had decided to drive up to Windermere and given our "enjoy-a-journey-by-eating-junk-food" gene, we completed the 5.5 hr journey in 7. We stayed in "Oakfold House" and though the room was a little cramped it was quite tastefully done up. The room had its own library of an eclectic collection of music CDs, books and DVDs. I was quite impressed.

After a well rested night and a "propah" english breakfast, we took our first cruise on the lake. Luckily, we got to do it on the lake's oldest steamer "The Tern". What amazed me the most through the cruise was the fact that, across the length of the lake, the mountain slopes surrounding the lakes were perfectly manicured. Its as if there is an army of mowers that gets to work every night to ensure we get a picture perfect view. What I learnt later was that it was the controlled grazing of the sheep that was the magical secret. The banks of the lake were dotted with beautiful old houses and some picturesque hotels. 

We got off on the south side of the lake at "Lakeside" and went Quad Biking. A Quad bike is a true ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) and I quite discovered that as we trekked a muddy and stony track upto a height of about 800 metres. Not only was the ride on the bike exhilarating, the view that greeted us was superb as well. We were able to see multiple peaks and 2 lakes (Windermere and Ulswater). Some crazy amount of clicking of snaps happened.

The next day we took it a little easy and finally got out of our room only by 11am. Our first walk for the day was to "Orrest Head" that claimed unparalleled views of Lake Windermere. The trek was a fairly gentle climb (carrying my 2 year old provided some challenge but was fairly easily done) and, since more often than not one expects to "earn the reward", I started to suspec whether it was just a marketing gimmick. Boy!!! was I wrong. I dont remember seeing such a beautiful and panoramic view ever in my life. We could see the full 10 miles of Lake Windermere without any obstruction whatsoever and about 8-10 small to large peaks beyond it. Again, crazy amount of snap clicking happened. We wound our trip with a drive to the highest motorable road in Lake district - The Kirkside Pass. 

An extremely memorable weekend and a highly recommended place for almost anyone since Lake District offers a huge range of activities at almost any budget that you have. Only suggestion is that you go when the weather's nice and when you have atleast 3 days to spare. Follow the link for some snaps - Lake District Snaps