More Holiday

We had intended to do some walks but it was so wet that idea got shelved, instead we went to the Pencil Museum in Keswick we found out how they get the lead into a pencil and I bought some drawing pencils including some metallic ones.



The local buses have what must be some of the most scenic routes in England so we took advantage we went on a round trip over Honister Pass.




The weather was not good, sometimes the sun did shine but most of the time it was either threatening to rain or raining. This was on the way to Buttermere





Unfortunately buses are not the best for taking photos don't get the best views



Most of the journey was done on roads that were only just wide enough not to be considered single track, we frequently stopped and waited for land rover drivers to realise that though they are big the bus was bigger and it was easier for the smaller vehicle to get out of the way.

On Thursday we went to Dove Cottage near Grasmere.



It was interesting such a small building practically three rooms on the ground floor and 3 on the first floor and as the Wordsworths were always having visitors must have been a very cramped house too. I also visited the Wordsworth Museum but I found that less of a draw, the paintings were not brilliant and because I'm not very into poetry, although I had heard of most of the people mentioned I haven't read any of their work. Apart from that is Thomas De Quincey; I started to read his "Confessions of an English Opium Eater" but couldn't get on with it. (Before everyone starts calling me a philistine, I prefer prose to poetry and I did 20th century poets for my English Literature 'O' Level and I got a B!)

We didn't go into Grasmere village which though very pretty was chocka with damp tourists and kitschy tourist shops



On the final day the weather finally improved and we went for a trip on the launch that sails on Derwentwater.






Saw this boat hidden in the rushes at the Lodore staging point.