9/7/26 Ullswater Lake Cruise to Glenridding

 

    Next day we headed to Pooley Bridge on the bus - the depot was only 100m away from our apartment , which made life easier . The bus even dropped us off at the pier where the cruise departs from . Weather was perfect , so we made the most of it . The Ullswater Lake was looking a treat with still conditions making the reflections as good as you would want . Mountains in the distance framed the lake beautifully .

There are many houses large and small dotted alongside the lake , small villages appear after you see all the sail boats & cruisers moored close by .

Stone wall fences divide up the fields , mountains behind make for postcard scenery .

   

Howtown is the only stop between Pooley Bridge and Glenridding , and is just out of picture to the left .

 Further down the lake toward Glenridding .

 We come to some large establishments right beside the lake , they are both large hotels with plenty of accomodation . All this area is very popular with trampers / hikers , with trails going all directions each side of the lake , around it and up to the tops of all the mountains around it . And as expected it's super popular .

 Some info for the speed buffs out there , this is where Donald Campbell set the Water Speed Record of 202.32 mph back in 23 July 1955 !

Running down through the village is Ulls Water - this stream flows down into Ullswater Lake and has stone walls to keep it under control of sorts . There's a picnic area beside it and has cafes & ice cream shops nearby , which are getting well used .

   We headed back to the pier to get the ferry back to Pooley Bridge , finding there were crowds of people there already lined up . Finally we got to board , and the staff mentioned that there was another boat in an hour if we wanted to wait for it , as this one was already pretty full . We didn't fancy waiting another hour , so boarded this one and stood up for the hour trip back up the lake . After about 40 mins , one lady decided to offer Lyn her seat , but we stayed where we were - there was a nice breeze coming in the doorway beside us , helping to keep us cool - it was 32 degrees ! We made it back and wandered slowly back to the bus stop at Pooley Bridge and waited for our bus to arrive . Here's map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1kAnM0REb905gjcdOjrj5n63CfJdJ5fI&usp=sharing

7&8/7/26 Penrith

 

    Today we head north by train to Penrith , up to the lakes area , after 4 train changes ( 2 of those were in the Tube ) ,and about 6 hours we arrived in the quaint town of Penrith . It sits on the east side of the lakes district . After some shopping for food and finally getting a taxi at 7pm , we arrived at our residence for the next 5 days - this is the view out the bedroom window at about 9:30pm .

    Next day we wandered around town , or hobbled more so , as I tore something in my right calf , getting down from the train to the platform at Waterloo station - not sure if it's tendon or muscle yet . Anyway , enough of that , here's one of the houses nicely decorated with flower baskets & window boxes .

Into the town centre we came to the Clock Square , cobblestone streets & old shop fronts make great scenery for us to take in .

    Another attraction we found our way to was Penrith Castle - the remains of it anyway ! A lot of foundations still survive today , not so much the walls etc .

    It's certainly entertaining for us to have a look around and wonder what would have been going on way back when .

     Heading back from  the castle , this is looking down toward some of the main parts of town - council chambers , visitor info , museum etc .

A lot of the streets are narrow cobblestone one way lanes , with houses & shops crowding in on the traffic not to mention the pedestrians .

 

Narrow laneways abound & are a treat to explore , just when you think you've reached a deadend , there's a smaller alley that brings you back to the main road .

This is the George Hotel , probably the biggest in town - there's more to it than this photo shows .

Another alleyway , another view , old mate having a spell on the bench seat outside the Robin Hood .

This is St Andrews Church , pretty much in the centre of town , and has some rather old gravestones around it .

    The inside was good for a look as well , different from what we expected .

This gravestone was re-erected on a new base , you can see some of the old carvings on it . It was also used to tie the bad guys to and give them a flogging apparently !!

   And with that it wa time to head back and put some ice on my leg for a while , what fun Hmm .

Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1jVfjKFbC3P0OJ_rmSpBXU9R0FikVGJE&usp=sharing

6/7/27 Around Woking

 

      Time has been spent around Woking , we arrived back for Justin's birthday and stayed for a week & a half . One Sunday we went out to a bookstore to get a book Isla wanted - she loves books & bookstores , finding a spot to browse books - this was on the floor .

   One of our walks around the canal showed some interesting creatures - this one a white spider , who was obviously hungry as it grabbed a bee - obviously nobody had told it about how wonderful bee's are .

