I always feel like the UK is suitable for retirement, because the pace of life in China is too fast, while the UK gives me a sense of slow pace. Also, from what I know, the UK is very gentlemanly. They would carry a walking stick, wear a top hat, and wear a neat suit.
【UK Weather-May】
Early and mid-May: Average temperature 12-16 degrees, cold in the morning and evening, it is recommended to wear a shirt plus a thick coat, rainy! Rainy! Rainy!
Late May: Average temperature 18-24 degrees, you can wear summer clothes, the temperature is unstable, you still need to bring a coat! Coat! Coat!
It rains in the UK all year round, and heavy rain is often accompanied by strong winds. You must bring a sturdy, windproof umbrella.
【Transportation】
Actually, I think this route is more suitable for self-driving, especially the Lake District part, but the trains in the UK are almost like buses, and they are very convenient too~
【Useful Apps】
Google Map – UK query walking route + bus route
Trainline – UK train time query + booking software
Uber overseas – Taxi
Snapseed – Photo editing software
Foodie – Food (filter) camera
Quik – Video editing and production
Lake District – The UK’s Back Garden
★✔ First, let’s talk about the Lake District. What is it?
The Lake District, Lake District, is located in Cumbria, northwest England. The Lake District National Park is one of the most popular rural holiday destinations in the UK, known for its mountains, hills, valleys, lakes and forests.
Looking at its geographical location, the prevailing westerly winds from the Atlantic bring abundant moisture, which is the reason for the frequent rainfall in the Lake District, so no matter what season you go to the Lake District, remember to bring an umbrella, and it’s a sturdy, windproof one.
This land, known for its lakes and forests, is the home of Peter Rabbit and where the Lake Poets William Wordsworth sought solace in nature. In 1951, most of this land was designated as the Lake District National Park, one of the 14 national parks in the UK, including England’s highest peak, Scafell Pike, and England’s largest natural lake, Lake Windermere.
★✔ How to get to the Lake District – Lake District railway line “The Lakes Line”
There is only one railway (and it’s one-way, meaning there’s only one track) that enters the Lake District, from Oxenholme to Windermere, with three stops in between, about 20 minutes one way. This means that if you miss one train, the next one will be at least 40 minutes later, so it’s a good idea to calculate the time in advance~
Route: Oxenholme ▷ Kendal ▷ Burneside ▷ Staveley ▷ Windermere
The second stop, Kendal, is a town in the southeastern part of Cumbria and the Lake District, known as the gateway to the Lake District.
Round trip fare £6-7.1
UK train tickets are divided into Off-peak-return (specified train) and Anytime return (any train), with different prices.
★✔ Things you need to know about UK trains
First of all, let’s talk about the Trainline booking software. Whether it’s booking tickets or checking train real-time information, this software is very convenient. You only need to bind a bank card~
Train tickets booked through Trainline can be picked up at any train station’s ticket vending machine with the payment bank card and booking code. Highlight “must pick up with the payment bank card”, it is recommended to book at least one hour in advance. However, not every UK train station has a ticket vending machine (most do), such as the rural small stations in the Lake District. Another way, Trainline’s electronic ticket “Mobile barcode in-app” is very convenient, as long as you have your phone with you, you have internet access, and you can book tickets anytime without having to reserve time to collect tickets.
Then let’s talk about the biggest bug in the UK booking system. For example, if you need to transfer from B to go from A to C, you often find that the price you search directly for A to C is much, much, much more expensive than A to B plus B to C. In this case, to save money, you need to know a few commonly used transfer cities around the Lake District:
Carlisle, Penrith, Lancaster, Preston, Manchester
Windermere + Bowness
★✔ Bowness-on-Windermere
Bowness is a small town around Lake Windermere that is relatively popular and frequented by Chinese people. It is 3.8 kilometers from Windermere train station, about 10 minutes by bus and 30 minutes on foot.
【Windermere Train Station ↔ Bowness Pier Bus Route】
* 555 Bus Rail Interchange (Stop1) ↔Ferry Pier/ Bowness Pire
* 559 Bus Rail Interchange (Stop1) ↔Ferry Pier/ Bowness Pire
Both routes have the same travel time and route
【Useful Map】
* Bowness Pier and Town Center Map: http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/171777/bowness_sep_06_.pdf
* Lake Windermere Map:
http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/visiting?a=348818
* Maps of other tourist towns in the Lake District:
http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/visiting/maps
It’s obvious that the train station is a place frequented by Chinese people~ There is a bus stop right outside the train station, and if you walk a little further, there is a luggage storage place.
