Sunday, August 14th, 2011: Volksmarch past Hilltop
Bob: Monika had printed instructions for a Volksmarch put on by the British Walking Federation that included not only a loop around Beatrix Potter's cottage "Hilltop" but also a jaunt across Lake Windemere on a ferry. Since we had not explored that section at all and it wasn't raining, the walk sounded ideal. The only problem was, that the document had been incorrectly formatted for our printer, so each line of our instructions was missing the last 10 spaces or so, and reading them we found several places that were rather ambiguous or even enigmatic. Trusting we could make out the missing parts of our directions during the walk, we drove off for the ferry port shortly after breakfast. Our plan was to find parking there, ditch the car, and then hook up with the Volksmarch route as it came up from the ferry landing. As it turned out, we had great good luck in finding free parking off a side road beside a huge heap of gravel. A local couple had just parked there and I asked if it was a legal place to park and they assured me it was, so we inserted our car beside theirs and set off on our walk. We had a second bit of luck when a young couple (anyone under age 50 is starting to look "young" to me!) came up from the ferry landing and also seemed to be heading across the countryside to Hilltop cottage. They were not doing the Volksmarch per se, but rather following one of the many walking guides published for the Lake District. But, after all, how many cross-country paths from the ferry to Hilltop could there be? So at points where our instructions were either missing or unclear, I kind of followed in their footsteps to figure out the path we should take. We first wound our way up a shoreline bluff to an old ruin. It was some kind of fallen-in stone building, but I couldn't say exactly what. From there we marched generally uphill in the direction of Far Sawrey (as opposed to Near Sawrey just down the road--I am not kidding here, I just can't make up stuff this ridiculous!). |
Monika: Today we tried one of the Volksmarches. This one had intrigued me, since although it started in Bowness on the east side of Lake Windemere, it immediately sent you to the ferry across the lake and 9 out of the 11 Kilometers were on the west side of the lake. So we decided to drive down to the ferry, find a parking spot and walk the path on the west side before hopping onto the ferry and walk into Bowness, have lunch there, and then take the ferry back over the lake. The drive to the ferry was only 7 miles, but 2 of those 7 were on the one-lane road by our farm. We drove through Hawkshead, past Hilltop (of Beatrix Potter fame), and then down to the ferry. There was no parking at the ferry, but there was at a National Trust car park a little up the road. But even better, we found a spot on a side road where we noticed some local person was parking and when we asked whether it was ok, they said, sure. So we parked right next to them and felt pretty smug, especially when I noticed that the car park cost £ 3.80 for just the first 2 hours. The first part of the walk was a relatively direct route from the ferry to Hilltop, along paths that went next to the road but also through a couple of fields with the obligatory kissing gates. Actually, we were getting quite good at them by this time [Bob: Practice makes perfect!]. We passed the tiny hamlets of Near Sawrey and Far Sawrey, a hotel, a church, and a pretty little stone bridge. As we got closer to Hilltop the number of people walking along increased. |
Bob: That's where the young couple, and their guide complete with an actual map, came in handy in convincing us to turn left and descend to a church to pick up a trail across the hills and fields to Hilltop. It was also useful when the girl climbed up over a fence rather than using the pedestrian gate that had been built into the field's fence--a huge, deep puddle of water all around the gate really gave her no choice, and we followed her example. Ms. Potter's cottage proved to be quite quaint, but unfortunately they were scheduled up through 12:30 with large groups and we didn't want to cool our heels for a full hour just to see the interior. I was amused, however, that they let the local rabbits run unhindered in the large garden out in back, with the predictable result that they are rather tame and used to being gawked at by tourists. So the Gentle Reader can rest easy knowing that the descendants of Peter, Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail are still enjoying themselves in Ms. Potter's garden. |
Monika: Hilltop is the house where Beatrix Potter wrote most of her "Peter Rabbit" stories. We stopped and found out that to tour the house we would have to wait an hour or so. I was not really that interested in the house, but enjoyed just walking through the garden, where a few rabbits had forgotten that they were wild animals and posed for the people walking by. The little gift store had mainly things with characters from the books, but there were also two beautiful porcelain coffee mugs with a rose painted on them, and they were on sale. Of course, we could not resist. But then we kept on walking. A small community has grown up around Beatrix Potter's place and one of the houses was especially pretty with red flowers everywhere against the whitewashed house. |
Bob: From Hilltop we circled through some country lanes to the South and then cut overland eastward through a series of fields to arrive back at the church at Far Sawrey. We continued eastward through a series of fields with "kissing gates" that gave us passage through the boundary fences until we reached Dove Cottage and then Briars Brow Cottage where we rejoined the main road from the ferry to Hilltop for a short distance before diverting once more off on a country lane that led down to the shore of Lake Windemere. |
Monika: Hilltop was as far West as our walk would take us; we curved around to take a different way back East to the ferry. Walking through the countryside was probably pretty much like it had been for the last hundred or so years, green fields with sheep separated by stone fences, set against small forests, little lakes, and small farms. It reminded me of Derrynagasha, the area near Kinsale where Bob's great-grandmother had owned land. We kept walking along lanes and through fields. At one point, one of the gates had been left open and there where sheep in one of the fields and just a couple in the next one. Bob closed the gate, as we had been instructed, but when the sheep on this side of the gate started baa-ing plaintively and I started wondering, whether it had snuck through the open gate and now was separated from its compatriots. Oh well, I am sure it will find a way back. |
