Rain, Rain Go Away...

Due to starting my new job a week later than originally planned, I've decided to come up to Bowness-on-Windermere for a few days

It's been raining, grey and grim at home - an ideal time perhaps for a quick getaway to southern Europe and some guaranteed sunshine... So being here in the Lake District - the wettest place in England - may not have been the brightest of ideas? Well, just staring out over the beautiful expanse of Lake Windermere on my arrival made the 5hr drive up the M1 & M6 worthwhile.

Yesterday, due to the rainclouds, any idea I might have had about doing some high level fell walking was soon washed away. However, I did manage to wander lonely as a (rain) cloud, taking a lovely 7 mile low walk around Borrowdale, just below Derwent Water.


In the afternoon, dried out, I drove to Honister Slate Mine and went underground on a very interesting guided tour, wearing a hard hat and head torch - not a trip for claustrophobes but fun for everyone else. After coming out of the mountain I was met with sunshine and a rainbow arcing across the far hills.


Invigorated, I jumped into my car and motored down the magnificent Honister Pass, surely one of the most stunning drives in the world, and then on to the gorgeous Buttermere and Crummock Water before heading back to my B&B in Bowness.


Today it has been really wet. A constant downpour. Keep your mouth closed or drown type weather. Undaunted, I went south to Ulverston, the birthplace of Stan Laurel, to visit the Laurel and Hardy Museum - a tiny but interesting little place.

It's an old building, just 3 small rooms covered in memorabilia and containing an even smaller little cinema playing a loop of classic L&H shorts. Well worth the trip. Apparently, the eccentric museum is going to be moving soon to a larger, newly built location. This may help attract more tourists and increase souvenir sales but I feel a lot of the existing charm may be lost.