Thursday 20th July
Our drive from York to Keswick was only a couple of hours so we made a stop at Harrogate on the way as Lorraine and Geoff had suggested this as worth a visit. We’d wanted to visit the very popular Betty’s Tea Rooms in York but the queue was always too long but Harrogate also had a Betty’s Tea Rooms and there was no queue when we arrived. They get a very good score for their pot of tea but this is another venue where I think I could help perfect their scone recipe. It was a lovely experience though with the polished silver and tiered scans tray so I’d definitely pay them a visit if you’re ever in York or Harrogate.
We made one further stop in Harrogate and that was at The Royal Pump Room Museum. Harrogate has long been renown for its history as a fashionable spa town and the medicinal power of local water was known back in the 16th century. The historic Pump House dates back to 1897 but remnants of the earlier 1842 Royal Pump Room, built to house a Sulfur well, can be viewed from within the museum.
We also walked through the large and impressive 1897 Winter Garden building, now home to a Wetherspoons, that was originally built so that visitors to the Royal Baths could relax and stroll in relative comfort in any weather.
There were quite a few tourists in Harrogate walking the pretty boutique-lined streets and we even passed a walking tour group that we felt we should have joined. On our walk back to the car we noticed the queue for Betty’s Tea Rooms was very long so considered our early arrival to be quite a stroke of good luck.
Our accommodation in the Lakes District was in the small town of Keswick at an AirBnB and it turned out to be a beautiful two-up / two-down type stone cottage in a great location, just a two minute walk up from the pedestrian I see main square. The Cottage had been recently renovated, was clean and appointed with good quality linens and had lots of natural light so looked to be a most comfortable place for us to enjoy our 4-night stay.
It was 4 pm by the time we were ready to head back out and this only left an hour to stroll the twice weekly Keswick Markets (Thursday & Saturday 10-5). It was a lovely atmosphere down at the markets with a strong local vibe where stall owners seemed to know many of their customers. Keswick is a most pretty little town with loads of small shops and boutiques, cafes, restaurants and, I might add, with an over representation of ale houses and pubs! I’m sure Mark is going to enjoy our short stay here.
Our dinner booking was at Fellpack at the inhumane time of 5.45 pm but the venue had come recommend and it was the only time slot I could get for the period of our stay. Our dinner was fine and we did another loop around the small town afterwards to try and see what other dining venues were popular; it tended to be the pubs and pizza joints, before heading home for an early night. We tend to find we are more tired than usual on days where we move from one accommodation to another and we seem to do a lot of that!
Friday 21st July
The forecast had been for fine weather today but we woke to great skies and drizzling rain which hampered our plans for the day; we had to switch tack to favour activities suitable to the wet weather. Sadly, this didn’t include Mark’s bike ride that he had been long looking forward to! Our first stop on leaving the apartment was at the Tourist Information Office, a 3 minute walk away, where we were advised about wet weather activities and walking trails that wouldn’t be too muddy. I had just washed my walking shoes, after they had been heavily caked in a week’s worth of Icelandic dirt and dust, and I wasn’t too keen on immersing them straight into mud; a ground covering for which this area is apparently quite famous.
The rain was still tumbling down as we left the Tourist Information Office so we set off to the Derwent Pencil Museum which was just a further 5 minute walk down the road. What a trip down memory lane this was! Who else remembers the joy of obtaining a set of these pencils in their youth? They were a huge status symbol when I was in primary school as they were the envy of every young child; to see who just had the basic set or who was lucky enough to have the full assorted rainbow of colored pencils. Keswick is home to the first pencil factory (1832) following the discovery of graphite in the area back in the 1500s and is where Derwent pencils are produced. The museum was worth the visit and it only took about an hour to get around all of the exhibits. I found out that the term ‘black market’ derived from the smuggling of graphite as it used to be a very valuable substance and thieves could be easily identified by the black residue stain on their hands. One quite fascinating story involving the pencil factory though was their involvement in WWII. MI5 contracted the company to produce pencils having secret compartments for maps and a compass which were then given to RAF fighter pilots in case they came down behind enemy lines. There were only a few of the factory managers involved in the scheme though and they were sworn to secrecy under The Officials Secrets Act; these few staff would knock off work and then steal back into the factory after hours to work on this project. The agent from MI5 who worked with the factory and sourced these and other espionage related gadgets was the inspiration for the character of Q in the James Bond stories. The Derwent Factory was only made aware of their involvement in this war effort some 30 years later, after the expiry of The Official Secret’s Act!
It was still drizzling when we left the museum so resorted to another wet-weather activity which was to take the 50 minute loop ride on the Derwentwater ferry. The rain eased off just as the ferry got going and this made for a much more pleasant journey. This was an interesting and most scenic activity as we watched the various hikers and couples with their dogs (so many dogs!) hop on and off at the various stops along the way.
It was lunchtime by the time we got back to the Keswick boat ramp and we headed home for lunch. The rain seemed to be holding off so we decided to head out on one of the trails we were advised wouldn’t be too muddy; the Friar’s Crag and Calfclose Bay walk. This was a pretty walk that hugged the lakefront for much of the route and took about 2 hours to complete, allowing for a few wrong turns and some photos along the way, and we were lucky to see the sun for much of the afternoon walk. Heavy rain was forecast for the next day at least so it seems we’ll be having to select some more wet-weather activities suitable for this area.
We spent the rest of the afternoon back at the cottage before having a very early and ordinary dinner at The Dog and Gun. Even the beer was ordinary apparently so maybe give this place a miss if you’re ever in the region.
