william, beatrix, charlotte and arthur
by the older four children (edited by Rach, who took excerpts straight from their journals)
Windermere, England
What do those four above have in common? Anybody know?
Read on to see….
Jgirl14 starts the story….
Shivering in the early morning wind that seemed to freeze the water still dripping off my legs, I watched sixteen ducks move slowly across the lake, one behind the other in a perfectly straight line. To the south lay a solitary stone boathouse. From every side of the lake, hills sloped steeply upwards. Low bushes broke the otherwise empty grassland that was marked with stone walls.
Kboy12 climbed up beside me and we watched as the water was blown over smaller rocks that dotted the edge of Lake Ullswater. Our rock was by far the biggest, large enough to seat three people.
The decision was made to breakfast right on the shore.
As the sun rose higher than the trees, we started making plans, the most important one being a swim! There are also many other jobs that appear with over-abundance of water; jobs such as hairwashing and clothes washing, and we even did a spot of boat making and racing.
Soon the swim had ended with numb feet – the swim was actually more of a race from stone to stone trying to keep OUT of the water as much as possible, the water seeming colder as time wore on.
Kboy12 adds, “A man told us how crazy we were swimming that early in that lake!”
On to Windermere! The route wound up and down and around the lakeside, all the time the ever-present stone walls lining each side of the road. (The Drivers add: Unforgiving they would have been, had we nicked them, and the chance to do so was immense, there being NO grass or dirt between the walls and the road for much of the journey, and the road very narrow-n-all). This is a very hilly part of the country and at the top of some hills are stone quarries – it’s only sensible to make bridges and walls and buildings of this stone, which has a slate-like appearance. Streams follow the crevasses down the hills and the area is thickly wooded in many places.
Over the top of an exceptionally steep rise we caught a glimpse of Lake Windermere.
(Rach adds: down the road we did not take was Ambleside, home of my education mentor, Charlotte Mason. I really wanted to go there, but the sight of the road did much to appease my sense of disappointment – it’s not called “The Struggle” for nothing!!! Besides, a sign warned the road would narrow to 2 metres, and as we are 2.25 there was no chance of us getting through. I was satisfied with being in the general area where she lived and feel privileged to have even seen the places she wrote about.)
Windermere is another cute town with lots of stone houses and touristy souvenir shops full of Beatrix Potter paraphernalia. As it was really the lake we wanted to see, we walked right through town and then followed the main stream of people down the hill.
Jboy13 contributes: On the waterfront many of the people were either hiring boats or eating ice-creams or fish-n-chips. We did both, ice-creams and hot vinegar chips!
Kboy12 points out: One scoop in a normal cone would be one pound sixty, then a waffle cone would be 20p more, so Mum went up to Tescos and bought ice-creams from there. It was a lot cheaper.
Kgirl10 was more taken with the chips….We go up the street by a cemetery that has people picnicking in it, and we cross the road to Vinegar Jones. What is Vinegar Jones? Well, Vinegar Jones is the fish and chip shop and there are lots of fish and chip shops, because we are in England. But not all are called Vinegar Jones. Some are called The Little Chippy or The Fish and Chip Shop.
You can put your own vinegar on your chips, so Dad put lots of it on and it was so yummy, especially if you got a vinegary one.
They are the best chips we have had in England (Rachael adds: the only other ones we have had, have been the iconic soggy chippy – not at all worth buying). When you bite them they crunch and in the middle it is soft potato. We thought they were so good. Said enough about chips? Yeah, I would think so too!
This is the place where Swallows and Amazons was set. I can see how Arthur Ransome used the landscape to be the core of his adventures. It’s just like you would imagine from reading the books. The lake is maybe a little narrower. But there IS an island – actually quite a few of them. And the water traffic……in this particular spot people of all abilities were out – from some competently sailing large vessels to some trying to row a boat backwards!
Kboy12 adds….This is the lake that I have wanted to go to and while we are here we talk and think about the Swallows and Amazons books. They are adventure stories about a bunch of kids, who live by the lake and they would go sailing over to Wild Cat Island (that is the one we can see). They are full of great adventures and in another one of the books they drift down a river that leads to the sea and they end up in a Dutch town. That’s a long way to drift!
Just as the landscape was integral to Arthur’s stories, so it played a big part in the poetry of William Wordsworth. We have always liked his romantic verses, and now have an even greater appreciation for them.
Jgirl14 concludes, “Even though we have only one day here, it’s been a day well spent. If we ever came back to England, I’d definitely come back here!”
Time on the road: need to check Jboy13’s record!
Distance covered: 165km
Tags: 2008/09, book, children, postcard: England, recreation
rayres
So, you didn’t have pemmican with your chips then? The kids enjoyed seeing the lake pics as we just finished Swallows and Amazons last week!!
We are half way through reading Swallows and Amazons at the moment! What a wonderful time you are having. Like you said, you can see CM with her pupils in the area. oh, and the Daffodils … Tell us more Ayres Bears!!
Beautiful!
Hi Robert & family!
unbelievable blog (and trip)! I just found this page by accident but I seem to remember hitchiking and camping in the Lake district about 22 years ago – a stunningly beautiful area (I think I slept on Derwentwater and Ullswater). This is going sound like a strange request but do you have a copy of the old GDLT CALL book of readings hidden away somewhere – I realy need it and can’t find a copy anywhere. Good luck to you all! We’re all well in the log house and heading up to China in a couple of months. Go the ABs on Saturday.
Howard, Bing, Tony & Christian
Swallows and amazons is my all time favourite series of childrens books. I still read them to myself if I fancy a bit of escapism ;). I’ve just started Reading it to eve and she’s loving it so far. My brothers in laws live in Windermere so I’m thinking about a S&A themed hol.