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

Day 10 - 11 Manchester

27 - 28 July 2014

Day 10
The bus
I jumped off the bus in Birmingham and it was chaos because everyone was pushing to get on the bus while people where still getting off. Why people, why?! Anyway, I grabbed my bag and got out of the way. After the bus had left I spoke with the driver who drove me up (he finished his shift) and he said there were two no-shows so I could've stayed on that bus. Oh well, it gave me a very brief look at Birmingham. I went for a walk around the block and it's not really long enough to form an opinion but it felt big and kind of rough.

The next bus came and there was plenty of room.

Roast
I really wanted a Sunday roast/carvery and everything looked good for it; I was in England, it was Sunday, I found a pub that was part of the same chain I'd had one at before and the pub was still serving food. Unfortunately this particular pub had stopped doing them altogether. Manchester, y u no like Sunday roast? So I went without and headed to the hostel.

Beer
In my hostel, I met two Chilean guys in my room and they invited me out for a beer because they were doing a beer a day challenge and hadn't had one that day yet. We couldn't find any bars open because it was getting late so we ended up grabbing something from the supermarket and sitting in the hostel, which was good fun. I learnt a bit about Chile too.

Day 11
Bus station
The two Chilean guys had to leave so I walked with them to the bus station. On the way back I saw some cool street art.

Manchester street art

And took a selfie with some old looking building.

That super important building

MOSI
I only had part of this day in Manchester and the tourist attraction that stood out to me was the Museum of Science and Industry. What can I say, I like machines and I'm a nerd.

I was there!

They had quite a lot of different things there like this coat.

A thistledown coat

The placard

And a cut-away steam train engine.

Inside a steam train

And various turbo looking machines.

A water turbine

Another water turbine

There were also some nice lobster back bends (I like metal work).

Mmmm... lobsterback :D

I really liked this enormous, articulated train, even if it was really hard to get a good photo of.

Info post of articulated train

The articulated train

In another part of the museum I found some cool photos.

A zebrafish

A nit

Then in yet another section of the museum (there were 5 sections) I found some nice looking bikes and aircraft.

This bike has character!

A row of aircraft engines

A Chinook chopper

Thoughts on Manchester

• It's a big place.
• There are a lot of old and interesting buildings.
• I'm not sure there's a lot to do if you don't like soccer (European football) so I had enough time there.

Day 8 - 10 Cardiff

25 - 27 July 2014

Day 8
On the train
The train ride was pleasant. I sat in one of the crappier carriages because it was less busy. We even went through a tunnel that goes underwater!

Hostel
Once in Cardiff, it was easy to find the hostel and get booked in. I hadn't planned to meet any travellers here but the Belgian guy I met in Oxford was in my room and the Israeli guy I met in Bristol found me in the common room.

The Belgian and I

Night out
The Israeli guy was going out with some locals he'd met earlier than day and he kindly invited the Belgian and I along with him. We went to a place called The Queens Vaults first then I headed over to the Prince Of Wales pub to meet some girls I'd met last year in Amsterdam. It was great to catch up with them and because it was a birthday, they were planning a big night out.

They went to a club called Reflex after and we tagged along. I met some (drunk) locals in there and they paid the bathroom attendant to spray me with aftershave but with special attention to my crutch; it was nice, I think. The music was a bit cheesy for the Belgian, the Israeli and myself so we took off and went to a rock bar called Fuel where we stayed for the rest of the night. I had a great night dancing and talking to lots of people.

Day 9
Exploring
The Israeli and I went for a look around the city today. We went into the entrance to the castle, where you can see some of the grounds inside, but admission was too expensive so we didn't go in.

Front of the castle

Castle walls with animal statues

We then grabbed some lunch and sat in the park and chatted about all sorts. I now know a lot more about Israel, the Gaza strip and the West Bank. The park was also really nice too:

The really nice park

After the park we headed over to the museum but we were only in there for 5 minutes and they kicked us out because they were closing. Lucky it was free. It was almost 5pm, where did the day go?

We did a lap of the city and got some dinner supplies before going back to the hostel.

Another night out
We went out again tonight and because it was a Saturday night, it was a lot busier. It felt a lot like Amsterdam with all the pubs overflowing onto the streets and every second person you see is part of a hen's or buck's party. So much so that there are people on the street selling hen and buck show merchandise:

Hen and buck show merchandise sellers

The most impressive group of people I saw were all dressed up a green plastic army men. They went all out and had all dark green clothes, helmets, guns and every bit of exposed skin was covered in dark green paint.

We looked at a lot of different places but ended up at Clwb Ifor Bach. It was kind of quiet when we went in there but it soon started to get busier. I went home for an early night while the other two stayed out for a big one.

Day 10
Killing time
I had some time before the bus to Manchester so I went for a walk around the town again. I saw their...um...big ring and stick thing:

The Alliance sculpture

I went Wok To Walk (from my Amsterdam trip last year) and apparently it was popular because I met some more people from my room and two other English girls from the hostel there.

On the walk back to the hostel I spotted a house named the same as the street I live on.

Samsies

Bus
I didn't book a ticket for the bus before hand because I hoped to buy one from the driver. This was a mistake because the bus was full plus I couldn't buy from the driver, it had to be on the internet. However, the awesome bus driver managed to get me on board and take me to Birmingham where I only had to wait an hour for another bus that would get me all the way to Manchester. Someone else said this to me and I have to agree, English bus drivers are just the nicest people.

The big bridge that takes you from Wales to England was very impressive. It's really hard to get good photos while you're on the bus so just use Google.

Thoughts on Cardiff

• The city centre is quite small and easy to walk around.
• It seems to be a big party destination for young people on the weekends.
• The weather was good (locals would say unusally amazing) while I was there.