Lake District Holiday - Day 6

4 July 2009 Thursday

Another cloudy, cool day, perfect for walking.
We decided to do a walk by a lake, and we chose the Windermere Ferry walk – 6 miles.
We started the walk from the car park, and walked along the road to the ferry, where Dave looked over a wall and saw a swan and her signets on the grass. Great spot Dave!

The walk entered the National Trust Park and went along a wide path that ran next to lake Windermere.

After a couple of miles of gentle flat walking we headed up the hill, into the forest. The path was laid with stones from over 100 years ago. It was so peaceful and quiet.

The path wound along through the forest (flatter now we had reached the level they wanted to) , and we loved every minute of it. It was everything a forest walk should be! I had found a write-up about the walk, and it told us there was a little path off to the left (that most people miss), that leads out onto some rocks, and stunning views over Windermere.
We found the path (after a few other paths that weren’t right LOL), and were rewarded with a breathtaking view for our lunch.

After lunch we went back into the forest, and started a long descent. At the bottom we walked along an old moss covered dry stone wall. Then we left the forest, which was not expected. We walked beside the wall, which enclosed fields of sheep. Out in the sun it soon warmed up. This was rolling hills rather than steep walking and quite pleasant. The sheep all had lambs which are always fun to watch.
As we rounded a corner of the wall we could see a magnificent tree that had fallen over, perhaps in strong wind? It was a sad sight.

The path headed back into the forest, and preceded to go up and down (with more down than up), until a final steep decent brought us to the folly above the car park.
Finally we went down the Victorian stairs to our car.

We caught the small car ferry across the lake (sadly it sounded more exciting than the journey actually was), and headed back up to Ambleside. Once there we headed up a narrow, steep road to see where it went (as you do, if you are Dave). It wound up the fell to an Inn above. We parked and looked around, but the wind had picked up, and the temperature had dropped, so it was not pleasant up there. We headed back home to pack, as the next day we drove home.

It was such a wonderful holiday we plan to go back later in the year! Now that we know my knee can handle the fell walking, and the distances we will try some more ambitious walks.