Windermere.

Friday began with a great deal of indecision. I'd enjoyed my two nights in Glasgow, and the day's bus tour to Stirling, Loch Lomond and Glen Goyne, and had done a fair walking tour of the city area the day before. With no longing to remain in Glasgow, it was time to choose where to go next. My vague inkling of heading up into the north west of Scotland wasn't going to work, as once again the days had snuck by and it was a Friday. The attraction for heading north to Fort William is the Jacobite Express steam train which runs from Fort William to Mallaig, on reportedly scenic tracks. This is the line and train used in the Harry Potter films. However as the summer tourist season wanes, the train doesn't operate on weekends. Added to that, a not very ample supply of accommodation in either Fort William or Mallaig, and that plan was pretty much scrubbed.

What was difficult was making the decision on where to go instead! I dithered over several options for quite some time, becoming somewhat frustrated as I pondered the map, and looked up options on the internet (hotel wifi is fairly common here and so far has all been free, very handy at making plans. Or sitting there in frustration trying to make plans). I considered returning into the highlands, passing through Inverness and heading for Thurso or Wick, however that would mean 9+ hours on the train! and again nothing immediately sprang out as enjoyable accommodation in either town.

Feeling the pressure of time (that was all in my head really, hotel check out was 11am, and this was about 8am) I ended up deciding to leave Scotland, and head south for the Lakes district. A bit of a sad moment as I've loved my time in Scotland and would love to explore it more, but the planets weren't aligned this way for now. Decision made, I hunted down accommodation in the town of Bowness on Windermere. Thankfully some of the reading I had done about the lakes district before leaving Australia led me to know that the town of Windermere is quite a long way from the lake (30 min walk) and that the twin town of Bowness on Windermere is, perhaps obviously enough, the town 'on' lake Windermere. The two towns began life separately but with expansion eventually merged into one large town, with two distinct shopping centres however, and the lakeside area still known as Bowness. So I knew if I wanted to be within a nice walking distance from the lake, I'd be aiming for Bowness not Winderemere.

I'm not sure if Great Britain has a b&b capital, but Windermere and Bowness must certainly come close. Traditional style hotels are less common here, whereas every second building down the main road and up the side roads appears to be accommodation of one sort or another. I've been using a mix of Expedia, trip advisor and google to find accommodation options so far on this trip (and have done pretty bloody well!) though often I'll find a suggested place and then look up their own website for more info. In this manner, I found Dene House bed and breakfast, which had such positive reviews on trip advisor I wondered briefly if the proprietors had written them all! A pleasant surprise was I found a cheaper rate for the room I wanted by going direct to the website, rather than through Expedia. The room I have ended up in is a simple but comfortable single bed room, with a 'private' bathroom. Although the bathroom is private and reserved only for the occupant of my room, it is somewhat less convenient than an ensuite in that it is across the corridor from the actual room. However I can't quibble much, as the overall accommodation is excellent, the tea and cake on arrival was a welcome touch, and the rate is very good, and other than the horrid night in an Edinburgh hostel, is the cheapest per night accommodation I have stayed in so far at £50 per night.

Arriving into Windermere by train, one arrives in the upper town proper of Windermere, some 30 minutes walk from the lake. The lazy option would have been a taxi, however I looked past that and studied the bus stop signs and timetables, and found the bus route which would take me into Bowness and avoid the long walk with big heavy bag (tempted to name it BHB). £2.20 for the bus ride, and not a whole lot later, the bus wound its way down the narrow streets and turned onto the road along the lake. Disembarking, I began the walking part - buoyed by reports on trip adviser that Dene House was only a five minute walk from the lake. Ten minutes later, I realised I had once again been screwed by Google maps who had sent me on the road heading towards Kendal (the next town) with the aim of taking a road up the hill and slightly back towards town. What made that route hard was there was no road where Google said there was. So I had to trudge another 5 or so minutes back towards town, then up the right road, where Google had the temerity to say recalculating. Having eventually found the place, and later shucked of bags and wandering back into town, I discovered it really was only a five minute walk, less to some of the shops and restaurants, only I had set off in completely the wrong direction from the bus stop thanks to google maps. I am becoming a fan of apple maps.

