Kirkstone Mountain Pass

On our road trip back to Aberdeen, we decided to stop by Ullswater lake before leaving Cumbria. While driving lakeside for a bit, Jonathan spotted a road sign for Kirkstone Mountain Pass. Not one to resist a challenge, he decided we’d make the trip up.

The scenery on the ascent was possibly the most wild and rugged that I’ve ever seen, and it was fun stopping at the roadside pull offs in order to snap some photos. One we got to the top, there was a large car park where we also stopped for a photo op.

In the background we could see lovely Lakeland views and could even spot Ambleside in the distance. The wind was really howling though, so it wasn’t very pleasant walking about, though there were several hiking paths to choose from.

At one point, the gusts were so violent that I was a little concerned that I might get carried away.

I have to say, it was definitely easier riding up to a summit rather than hiking it. However, what goes up must go down, and when we started our descent down the other side,  we had to choose between staying on the road we came in on, or one called “The Struggle”. Seriously, the road sign said “The Struggle”. I was already “struggling” a bit without my Dramamine and didn’t want to tempt fate with a unknown and intimidating road.

It’s been a while since I’ve been that carsick, and was just praying that I would make it through without hurling. I breathed a sigh of relief once we were safely down the mountain, only be told by our GPS that in order to get back to Aberdeen, we’d have to make a U-turn and go right back up (and down) the mountain again.

I was chomping down the last of my sour patch kids stash in order to calm my stomach, but for the next 2 hours of our road trip, I was pretty miserable. All’s well that ends well, however, and once I had some fresh air and Burger King in my belly, I was definitely glad we made the detour…twice. I’m especially glad that we have the pictures to prove it. 

Scrambling and the Almost Summit

They say that opposites attract and in Jonathan and I’s case, that’s true in many ways. I married an adrenaline junky whereas Jonathan married a scaredy cat. Name a common phobia, and I’ve got it. Water, heights, spiders, the works. I always end up feeling guilty when we go on vacation and Jonathan has to traipse off by himself to do whatever terrifying excursion he has his heart set on.

So when we were researching different Lake District hikes, and Jonathan asked me if I could scramble, I hesitated before stating yes. Now, at that point in time I wasn’t all that confident in what I’d actually agreed to, but I knew that whatever it was, I’d probably be more comfortable scrambling than I ever would be scuba diving. So if there is a high adrenaline activity that we can do together, hiking is about as close as I am going to come.

Up until now, most of our ‘hiking’ adventures have been rather leisurely, but in the name of love, I decided to step it up a notch and commit to a summit hike. Or as I like to call it, a Big Girl Hike. We choose a 'moderate' hike to Bleaberry Summit, mostly because the title made me think there might be tons of blueberrys awaiting us at the top.

The first step was of course buying a cute hiking outfit. Kewsick was full of outdoor shops so we had no trouble finding new gear. What I did apparently have trouble with was color coordination. It wasn’t until I was getting dressed for the hike that I realized I had purchased brown trousers and a black top. My logic was that it just made me look more authentic because serious hikers don’t have time to worry about matching.

The next step was writing down clear and concise directions for the path up Bleaberry Peak. As I was dictating the directions from the walking Britain website, it was easy to foresee that we’d get lost at some point. I just didn’t realize we’d get lost right out of the gate.

When we got to the bottom of the mountain, we skipped a step that said ‘follow a fence up to the main path’ and instead read where I had written ‘walk willy nilly up the mountain in a north-easterly direction’…or something like that. We thought we were so hip with our compass leading us straight up a mountain side.

I personally was quite humbled when we came across our first ‘scramble’ (which is apparently low grade rock climbing), especially when halfway through I put my left foot out, and all I saw was the lake a thousand feet below me. I literally froze up and insisted that I could not scramble after all. Jonathan was very patient and scooted back down the rock wall to walk me through it. After about 5 minutes of a full blown panic attack, I conceded that going backwards down the rock wall was even scarier than proceeding, and managed to scramble my way up to safety.

Don't look down.

I had just enough time to calm down before our next scramble was upon us. Since this one wasn’t actually on a cliff wall, I managed to do it without any pep talks from Jonathan. I was very proud of myself until a bit further up the walk I saw a 6 six year old child. And then an 80 year old woman. And then a jack Russell terrier. And then a woman with a baby in her backpack. That’s when I started getting the feeling that there was an easier way to get up this mountain.

