L2L Day 48 Bowness to Coniston - 10 miles

To resume my journey to Coniston, after breakfast I caught the 46 to Kendal bus station and then the 599 to Bowness Pier via Windermere. Kendal's a great place. At each stop, as new passengers joined the bus, they said good morning to all the other passengers. Lovely! Rather than hoisting Union Jacks perhaps that's what everybody should be doing??

It feels that Windermere has a bit more to say for itself than Bowness. It feels more like a ski resort  - perhaps Val d'Isere with shops and cafes.
Bowness feels more kiss-me-quick! 


On the chain ferry, I met Helen and Andrew from Warrington. 


They'd decided to enjoy the good weather and on the spur of the moment got in their camper and came walking in the Lakes for a few days.

We talked about how significant Lancashire had been in the civil war and how strategic Warrington remains - keeping Manchester and Liverpool apart!
They gave me some good walking suggestions


and pub recommendations before they set off for Castle Wray.


The lake and its backdrop is certainly 'Picturesque'


After enjoying 10 minutes of watching the boats, I set off up the steep hill to Near Sawrey.



I like this kind of gate lock - very clever and no pinched fingers!

I resisted the temptation to call in to any of the temptingly named pubs and carried on to Hawkshead passing all sorts of interesting things on the way ....

A Speckled Wood Butterfly


...a very shy Reed Bunting.


and the local Mother's Union meeting in full swing.


Hawkshead is very photographable.






and apart from being where Wordswoth attended Grammar school, it was also the home of Beatrix Potter.

The route out of Hawkshead rose steeply...





up to 'High Man' before I gradually dropped down through the forest ..






to Hollin Bank Farm where I met John.


I'd missed the directions to the path so had accidentally walked across his fields - trying not to disturb any of his 40 Herdwick / Swaledale sheep. We had a great talk. John told me that on top of having a full time job,  lambing is obviously a very busy time for him especially as this year his flock had three sets of triplets which is a bit of a record.

We talked about how Welsh Mountain sheep are becoming more popular in the area because of their hardiness before we moved on to our favourite subject - tractors. John the lucky man, has a collection of Fords and MFs (not all of which are starters he admitted) but the older ones still use the ingenious method of vapourising paraffin which give them that gorgeous smell!! You never know where conversations are going to go.


Coniston was definitely the place to be today (totally unplanned by me) because  Bluebird - the jet propelled boat was going to be appearing on the water for a water speed record attempt - the first time since Cambell's fatal crash iin 1967. I'd heard the roaring of an engine as I walked towards the lake.

Apparently, the weather wasn't right for a speed record attempt and though the jet engine was started up, the boat / plane was only taken out for a slow spin much to the disappointment of the more than 2000 spectators and gathered international camera crews.

The pub was filled with disappointed bald or balding blokes hoping to witness an historic moment over the next days. By the end of the evening their disappointments were suitably drowned!!

Zzzzzz! 

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