Driving up to Caton near Lancaster, we stayed at a friend's house over night and had a couple of pints and a decent meal in the village pub. Early on Friday morning, we then set off towards our destination: The Lake District! I normally live in the only city in Cumbria (Carlisle), which is just north of the Lakes. Since I'd never been to the South Lakes before (Keswick and the North Lakes are just easier to reach from Carlisle), we decided to camp on the shore of Lake Windermere, taking the car ferry across to Hawkshead. The campsite we wanted to pitch our tent at was in Low Wray, just across the lake from Ambleside, and owned by the National Trust. We got there just before 10am and all we wanted was to put up the tent and then go and explore a little. Except we couldn't. "We can't book you in right now. Come back at 12." Erm... helloho?! We're here, and all we want is a bit of grass to put a tent over. It's not like you have to clean the room, put new sheets on the bed and refill the mini-bar! After all, it's just a FIELD you're offering!!


Anyway, we went for breakfast in Coniston and enjoyed views of a cloud-covered Old Man of Coniston (a fell - or hill, for all non-Cumbrians) just outside town. When we wanted to make our way back to the campsite (trying to get there early to get a good spot), we took the Mini back up the hilly, curvy, bumpy road. Or at least halfway up. All of a sudden, in the middle of the Lake District, we hit traffic. Turns out, the local bus service got stuck in a bend, because a holiday coach driver had taken his coach down the narrow road. Since each of them had a line of cars behind them, they couldn't reverse. The police had to be called and everyone had to turn around. That road is barely wide enough to let two Minis through tête-à-tête, let alone a bus and a coach. I think coaches should be banned from these country lanes. Park them in a village and take the local transport. Or hire a car and drive yourself instead of taking the coach....

Needless to say we got to the campsite an hour late.

Back at the camp, the good pitches were already taken. They offered us a pitch by the lake, in a forest, where it would be a bit more sheltered. However, taking the Mini over all the potholes on the not-so-well-maintained road (come on, National Trust can at least dish out some money for some gravel!) wasn't good for the car, and the suggested campsite was a swamp. The mud was inches deep and all the pitches either too close to other tents or on gradients... So we decided to ask them for a new pitch on "Vic's Meadow", because we just couldn't take the car up and down that road too often. We were told, there were two pitches left near the top of a hill. There were plenty of spaces left (as I said before: it's a FIELD!!!), but we weren't allowed to pitch on the flat bit. Instead, we finally pitched on muddy grass on a slope. Luckily, we had a ground sheet that was large enough to cover the entire tent, as it was raining yet again.

We spent the rest of the day in Bowness, sitting at the lake, eating ice cream and trying the local Bitter, before heading towards Ambleside to get some chips and sausages to take away. Sitting next to our tent on camping chairs we bought for the trip, most of our neighbouring campers were quite jealous of the fact that we'd drven 15 minutes and got ourselves hot meals. Later, we sat at the shore of the river, feeding a duck and watching Ambleside in the distance.

The night however, was not so great.

I have been camping before, in fact, I spent two months out of my gap year camping, but that was easily the worst night I spent in a tent so far. Because we were on a slope, I kept sliding down to the bottom of the tent and then had to crawl back up to my pillow - and this happened every five minutes. Furthermore, we were in the middle of a downpour, the walls of the tent got damp and then soaking wet, even though we had the ground sheet and the wind was flapping the sheet up and down. It wasn't as cold as I'd expected it to be, though. I can usually sleep through the noises. My real problem was the hard ground. I've got a bad back, and I usually remember to bring an air matress along, but I didn't this time. By the time I stopped tossing and turning to find a comfy position to sleep in, it was light outside again.

By that point, both my boyfriend and I had pretty much enough of the Cumbrian weather, and decided to head back home a day early. The plan was to stay another night, pack up in the morning at leave, but we decided we might as well just carry on home. After an eventful morning (more in a later post), we made our way to Haverthwaite at the bottom of Lake Windermere, to take the Steam Railway to Lakeside. From there, we went on a cruise, all the way to Ambleside. Half the people on the boat were part of a scout group and the North Fylde Rotary Club - once again coach tours that block the country roads. Stopping in Bowness, we finally managed to find nice seats indoors. On our way across the lake, we passed a few swimmers, who took part in a Windermere swimming race, swimming 15 miles from the bottom to the top in 14°C....

After a lovely meal in Ambleside, and a pint we both desperatly needed, we got back on the boat to continue our romantic cruise. Except that there were no dry seats anywhere, and we ended up standing on deck for 30 minutes. In Bowness, we once again found seats, when the scouts boarded again. One of the group's leaders came up to us, asking whether we'd mind having scouts sitting next to us. Replying that yes, we would mind, he left. 10 minutes later, he was back, commenting that the seats next to us were still free and whether he could put two scouts there. Once again, we said no. 10 minutes after that, he and another leader came back and just sat down. Maybe, instead of teaching boys how to pitch tents, they should teach their group leaders some manners! We told them we didn't want them to sit there, and after telling them no twice, they really should have gotten the message. One of the guys then suggested by making it better and wanted to bribe us with tea. My boyfriend turned around and told them that they could have the seats and we'd rather not sit with them since they are rude...I wouldn't have been that friendly! I hate it, when people don't respect the wishes of others!!! There were plenty of seats available, both inside and outside and there was no need to harass us and ruin a romantic day out! The two of us ended up sitting back out in the cold for another 30 minutes, while two old and ill-mannered scout leaders got to sit in a nice, dry and warm place. Which I don't think is fair. Especially, since we were the only ones they asked for seats... there were plenty of couples occupying tables... and they would have been closer to their age as well!

I loved the idea of going on a romantic camping trip in the Lake District with my boyfriend! He really made an effort, just to have it ruined by Cumbrian drivers, Cumbrian weather, and - judging from their behaviour - Cumbrian scout leaders!!!