Sure enough, when we flipped back through the directions, we saw that there was a nice wide and grassy pedestrian path all the way up, and the north-east uphill walk was just to get from one mountain peak to another, not to climb the entire mountain. All that scrambling was for nothing!

Can you spot the main path?

However, I couldn't be too upset because once you got past the initial ascent, the steep mountains curved off and became very gentle hills that honestly looked like an illustration from a Dr. Seuss book.

Oh the places you'll go...

With the heavenly landscape and the breathtaking views of Derent Water and Keswick down below us, I could have stayed at Bleaberry summit all day.

Except that we weren’t at Bleaberry summit.  Apparently our initial wrong turn lead us up the completely wrong side of the mountain. Instead, we hiked right up to Walla Crag summit where we could spot Bleaberry Peak looming about 100 meters above and a good 2 miles away from us.

In order to re-ascend, we would have to go back the way we came and start from scratch. And we had really good intentions of doing so, I promise.  But once we got back to the starting point, and started climbing at a 75% incline for 8 minutes, we knew it was a lost cause. Here’s a picture of me with the peak straight ahead.

See that tired look in my eyes? That’s what 8 miles of hiking in the wrong direction will do to you. After admitting our frustration over the lost summit, Jonathan and I agreed to salvage what was left of the perfect hiking conditions and took a leisurely stroll through some farm land.

In the UK, trespassing is allowed, as long as you don’t harass the animals. If you do, the owner has a right to shoot you, so I’d advise you to steer clear of cow tipping while visiting the British Isles. During our hike we photographed all sorts of farm animals to add to my collection. A sheep even came right up to me and nudged my knee! Jonathan wasn’t quick enough to get any photographic proof, and by the time he got the camera out, the sheep had already figured out I had no food and lost interest.

But we still managed to get some great shots of very friendly goats, sheep, roosters, and cows. For instance, how many farm animals can you spot in this photo?

Lake District Orientation

Well, we’ve survived our first “international” road trip to England. It was a pretty easy going 5 hour journey, except for this one little tid-bit where our GPS got us lost in Glasgow. Getting lost in a foreign city is never good for your marriage. But after some yelling, tears, and negotiations over who would get the dogs in a divorce situation, we each apologized and tried to recapture our initial road trip excitement. I set my sights on trying to capture the “Welcome to England” sign as we crossed over the border. I figured there would be plenty of hubaloo surrounding the border between these two countries, but it ended up being pretty anti-climactic, with just small roadside marker which you’d miss if you blinked. And since my i-phone camera blinked, I pretty much failed at capturing the moment.

Honestly though, I felt like as soon as we were in England, the landscape instantly changed. Gone were the pretty rolling hills and sheep dotted valleys, and instead they were replaced with scraggly flatlands. I began to panic that I planned this 5 hour car trip for scenery that wasn’t half as good as what we could find 30 minutes west of Aberdeen. It wasn’t long before the majestic mountains of Cumbria could be spotted in the distance, and my anxiety was laid to rest at the sight.

Planning a vacation to a place you’ve never been is always hard. You usually invest a lot in a trip and you don’t want to get all the way there and find that you’re staying in the wrong places, eating in the wrong restaurants, and hiking up the wrong mountains. Sometimes, I really enjoy re-visiting a place, because you get to skip ahead to the good stuff without fumbling your way through a new location and trying to get your bearings.

Planning our Lake District trip was especially hard because there are so many options. Hotel, Bed and Breakfast, Self-catering cottage? Small town, quaint village, countryside? Derentwater, Windermere, Ullswater Lake? Since I had never been there before, it was hard to pinpoint exactly what I was looking for. My interests weren’t helping me to narrow it down either. Our main goals were to stay somewhere relaxing, with good hiking, and breath-taking scenery, which is basically covered by all of the options mentioned above.

Eventually we settled on Highfield Hotel in the town of Keswick, situated on Derentwater lake. I would definitely recommend this locale for any Lake District amateurs. It’s a larger town with plenty of shopping, nightlife, and restaurants, and it’s a very easy walk down to the lake, which is honestly just about the prettiest thing I have ever seen.

There is a theater situated on the Lake and also an old-timey movie cinema in town. On the Lake, you can rent motorboats and rowboats, and there are plenty of beach areas for picnics, dog fetching, and swimming. Yes, swimming. Brits are crazy, y’all.  

