Batum's Travels: The Lakes District

We visited the Keswick Museum before leaving for Windemere. Claire had heard that it contained an interesting collection of curiosities including Napoleon's teacup. It certainly had some interesting pieces, even though the teacup was a souvenir rather than belonging to Napoleon. We found the musical instrument made of musical stones very unusual. We had never heard of hornsfel before but it made a lovely sound.

The saga of us trying to redeem our Heritage and National Trust passes continues. Next stop was Castlerigg Stone Circle. It turns out it is free so there is no-one to collect a pass from. It was worth visiting though for the backdrop as much as the circle itself.

We explored Windemere and Bowness in the afternoon. The Lakes District is very popular, there are crowds everywhere.

Today Claire had figured out where we were going to get at least one of our passes. First stop Beatrix Potter's Gallery in Hawkeshead. Unfortunately having failed to read the fine print we discovered that we couldn't get the pass there. Luckily it wasn't far to Hilltop, her farm house where we could get the pass so the very kind lady rang them and agreed to let us into the Gallery. We were very happy as we had just paid 3 pound for parking which we weren't going to use.

Hilltop.

You can research and plan a trip as carefully as you can but sometimes a chance meeting can provide you with an unexpected highlight. We had stopped to look at a pretty creek and got chatting to a couple from Essex. They come to the Lakes regularly to walk and they told us about Kirkstone Pass which had spectacular views. We weren't sure about going up as the road was quite narrow and called "The Struggle" but we decided to chance it. It was definitely worth it.