ABC Tour – Cumbria, Climbing “The Struggle”

After finding our way out of Liverpool, we hit the M6 motorway to get north and avoid the big cities.

This is the region my grandparents came from.

Once we turned off the motorway the buildings here are picture postcard stuff.  Stone, slate roof, many painted white.  We always had calendars from the Lakes District at home when I was a kid, as Mum’s penfriend always sent them for a Christmas present.

We caught the car ferry across Windemere.

It was a beautiful still, blue day, so the everything looked its best.

We visited “Hill Top”, Beatrix Potter’s home.  We had to wait for a car park to become vacant and then wait an hour before it was our turn to go through the house, but it was worth it.  Apparently it was a quiet day, so I’d hate to be there if it was busy.

Notice how the sides of the porch are solid slabs of slate.

The cottage garden was a picture.

Some of the buildings in the village are clearly identifiable in her books.

We followed a bus on the way out.  The poor driver.  He met two other buses, a motor home and semi trailer in the time we were following, and the roads were only just wide enough, with stone walls on either side.  That’s one job I would not want.

We then drove through Ambleside, which was really pretty.

We wanted to get to Ullswater, and the road we came across had a sign of 20% gradient and was called “The Struggle”.  Olga dropped down a gear and off she went.  It was a continual steep climb for quite a few miles.  Fortunately, we didn’t meet anyone on the really narrow steep bits, or I’m not quite sure what would have happened.  This bit isn’t steep at all, compared to some of it.

When we reached the top we pulled into a carpark for a breather.  That is what we came up, all the way from the lake in the distance.  Olga did well.

The name is rather appropriate.

Of course, what goes up must come down.  Fortunately it wasn’t quite as steep, as Olga doesn’t have much in the way of brakes. It was really pretty going down into the valley. 

There are stone walls everywhere.  When you look at the side of the hills you can see why.  It is all scree.

We didn’t know how far we would get today and were delighted that we made it to Pooley Bridge. 

This is at the very top of Ullswater. 

The village is only small, but really pretty.

We went for a little walk before tea and noticed this sign post.  Tirril is where my Grandma was born.

Tomorrow we will play the tourist.  Who knows what we will come across.