Windermere

 No, we did not find a way of magically teleporting nb Alchemy to England's largest lake! Instead, we left it at Tewitfield and took the 555 bus service from a nearby stop. This runs all the way from Lancaster to Penrith. It takes sufficiently long that drivers are changed at Kendal but, fortunately the passengers can still stay on board for a through service. Like many rural services it is amazing just where it is possible to take a double decker, twisting from one small village to another.

After the driver change at Kendal, the route then runs via Windermere Railway Station. The history of rail services into this part of the Lake District has been chequered. At one time, trains were the catalyst for developing tourism into what was at the time a very sleepy collection of tiny hamlets dotted around the lake. It was the rail companies that initiated steamer boat trips on the water to add to the attraction - they soon discovered that many holiday makers want something more than just the beautiful scenery to help them part with their hard earned cash and the all too rare days off work. Some of the early excursions ran from as far afield as Birmingham.

We continued to the top of the lake at  Ambleside Pier - it is actually almost a couple of miles further on to the village of Ambleside itself, set up a valley well away from the lake. The road down to the pier is quite steep and we had the first good view of the water and the distant hills. (If you look carefully you can see a reflection in the window!)

Here we made the end of the first leg of our trip. We headed for the ticket office to decide when we could use a 'steamer' boat to go back down the lake to Bowness-on-Windermere. It turned out that we only had to buy our tickets and turn up at the scheduled departure. There was no need to book for a specific time.

Next, we sought coffee and sat outside at a pleasant coffee shop right on the waterside. Their blueberry scones were fresh and delicious. 

As well as taking steamer trips, visitors can also hire such as rowing and self drive motor boats - but we just sat and took in the view until is was time for our chosen departure.

One o'clock and we joined the queue to board the 13.10 service to Bowness. Although it was busy, the capacity of the boat is in the hundreds and so more than adequate room to sit comfortable on the top deck, inside deck or bow and stern decks - whatever takes your fancy. Ours as close to the front of the outdoor top deck. Out on the lake this was fresh and quite breezy but still pleasantly warm.

As we came down the lake we had great views of the surrounding scenery - as well as a different perspective on several of the waterside hamlets and holiday camps we passed on the bus earlier.

As we started to head back in to the shoreline, the boat had to make its way through numerous small boats and the occasional larger yacht together with a departing service back to where we had just come. But just where was the pier?

Ah yes, there it is - fortunately the skipper knew where to head - perhaps he had done this route before! We then watched a well practised manoeuvre using a couple of ropes to swing the boat around, stern first to shore before finally being ready to disembark the passengers for Bowness.

The pierhead area at Bowness felt very different from that we encountered at Ambleside: much busier and with brasher facilities - somewhat like the difference (but on a rather smaller scale) between Fleetwood and Blackpool earlier in the year. At least there were no fairground rides here!

However, we only wanted a snack for lunch - the paninis back at Ambleside would have done us well but at first it seemed as everywhere was little more than burger and chips! ¬However, we wandered into the older part of Bowness and found T'Hole in the Wall, a very old village pub, tucked away, almost out of site. We very much enjoyed their 'warm BLT' which was more than ample and well presented.

After lunch we explored more of Old Bowness and called at the even older parish church of St Martin's. They had a very welcoming person on duty, very willing to chat to anyone who comes through the door! Yet also happy to let people wander and just be quiet if they wish.

The main feature of interest with the interior are the inscriptions on all of the walls. Although they were extensively restored in Victorian times, we understand that they originally date back much further to the end of the 16C.

Back at the pier we found a quiet bench with pat sun, part shade where we could sit and read until it was time to catch a local bus back up the couple of miles of uphill to the now much expanded and renamed former hamlet now known as Windermere and were dropped off at the railway station which acts as an interchange amongst several bus routes as well as the trains.

At one time this station boasted four platforms and a large canopy to shelter hordes of waiting passengers. Today, the line has been reduced to a single track and just the one short platform. Even the modern waiting room and ticket office  was closed! The former canopy has now been incorporated into a branch of the Booths supermarket chain.

Also next to the station is a large shop for the Lakeland Plastics company. (Declaration of interest: we use plenty of their products although we have not yet found a shop since we moved up from      Cornwall, Alas, we did not have time to browse but it was interesting to note that the company was founded as an offshoot from a family run garage here in Windermere, selling plastic freezer bags!

We waited and watched a 555 bus arrive and depart but it was going the wrong way! Ours, heading to Kendal and then Lancaster, was rather late, delayed on its way here. The driver was a bit miffed as it was his first day on his own on this service. Since he efficiently drove us into Kendal, we are confident that the delay was not his fault! After a change of driver, we were on our winding way back to Tewitfield. Another good day out!