Sunday 6^th June                    GLASGOW  -  THE LAKE DISTRICT  -  WINDEMERE

Sunday morning dawned fine but rather overcast in Glasgow this morning. Breakfast was included in our hotel deal, so about 7.30 we headed down to a lovely range of goodies to choose from. After that, we repacked our bags, and booked out, as it was only an overnight stop to break up a fair distance to travel. Our destination today was the Lake District in England, which meant saying a sad farewell to Scotland.

Before leaving Glasgow, though, we both had places there we wanted to visit. After seeing the Hill House yesterday, I wanted to revisit the Willow Tearooms which we’d been to in 2014. Now renamed Mackintosh at the Willow, they have been completely renovated since we were last here, and are now run by the National Trust. They were reopened by the present King and Queen in 2019 (though they were called by their Scottish titles as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay. The Scots appear to have no truck with titles like Prince of Wales!)

                                                      Mackintosh at the Willow Tearooms
As you’d expect, they’ve done a marvellous job with the renovation, and it was lovely to have our morning tea there. The drinks and food were all served on beautiful Blue Willow china (hence the name, I’m guessing.) Again, the details were all perfect and typical Mackintosh style. Unfortunately, we’d used all of our coins to purchase half an hour of parking, so we didn’t have time to linger and look at the exhibition. I think our main memory of Glasgow will be paying for parking – we’ve done a lot of it today.

                                                        Gorgeous Art Noveau styling

Our last stop in Glasgow was the Riverside Museum, which Lex had read about and wanted to see. It was the absolute magic discovery of the day. If you are ever in Glasgow, it’s a must see, and the admission is free, which makes it even better! It’s a purpose-built museum only a few years old right on the Clyde. Next to it is a new pedestrian swing bridge finished in 2022 which can be turned when big ships come up the river. There’s a large sailing clipper ship moored there permanently; the Glenlee is over 125 years old and has survived two world wars and multiple trips around the world. She’s the only surviving Clyde-built sailing ship still afloat in the UK.

The swing bridge, Riverside Museum and the Glenlee

There were many steam trains on display

A fascinating and huge collection of transport over the years

The museum houses all types of transport from throughout Glasgow’s history. What makes it so effective is the way they’ve linked real people and places and times to the transport, so in effect it is telling you a lot about Glasgow’s people and its history. For example, the ‘no spitting’ notice on trains, trams etc, I’d always just assumed was to tell people not to be gross! But for many years, Glasgow had the highest rates of TB in Europe. For example, in 1910, over a thousand people died of it in Glasgow alone. (Interesting note: those pre-war years must have been dreadful world-wide for TB. I know that in 1911, Clermont had an epidemic, and my great-grandmother died of it, so it wasn’t just cold, wet places where it was dangerous.) They also had relatively recent (to us!) displays, like the ‘chopper’ bikes from the 1970s. Lex also saw his second motorbike there too (I think this means we are getting old….) There were lots of trains, trams, the original bicycle, cars from all eras and hundreds of happy, excited Glaswegian children and their parents.

We had some sandwiches in the café before tearing ourselves away at about one, because we had a drive to the Lake District ahead of us.

For once, the drive south was pretty easy, as we sat on the motorway for 75 miles. The scenery flashed past us – firstly lots of rounded green hills, many with wind turbines, and towns with sad and happy associations went by (Lockerbie, Gretna) and before we knew it, we were saying goodbye to Scotland, and hello again to England. (Only for a week; this time next Sunday we’ll be in Ireland!)

Hello again, England. This is Cumbria.

The top of Lake Ullswater

We reached the Pennines and the top of the Lake District, and the scenery changed again. (Had to start remembering to call them ‘lakes’, not ‘lochs’.) We decided that the Pennines can give Glencoe a run for their money in the gorgeous mountain stakes – and they have lakes, little villages and farms, woodland and lots of stone fences thrown in as well! We followed Lake Ullswater right along, then came in at the top of Windemere, where the hundreds of other tourists really became noticeable. The road was two lane, but quite narrow and winding, and driving on it was quite hair-raising at times. Fortunately due to Lex’s excellent driving, we survived to make it to our accommodation for the next two nights. We’re staying at the quirkily named Rum Doodle B&B in Windemere, in an old Victorian house (1879). We have a comfy bedroom with a nice big window seat, which makes it seem lighter and bigger.

There were so many sailing boats on Lake Windemere today.

                               Rugged mountains, green fields, sheep and stone walls everywhere

Traffic hazards on mountain roads

Dinner was at the Brookside Inn, a lovely local pub only a ten-minute stroll away, and a haven of quiet when compared to the Wetherspoon’s last night! As it’s Sunday, I had the roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, which was excellent (I could get to like this standard of living.)

Windemere has quite probably the prettiest Co-op grocery shop in the UK!

Rum Doodle, our B&B