Ambleside and A Memory for Mo

On our way home we stopped the night in Ambleside and in the morning we had a wander down to the lake side (Ambleside is at the northern end of Lake Windermere).  There was a time when the town would have been of secondary interest and we'd have been up walking in the fells.  Now our enjoyment is confined to photography and the lower levels.  I'd like to think that when I get a new knee I'd be able to climb a Munro again but something tells me that by then I'll be too unfit.  Qui sait ?

The wooden rowing boats (which are actually sculled not rowed) and the two old wooden lake steamers
My wife and I (I think I did help) sculled one round the north end  of the lake on our honeymoon.

The terrace on which Mo and I had an ice cream back in the day (ie I've forgotten the date).

Queen of the Lake (Built 1949) and Princess of the Lake (Built 1950)

See details at: Queen of the Lake and Princess of the Lake 

The Pier Buildings

I don't recall an ice cream cabin being there when I was a lad

Exeter to Ambleside

It's been quite a day:  350 miles or thereabouts of mostly hellish driving in pouring rain and, when we were on the motorway, crawling traffic.  We arrived in Ambleside about 1830 and eventually located the Lakes Lodge hotel CJ booked this morning on line which has turned out to be excellent even if reception and breakfast room's predominantly purple is not quite to my taste.  Bedroom beautiful.  Wi-fi free!  We had decided that our 'usual' hotel, The Queens, was now off our list because of the service and terrible meal we had last time.

After dinner at a very pleasant restaurant CJ retired to the hotel and I went for a walk.  We spent many holidays in and around Ambleside and I never cease to be surprised at the changes which have taken place.  Of course I shouldn't be surprised because around half a century has lapsed since those days.  Now there are lots of art galleries (there used to be Heaton Cooper and he was all I can recall) and more outdoor clothing shops than you can shake a stick at and I couldn't begin to count the restaurants and coffee shops.  Surprisingly there are a lot of secondhand (or whatever the current PC term for such emporia is) book shops at a time when such places are closing down left right and centre because of charity (goodwill/op shops) and Amazon and eBay not to mention Kindle and other ebooks.

Perhaps the main thing though is travel.  It used too be a major journey to get to the Lake District from the conurbations.  Now its reachable from the North of Scotland or the South of England in a day and Liverpool in a couple of hours.  One can 'do' Ambleside as a day trip from Liverpool. How things change.

Some Westfield enthusiasts are staying.  The Nighthawk is the centre of the three staid cars parked against the hedge.

The Lakes Lodge

The Bridge House, Ambleside

On the way back from Exeter CJ and I stayed overnight in Ambleside (a fact I've already mentioned in relation to food!).  When I wasa youngster the family spent many holidays in the Lake District and one of the most memorable was in Ambleside!  One of Ambleside's most intriguing buildings is the Bridge House.  Bridge House was built over Stock Ghyll more than 300 years ago probably as a summer house and apple store for Ambleside Hall. The building was purchased by local people in 1926 and given to the National Trust. It is now used as an information centre for the National Trust.  Why was it built over the Ghyll?  Apparently to avoid land tax.

I looked out some photos I took back in the 1960s:

Here are some I took last week:

So far as the house is concerned it is no surprise, as it is owned by the National Trust, that it appears not to have altered in the last 50 or so years except that the doors are now green and not white.  Actually I think I preferred the white.

A Day On The Road

Today I drove about 370 miles from the Woodbury Park Hotel near Exeter to the Queens Hotel in Ambleside via Tintern, Hereford, Whitchurch and The Wirral (to catch up with a bag which didn't get transferred) and which included an extra 20 miles because of a closed off road in Exeter which made me travel up the motorway for 10 miles each way before picking up Cj at his hotel.  So having sort of eaten (unfortunately the main course was as inedible as any I've been offered for a very long time) and been for a walk and had a couple of cognacs I'm now ready for a (relatively) early night.  We've had a Good Day.

I'm sure that when we have arrived back on Lewis there will be plenty to blog about The Wedding which was a very memorable occasion.  It's really a day for the Bride and Groom - and so it was - but it's also a day for their family and friends - and so it truly was: a very memorable one.

But now it's bedtime.  Night night.

Hotels and Things

On our way north from Exeter CJ and I made our first stop Ambleside in the English Lake District. It was a place that we both stayed with Mum and Dad and a family friend many years ago when we were teenagers. In fact we spent a lot of time in the Lakes just as our parents (and particularly Mum when she was a very young lady) had done before us. We arrived having failed when we set out to realise that it was the Thursday preceding a Bank Holiday weekend. We were lucky and managed to get accommodation in The Queens Hotel. We were quite surprised at how many things were the same as we remembered them although, of course, much had changed too. No, it has to be said the weather: it was still raining!

The Queens Hotel, Ambleside: excellent service and very good, reasonably priced, food with a marvellous breakfast well cooked from good ingredients. And we had wifi access!

In Dunblane there is an unprepossessing café at the South end of the main street just as you come in off the A9. It is called The Beech Tree. I stop there when I am passing and fancy a coffee because they make it as I like it. Memory is a funny thing. CJ remembers his soup as being less hot than he would have liked it. I like my soup hot and would certainly have sent it back if it wasn't hot enough for me. And I remember it as being ok. How odd.

The Royal Dunkeld Hotel at, not surprisingly, Dunkeld. It had wifi ('though not in the bedroom). However the most charitable thing I can say about the service and food is that it was ok. If I was being truthful I'd probably say that it was mediocre. It was more expensive than The Queens and far poorer value for money. I would usually have stayed at The Atholl Arms but it was full and I'd forgotten than I had it's number in my cellphone.