Ambleside: Tuesday
Here is the post a lot of you have been waiting for, photos of my trip to Ambleside! I did so much and took so many photos that rather than reduce it down to cram all in one post, I'm going to do a post per day. As usual click on any photo for a bigger image, and you're definitely going to want to do that here, there's some amazing scenery.
The hotel check-in was at 3pm which gave me plenty of time to get up there. I could have just bombed it up the motorway but that would be boring so I took the scenic route and included a slight detour to Kirkby Stephen. It's a very small market town and there's not really a great deal there. There was just one thing of interest there for me which was this:
That's the parish church of St Stephen (hence the name of the town, kirk meaning church and by meaning town). This is the third church built on the site, the first was Anglo-Saxon and this one dates from 1240. It looked like it was closed which was quite disappointing as the thing I wanted to see was inside. But I tried the door anyway and it was open! I went in and right opposite the door was this:
... the Loki Stone. It's the bottom part of a cross from AD850, when the Danish Vikings settled in greater numbers in the area, and shows a man with beard and horns, chained at hands and feet. It's only presumed to be Loki, but I mean, really - who else could it be? Originally it was outside the church in the graveyard but now it's been placed inside, probably from protection to the elements and raving fangirls. So that was quite exciting to see, especially as it's just there with no barriers or ropes around it. There's another cross featuring Loki in Gosforth and I'd hoped to visit that one on the way home but it would have meant going over Hardknott Pass - that's one of the steepest roads in the UK with a 1 in 3 gradient (33%) and has lots of hairpin bends so I had to give it a miss. Anyway, I took a last quick picture of Loki with a friend I'd brought along for the ride...
... and then set off to Ambleside. I got to the hotel at half past 2 and was able to check in early, yay!
I was staying at The Fisherbeck Hotel which was just 10 minutes walk from Windermere and 5 minutes walk into Ambleside so a really great location. I had Room 21 up on the second floor. It had a dinky little en suite which was accessed by a little set of steps! I thought it was really cool, until the middle of night when I had to climb up the damn things in the dark.
I was told I was entitled to a complimentary hot beverage on arrival so once I'd got all my stuff sorted, I went down to the lounge and sat in a very comfy leather chair, having a pot of tea and admiring the view:
Yep, that was what I was looking at when I made my post. That's the Log House opposite, a restaurant inside a 19th century log cabin shipped over from Norway. Once I was fortified with tea, I went down to Windermere to look at the remains of a Roman fort.
The view from the fort, I think it's Fairfield fells but I'm not entirely sure.
There's some dispute as to the name of the fort, it's either Galava or Clanoventa, but it dates from the 2nd century or thereabouts. It's a series of small walls! In a field. With cows. I think the fencing round the fort is to stop the cows from damaging it as there's a stile over it - you can just about see it on the right in the second picture - and no signs saying to keep out. So I went in. The third picture shows the strong-room, this was under the sacellum (shrine) in the central office and used to store the regiment's funds. You can see the steps leading down at the top of the photo.
It was only a small fort so it didn't take long to look at the whole thing. It was on the edge of Windermere and there was a park nearby, so I found an empty bench and sat there for a while just admiring the view until I got hungry. There's a Youth Hostel a little way down which has a public restaurant so I went there for tea. It only has a small menu but the prices were very reasonable, I got Italian chicken for £7 and it was quite a large portion too!
Windermere from the park.
Yummy! I'd managed to get a seat next to a large window that looked out onto the mere so I could watch the sun setting while I had my tea. Once I'd eaten, I went out to take a few more photos before heading back to the hotel for the night.
So that was Tuesday. On Wednesday, I drove halfway across the country to see more Roman remains and climbed a huge hill! But that's a story for another post...
The hotel check-in was at 3pm which gave me plenty of time to get up there. I could have just bombed it up the motorway but that would be boring so I took the scenic route and included a slight detour to Kirkby Stephen. It's a very small market town and there's not really a great deal there. There was just one thing of interest there for me which was this:
That's the parish church of St Stephen (hence the name of the town, kirk meaning church and by meaning town). This is the third church built on the site, the first was Anglo-Saxon and this one dates from 1240. It looked like it was closed which was quite disappointing as the thing I wanted to see was inside. But I tried the door anyway and it was open! I went in and right opposite the door was this:
... the Loki Stone. It's the bottom part of a cross from AD850, when the Danish Vikings settled in greater numbers in the area, and shows a man with beard and horns, chained at hands and feet. It's only presumed to be Loki, but I mean, really - who else could it be? Originally it was outside the church in the graveyard but now it's been placed inside, probably from protection to the elements and raving fangirls. So that was quite exciting to see, especially as it's just there with no barriers or ropes around it. There's another cross featuring Loki in Gosforth and I'd hoped to visit that one on the way home but it would have meant going over Hardknott Pass - that's one of the steepest roads in the UK with a 1 in 3 gradient (33%) and has lots of hairpin bends so I had to give it a miss. Anyway, I took a last quick picture of Loki with a friend I'd brought along for the ride...
... and then set off to Ambleside. I got to the hotel at half past 2 and was able to check in early, yay!
I was staying at The Fisherbeck Hotel which was just 10 minutes walk from Windermere and 5 minutes walk into Ambleside so a really great location. I had Room 21 up on the second floor. It had a dinky little en suite which was accessed by a little set of steps! I thought it was really cool, until the middle of night when I had to climb up the damn things in the dark.
I was told I was entitled to a complimentary hot beverage on arrival so once I'd got all my stuff sorted, I went down to the lounge and sat in a very comfy leather chair, having a pot of tea and admiring the view:
Yep, that was what I was looking at when I made my post. That's the Log House opposite, a restaurant inside a 19th century log cabin shipped over from Norway. Once I was fortified with tea, I went down to Windermere to look at the remains of a Roman fort.
The view from the fort, I think it's Fairfield fells but I'm not entirely sure.
There's some dispute as to the name of the fort, it's either Galava or Clanoventa, but it dates from the 2nd century or thereabouts. It's a series of small walls! In a field. With cows. I think the fencing round the fort is to stop the cows from damaging it as there's a stile over it - you can just about see it on the right in the second picture - and no signs saying to keep out. So I went in. The third picture shows the strong-room, this was under the sacellum (shrine) in the central office and used to store the regiment's funds. You can see the steps leading down at the top of the photo.
It was only a small fort so it didn't take long to look at the whole thing. It was on the edge of Windermere and there was a park nearby, so I found an empty bench and sat there for a while just admiring the view until I got hungry. There's a Youth Hostel a little way down which has a public restaurant so I went there for tea. It only has a small menu but the prices were very reasonable, I got Italian chicken for £7 and it was quite a large portion too!
Windermere from the park.
Yummy! I'd managed to get a seat next to a large window that looked out onto the mere so I could watch the sun setting while I had my tea. Once I'd eaten, I went out to take a few more photos before heading back to the hotel for the night.
So that was Tuesday. On Wednesday, I drove halfway across the country to see more Roman remains and climbed a huge hill! But that's a story for another post...