Wandering along through the small township, I was enjoying taking in the sights and sounds. It's a weird feeling to visit a place you have only read about, and even then what you have read was set in the between wars period of the 20th century. But enough similarities exist to be able to spot things and wonder. Especially the 'steamers', boats that run up and down the lake. Once they actually were steam powered, but have since been converted to diesel, the one I first stepped aboard had been converted to diesel in 1956. They remain marvellous boats however, and I quickly bought a ticket and boarded one for a cruise down to the south end of the lake, at Lakeside. At Lakeside, the steamer pulls alongside the pier, on the other side of which is a steam train, with carriages that look like they've come straight out of Thomas the Tank Engine, and a blue steam locomotive sitting there chuffing away. £6.50 buys you a ticket on the Lakeside and Haverthwaite railway, which is not hugely remarkable, shorter, slower and less scenic than our own Puffing Billy, but I dare say £6.50 is a fair bit less of a dare than puffing billy. Ten minutes of gentle rattling down the line, initially alongside the river Leven, you arrive into Haverthwaite. The engine runs around, and then we're off, back to Lakeside to board the last steamer of the day back to Bowness.

The steamers are remarkably well maintained, with shining teak and comfortable lounges, and fully equipped cafe and bar. However, despite the wintry weather and cold wind, I enjoyed standing outside at the front, watching the shores of the lake go by (the first time I have needed my raincoat on this trip!). Interestingly, for me, the audio commentary pointed out an island that had been used in the 1970s film of Swallows and Amazons. I haven't seen this film, and doubt I ever will, love the books too much, but this was certainly further indication I was in the right place. The scenery was epic (I had thought nothing much would wow me again after Scotland) and travelling up the lake was fantastic.

Saturday dawned cold and rainy. Some real rain, not just the minor sun showers I've experienced so far. The weather report didn't look promising. Chores number one was laundry however, and this is where my hiking backpack came in handy - loaded it up with all my clothes, and walked down to the pier to wait for a bus up to Windermere. Googling had revealed only one laundromat for miles around. Reaching the laundromat, with the aid of apple maps, it turned out I wasn't the only one spending Saturday morning doing laundry. One local, whose washing machine had broken down (and who was quite taken aback at the £4.40 per wash) and a collection of tourists queuing for four working machines, and one ornamental machine, there only for decoration, at least until they repair it. Unlike my happy experience of a laundromat in Inverness, where I was able to walk straight in, use a machine, and then use two dryers at the same time, before driving everything back to the hotel in the rental car, this laundry process was more tedious, as i first had to wait for someone else's cycle to finish. And after it finished, I had to then wait further for them to finish their leisurely amble around town and come back and remove their washing from the machine. It's not the done thing to pull out someone else's finished washing, but it can get annoying sitting looking at two finished machines, with the contents' owners nowhere in sight. This did give me more reading time however, something I haven't done much of on this trip. I bought the first game of thrones book from a wonderful bookshop in Leeds (we don't have book shops like that anymore in Australia!) but haven't read much to date. The train trips I've done have had enthralling scenery where it would seem sacrilegious to read rather than gaze out the window. So doing laundry had some benefits.

Later, it appeared choosing to do the laundry in the morning was the right decision - the weather began to clear, the rain stopped, and even hints of blue sky were showing as I walked back from the bus stop to the b&b. Washing hung up and folded (no kidding) and changed from shorts into jeans, I set off again, back to the pier, with the aim of chartering a vessel. Ok, hiring a self drive electric powered boat would be a more truthful description. “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” Equipped with a life jacket, some sage advice about which way to turn if approaching another boat head on (right) and the doleful warning to stay well clear of the chains of the car ferry, I was off, with three hours booked, to explore the lake from a lower and slower vantage point than yesterday's steamer.

Puttering about the lake has got to be one of the (admittedly many) trip highlights so far. The weather had fined up, and was beautiful. Except for one brief period of stormy weather and seas - quite suddenly the weather turned foul, rain lashed the boat, and the wind picked up some decent swell on the lake. It was over before it became anything serious, and I was back into sunshine. Heading north up the lake towards Ambleside, the views of the fells were awe inspiring. It wasn't sailing, but it certainly ticked the box for me of exploring Lake Windermere on the water.

Two more nights here in Bowness, the pace slowing down a bit, and with any luck I shall get over to have a look at Coniston Water tomorrow. There's an option of a local bus tour, open roof double deckers like in London, but green, so that may be a relaxing way to sit back and watch the country side go by.

The town itself remains very busy, the end of summer not having slowed the tourist trade much, weekends here are busy throughout the year, and varying districts 'half terms' providing a fairly constant stream of tourists up until November. A half term is as best I can tell, a week long break in the middle of the school term! I like the idea! However most UK schools still have three terms per year, to our four, and I'm not sure I like that idea.