Many flowers are out in bloom at the moment , so it's a great time to be here .

                                                         There's some stunning roses 

And some lady beetles as well

During one of our walks near Goldsworthy Lake we found a rather obvious problem taken care of by the city council - fairly obvious to most , but you have to cater to everyone now .

                                                    Some shots of the Basingstoke Canal

        And just for reference , the fuel price over here is 1.52.9 for unleaded and 1.67.9 for diesel - that's in pounds , so double it and that's it in Aus $ .

Nearly time to head off again , stay tuned .

26/6/26 Eiffel Tower , Grand Palais , Louvre

 

   Today we headed back into the city for a look at the Eiffel Tower - you can't go to Paris and not see it can you ?? It was back on the Metro again , back to the Arc and then onto a bus into the city . We got the bus , but got the one on the wrong side of the road - we realised quickly and got off one stop down the road , crossed the street and waited for the appropriate one . While we waited I snapped this chef having a break in between jobs .

We arrived near the Trocadero , and got the bus one more stop near the River Seine . There's a beautiful park with a section of pools and fountains in the middle . We sat on the recently watered grass and enjoyed the coolness , as well as the view .

Just across the river is the Eiffel Tower , and we had a better view from further away . As with most things here , the size of the attractions is on another level completely !!

Yes , we made it .

Biting the bullet , we made our way across the bridge over the River Seinne . There were cruise boats tied up everywhere , running tours up & down the river .

 This is looking back at the fountains and park from the other side of the river .

We found ourselves a patch of grass under a tree to sit and have our lunch beside the tower . It was approaching 40 degrees , so movement was limited , and a decision was made not to queue for 2 hours to get a ticket to go up to the first & second levels of the tower . We looked at it from about 100m away . This is the elevator that takes you up & down - unless you feel like climbing the stairs that lead you upwards !!

 This is the first level you can get to , the stairs are in the right hand legs of the tower .

This is Level 2 - you can make out some people looking over the railings .

And the peak of the tower of course - available at extra cost and needing to be booked weeks ago - we didn't know we were going to Paris 2 weeks ago 🤣

Just some of the people over the perspex fence below the tower - that would have been nice , there wasn't much breeze , but they wouldn't have been getting that either . Notice the sign - the tower was closing at 4pm due to the extreme heat , so last entry was 12:15pm !!

 We crossed the river again and got a bus that was heading toward The Louvre . We had a ticket that let us get on & off whenever we wanted , so we spotted an impressive bridge , so we got off . Gold coated sculptures of horses & soldiers were on either side of the bridge roadway , with a couple of lions beside it . 

Here they are

Across the road in the opposite direction we discovered the Grand Palais , with another small statue .

 The streetlights are huge here as well - taller than the tower 🤔😆

Across the bridge is an equally impressive building - Napoleons Tomb and the Hotel de Invalids - a French history museum .

Another mural spotted as we drove past in the bus - cleverly done .

Then there's the entrance to The Louvre , we mentioned before about things being on the grander scale size wise , well this takes that to another level completely !! We crossed the road and decided to have a look . First job was to buy 2 bottles of water from one of the street hawkers - it was cheaper than in the shops !! 

Sitting in the shade we tried to absorb what we were seeing in front of us , to the sides of us , and behind us , let alone what was going on below us . Intricately decorated buildings rising into the air , streetlights stretching off into the distance and people just sitting and doing what we were - totally blown away !!

 The buildings are amazing , huge and go off to the left and right , then crossing and meeting up with more that go left & right as well .

The famous glass pyramids stand in the courtyard - there are 4 of them , but the largest is also the entry into The Louvre . We were in awe of the size of this place , and there was too much to see outside , let alone what must be inside !

 Another angle 

We wandered slowly to try & absorb what we were seeing . We went through a building and popped out into another courtyard area being set up for an outdoor concert performance .

This is one of the gates to close the courtyard area off - they certainly don't want anyone to climb it !!

Just outside those gates was a fenced garden & law with massive buildings lining the street outside .

The buildings stretch into the distance , the scale of this place needs to be seen to be believed - not sure that we still do !

While waiting for a bus home , this door was beside the stop .

   The heat has certainly slowed down our visit and limited what we've seen , but what we have seen has been amazing , nothing like we'd imagined . Back to UK tomorrow via Eurorail fast train again . Here's map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1cIXWVmMsMXrMkpU6oV7VXjCLY89j6JY&usp=sharing