We are heading for Shrewsbury and two nights at another Airbnb place; this time an Elizabethan house.
Our route is back to The Lake District, down past Ullswater and then over the Kirkstone Pass to Windermere. The roads in this area are very narrow lanes with no room on the left to pull over. Usually there is a dry-stone wall to take out the side of your car. Being a Tuesday there was not much traffic but there was always someone coming the other way. Needless to say there were a few sharp intakes of breath from the passenger seat!
The views are amazing and the photo below is looking back about 2/3rds the way up to the pass before dropping down towards Windermere.
At Windermere we stopped at Blackwell House to look at this Arts&Crafts masterpiece. It really was impressive. Part of it is now the cafe/tea rooms where we had a very nice lunch before looking around the place. Its not bad for a holiday house by the lake!
We then had some serious driving to do to get to Shrewsbury so it was back onto the M6 and then the M56 with a brief sojourn into Wales then out again before we arrived at our Airbnb place around 5:30. Traveling on the motorways here is pretty hectic with a relentless stream of traffic in both directions. I set the cruise control to 70mph (as indicated by my sat nav) which is actually nearer 75mph on the speedo (just like at home). Unfortunately, I was still being passed by pretty well all other car and van traffic. The lorries were only slightly slower!
Shrewsbury was a bit of a nightmare of one-way streets but we eventually found our accommodation and parked fairly close. This place is pretty amazing. Nothing is level or vertical and the steps up to the bedroom are all different sizes and heights. You feel like you have had a few drinks already. We walked into the centre of town and had a really nice meal at a Japanese noodle house. Got a bit lost getting home again but the sat nav (in walking mode) eventually got us there!
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| Elizabethan House (our bedroom window open above) |