Bob: I enjoyed walking along the shore of the lake because on such a nice Summer Sunday it was abuzz with ferries, excursion steamers, and sailboats criss-crossing the water. So pretty. We swung by the car to drop off two tea mugs with roses on them we had picked up on sale at the gift shop at Hilltop, and then walked over to the ferry port and hopped on the next ferry over to Cockshott Point across the lake. |
Monika: We passed the church of Far Sawrey and after a few more fields ended up close to the lake. But instead of heading down the road to the ferry, we were directed to a lane next to the lake and had a pleasant half a kilometer along the sea shore enjoying the sailboats that were moored offshore and those that were out sailing. |
Bob: The distance across Lake Windemere is short at that point, so the ride only took 10 minutes or so and cost us just 50 pence each. Given how narrow and congested the roads are up around Ambleside, I can easily see why taking the ferry to cut straight across the lake, rather than drive the extra 20 miles or so around the top, is so popular. From the ferry landing on the eastern shore we turned left and headed over to Bowness where the excursion and tour boats are based. There were hordes of people everywhere we walked, which was just to be expected on a nice summer Sunday, but it did make me long for the peace and quiet of the other side of the lake! There was even a crowd of swans, geese, ducks, and seagulls all fighting over bread crusts thrown in the water by tourists. |
Monika: When we got to the ferry it was just discharging the last car and ready to take us on board. The price for a pedestrian crossing is 50 pence, which I think is a bargain! Of course, I enjoyed the ferry ride. The sun had come out, sailboats were sailing close by and in the distance. The door to the rear of the ferry from the passenger compartment had not been closed and I could have walked right out onto the loading platform. I almost succumbed, but then thought that I really was not dressed for a swim, besides my camera might have survived a fall, but I wasn't sure about a dunk. We followed the footpath that would lead us to Bowness proper. Getting more into Bowness the crowds got larger especially around the piers from where the lake cruises left. There was also a small beach where every kind of waterfowl was being fed by every kind of tourist. I really had never seen so many swans at one place, together with ducks, geese, and seagulls. |
Bob: Still, we had a nice lunch of jacket potatoes (big baked potatoes filled with chili in my case and tandoori chicken in Monika's case) at the Ship's Inn pub, and found an ATM machine in a game arcade (grandiosely named "Casino") nearby. I also spied a lady with a Tesco bag and inquired where the store was, and we followed her directions into the middle of Bowness to purchase groceries for our evening sandwiches, plus some Coke for me and wine for Monika. Just FYI, in England the Coca-Cola is made with real sugar and has a correspondingly different sweetness than the American version made with high-fructose corn syrup. We both like it much better. |
Monika: But now lunch was our main concern. We followed the footpath that would lead us to Bowness proper . And there we found a rather nice looking establishment, the Ship's Inn. The prices were quite reasonable and it had a family type feel to it, although it also had a bar and a large TV tuned to a soccer match, of course. We found a table for two and a special menu for baked potatoes. Bob had the chili potato and I had a baked potato with Indian spiced chicken, quite yummy. With that we shared a local draft beer. So all was good with the world. We now had two more objectives: find an ATM - we would have to pay our bill in cash in a few days - and a grocery store for some bread and cheese. On the lakefront we saw an arcade and casino, and I know you need cash for casinos, so we walked in and indeed found a cash machine. It dispensed our 200 pounds in 10 pound notes and I had to count twice to make sure that it was the correct amount. So that left only the grocery store. There Bob's eagle eyes spotted a woman carrying Tesco bags. Tesco is a grocery chain we had found in Scotland and also in Ireland that always had good buys. She pointed us in a vague direction and we kept going into the town until I suddenly realized I was standing in front of the store. There really was no big advertisement or anything. We picked up nice fresh rolls, cheese, a liter bottle of Coke for Bob so he couldn't complain about a 750 ml bottle of wine. |
Bob: The beverages weighed us down a bit on our walk back to the ferry, but shifting the load back and forth avoided any strain and let each of us take a turn at photographing some of the interesting sights along the waterfront. The ferry back carried only 15 cars (3 rows of 5 each) even though the ship is placarded to accommodate a maximum of 18 cars, and queues are quite common to judge by the "queue length waiting-time" signs posted on the approach road to the ferry landing! By then it was after 3 p.m. and we had been walking since 10:30, so we were both somewhat weary. Since a sizable portion of our walking had been on hard surfaces, the bottoms of my feet were starting to throb a bit and I was quite happy to just drive the car back to Holmeshead and put up our feet for the rest of the day. |
Monika: Time to walk back to the ferry loaded down with groceries. The sun had come out and it was getting downright hot. We both were glad when we got out of the main throng of people onto the less populated and shady path next to the lake. There we finally could enjoy the sun sparkling on the water. When we passed an ice cream stand, we decided, we had walked enough and it was hot enough that we each deserved an ice cream cone. We enjoyed them thoroughly while walking back to the ferry and waiting for it to arrive. After a short walk on the other side of the lake, we found our car exactly where we had left it with neither a ticket nor any other sign that someone might have objected to our parking. On our short trip back it rained again but that did not last. On the one lane road, Bob did have hair-raising encounters with a car, an ATV, a couple dogs, and several hikers. But all of those were easily circumnavigated and we got home unscathed and enjoyed putting our feet up. |
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