Well, it's official. After nearly four years of being with each other, Boricua and I have FINally been camping together.
It wasn't exactly camping like I'm used to, but it was very quaint!
Saturday
Boricua found a great deal on a rental car over Easter weekend so we packed it up and off we went.
The first thing we noticed was how many rocks are everywhere!! The stone walls were cleared for pasturing and used to make dividers, homes, and I even saw a stone dock in one of the lakes.
The region has a loooong history - it was inhabited by the Norse people and Romans.
On our very first morning we went on a Victorian, steam-powered boat on Lake Coniston.
Not gonna lie, it was very pretty but I much prefer north Idaho or Lake Powell. I think I was expecting it to be less dead - Spring has already arrived in London but the plants and trees were taking their time in the Lake District.
The engine.
If my tia were to want to sell the hats she makes straight from sheep wool I think our friends and family will be able to contribute plenty of lifestyle photos haha.
A very expensive boathouse.
Victorian boat-goers.
The area was a very popular place to be this weekend - every single inn we saw was full, so we were glad to have a spot at the campsite.
I wanted to see downtown Ambleside, and it, too, was lovely, complete with an old water mill, beautiful church, and of course a bakery.
Local things. The communities really are very small, with a large portion of property lived in only seasonally.
Moab has a thrift store called Wabi Sabi (that I love)!
...one a penny two a penny...
Next we were off to do a hike. Lambs and their parents were everywhere!
So, the hike we did presented quite a learning curve. I had saved a few trail guides and this one was "Buttermere to Rannerdale." The only problem was, it wasn't that easy to follow the guides!
This one threw us off because you have to walk through sheep grazing to start the hike, and there wasn't a trailhead, but we found it!
Some Cumbria dialect we learned, and words that form the names of so many places there_
- stile (don't know if this is just a word I didn't know or one they use in the Lake District) - the weird fence-thing that seems to let humans but not cattle through.
- beck - stream
- dale - valley
- fell - hill or mountain
- force - waterfall
- knott - rocky hill
- mere - lake
- thwaite - a clearing in the woods
- tarn - small mountain lake
More nerdy awesome linguistic info here.
The ground was so soft everywhere, it felt like walking on a sponge!
Most of the sheep we came across were very skittish like the ones at the Barn in Sandpoint, but not these ones!
There is nothing better than being outdoors with the people you love. (Except cuddling of course.)
Water coming straight out of the mountain.
Sunday
We drove a couple of hours from our campsite to get to church on Sunday, which was by the coast.
It was a tiny little ward on a beautiful peninsula, and although we were worried that we would smell too strongly of campfire, we enjoyed the fellowship. (Luckily our campsite had showers!)
Afterwords we went to the ocean.
And then back to the wet valleys!
Boricua was a champ - driving around anywhere you have to make room for cars going the opposite direction by backing up or squeezing as close as possible to a rock wall - it was a challenge and we’re used to driving in Puerto Rico, where you’re always squeezing between cars in the neighborhoods!
In some places cars just weren’t allowed unless you lived there. Down this street, we saw tiny cars parked haha!
Now we were on our way to see a pretty little bridge called "Slaters" because it was built for quarrymen to be able to carry their load across on horses.
It was so nice to be in nature, and be still, on a Sunday. I kept thinking about how clear and un-confusing this way of life seems, so close to the land.
Boricua, as usual, provided us with soundtrack. Shire-themed.
Beatrix Potter did a lot of work to preserve the land and lifestyle here, and prevent large firms from creating conglomerations and developing.
We were constantly walking through what seemed like other people’s land, but I think the National Trust actually manages its own herds. This is a stile, I think!
This is our tiny, not-waterproof-as-advertised tent. We slept in the car two nights haha. Luckily the back seats came down!
On Monday morning we had to start the five hour journey back to London to return the car before 6pm, so we got up early to do one last hike. They seem to call them “walks” here, and also refer to trails as “footpaths.”
The walk is called Borger Dalr, for “Valley of the Fort.” The village in this picture is a MEDIEVAL monastic farm.
An old quarry…
We came a little over-prepared for rain and cold.
So chill.
Then we climbed this pile of rocks, site of a 2,000-year-old hill fort. It is so crazy to think about people from Medieval times walking there, too, and having them think it was old!
An encounter with a very large cairn.
Then we hurried down to make the journey back to London.
We listened to an audiobook called “Dataclysm” - recommendation from my dad - really interesting insights about humans from big data. And now we’re back in the grind but looking forward to another weekend trip soon!
