Grasmere, England
May 17, 2007–We departed Dr. Barnard’s home in Oxford around 9am and headed to the train station. We caught the train going north and arrived at Windermere around 4 hours later. From Windermere, we took a half-hour bus ride up to Grasmere. Of course, this was no ordinary, run-of-the-mill bus; it was a double-decker! And, of course, being the American tourists that we are, we went upstairs and braved the windy journey in 50-degree weather.
It was cold, but the view was worth it! The Lake District is absolutely BEAUTIFUL country, and we tried to soak in as much as possible. The bus dropped us off in the town, and we had to walk about 1/2 mile to the hostel that we were staying at for the night. After checking in, we went on an 8-mile hike in the hills of Grasmere. Words cannot describe how beautiful this hike was. We walked up a mountain through sheep pastures fenced by completely rock fences that were hundreds of years old. There was a waterfall and lake at the top of the mountain that may have been the prettiest scenery that my eyes have ever seen. The hike was long, but completely worth the aches and pains!