CHAPTER 6: WINDERMERE, ENGLAND
Wednesday, September 8

We've continued our sightseeing and have really been enjoying the Lake District. If you were riding with us as we drive around the area, you would be bored silly with our conversation. It generally consists of the "thump" of our jaws bouncing off the floor as yet another beautiful view comes in sight, or such scintillatingly interesting thoughts as "Look at that!" and "Wow!" and "Isn't that GORgeous!!". Occasionally these profound statements will be interrupted by shrieks of "LOOK OUT!!!" as some mad lorry driver comes ripping around a curve towards us using both sides of the road.

Yesterday we started the day with shopping in Kendal, a nearby market (not tourist) town, then went in search of Beatrix Potter's house. She's the lady who wrote all the "Peter Rabbit" stories. Ol' Peter is a major industry in these parts. Took us a while to find Bea's house because we got lost and evidently took the really long route via a couple of towns not even in the Lake District. Eventually we made it, though. Later we went hiking around a park at a place called Tarn Haws. We haven't figured out what either a "tarn" or a "haws" is, but apparently one of the terms means "small valley in the middle of some big steep mountains". The road leading there was even more difficult than most: about 1 1/2 small car widths wide, no shoulders, lots of blind turns, rock walls (of course), steep gradients, and, naturally, 2-way traffic. After a short rest back in our room we went out for dinner and found probably the worst restaurant in Windermere.

Speaking of "worst", you should see the waitress who does the breakfasts here at our B&B. She is absolutely incapable of handling more than one dish at a time. I mean it. She brings my coffee out, then later she brings out a plate of toast, then later she'll bring out one breakfast plate, then the other ... she takes the concept of "one thing at a time" to all new extremes. And when she screws up your order, it's YOUR fault, not hers ... best to just say "yes I'm sorry now please bring me (fill in the blank)". It's quite amusing watching her muddle her way through a morning's work. Our B&B owner was quite apologetic but we told her "hey, sometimes you just gotta play the hand you're dealt" ... the owner was dealt the waitress and the waitress wasn't dealt a full deck of cards.

Today was our "literary" day. We visited two of William Wordsworth's houses. More interesting than it sounds; both were over 400 years old. We wandered around the town of Grasmere and had lunch. We sat at an outdoor cafe and watched the tourists and traffic. All these small cars were having trouble getting past each other in this itsy-bitsy street, and then two huge (I swear) DOUBLE-DECKER London buses came rolling by! People and cars were diving off the street left and right. Amazing. Later we stopped by an equestrian center. Janis wants to go horseback riding on Friday and has talked our B&B owner into going with her (Sue and Janis are two of a kind ... I don't think the riding center knows what they're in for!)

One of the things we've really enjoyed is seeing all these town names. Where else but in the UK could you find places like Douthwaitehead, Nether Wasdale, Bowness-on-Windermere, and Peebles?

The tourist industry is quite big here, but not tacky at all. There are no motels but there are tons of B&B's; in fact, it seems like every other house is a B&B establishment. This is primo hiking country, with hundreds of miles of public-access paths, so naturally there are hiking and mountaineering stores everywhere, almost as many as restaurants. Most of the restaurants are good; some not (see earlier comment about last night's dinner). Oddly enough, all the shops close up at about 5 or 6 pm, leaving all the captive tourists wandering around looking for something to do. Quite a bit different than the American approach, and I think I like it much better. I just can't see this place mucked up with a PotterLand theme park built around Peter Rabbit rides, Ian's LazerTag, and a WillieWorld tacky gift shop.

As a certified gearhead, I'm always interested in car stuff. There is really a huge variety of cars on British roads, a much bigger variety than in the US. Land Rovers are all over the place. Tourists drive bright, shiny Range Rovers. Locals drive the Land Rover Defender, which is the same vehicle used by the British military and is comparable to a stripped-down Jeep Wrangler. Local Rovers aren't shiny, however: they're usually painted faded blue-green or various shades of faded gray. Lots of Rolls-Royce's of various vintages, more Jaguars than you can shake a drive shaft at, a bunch of MGF's (not available in the States) and even some neat new TVR's. (TVR is a small British sports car maker; this new version is a bit like a Miata with a Viper influence and a big thumping V8 under the hood). For a car guy like me, who drooled over Triumphs (until I owned two, anyway) and Lotuses and Jaguars since high school, this is heaven!

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