Land o' Lakes

Ryan and I had a little getaway to the Lake District recently. The Lake District is about 3.5 hours northwest of London by train. It's known for it's gorgeous scenery, walking trails, and lousy weather. None of those 3 let us down!

All British trips should start with a jaunt to the pub, so Ryan and I headed to Hole in t'Wall, a cute little place just across the street from our B&B. It had recently celebrated it's 400th anniversary! This pub is older than our country....think about that for a little while. And then drink beer.

Notice the bit of blue sky. I had to document the partly sunny day,
lest no one back in London believed us.

Turns out my small head would have really come in handy had I been put in
 the stocks. I could easily make my way out of them without lifting the top bar!

Parks and trees are something else I love about England. The Brits really value the outdoors, and their parks and walking trails are well-maintained, mapped out (almost always...we'll get to that later), and enjoyed by many. We visited a park that had an Olympic theme, and we got to live out our fantasy of being Olympic athletes.

All that discus practice has made his right arm
much stronger than his left!

Anyone who's seen Ryan's mock ribbon dance routine
can appreciate this photo.

I got this!

We went on 3 different walks whilst in the Land o' Lakes. On all three we breathed in the clean air, got some exercise, and bonded with sheep.

These mint cakes are proper British hiking grub. The ingredients are:
sugar, cocoa, glucose syrup, and mint oil. 

Ryan adds his two cents  pence to the tree.

On two of them we saw the homes of famous people - Beatrix Potter & Wordsworth.

Beatrix Potter's house.

On one we got lost, extending our sojourn by at least 2 hours.

It all started out innocently enough.

This is the way we were supposed to go.

This is the way we went.

We knew something was amiss when the "beautiful nature trail"
took us through a logging area.

Pretty much sums it up.

Stay on the path! Noted.

Other highlights from our trip include: a sunset lake cruise, playing Spades with Mario and Abby, helping Mario pick out some new hiking duds, and finding sticky toffee chocolates (aka sticky toffee pudding...to go!)

Enjoying the lake cruise.

God Bless America. 

Mario contemplates the landscape. Check out his new shoes,
pants trousers, backpack, and socks!

I love you, sticky toffee, in any form you take.