If you have the energy and the weather is warm, it is recommended to walk, the name of the UK’s back garden is well-deserved, the whole town, the whole street is like a garden.
★✔ The Swans of Windermere
Who are the most willful and carefree eaters around Windermere Lake? It’s the swans, the swans, the swans!
To take a harmonious and beautiful photo, I suggest you bring along the small biscuits that the hotel and restaurant give you, or buy a bag of the cheapest bread in a nearby supermarket~ They don’t see you, they only see food, they can eat and they eat a lot.
Usually you can see five kinds of birds by the lake, the swans in the picture below, two kinds of ducks and pigeons seagulls. If you have something delicious, then the chances of you seeing swans and gray geese fighting are greatly increased (⊙o⊙)
It’s not just the swans of Windermere, you can say that all the swans in the UK are very willful. They rely on their biggest size and no bird can grab food from them. If a gray goose comes over and tries to grab food from them, they will bite the goose away without hesitation. Where I went to university before, locals would remind you to be careful of swans biting, so I’ve always had a shadow in my mind and dared not feed the swans up close. However, my mother belongs to the bold type, she directly put the bread in her palm and waited for the swan to come and eat.
Practical experience has proven that the swans of Windermere will not bite you. My mother said they don’t have teeth, they just have some small spines, at most, if they bite too much, they will rub against your hand. So, brave friends, feel free to try it out. The nearest supermarket, TESCO, is about 500 meters to the left of the lake, the cheapest toast bread is 60-75p a bag~
Bowness Pier + Lake District Cruise
★✔ Lake District (Windermere) Cruise Windermere Lake Cruises
Lake District Lake District~ Where is the best place to see the lake? Of course, it’s on the boat. Whether it’s a guided, direct cruise, or a small wooden boat that goes wherever you want.
The Lake District cruise has 14 routes and ways to choose from, here are the 3 most popular ones~
Cruise route map
※ Some things you need to know
1. Book online in advance for a 10% discount, the same-day boat can’t be booked online. Booking website: www.windermere-lakecruises.co.uk.
2. Some routes are available all year round, while some are summer specials.
3. Children under 5 years old are free, bikes on board £1, well-behaved dogs travel free (← official website says so)
4. All tickets booked online are round trip tickets, one-way tickets can be purchased at the pier ticket office.
5. Cruise types are divided into two, Launch and Steamers, the specific time and type of ship will be displayed on the website.
6. The interval between sailings varies from 20 minutes to one hour, the specific time is subject to the pier announcement!!!
7. The website also sells combined tickets for boat + bus and boat + local attractions.
Yellow Line Cruise
Bowness ↔ Lakeside
Takes about 90 minutes, no stops along the way.
Fare: Adults £11.3, Children 5-15 £6.8, Family including 2 adults + 3 children £32.5
Red Line Cruise
Bowness—Brockhole—Ambleside—Bowness
The boat from Bowness to Ambleside will stop at Brockhole, but there are no stops on the return trip, taking about 70 minutes.
Fare: Adults £10.8, Children 5-15 £6.5, Family including 2 adults + 3 children £31
Blue Line Cruise
Windermere Islands Loop
Fare: Adults £8.25, Children 5-15 £4.15, Family including 2 adults + 3 children £22
There is also a one-day pass that allows you to take all four routes (Red Cruise, Yellow Cruise, Islands (Blue) Cruise, Green Cruise) in one day. Adults £20, Children £10, Family £54.
Here is a map of the distribution of all piers in the Lake District
The ticket collection and purchase location is the three small houses by the lake in the picture above, the three small houses correspond to the three piers, and there is a small blackboard in front of each house that shows the next boat leaving from this pier, its destination and time.
★✔ Another way to cruise the lake is a more interesting one, self-driving yachts or rowing small boats, divided into four types.
+
The official website claims: No driving or rowing experience required, they will provide comprehensive safety instructions and guidance, sailing charts and life-saving equipment, as well as on-water safety rescue boats. No need to book, but you can book by phone, number: 015394 43360, booking time from 9am.
