Lake District- Day 2

On top of the unknown mountain
view from near the summit
waterfall trail
My duck friend.
Ferry ride.

So we woke up early this morning-- 8:30 or something along those lines.

Dani and I had planned to take the ferry down to Bowness to go see the Beatrix Potter museum. As our luck would have it, it was raining that day. Of course! It was like Ireland all over again. But we didn't let a little rain get us down and we set out on the ferry headed for Bowness around 10am. The rain decided to take a break and fortunately it did not rain on us on the way down to Bowness. Once we got there we just sort of wandered around looking for little rabbits to lead us to the museum. We didn't see rabbits but we saw a heard of swans hanging out on the dock of Bowness. They looked pretty fierce and I tried to restrain Dani from petting them. She has a soft spot for animals-- it's pretty serious actually. Eventually I managed to pry her away from the swans and we set off for the museum with Mary Katherine and my roommate Erin. We found it and shelled out the money to take the self tour. 

Let me begin this paragraph by saying that this museum was made for children, but I enjoyed it as much as I might have if I was 4 years old again. The Beatrix Potter books have a special place in my heart; and my heart truly did skip a beat when I saw Jemima Puddleduck. In the museum they had various scenes from different books. It was a trip down memory lane and as cheesy as it sounds it really was magical. It seems as if nowdays you can only let your imagine wander such extremes when you are a child. Anything else is deemed as immature and improper. Children have it off so easy and they don't even realize it. They can believe anything they want to believe and their lives have not yet been tainted by corruption and vileness. The still believe that good will always triumph and that everything is worth hoping for. Oh how I wish I could be a kid again. 

Eventually we tore ourselves away from the museum and wandered around Bowness in the rain for a little while. When we were sufficiently wet and cold we got back on the ferry and headed back to Ambleside. Upon arrival we ate our lunch and then headed out again. Some friends of ours had discovered a waterfall hike earlier that day and they pointed us in the direction of it. We wandered through ambleside until we found a sign labeled "Waterfall"-- so we followed it. The waterfall hike was pleasant and ran parallel to a pretty substantial stream with several waterfalls. At some point on the hike we found another trail that would lead us to the top of a mountain. I of course jumped with excitement at the chance to summit a mountain, however, my counterparts were not as enthusiastic was I was. Nevertheless the humored me and we started trekking. 

Now during this "little" trek of ours I discovered that it doesn't pay to stay away from the Rocky mountains for as long as I have. So I can safely say that this mountain definitely kicked my derriere. It was a beautiful hike though. We could see all the villages nestled at the base of the mountains surrounding the lake. As we climbed higher and higher I could feel the mountain breeze and feel my lungs contract as the air got thinner. Some people would freak out about that and pull out their inhalers, but not me. It was wonderful. I find it very safe to say that at some point in my life I MUST live near the mountains. I have been spoiled my whole life by spending almost every summer hiking around the mountains in some part of the United States. Now that I've gotten older and gone to school and gotten a serious summer job I can no longer do that. There is nothing I miss more during the summer than being forced to get up early and go summit  a couple fourteeners. These mountains were nowhere near 14,000 feet, but it was good enough for me.

When we finally summited this mountain, that I still don't know the name of, we were out of breath and slightly chilly because we had stripped off so many layers of our clothes. From the peak we could see all of Lake Windermere below us and the villages along the lake shore. It was wonderful. Around the rest of us we could see mountains upon mountains upon mountains. I had an Ireland moment all over again and I told myself that I would return. Perhaps not in the fashion that Beatrix Potter had, but that I would take time in my life to wander through these hills and learn about their story. This really is the wild English countryside and I love it. I feel like this is part of England that few people see and this is what makes England so beautiful.

We descended from the peak and picked up some of our fellows that had bailed earlier and together we found a restaurant in Ambleside to quench our insatiable appetite. Dinner was served and we went home with full bellies and an unshakable sense of accomplishment. 

Little did we know what tomorrow would bring.