Friday : Sunny

After a quick breaky and pack up we were on the road and heading to our new destination. We both could of definitely stayed much longer there in Rowen, it was perfect.

As usual we took the back streets as close as possible to the English border ignoring the GPS telling us to do a U-turn when possible to get back to the motorway. We had a good run through the green hilly countryside and through all the little villages. Over and under old stone bridges and vibrating across livestock grates. It wasn't until we got onto the freeway and back into England we hit traffic, there was a rear ender about 12miles south of Liverpool and Manchester.

To break up the trip north, we had a couple hour lunch break in the seaside town of Blackpool. We went straight to the water but the tide was up, so we couldn't see if it was a sand or pebble beach. Everyone was sitting on the steps or laying down on the concrete footpaths. We ate some excellent fish and chips, the chips were the real short and fat kind. The sun was out and boy don't the English strip down to the bare minimal when it is. Haha it's too funny! Everyone over here seems to lose there marbles when it's warm. We spent our time people watching and strolling up and down the huge waterfront, and apart from the high number of porkers here, (well with chips like that on tap I would blimp out in no time all so) it wasn't hard to notice lots of kids with their parents smoking? They did look very cool though! The waterfront stretches for quite awhile, and its filled with pubs, restaurants, shops and casinos. Its like the Brighton of the north only bigger, and trashier. At both ends of the waterfront there are fun fairs and Brighton styled piers with gaming halls, bars, food stalls and rides and the same tat being sold. The south side (paradise beach) has the UK's largest indoor water park and big roller coasters, while the north has a tall tower and a wheel also like Brighton. The town did look a bit tatty during the day, but I think at night time it would look fantastic with all the fair lights and lights hanging up across the road.

We left Blackpool and continued north, and the number of cars on the road has increased dramatically since leaving Wales. So it wasn't too long before we hit some more congestion, the traffic this time was 12 miles out from Arnside. This is where we are staying for the next couple of nights.

It was too early to checkin to our hostel so we took a drive around town, its a nice quiet town, its got a few pubs and shops that run parallel with the river. We headed up the hill from there, and came across a skinny track leading up into the scrub. It lead to what is called a knott, and this was the UK's highest one. A knot is a hill that is less than 150m to the summit! It had a very nice view out to sea and across the river and onto the Lake District, that's where we will be spending most of our time here doing some walks.

It was very relaxing up there sitting in the sun and it was very quiet, we could see that the town had a train line running across the river, but no car or pedestrian bridge. This reminded us of pearl bay from sea change, because like the TV show we must drive around to get to were we wanted to be.

Once it was time to check into our hostel we did, and had a look around. The building looked to be a huge old school and Kim thinks it was converted into a nursing home before it became a hostel. The fridge and cupboards were full so we predict it will be much busier than out last hostel that's for sure.

No time to settle in for the arvo we have walking to do. So glad we did get going too, because once we were over in the hills the weather was absolutely magic! The drive over to Windermere was under 30mins and we went to the info centre and it had closed, Kim checked out the website and got an idea for a short walk, and then we were off to find it.

The drive up to Keswick was incredible driving through the middle of the lake district. We must of seen 50 shades of green cast up against the bluest of blues. The rugged mountains and beautiful lakes of the Lake District were certainly living up to the hype! Once in the pretty town of Keswick we picked up some dinner for a picnic and headed over to Buttermere. The road to Buttermere was unbelievable it was a long mountain pass trail, we got to the top and you could see the road wiggle all the way down and back up the other side. Just amazing! Once through the tiny village of Buttermere we followed the websites directions around more amazing lakes to the car park, and started our walk up and up and up. Seriously the views were.... seriously! That good! We did a 2 hour return trip and once back down we got out the food and had ourselves a sunset dinner picnic on the grass, with some sheep as special guests.

Once down we took another incredible mountain pass road back to Keswick, Windermere then continued to the hostel. Twilight driving through the Lake District ohhh yeah! The trip back was about 1.5 hours, so it was dark when we passed back through all the lit up little villages and towns. Lots of camp fires and people out and about walking back from dinner at all the pubs. The place looks just as good at night as it did in the day.

The hostels car park was full and overflowing out in to the street, yep it's full alright, a quick shower and into bed. What a cracking day, going to be hard to top that one.