Derentwater, Ullswater, and the rest of the Northern Lake District are more mountainous that the more southerly lakes. That means the hiking here is more like climbing, and a bit more challenging all around.

Jonathan and I were game for about one summit hike, and after that, our tired feet were kind of limited in our area as far as more leisurely strolling goes. After spending 2 full days in Keswick, we decided to venture out to the other lakes and towns to see what we were missing and do some research for future Lake District trips (because we are so going back again). Once you are in the region, it’s pretty easy to drive between the other areas. First we headed south to Grasmere which is rumored to be a great jumping off point for some of the best hiking.

The town itself is stinkin’ adorable. I fell in love at first sight. It’s much more quaint than Keswick, but still has adorable shops and a good selection of eating venues. The architecture is all comprised of slate buildings which just add to the English charm of the town.

I even found my dream house, which I snapped a photo of in case I ever need to show it to an architect to draw up some plans. After briefly exploring the town, we continue south to Ambleside. Ambleside is very similar to Keswick, though even bigger. It seemed like a very happening place while we were there, and full of shopping and restaurants. The town lies just north of Windermere which is the largest lake in the region. It’s a great home base to explore several of the Lake District’s many charms.

However, since it reminded me so much of Keswick, I would actually choose Keswick over Ambleside, simply because when you’re standing in Keswick, you are surrounding by mountains. Once you get a bit more south, the mountains round up and become lovely hills, and therefore aren’t as imposing and noticeable from within the town. But that’s just me being really nit-picky. You honestly can’t go wrong wherever you land in this stunning place.

On our way back to Scotland, we made one more stop to visit the lovely Ullswater lake.

The scenery surrounding this lake definitely gave Derentwater some healthy competition. The mountains were steep and rugged, the setting was otherworldly, and the towns were hardly specks along the winding country roads.

It was a very photogenic area, and we enjoyed periodically pulling off on the side of the road to snap some pictures. These pit stops also helped to curb my car sickness, since this area is a bit “off the beaten path” and therefore consists mostly of tiny mountain roads. It was also dotted with walking trails, though the 50 mph wind gusts that morning kept us confined to our car. 

After we drove around the entire lake, we decided to head back home to Scotland. And this time when we crossed the border, I was ready.

This post is just a Lake District taster. Come back throughout the week for stories of summits, mountain passes, and of course, lots and lots of farm animals.

Phone Photo Friday: Warsaw Edition

Jonathan and I love to travel, and usually enjoy celebrating anniversaries and birthdays by taking a little getaway. Since Jon's birthday was this past Wednesday, we decided to couple his Friday off with a long weekend away. Because we just got back from Warsaw on Monday night, we decided to go somewhere within driving distance, and were excited to discover that the beautiful Lake District of Northern England is only about 5 1/2 hours from Aberdeen. We're a bit bummed though because the forecast for Aberdeen this weekend is actually pretty good, whereas Keswick, England is scheduled for rain and cold temperatures throughout the duration of our visit.

Good thing Jonathan got some Hunter boots for his birthday. This weekend will be a great opportunity to break them in.

In order to wrap up the Warsaw series before delving into England, I thought I'd go ahead and share the rest of the phone snapshots I took on our trip to Poland.

The first picture I took in Warsaw was of this statue of Ronald Reagan. I was a bit surprised to stumble upon a tribute to an American president, especially one so recently adorned with fresh flowers. Reagan is hailed as a hero in these parts due to his commitment to free the world from communism. We also stopped for a drink in Herbert Hoover square. Nice to know that some countries in Europe actually like Americans.

I'm not sure why, since it's in the middle of the European continent, but Warsaw has a reputation for really good sushi. We had it twice while we were there and have to admit that it trumped Aberdeen's coastal sushi by far. One quirk was that they included salad in their rolls. I had never seen that before.

Though much of the tourist district of Warsaw has been rebuilt in the pre-war fashion, there are still remnants of communist architecture throughout the city.

And then there are examples of beautiful architecture such as the above. It's definitely a city of contrasts and juxtaposition.

This was definitely the strangest cultural event we witnessed in Warsaw. We were having drinks with friends in Herbert Hoover square when we notice several people dancing (badly) to silence. When we took a closer look, we noticed that they were all wearing headphones. Apparently, to avoid "noise pollution" outdoor dance parties have to be conducted through headsets.

