We'd planned a 4 day get away to the Lakes District in England over the Easter weekend.

I hired a bike for the week so that I could ride up on my own bike. I'd booked a Suzuki SV650S, but unfortunatly that wasn't available as the guys who was due to return it the day before I picked it up crashed it and they didn't have another available so they gave me a Bandit 650S instead. It was a little haeavier but did have the advantage of having a top box.

Weather wasn't looking good, as the forecast was for heavy rain on the Friday but then clearing for the rest of the weekend.

We loaded up the bikes, with all luggage going in the paniers on Tonys box and left at about 7am on the Friday morning hoping to avoid some of the heavy traffic leaving London.

It was raining a little but not too heavy and trip was fairly uneventful, stopping for breakfast and rest breaks every few hours. Traffic was ok, but the speed everyone travels at amazes me. The speed limit is 70 mph (about 112 kph), but everyone seems to cruise along at 80 mph, and if your in the fast lane you need to be doing at least 85 mph and even then cars seem to be impatient.

Closer to the Lakes District the traffic seemed to grind to a halt and we had to filter for quite a few miles. People seem to be fairly considerate over here and tend to move over to let us through. Tony was unsure of the size of the paniers on the bike so over the intercom he asked me to let him know if there was going to be a problem.

We arrived at our lovely little B&B near Hawkshead at about 4pm, to a welcome from the landlady Lisa. She welcomed us into the farm house and lit a fire in the guest lounge and offered a drink.

The B&B was a farmhouse built in 1698 and is still used as the farmhouse on a 450 acre farm with approx 500 sheep, 60 cattle and some goats. The farm is spread our down the valley with paddocks on either side of the main road.

Our room was on the second floor and overlooked the lake with views of the lambs and sheep in the paddocks. There was a lovely little window seat and it was just perfect to look out the window and just see green grass, lake and livestock.

We were woken each morning to the sound of lambs bleeting which to us was perfect. The farmer would feed the sheep each morning and it was really interesting to see that as soon as he drove into the paddock the sheep walked over to him ready for the hay he was feeding.

We spent Saturday and Sunday driving around the district and were able to see, Hadrians Wall, Ambleside, Grassmere (were we stopped for gingerbread and a walk around the small town crowded with tourists), Windermere (too big and busy so just drove through), Ullswater Lake, Kirkstone Pass, Ulverston and along the West Coast.

Highlights for me was the drive over the high pass and then along the Ullswater Lake. The scenery was just beautiful and reminded us of NZ.

The history of Hadrians Wall was just fascinating as well. Started to be built in approx 122 AD by the Roman Emperor Hadrian to protect the empire from the northern people. The wall went from the West coast all the way across the country to the East coast and was approx 3 metres high. It took approx 8 years to complete and had fortresses along the wall. Its downfall was actually the quality of the construction as eventually the people living near the wall decided they didn't need it for protection any more and started to take the brick and use it in the construction of their grand houses and buildings.

We decided to visit York on the way home on Monday and so drove cross country and go to see more pretty countryside across the Yorkshire dales. It was shrowded in mist and very pretty looking out across the moors. Downside was coming across a motorbike accident were a driver had pulled out from the gas station right into the way of a motorcycle. The guy was lying on the middle of the road for 30 minutes with no movement and his bike was incinerrated.

We ate lunch in York and then headed home using the quickest route (motorway) and make it home at about 6pm

A great weekend, and some of the most pretty side of England that we've seen yet.