"No more beautiful place hath man seen." William Wordsworth describing the Lake District, where he was born and spent most of his life. (The village school where he occasionally taught is now a shop that sells gingerbread made from the same recipe since 1854. Of course I bought some....good, but not like any gingerbread I have ever had.) I don't know if I'd go quite that far, but beautiful it was. We were also very fortunate to have good hiking weather: cool and partly cloudy, but no rain. (People kept telling me that it always rains in the Lake District, so we were prepared but didn't need umbrella or raincoats.... though there was evidence of the recent rain in the muddy trails.)
Wordsworth's house, Dove Cottage.
Though I took many pictures on the 6-mile hike from Grasmere going around Lake Grasmere and Rydal Water, they simply do not do justice to the beauty of the place. Sheep grazing in green fields enclosed with dry stone fences...stone-lined trails around the crystal clear lakes....and some very interesting architecture for the occasional house along the way.
(I really did hike all day.....and didn't even need the raincoat I carried)
This is where we stopped for our picnic lunch.
The Lake District is a 3-hour bus ride across England to the west coast. We (this was a York St. John organized trip for international students - we had three buses filled) took the southern route through the Yorkshsire Dales and it was a beautiful drive. Along the way we stopped in a cute little village called Settle for a break. The stone buildings of the Lake District were already well in evidence:
Goodbye to Grasmere!
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