Trip to Lake District

I was in Lake District during the bank holiday. There were five of us.

A spectacular view of Lake District

We left London on the Friday evening. The journey took us 7 hours to reach Hawkshead, which was the first stop in our trip. Hawkshead is one of the villages in Lake D.

Hawkshead

I was the only one with a UK driving license, so I had to drive all the way there. I was knackered by the time I arrived into Lake D.

But I was lucky to have four very creative passengers who kept me awake throughout the 480km drive.

At one occasion, a car swerved to our direction. I was really lucky to be wide awake at the time and managed to react quickly. The crazy car skidded and spun 360 degrees and fell behind us. We escaped unscathed. I looked at the rear mirror and saw the traffic behind us was brought to a standstill. I believe the driver cheated death since there was no news of an accident on the motorway that we traveled on, the next day when I read the papers.

I knew something far worse could have happened. I kept praying after that thanking God for our lives!

I was so wide awake after that but you wouldn't believe it that all of us played word games until we reached our destination!

We could immediately feel the difference in air quality when we stepped out of the car. The air was so much fresher and lighter.

There are many villages in Lake D just like how Cameron Highlands would have Ringlet, Tanah Rata and Brinchang. The big names in Lake District are like Windermere, Coniston, Ullswater and Derwent Water. These are names of the lakes in Lake D.

Black slug on the walking trail

We did plenty of walking thanks to good weather in the days we were there. The walking routes were not far but took us hours to reach. A typical 2-mile route took us nearly 2 hours to reach because of the difficult terrain.

Wet and muddy trail

Grizedale Forest

We drove to our destinations in most parts of our trip. We covered and saw more places, like Windermere, Derwent Water and Coniston by doing that as compared to cycling, which was recommended to us earlier.

And talking about cycling, it was such a coincidence we bumped into a group of Malaysians while returning from our walking route. One of them was my Samad-Subang acquaintance! How likely was that? And they were cycling in Lake D! This is either a small world or there are just too many Malaysians in the UK!

Eddie was cycling with another group of Malaysians when we bumped into him

The vast expanse of grassland dotted by sheeps, lambs and cattles reminded me of the suburbs in Australia. I had a mental snapshot of the the calm and serenity of the place. This is probably what I'll fall back on when I'm down and sad.

There were plenty to offer in Lake D. One of the major attractions was the world of Beatrix Potter, author of children stories like Peter Rabbit.

Beatrix Potter

Then there's Coniston Water famous for Donald Campbell's attempt to break the speedboat world record that ended tragically.

Coniston

We moved on to Keswick on the second part of our trip. Keswick is located some 32km northwest of Hawkshead. We based ourselves in Keswick to do the more challenging walking routes and simply to explore other parts of Lake D.

Keswick

We did the walking route in Derwent Water which was just a short drive from Keswick. The walk required us to ascend a part of the hill nearby called the Cat Bell. The steep ascend has proven too much for two in the group. We later aborted our plan for Cat Bell and spent more time at the lake instead.

Three-quarter up Cat Bell overlooking Derwent Water

Pencils came from here

Four days in Lake D was just about right to explore the place even though more days would have been better. I'm glad we left on the fourth day because it started pouring when we left. It was another 7 hours drive back to London.

It was a relief to arrive into London safely after such a long drive. No sleepy drivers swerving into our lane this time. Ever since arriving back into London, I have been sneezing and having running nose non-stop. The body must have been trying to re-adapt to the nasty air in this city!