The Lake District - Part 3

Our last day at the Lake District was surprisingly full and fun. For the previous two days, we actually had decent weather... meaning: no rain. On our third day, it was supposed to rain on and off.

We began our day with a row boat ride in Ullswater Lake. The rain hadn't started yet, so we figured we shouldn't sit around waiting to see if it was going to. Actually, with Murphy's Law being particularly strong around here, we thought we would help the rain come by going out in the middle of the lake in a rowboat.

Well, Murphy didn't wait that long. He only waited long enough for us to pay for our hour and get into the boat. Then, it started raining. It didn't really matter... we were all prepared with our raincoats, and were determined to make the most of it. We ended up having a pleasant ride. The rain came and went. The worst part, however, were these little moquito-like bugs that started attacking us about half-way into our hour. They didn't sting, but they were annoying. Maddie was just screaming!! We joked that the boat rental place keeps these bugs under the seats, and releases them so that you get your boat back in on time! Anyway, besides the bugs, we had a nice ride, and the kids especially enjoyed taking turns rowing with daddy.I even took a turn rowing, although it was difficult fitting the ends of the oars around my belly!
After our ride, we had a nice lunch back at the cottage. We then decided to head to another town called Keswick (pronounced Kez-ik), that wasn't too far away.

We stopped on the way at a place called Castlerigg Stone Circle. It's basically the Stonehenge of the Lake District, although it doesn't have quite as dramatic of an appearance. Castlerigg consists of 30 or so stones standing in a circle, with another 10 forming a rectangular enclosure. Like Stonehenge, not much is known about what it's purpose was, but they think that it dates to about 3000 BC.We kept on towards Keswick, or more specifically, towards Derwentwater, one of the smaller lakes of the region. It was raining pretty steady at this point, so we weren't sure what we were going to do when we got there. But, we decided to keep driving to at least get a glimpse of the lake.

It ended up being one of those times when spontanaity really paid off.

We found our way to the lake, and parked. We then virtually stumbled upon a boat taxi tour that was about to leave, and quickly decided to go for a ride as the boat was covered. What an incredible ride it was. The views were amazing. It was raining, yes, but there was this beautiful mist that hovered around the mountains, making it incredibly breathtaking. Then, eventually, the rain stopped, and we even saw the sun trying to come through the clouds. Again, just beautiful. We took so many pictures on that boat ride, but I don't think any of them came out quite as beautiful as I remember the views to be.When we got back to the dock, we struck up a conversation with the woman who had driven the boat. She asked if Tim might want a turn driving the boat over to the next dock. Tim was a little hesitant at first, but then decided to go with Daddy. Well, he just loved it! He felt so proud driving this big boat all by himself. It was his favorite part of the trip.Here are just another couple of shots that Ethan took on the way home, and later at Ullswater that night.So, that was basically our trip to the Lake District. We were there for less than 3 days, but during that time, we saw and rode on 3 different lakes. The views were really incredible, and it was wonderful to be by the water. I'm sure that we will be going back in the future!