Day in the Lake District

[jen78]

Hi :)

ihave been getting out and about doing some photography and am really fancying a trip to the Lake District this weekend.

I can get to Windemere easily on the train from Manchester though, from what I remember, it isn't right by the lake.

Can anyone suggest the best way to get down to a nice part of the lake and back easily, somewhere like Bowness as always loved it there.

Thanks for any help :)

[VHG]

You can stroll down from the Windermere train station to Bowness in about 10 minutes. Go out the station, through the shopping area, and down the main road the other side of the shops.

In fact the town of Bownees and the town of Windermere have sort of met in the middle so it is difficult to know where one starts and the other stops.

[VHG]

Here is a map of the "route" to test your map reading skills.

The station (not shown) is at the top, near where it says "M6 and Kendal".

Bowness (marked) and the lake are in the bottom left.

They are linked by Lake Road.

http://www.elimlodge.co.uk/web-images/bowness- map-large.gif

[VHG]

Can I suggest if you DO come out of the train station you DONT walk down to Bowness, but you cross the road and follow the path up to Orrest Head.

This is a fairly small hill, and can be walked in 15 or 20 minutes (many local people take their dogs up there for a walk), but the view from the top is AMAZING, and far outweighs the effort put in to get up there.

Here is just one example of the view from the top (hope you get a lovely day like that)

http://www.thestables-windermere.co.uk/USERIMA GES/orrest.bmp

You can read more here, and get details of the walk (which is almost as easy as the walk to Bowness).

http://www.english-lakes.com/orrest_head.html

[VHG]

Not sure if you know much about the Lake District, but the person who wrote all the best guide books to the place was a guy called Alfred Wainwright.

He lived in Blackburn whe he was young, but on his first trip to the Lakes he climbed Orrest Head, and it was the view from there that made him fall in love with the place.

Later of course he moved to the lakes and spent the rest of his life there.

I should warn you though that Bowness by the lake is likely to be packed with tourists this weeked now the weather is getting better.

If you do want to go to Bowness maybe consider getting the ferry to the other side of the lake where it is a bit quieter.

Beatrix Potter's old farm is over the other side, it is owned by the National Trust and is open to the public.

One final thing, there is a Tourist Information Office right outside the train station if you need advice or are looking for somewhere to stay the night, or somewhere to eat.

Wow, I feel like I work for the Lake District tourist board (not really, I just love the place).

[Eve]

Thank you so so much for all that information, I can't wait to get there now.

I've spent a bit of time there but never really had the change to just explore on myown, just me and my camera.

The view from Orrest Head is just stunning. How steep is it, just so I know as I've got arthritis and love walking but struggle with up :)

I will be printing this all out and taking it with me, hoping to get there this weekend and hoping the beautiful weather we had today holds.

I'm also hoping to do the boat ride right up the lake and stop off at various points for a wander and to take some photographs.

I can't wait :)

[VHG]

>How steep is it, just so I know as I've got arthritis and
>love walking but struggle with up :)

Well I am afraid it is up, you cant avoid that !!

It only about 750 feet high, which is pretty low in "mountain" terms, and you start at about 200 feet above sea level anyway.

If you take it slow and steady you should be OK. If not you can always turn back.

As I said, the view from the top is wonderful for the relative low amount of height you have to climb. You can see the whole of Lake Windermere from there.

If you have trouble walking you may want to get a taxi from Windermere station to Bowness as it is a bit of a slog if you have arthritis.