And of course, this picture wasn't taken in Warsaw, but this is just an example of how tired my dogs were when I picked them up from the kennel after our trip. I love that we've found a place to board them where they get to romp and play all day. They even slept the whole next day so that I was able to get all of my errands and chores done without having to worry about keeping them entertained.

Well, that's all folks. I'll be back Monday with a whole lot more travel stories from our trip "south of the border". PS- How cool is it that 'south of the border' now means England instead of Mexico?

Warsaw First Impressions

When I first arrived in Warsaw it struck me as familiar with it's six lane highways and concrete block apartment buildings. To be honest, my first impression was that it looked quite American. The combination of utter destruction in WWII combined with Soviet Communist era functionality has led Warsaw to be the first European city I’ve seen where I wouldn’t be scared to drive a large SUV on the roads. And though built to look that way, very little in the city is over 60 years old. Quite American indeed, at least by European standards.

Though perhaps not as aesthetically pleasing as Paris or Rome, it’s undeniably more user friendly, at least as far as driving is concerned. It’s pedestrian and cycle friendly as well. On either side of the main drags, there are designated cycle lanes and sidewalks.

Whereas most other European cities are constrained by roads built for horse traffic hundreds of years ago, Warsaw turned it’s blank slate into American style infrastructure.

It was also the most affordable European city I’ve ever been to. Nice dinners in tourist districts only cost us about 40 dollars and cab rides were affordable as well. I was surprised that Poland, though part of the European Union, has its own currency. And unlike the Euro, our American dollars and British Pounds were both pretty strong against the Polish Zloty, stretching our hard earned (well, Jonathan’s hard earned) cash much further than we could on a trip to Italy.

Overall, I’d assess the general nature of Warsaw as laid back. The food is unpretentious, the pace is slow, and the city is built for casual strolling around. At the same time, the people are very stylish and chic, making me feel the need to tan, tone, and drop lots of money at Burberry. It strikes me as one of those places that isn’t so spectacular to visit, but on the other hand, is an alright place to live. Much like Aberdeen. And Houston. And Midland. And Baton Rouge. So my practiced and well-trained eye can spot these user friendly locations and see the potential hidden underneath.

What I was most concerned about was the language barrier, and yes, it’s an obstacle, but not as prevalent as I expected. I didn’t run across many Poles who were fluent in English, but most had a pretty good vocabulary that aided in communicating. We were in the touristy district so most menus had items listed in both Polish and English. I usually like to learn the basics of a language before visiting a country, but I honestly did not know one word in Polish before visiting Warsaw. I did learn the word for Ice Cream pretty quickly, though an American resident warned me that it is very similar to a word for an inappropriate sexual act, so I was too scared to actually say it out loud to anyone, for fear of mispronunciation.  

The thing is, Polish is just so dang hard to learn. It’s very similar to Russian where a word will have 4 consonants strung together that give my English speaking brain little indication of the pronunciation.

All in all, I’d go back to Poland, though next time I’ll probably meet Jonathan in Krakow.

Texas natives living in Poland usually draw up the comparison that Warsaw is to Krakow is what Houston is to Austin. Krakow is a bit funkier with more culture whereas Warsaw is built for function and holds more of the business operations in the country. Also, Krakow escaped much of the destruction of World War II so most of the town dates back several centuries.

It’s also the main jumping off point for trips to Auschwitz, which is somewhere Jonathan and I would both live to pay our respects while we’re living in Europe.

What to do in Warsaw: Part II

I sure hope you are hankering for a history lesson today, because it’s impossible to explain the significance of the Warsaw Rising Museum and Warsaw’s beautiful Old Town without delving into the dark times of World War II.

Warsaw Rising Museum. Warsaw’s tourism district is full of museums, if that’s your thing. Since we were only there for a weekend, we only had time to visit one, and we were told it should be the Warsaw Rising Museum. This collection of artifacts pays tribute to those Polish citizens who lost their lives before, during, and after the Warsaw Uprising against the German occupation during World War II. To brush you up on some world history and give you some context for the revolt, here’s a overly-simplified recap (for a more detailed version, this is a good resource).

