My parents were going to the Lake District for a few days and they asked me if I wanted to tag along. Of course I said yes, because the Lake District in autumn was sure to be stunning.
They were driving up from Devon and, so they didn't have to go too much out of their way, I met them at Birmingham, and they picked me up and we kept on going north to our accommodation in a place called Motherby, on the north eastern side of the Lake District.
On our first full day there, we drove down to Keswick to have a look around. I had been there once before as a kid, and this old market town was the site of the factory manufacturing Derwent pencils. There is even a pencil museum there. The pencil factory has, as of 2006, moved elsewhere which is sad. But the town itself is a pretty one.
We walked down to the Derwentwater lake nearby and we decided to go on a boat ride around the lake on the local ferry.
Once our boat ride was over and I was gratefully back on solid ground (I don't really like boats), we went back to the car to drive down to Ambleside. It's a cute little place with lots of history, but it's pretty busy on account of it being the starting point for a lot of walks around Lake Windemere, nearby. We weren't there to go for a walk today, but for a look around and some lunch.
We drove back to our house via Kirkstone Pass, one of a few very cool roads to drive around the Lake District. It's the highest pass in the Lake District, at 454m above sea level, and quite steep in places (25% gradient). It was good fun!