Where's Wooley 2 - Camping!

Yeah, as previously suggested, we went camping! The great outdoors - fresh air, beautiful scenery... RAIN!

OK, so it didn't rain all the time, in fact, more often than not it was warm and even sunny but that first morning, lying in the tent, listening to the rain was a real bummer! It just got on my nerves that when we have the least facilities to hand, the weather can be so cruel...

But as I say, it didn't last and rather than dwell on the few moments of dampness, I'd rather tell ya about the good times! :-)



Staying by Lake Windermere at a reasonable National Trust campsite (Low Wray), we were ideally located for Ambleside, Bowden on Windermere and not far from Kendal.



We managed to pitch on the most uneven surface, meaning we spent most of the week living out of the one corner of the tent that everything slid to but hey, we had great views and were a stones throw from the largest lake in the country!



(Actually, two lakes make up Windermere... There was a ranger giving a talk on the ferry crossing we made - interesting stuff! Like there're two sub species of the same fish living one in each half of the lake that never meet because the water in the middle is too warm for them to cross... Over the years the same fish has changed so they're now separate types... Anyhoo...)

The other campers were a happy bunch, friendly and courteous and not a damn caravan in site - yay! Low Wray castle was a ten minute walk up the road but is kinda new and 'mock gothic'. It wasn't as nice as the grounds and the walk to the lake there gave a great view again and was peaceful and tranquil.

Ambleside had a reasonable coffee house and a great restaurant which was also a Jazz venue and a Cinema! We just ate... I'd have gone again if we had more time but we had to also fit in home cooked food back at camp:

(yeah - beans!)

...and fish & chips... Oh, and plenty of wine too! All this and we were only there for three nights!

Bowden on Windermere was a bustling town full of lakeside tourists whereas Kendal felt a little too commercialised and invaded by the big chains - McDonalds, Boots, Costa and all the big names lay side by side as in any town... Kinda took away the olde worlde feel that i thought it had when I was there as a kid? Maybe it was always this way but it felt a bit of a let-down... Took ages to find somewhere selling Mint Cake too (finally got some from a market stall!)

The best thing about the Mon-Thurs stay would have to have been the views - The Lake District is truly stunning and you only need to take a few steps out of any town or village to find some marvellous mountain, stream or waterfall... Despite the damp, I'd definitely go again!

In Where's Wooley 2.1, I'll add a load more random images from the holiday... Enjoy! Jxx