After losing in World War I, Germany was economically and militarily crippled by the allied victors. The depressed state of the country provided a vacuum for the Facist Nazi party to gain popularity. Essentially calling Britain and France’s bluff, German leader Adolf Hitler begins to re-militarize and annexes Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia. Not wanting to get into a violent conflict, the allied nations decide to appease Hitler and allow his troops to remain in these areas. However, in the months preceding WWII, Hilter signed a non-agression pact with the allied forces that Germany would not seek the annexation of further territory. Shortly after, Hilter ordered the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, resulting in the Britain and France’s declaration of war and thus World War II begins.

In the first few months, German troops executed several Polish officials. Wanting the Polish territory for themselves, and working in cooperation with Germany,   Stalin and the Soviets executed several more on the Eastern front in their march towards Germany. As the war goes on, Poland continues to be occupied by Germany and the Soviets, though the Soviets switch sides along the way to fight with the Allies.

In 1944, the Polish underground government decided to stage an Uprising against the German occupation, with the supposed support of the Soviets who were stationed less than 5 minutes flying time away. However, as the Uprising went on, the Soviets ignored the Poles plea for help. Since Russia controlled the airspace, the other Allied countries didn’t want to cause tension by swooping in to help the Polish civilians fight off the Germans. It’s widely speculated that the Soviets ignored the Polish pleas for aid in order to ensure that the Polish leadership was destroyed and the country was as weak as possible so that they could exert their communist influence on them after the War ended.

After about two months of fighting the Germans, a good portion of the Warsaw population had perished, 200,000 were sent to concentration and labor camps, and 85% of the buildings in Warsaw were in ruins. Remembering Poland’s passive yet geographically strategic role in World War II, made visiting the Warsaw Rising Museum a very emotional and somber experience for Jon and I.

First we toured outside the museum, spending a lot of time in the Memorial garden. Similar to the Vietnam memorial, the names off all the Polish citizens who died in the struggle and written out on a black wall. It’s hard to ignore the sheer numbers when glancing over the names.

On the opposite side of the wall lies a rose garden with photos and narrations taken during the Uprising. It was horrific to read about a photographed person’s role in the Uprising and then go on to read that they were killed 7 days after the picture was taken.

The Holocaust is certainly one of the most horrific events of modern history, and the German and Russian behavior towards the country of Poland is nothing short of pure evil. Yet, visiting Warsaw you got the sense that they’ve moved on. That they are optimistic and hopeful for the future. That they’ve forgiven, quite literally, their trespassers.  

After paying our respects in the garden, we headed inside. At first we thought we lucked out, because the museum is free to the public on Sundays. This turned quickly into a negative however, because when we got inside and could hardly move around for the sheer numbers of visitors.

Since we both get a bit claustrophobic in crowds, we hit the highlights on the museum quickly before making our way to the exits. Fortunately, the museum has handouts throughout explaining the different displays. We were able to gather these up and read about the Uprising from the comfort of a wide open park bench. And of course, we felt ridiculous for feeling so uncomfortable in a crowded museum when we reflected on the fact that the Polish people had to live in tortuous and overcrowded squalor for years on end.

Old Town and New Town. In order to cripple Warsaw during the 1939-1944 Occupation, the Germans targeted the historic, residential, and business center of Warsaw known as Old Town. When the Poles later revolted in the Warsaw Uprising, the Germans retaliated by leveling what was left of this medieval architecture. After the war, Old Town was meticulously rebuilt based on pre-War drawings and photographs of the area. Today it is Warsaw’s most popular tourist attraction and stands as a worthy tribute to Poland’s long pre-War history.

Walking through the winding cobblestone streets, it’s easy to imagine stepping back in time to a bygone Polish era. It’s easy to forget that you aren’t in one of the more glamorous European capitals, because this section of Warsaw is as pretty as anything I’ve seen in Paris or Rome.  

Adjacent to Old Town is what is known as New Town. In my opinion, ‘New Town’ seemed a bit less touristy and it was filled with shopping, diverse eateries, and Warsaw locals. The architecture is still true to the historic style, and we had fun exploring both neighborhoods.

I love pedestrian friendly European cities where we can just follow our noses and eat our way from one must see sight to the next. And of course, the minimum 6-8 miles of walking we clocked per day made the gelato and doughnut stops a little less guilt-ridden.

I’ve still got lots more to say about Warsaw, but I’ll save that for another day. For now, I need to conclude by giving a shout out to my honey on the 7th anniversary of his 21st birthday. Happy Birthday Jonathan! I can’t wait to celebrate it this weekend in England’s beautiful Lake District. I’m super glad that you were born 21 + 7 years ago!