CHAPTER 7: WINDERMERE, ENGLAND
Friday, September 10

Thursday was an interesting day. We took a drive out into the country and hiked around Brea Tarn (turns out "tarn" means "lake in the mountains"). They have some first-rate hiking trails all over the place here in the Lake District. You can go to the most remote valley and find a perfectly groomed walking path. After the hike, we took the most impossibly steep, narrow, and winding road up over Wrynose Pass and Hardknott Pass. This road is up to 33% grade in places, and you normally can't see more than a very short distance in front of you. Get a couple inches too far to one side and you'll rearrange the sheet metal on your car; get a couple inches too far the other way and you'll tumble 500 feet down into the valley; all the while you're watching for somebody coming at you on the same road ... usually at about 75 miles an hour. Nerve-wracking, to say the least. Up at the top of Hardknott Pass there's an old Roman fort. I'm a 10-year-old boy (with 36 years experience) and forts, to a 10-year-old boy, are NEAT! Janis stayed in the car; when she got out to admire the view she stepped in sheep shit. After that, Janis decided to just wait in the car where it was warm and look at the view through the binoculars.

Down at the bottom on the other side, we stopped to tour Muncaster Castle. We thought it would be an interesting half-hour diversion, but we were there all afternoon. Fabulous place. It's been in the Pennington family since 1308 ... how's that for an heirloom? You walk down a quarter-mile path and suddenly you're at this old castle built out on a promontory overlooking a drop-dead-gorgeous English green valley. The castle had an audio tour narrated by the owner of the place ("... and we found this set of china [a one-of-a-kind set of hand-painted 200-year-old plates] one day in the attic ... "). An octagonal tower which had once been the castle kitchen was converted 150 years ago into a 2-story paneled library .... stacks of books everywhere, with dozens of paintings of old ancestors above them. Insulation is not a castle's strong point, evidently ... the owner said "It gets beastly cold in heah in the wintah, and we like to sit in front of the fiah in our sleeping bags." The castle is also the home of the World Owl Conservatory. I about said "so what" but Janis pulled me into it anyway. We wandered around in there for an hour looking at the owls, which they're breeding so the chicks can be put back into the wild. Ended up really enjoying the owls......and can now say I never want to meet one that isn't behind wire....nasty claws and beaks......admire from afar.

On Friday, Janis went horseback riding with Sue, the owner of our B&B. I'll let her tell you about that. I went out painting. It was another beautiful day ... in fact, it has not rained during the day the entire time we've been here. And this is England?? Not that I'm complaining ... in fact, we're telling everybody that we brought the good weather with us from San Diego. Hasn't gotten us anything yet, but we're hoping.

We haven't been able to use the internet like we'd hoped. Even though our room has a phone, the phone system here is antique and we can't connect through it. The landlady has let me plug into her phone outlet a couple of times. We're hoping that our place in London will be better.

Here's Janis with the story of her horseback riding:

I had forgotten how awful the English saddles truly are! I am sore now but am quite sure the full effect won't hit me until tomorrow. The view was wonderful and I had a sweet horse but the trail we were on left much to be desired. I had the impression that we would ride through some of the glorious fields that are everywhere around here. Nope. We rode on rocky trails for the most part. For my first time on a horse in 8 years, I think I did pretty well. Whether it was worth 23 British pounds for the two hours is debatable.

Yesterday (Saturday) was a fairly lazy day. We rode a lake cruise boat down to Lakeside, then a steam train to Haverthwaite. The plan was to have lunch in Haverthwaite, wander around, and catch the next train back. However, once we got to the end, we found out that there wasn't much there except for the train terminal … let me correct that, there wasn't ANYthing there except the train terminal … so we rode the train and boat back to Bowness and wandered around the town for the rest of the day.

Skip again with some random observations:
- Most prices here are pretty high, sometimes outrageous. Quite often you'll see something marked with what appears to be a standard US price, but then you have to remember the price is in pounds and must be multiplied by an additional 60%. I paid $7 for a small packet of Jelly Bellies before I figured out the true price. They better be damn good Jelly Bellies!
- British TV is pretty blah. Nothing like live-action coverage of snooker to get the adrenaline pumping. News, especially, sucks. They don't have local TV stations, so you get either BBC or Sky News. An example program: one brief blurb about some politician who admitted to some gay experiences in college, then an interminably long session on East Timor, in which the anchorpersons talk to each other, three politicians, two commentators, some bozo in the street, back to each other … then they're off to do the same thing about the new coach for the Newcastle soccer team. And this is the much-vaunted British news?? Meanwhile, Janis has gotten addicted to a quiz show called “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”.

I imagine the next note will be from London unless our next hotel (don't know where that will be yet) has a phone in the room. You would be amazed at some of the places where we have seen B&B's. They are everywhere! Drive through country roads for miles and see nothing but sheep (some grazing right on the road but they move for you) and cows and all of a sudden you come upon a B&B with the front door right on the road.

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