Blast this wretched rain!

If you were me right now, you'd be saying, "Don't say 'blast' and 'wretch'" (quote from Little Women). :)

So this weekend (Friday and Saturday) was supposed to be our trip to the Lake District and the plan was to stay in a hostel in Ambleside (on the north side of Windermere Lake). But, just our luck, we had the worst weather we've had since we've been here! It was a downpour of rain ALL DAY; the sun didn't peep out even once; and almost everything to do outside (kayaks, bikes, canoes, etc.) was closed because of the horrible weather. I would have loved to hike, but it was so foggy you wouldn't be able to see the views anyhow, and going up higher would have been even colder. We had lunch and took a bus up to Grasmere - which the famous poet, William Wordsworth, said was "the fairest place on earth" - and walked around a bit. We went to Wordsworth's Dove Cottage where he wrote many of his famous poems, and to his grave at a church nearby.
William Wordsworth lived his life in various places throughout the Lake District (of which, I am quite jealous) and wrote most of his poems about what he saw there. One of his most famous poems is called I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud.

Heidi and I trying to make the best of this rainy day

A few of the girls went up to a town called Keswick to go to a Motor Museum that had a lot of famous cars, including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the Batmobile, the car from Harry Potter, a James Bond car, The Delorean (from Back to The Future), Herbie, Mr. Bean's mini, the A-Team van, the Munsters Koach, and several others.Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

It was turning out to be a pretty rainy and cold day, and the weather forecast was the same for the next day, so we decided to cancel our hostel reservation and head back to Huddersfield that night. But...before that...we wanted to make the most of what time we did have there! A few of us walked down along the lake, and then we found a "public footpath" (what they call any trail here) that went up the hill away from the lake. We decided to explore. It was like walking up a stream! We finally came out into a field, and there were sheep everywhere! They were so cute! My favorites were the little ones with white bodies and black faces. We kept going a little more up the hill but had to turn around to get back to catch our bus in time. The view from there to the lake was beautiful!

Views of the Lake District and the sheep!

Just playing around

Even the trip home was an adventure. Some people had left earlier, but Michelle, Candice, and I wanted to stay a little longer, so we took the 8pm train from Windermere (with about 4 changes to get to Huddersfield) and got into the train station in ole Hud at 11:15. We still had to walk across town to the bust stop (for Storthes Hall) and the last bus of the night leaves at 11:20. We were booking it across town...good thing there were no people out; they were all in the pubs. :) We were running down the stairs, almost to the bus stop, as we watched the last bus of the night drive away.... baaaahhhh! We didn't quite know what to do.... Then out of nowhere a taxi pulled up to drop someone off! We jumped in - so lucky! I bet the taxi driver was surprised by our soberness...I don't think anyone gets a taxi home from town that late on a weekend night who isn't drunk out of their minds. We were just glad to have a lovely ride home!

Oh, and if you're sick of seeing me in pictures with my rain jacket on, then tell it to stop raining here! I'd be much obliged :)