A District full of Lakes.

Following a series of unimposing trips to various humdrum majestic monuments, most touted spots and globally celebrated museums in UK; a jaunt to The Beauteous Lake District was panned. I got the ground for the much marvelled William Wordsworth’s poetic bravura, as he was born in The Lake District. It was an unparalleled experience for many reasons; the most substantial was we ourselves drove a rented car for the first time; not just in UK.

Monish, who was supposed to be our full-time driver had started going through a 250 odd pages document on UK driving conventions. To his rescue came our manager, who has a brobdingnagian experience driving in UK. The previous day, he helped us out with the same. He also filled his tank to demonstrate the usage of “help yourself” petrol pumps. Suspecting our good lucks we opted for a rent bracket which would cover the complete insurance of the vehicle. The previous evening, I and Monish went to the car renting company to complete the legal documents and drove the vehicle home. It was a brand new Skoda Octavia Estate, which had done just 500 miles.

After a brief prayer, Monish turned on the ignition. To my shock and scare, the engine went down once in the middle of a road for a short while, before Monish managed to bring back the ignition. The biggest scare on the spot for me was the distance to be covered [800 miles]. I was thinking to myself of all the troubles we might confront and I swore myself I am not going to decorate the driver’s seat for even a single revolution of the wheel, thus amending my initial plan.

Gopi was brought home driving by Monish and consensus was made to start at 4 O’clock in the morning to avoid rush at motor ways. Suresh, my friend since teenage and his college days pal Bharathi, who were to come from London kept me and Monish awake till 2 O’clock of the trip’s first day. We started almost as planned. Gopi pitying my sleeplessness agreed to act as the navigator. We had none but our amicable satellite navigator for guidance. The funniest part was the instrument itself enforced awareness of a document comprising terms used by it, which Gopi had gone through.

Me, Suresh and Bharathi had slept soundly before Monish wanted a desperate break after Birmingham, which eventually turned out to be our first shooting spot. We practiced some funny catching warm ups on the bus stop space there, before leaving.

As planned, We reached Ambleside’s YHA, which was booked to serve us the bed and breakfast. We were very happy to hear the Satellite Navigator yelling “You have reached your destination” and perked up to see the lovely location where we were going to stay. The enclosure was a few metres away from the shores of a gorgeous lake. That was a great feeling which triggered every one of us from our seats, blanking out us from collecting our baggage and reporting at the reception for quite some time. I went around jumping in my senses before we planned to start the proceedings.

We drove down to our first spot Bowness, where we completed our breakfast. The “Tuna Potato Sandwich” was worth mentioning. We stuck to the economic and a variety enabling plan framed by Bharathi and took a ferry to Lakeside. The beauty of Bowness was no odd, as the whole of Lake District was consistently stunning. But the swans at the shores definitely bet a photograph.

The ferry took us through the scenic beauty of the Lake District.

To please our sailing and empty our film roles, a bird was escorting our journey for a long time.

Later we witnessed their risky game which was formulated to cross the ferry’s sail way to the sharpest possibility.

We were fed with unimagined sceneries. A High lawn land sharing boundary with the lake’s shores letting nothing than a lead to a hill top dream house.

Docks leading to a majestic house, amidst dense green land.

Lots and lots of varieties of boats.

Forms with subtle variations to all those told were bringing in new excitement, every single time.We got down at Lakeside to board an ancient steam engine which was first introduced to the tracks in 1951. “Maintenance and Planning is in the blood of The English” was what was going on in my mind as I embarked into it at the Lakeside station.

After a nap in window seat, we reached Haverthwaite, where we went to a museum of trains.

After that we walked into a deserted forest near by the track where Suresh exhibited his martial arts skills to us. We came back by the same train to Lakeside. Not a metre long in our journey did the streams or lakes or rivers go out of our sight. To burn out the 20 minutes left for the next ferry, I stepped into an enclosed shopping centre. There were so many cute gifts that I started counting on the kids in my and friends’ families. We took the ferry back to Bowness. Gopi, inspired by those playing Frisbee insisted in experimenting. We bought one and found it to be malfunctioning. We then switched to cricket, for which the kit was brought pre planned. We drove back to YHA, Ambleside and got ready for the next spot The Stock Ghyll Force, a spectacular 70 feet waterfall. The route to the falls was a long but pleasant walk featuring long stops posing for photos with a scenic backdrop of waterfall.

Finally we reached the falls which can be viewed from a railed view point at the cap of the falls.

Following dinner, we came back to YHA and had a sound sleep. We had to share the room with a few Englishmen.

We woke up and got ready for a fantastic breakfast. Gopi relished a variety of English non-vegetarian dishes. Our next activity was canoeing.

As none except Suresh knew swimming, we were confirming our safety with the owner of the Canoes. We were asked to sign a disclaimer form. He detailed us on the risky areas in the lake. With the stabilizers in place, we were all set for the sail through a mist covered lake, a few boundaries of which were out of sight. Me, Suresh and Bharathi pounced on to a kayak whereas Monish and Gopi preferred a Canoe. Showers started on the midway of our sailing, which happened to add more beautiful memories to the kayaking.

Proof for rain - Note the umbrella :)

After one hour of almost uninterrupted paddling, we row back to the dock; ending a thrilling experience. We also went so close to wrecks a few times over sharp rocks. The island shelter for birds and a lonely house on the shores are worth mentioning besides many other beautiful scenes.

We then checked out from the YHA and started driving down to Grasmere. Between Rydal Water and Grasmere, We parked our car and walked on The Loughrigg Terraces, our next spot. Every scene there reminded me of frames from Roja and Dil Se. It was a long and pleasant walk through a green and dense forest to an interior lake. The full path was just on the shores of a stream that originates from the lake. Truly “Nature at its best”. This Place is really difficult explaining, as I leave the job completely to the photographs.

The most astonishing was as we walked out to the parking beside the road, no trace for the existence of such a marvellous place was found.

We then headed towards Ullswater to witness our final spot Aira Force, another water fall. The road was very beautiful and very difficult to drive as well.

We were to stop at a place looking for direction helps. Accidently even that place happened to be as gracious as any other.

We finally reached Aira Force. We completed our Lunch there.

A tribute to the gorgeous girl who owned the shop :)

It was again a sweet long walk to the falls. Yet another walk through a scenic landscape.

It was engineered the very same way as The Ghyll Force water fall.

Finally we started driving back home. 320 Miles on the Satellite Navigator when we started was covered exactly in 4 hours. The top speed was 125 MPH [200 KMPH], over speeding at almost every road. But the joy didn’t last long as my friends after reaching home insisted in watching the movie “Sachien” ;-)

Thanks Monish. He was really a fantabulous driver.

Visit the full album @ Lake District Album