And he says, "I'm goin' crazy out there at the lake."

Last night, we arrived in Lancaster after a 3+ hour drive from Warwick. The owners of the B&B we stayed at were perhaps the nicest people I've ever met. The town is a bit depressed (though still charming), and our hostess directed us to a local pub, The Borough.

The Borough is one of the best pubs to which I've been, and it certainly helped that it was Wednesday steak night (and they were willing to give me the steak practically raw). All the food was wonderful, the ales and cider were excellent and varied, and the staff was so helpful and friendly!


This is Lancaster Castle... Part of it is currently being used as a prison...


The Roman Bath ruins here were full of litter, and we were allowed to clamber all over them (if one were willing to climb around the rubbish).

We were only staying in Lancaster as a layover on the way to the Lake District; however, the more time I spend in the Lake District, the more I wish we were still in Lancaster. There were very few things to see or do in Lancaster, but the Lake District is so cold and all my meals here have been disappointing.

When we arrived, we stopped by the Visitor Centre first to learn a bit more about the area. From there, we pretty much beelined it to lunch. We went to a cafe down town, which turned out to be one of our worst meals thus far. From there, we drove to a couple nearby towns: Ambleside, Grasmere, and Keswick.

The countryside here is beautiful, and I was really hoping to do some hiking here; however, it's so miserably cold and windy (and ALWAYS threatening rain) that no one else is interested. Also, I'm not really prepared for the weather. I packed for a cold Spring day... in London. My warmest outfit is a T-shirt and sweatshirt, and the cold here just rips through it.



Still, if the weather is less ominous tomorrow, we're going to take a ferry across Windermere and hike a bit in the Fells.

When we got back to Windermere in the evening, we began searching for a local, traditional pub. The Internet turned up very few possibilities and we ended up at a restaurant in the neighboring town. Bad decision. The atmosphere was a bit odd, and the decor was all very modern. My food was decent, but my parents' dinner was not. At all. They both had beef, which the menu claimed was local; however, it came fried and horribly overcooked.

Conclusion: The Lake District is gorgeous... for hikers and tourists.