The Bloods & Crisps

In some ways food is very different here... haggis, blood pudding, bangers/mash, mushy peas, etc. Crisps are potato chips, and chips are french fries. Shopping can be very different because all of these little towns have very pedestrian friendly (car unfriendly) main streets. In other ways, things are exactly the same here. New American style outdoor strip malls are popping up all over, and you can't travel very far without seeing Subway, McDonalds, KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut, etc. Hell, our town even has Dominos delivery! You have towns struggling to change after factory closures and the social problems that follow high rates of unemployment.

Today we went far away from all of that, up into the Lake District at Lake Windemere. It is a very beautiful area. We took a half hour cruise around the lake, and saw countless sailboats, row boats, and waterfowl. There are no fast/loud boats ripping through which makes it all very relaxing. The lake is 10 miles long and we drove the length of it which is a narrow winding stone wall bordered road.



Most of the buildings in this area (even new ones) are made of true fieldstone. It is amazing. There is good food and nice sidewalk shops in Bowness. Ambleside looked terrific too, but we only drove through. We ate at the Travellers Rest pub, good food and the building has loads of "character". When I say character I mean there isn't a true wall in the place anymore! Great selection of cask ales but I was driving so I resisted. I have to say Theakston's Old Peculiar is my "favourite" so far.

While in Bowness, we toured the Beatrix Potter museum. The kids were very afraid because many of the storybook animals looked so real.



I think there was a little bit for everyone today. The best part for me? We stopped by a guy's home in Blackpool to pick up my Yamaha subwoofer ebay win. yay!