{"id":4375,"date":"2023-09-16T20:37:32","date_gmt":"2023-09-16T20:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=4375"},"modified":"2025-12-24T22:28:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T22:28:02","slug":"2-penrith-and-the-northern-lakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=4375","title":{"rendered":"2. PENRITH AND THE NORTHERN LAKES."},"content":{"rendered":"

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Having set off on what may well become a seven week tour of the UK, without a single booking was a little daunting!\u00a0 So while driving up the motorway,\u00a0 we called one of our favourite sites near Penrith.\u00a0 They had one space.\u00a0 We booked it on the spot.\u00a0 Then rang Northumberland to be told they had “limited availability”.\u00a0 We booked two weeks of that too.\u00a0 Sorted.\u00a0 Well, for a couple of weeks, anyway!<\/p>\n

We spent 320 miles and nine hours battling HGVs on the motorways.\u00a0 What are they all carrying – and to where are they taking it all?\u00a0 And, possibly more importantly, how are they going to manage without diesel in the future?\u00a0 Finally, just 18 miles short of target, we stopped for supper at Tebay.\u00a0 One of the only two motorway service stations in the country that sell real food.\u00a0 (The other being Gloucester services.)\u00a0 (And for the record, as of last week, there are 105 motorway service stations in the UK!)\u00a0 Home made cottage pie and cabbage, followed by sticky toffee pudding, caramel sauce and cream.\u00a0 Excellent!<\/p>\n

Friday dawned beautifully.<\/p>\n

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We decided to head for Loweswater in the NW corner of the Lake District.\u00a0 \u00a0After Keswick, the roads degenerated into narrow winding lanes.\u00a0 Luckily, not too much traffic, but extraordinarily few places to park.\u00a0 Eventually, we found the National Trust carpark we were looking for.\u00a0 But not before bribing a local inn to allow us to use their parking area with a promise of a drink on our return.\u00a0 After walking half a mile northwards\u00a0 we found the National Trust carpark neatly tucked away in a clump of trees.\u00a0 There was a lovely bridleway running from this well hidden park along the west shore of the lake.<\/p>\n

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Half way up the lake, at Holme Wood Bothy, we met Sebastian.\u00a0 He’s having a bit of a gender crisis.\u00a0 We were first introduced to him as a her.\u00a0 This was by a bunch of lads on a boys’ weekend away.\u00a0 Apparently he\/she is on her third annual party in the woods with the boys.\u00a0 But he’s not very talkative, so we are not sure why he’s transitioning!\u00a0 On the way past she was sitting in a camp chair, but on the way back he was just hanging about in the doorway!<\/p>\n

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Not eating enough breakfast, I’d say!<\/p>\n

Also in the wood, we came across a wishing tree.\u00a0 Just pick a crayon and add your wish to the tree.\u00a0 We are wishing that tourists and residents on Skiathos are OK and gradually getting back to normal.<\/p>\n

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Leaving the lake, we had the promised drink at the Kirkstile Inn.\u00a0 Then, rather foolishly, decided to drive down the side of Crummock Water to Buttermere.\u00a0 Far too much traffic coming north on a narrow road with passing places.\u00a0 Then.we found Buttermere to be heaving – so we bailed out and drove over the Fells via Newlands Pass, back to Keswick and on home.\u00a0 We forget just how long driving in the Lakes can take to get anywhere!<\/p>\n

Back at base later for a well deserved cup of tea just as the sun sets…<\/p>\n

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And now it is time to move onwards and upwards.\u00a0 Northumberland, here we come!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[pmb_print_buttons] Having set off on what may well become a seven week tour of the UK, without a single booking was a little daunting!\u00a0 So while driving up the motorway,\u00a0 we called one of our favourite sites near Penrith.\u00a0 They… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uk-tour-not-greece"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4375"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4610,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4375\/revisions\/4610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}