FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: The Lakes District

Saturday 6 July 2019

The Lakes District

Today we drove from Liverpool to Glasgow through The Lakes District. It was a case of another day, another AONB - although this time a it was little more O than before. One day for the Lakes may have been a little bit nuts but it was that or none so we tried to get value for time. We drove straight through Windemere and arrived at Chester's on the River for our walk which would take us from a cafe to a pub and back again - an easy sell to the olds. The road to Elterwater follwed the river, was mostly level, shady and entirely pleasant. The meal at the Britannia Inn was fantastic! The ploughman's lunch was massive and all quality and the wild mushroom stogannoff also deserves a special mention. We had walked quickly on the way to ensure a table. On the return we took a much more leisurely stroll except Malcolm who sprinted the last half mile because the cider was challenging his bladder capacity.

We didn't have time to climb the "Lion and the Lamb" in Grasmere, but somehow found time to join the queue for the much hyped Sarah Nelson's Grasmere Gingerbread. The verdict.... believe the hype! This was the best gingerbread that we have ever had... so good that we have ordered more online.

We finally crossed into Scotland and arrived in Glasgow just in time for the canapes to be served in the execturive lounge at the Double Tree Hilton. The Hilton's in the UK have been very generous with their Honours offerings allowing all 7 of us to have breakfasts and lounge entry despite only having one gold and one diamond member in our party.

Our initial impressions of Glasgow was that it was not a particularly attractive city. We were too tired to take an evening stroll of the city - exploration would have to wait.