The joys of the Lakes District

If you saw me now, you might think i was some strange breed of Goth Bogan. Why?

The bogan bit is easy enough to explain - i badly need my neck shaved, lest i begin to look like Billy Ray Cyrus (it's not that bad, but still, best not to take chances). The goth bit? One of my eyes looks like it has eyeshadow on it. This is because at the most recent hotel we stayed at they had bedside tables directly beside each bed, but at such an angle that when i rolled over during the night my face slammed directly into the corner of the table, only half a centimetre from my eye. I was very lucky it didn't hit my eye, but i now have some lovely bruising on my eyelid.

Other than that, things have been very nice. The Lakes District is ridiculously beautiful - where there aren't beautiful shimmering lakes there are majestic mountains. It's easy to see why the Romantic Poets loved the area so.

Yesterday we drove up to Beatrix Potter's farmhouse, Hilltop. It is remarkably popular with tourists, even before the summer tourist season starts, so it was very busy and crowded. I found it interesting but was not particularly overwhelmed - my parents loved it.

After lunch we then drove down to the village of Grasmere via a road that was less a road, more a goat track. Little recommendation here: travelling with a GPS in the UK is wonderful, but they occasionally lead you down fairly precarious paths that might cause the weak of heart to expire. Dad was driving and handled it very well.

Grasmere was the place where the poet Wordsworth lived for a number of years, and where he wrote his famous Daffodils poem. We visited his cottage, which has a remarkable view of the lake next to the village, and then went on to the Wordsworth Museum next door. The museum is absolutely superb, but for some reason we all found it quite overwhelming. It is full of content, and you really need to spend half a day there to take everything in.

We emerged from the museum quite tired and headed back to our hotel where we watched the UEFA Cup Final between Manchester United and Chelsea, which has obviously been a huge deal over here in the UK. We were hoping for a Chelsea win, and they played very well, but Man United just managed to hold out in penalties. It was a remarkable game, and a great way to end our day.

Today we are leaving the Lakes District - we're heading east over to Penrith before we make our way up to Scotland for a week or so.