And back again

Having had more than our fair share of alcohol in good old Edinburgh, we decided to leave what was left to the Scots, and headed for the Lake District. Getting out of Edinburgh was a lot easier than getting in, Tara was navigating this time, so maybe that was it.

Tara was happy to let me decide where in The Lakes we would spend that night and I immediately said Lake Buttermere. I had spent a night there many years ago and remember it being the quintessential Lake District lake. We found the guesthouse I had previously camped in front of and booked a room there, at £30 per person per night - not bad for that area. We unloaded our gear and then headed to Buttermere town for some food...

and beer.

An early night for us, and me finally starting Harry Potter, had me up at 6am to take a walk around Lake Buttermere, it is about 5 miles all the way around and took me 1.5 hours. It was as beautiful as I remembered it.

The Lake district is, so far, my favourite place in the whole world, scenery wise. It literally take my breath away every time, and I have been there about 5 times now. I don't think any trip to England will be complete for me without a visit to The Lakes.

After breakfast we went to Lake Windermere, booked into a guest house there - at £26 per person - and then went exploring. We ate at a restaurant called Sutherlands, because it would be rude not to.

We took the ferry boat to Riverside to go to the fresh water Aquarium. This is the only good photo I have from the boat, perhaps Tara could post one with some scenery in it.

Once we got back to Windermere it was beer and food,

before buying some refreshments to drink while we watched TV,

and after a few drinks... PARTY IN ROOM FOUR!!!

The next day, our mission was to get as close to London as possible, via Wales. It was a long drive, about 8 hours, and we felt as if we just dipped into Wales for lunch, even though we were driving through it for about 4 hours.

Our final destination was decided as Oxford, and we got there at about 7pm. We unloaded, freshened up a bit and then went to find a quiet supper somewhere.

We ended up in a latin american restaurant called Las Iguanas. We did eat, but we also had a bit to drink.

A pitcher of beerand 3 pitchers of cocktails.

Luckily neither one of us suffered a hangover this morning and our drive back to London was quick and rather uneventful. We said goodbye to Bob, more about him later, and made our way back to Acton. The UK leg of the trip is pretty much over now, just a few more catchups with friends here in London and then we're off the the US.