Day 11 - 14 Kendal (Lake District)

28 - 31 July 2014

Day 11
Train
The train ride to Kendal had two parts: Manchester to Oxenholme and then Oxenholme to Kendal. The first part was fine but the second train ran late, not that it really mattered because I didn't have anywhere to be.

Castle
I arrived in Kendal quite late but the sun also stays up for a long time so I had long enough to go get supplies from the supermarket AND walk up to the Kendal castle on a nearby hill.

Panorama of the yard inside the castle and Kendal in the background

Looking back the other way on the yard

I actually timed it pretty well because I got to watch the sunset from the hill top.

Sunset from the castle hill over Kendal

On the way down I met a local who was out walking his dog. The guy was super happy and helpful and told me about his time in Australia and then showed me where the bus stop was but suggested that I try to hitch hike to the walking trails instead because everyone here is really friendly. I had a bit of a clumsy moment when I crouched down to pat the dog and it jumped up onto my lap but head-butted me in the face, whoops. It was a cute dog though.

Back at the hostel
The hostel felt more like a house than some of the big, business-like hostels I've been in, which I found nice. The male dorm was at the very top of the hostel.

The dorm room in the loft/attic

We had some good views out of our windows too.

The main street of Kendal from the hostel window

The hostel felt like an old building because the middle of it had sunk a bit so the stair case leaned in toward the middle.

Not a level stair case

This made it an interesting walk after a few beers. The kitchen and dining room also had a sloped floor so it felt like that room in Willy Wonka's factory that gets smaller as you walk to one end.

In the evening I sat in the lounge and had a chat with a Kiwi girl and an older, slightly strange English guy. The girl was nice and had some good stories but the guy didn't seem to be listening to the conversation but would throw off topic comments in now and then. It turned out he was in the same room as me but even though there were 13 free beds, he chose the one right next to me. He also didn't give any warning before he dropped his pants to get changed, TWICE! At least he was only there for the night.

Day 12
Grasmere
Kendal is part of the Lake District but it's outside the typical postcard scenes which are around Ambleside and Grasmere so today I'm catching the bus into Rydal, just near Grasmere and going for a walk. I had another really helpful bus driver who remember the stop I wanted to get off at and stopped for me.

From Rydal I walked toward Grasmere along the lakeside trail, which had some nice views.

First view of a lake near Rydal

However I wanted a bit of a challenge and some really good views so at the first chance I got, I took a track uphill and started climbing.

Specifically this hill although I took this photo after I'd been up

Part way up I stopped for a photo opportunity.

Thanks for taking my photo pile of rocks

Panorama of the lake from part way up the hill

Panorama back toward Ambleside from part way up the hill

The hill kept going up and I'm not someone to do things by halves so I kept going until I found the top.

At the top

I only saw a few other people on the way up but at the top there were at least 30 people who had found their way up there with other paths. The real kick to the ego were the sheep that were already up there too.

I think the sheep lives up here

At the top, ~300m up, it was rainy and a bit cold but by the time I reached the bottom, it had all cleared up and it was nice and warm. I continued walking around the lakeside trail through Grasmere and almost back to Rydal where I followed a trail through the valley toward another (larger) hill. On the way I saw:

Trees growing in fences

A money tree!

I finally reached the point where the climb started.

The start of the stairs up the hill. The peak you can see here is only about half way up.

You can see some rock walls in the picture above and they're everywhere. Even as you get near the tops of the hills, they keep going.

I feel sorry for whoever had to make these walls this high up

I didn't reach the highest point (Fairfield Peak) of the whole ridge but I did make it to ~700m up. I was running out of time and energy so it was time to head back down.

Near the top of the second hill

Of course there were sheep casually sitting around on this hill too. Way up here felt quite remote but I still saw quite a few people walking around so I suspect there are people everywhere in these hills.

I'm at least as fit as these sheep

This was the view I was looking for so I grabbed a few panoramas.

Looking down over the lakes

Looking further up the ridge

The walk down was a bit slow because my knee wasn't happy. Clearly need more stretching next time. Even the fact that a lot of the ground was soft thanks to peat didn't save my knee.

Day 13
Golf course
The bus into the lake district isn't cheap so I decided to walk around Kendal today. I started following a trail but lost it in a paddock so I just started to head straight up the hill and found myself at the golf course; the highest point in Kendal.

You do get a nice view out over the town from up here though.

Looking out over Kendal from the golf course

I took a different way back down and found myself in a park/woods.

It had a nice feel to it.

Me casually wandering though the woods

It even had wooden ladybugs.

Wooden ladybug

Unfortunately I didn't get to explore it all because the gate was closed for part of it.

Crap! I really wanted to go in there.

Sunday Roast
One of the pubs in town had a sign out saying they do Sunday roasts every day so tonight I went there and asked about it but was told the kitchen had shut even though their sign said it should be open for another 15 minutes. That was another fail so I grabbed some chips on the way back to the hostel and spent the night playing pool with some Mancunians.

Day 14
Leaving
I had my cousin's wedding tomorrow so the only mission for today was to make sure I got to Moffat, Scotland.

Thoughts on Kendal and the Lake District

• Everyone sounds like Postman Pat.
• It feels like a small country town (and it is).
• Not actually about Kendal but I thought of it while I was here. I realised why I like trains better than buses: trains stop at all stops and have clearly marked names whereas buses need you to press the button to request a stop but how do you know when to press the button when you can't read the small sign and you've never been there before? Buses seem to be aimed at locals.
• The Lake District has a lot of great walking trails with some amazing views.
• I'd come back here again but I'd try to stay in Ambleside or Grasmere so I didn't have to catch the bus before hitting the walking trails.

Some other photos

I've heard bullies say they'll take other kids here

The time capsule in Kedal's shopping centre