The most interesting one should be the last one, I feel. As soon as you arrive at Bowness Lake, you can see a row of small wooden boats parked on the shore, people are constantly getting on and off the boat. If you choose this self-rowing small wooden boat, it’s still a good idea to learn about this beforehand, because I can always see people on the shore rocking their oars and spinning in place 233
If you don’t row, you can also sit in the boat and hide from a swan and take a photo or something~
What else to see in the Lake District
William Wordsworth’s Home + Museum Dove Cottage
Dove Cottage, located in the town of Grasmere, is the former home of William Wordsworth, the Lake Poet. It is also where he wrote “Daffodils”, and you can now see his personal belongings and manuscripts.
Ticket price: £8.65 for adults
Booking website: https://wordsworth.org.uk/visit/book-your-tickets.html
Address: Dove Cottage, Grasmere, Cumbria LA22 9SH
World of Beatrix Potter
It’s said to be a collection of recreated animation scenes, perfect for kids to see, adults might find it boring. The shop is free to enter, you can buy souvenirs, but the price is not worth the money.
Ticket price: Children £3.95 / Adults £7.5 / Family £21
Address: Crag Brow, Bowness-on-Windermere，LA23 3BX
Hill Top
The farm where Beatrix Potter, the author of Peter Rabbit, lived~
Ticket price: Children £5.2 / Adults £10.4 / Family £26 (cannot book in advance)
Address: Near Sawrey, Hawkshead, Ambleside, Cumbria, LA22 0LF
Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway
Steam train that runs between Lakeside Pier and Haverthwaite Station. Haverthwaite Station
Ticket price: Children under 5 years old are free~
Children under 15: Single £2.7 Return £3.4 / Adults: Single £4.2 Return £6.8 / Family ticket: £19.5
Day ticket (unlimited rides within one day) Children £5 / Adults £10
Combined ticket from Bowness Children under 15: Return £9.5 / Adults: Return £16.2 / Family ticket: £46
Booking website: http://www.lakesiderailway.co.uk/standard-tickets/
Ticket collection location: Haverthwaite Station
Address: Haverthwaite Station, Nr Ulverston,Cumbria, LA12 8AL
Stott Park Bobbin Mill
This was once an important production line in Lancashire’s textile industry and is now the only workshop of its kind in the Lake District. It now displays the working process of the time, and is one of Britain’s cultural heritage.
Ticket price: Children £4.6 / Adults £7.6 / Family £19.8 / Students £6.8
Address: Finsthwaite, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 8AX
Graythwaite Hall Gardens
The garden was built in 1896 and was a favorite haunt of William Wordsworth when he was young. It is located west of Windermere and covers 12 acres. All the springs of the Lake District can be seen in this garden, open to the public from April to August each year.
Address: Newby Bridge, LA12 8BA
Stealing Half a Day of Leisure-Staveley *If you only need to see the Windermere guide, you can skip this section~*
I mentioned above that this itinerary starts from Edinburgh. Because of the terrain of Edinburgh, going up and down is too energy-consuming, and the Lake District is known as a holiday destination, so if you are not in a hurry, you can choose to stay in a small town between Kendal and Windermere, using the town as a stopover and resting place for the journey.
This time we stayed at The Eagle + Child Inn, a pub inn not far from the train station in Staveley (don’t complain about the Chinese name… I didn’t translate it…).
The village is small, only one stop away from Windermere, 6 minutes by train and 15 minutes by bus. Because it is not famous and has not been overdeveloped, there are no Chinese people at all, there are small bridges and flowing water, people like the countryside, it’s like a paradise, you can spend a whole day just walking around the town and resting.
We also stumbled upon this place by accident. This inn was booked by a friend, to be honest, when I saw that it was a pub inn, I was a little desperate. It seems that this kind of pub inn in the UK is not only bad environment but also not very safe. However, after checking in, I was completely surprised, maybe because of the simplicity of the countryside people, the waiters are very kind and enthusiastic, the room faces the lawn and the river, clean and comfortable, with complete facilities, there is a restaurant and a bar, five stars sincere recommendation.
The Eagle + Child Inn
Address: Kendal Road, STAVELEY, Kendal Cumbria LA8 9LP
It is a two-minute walk from Staveley train station~
Because it was cloudy and rainy that day, I apologize that the photos are not very good looking….
The air in the town is particularly fresh in the morning, there are several tents on the lawn opposite the hotel, people are camping~ These silly sheep are like they have never seen foreigners before 233
Those who like rural pastoral scenery should not miss this.
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