"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone." ~ Audrey Hepburn

Two days in one again!! I'm getting slack on the blog posts but we're trying to squeeze in as much as we can in our last few days. Yesterday we were on the train all day, arriving in Ambleside around 4 pm. The motion of the train promptly puts me to sleep, so I am in and out of consciousness while we travel. The English do have a very efficient train system, but as we near the end of our vacation, I'm looking forward to independent travel with our Toyota. Tonight's photos are mainly of today as we hiked the most beautiful countryside here in the Lake District. My phone tells me over 20,000 steps and 140 floors, it was a very high fell (old Norse name for mountain).

 The Fisherbeck Inn in Ambleside. Andrew had heard of this inn as it was mentioned in an acknowledgment in one of Tim Keller's books. We thought it would be a great way to end our trip and it is lovely, nestled in this valley with fells to all sides. Interesting thing is, Tim Keller is actually here this weekend!!! We haven't had a chance to speak with him, but I'm hoping we will see him at breakfast tomorrow so Andrew can have a chin wag with him!!

 Pretty little town - very touristy. All of the buildings are made of grey slate.

This neat little house is known as 'The Bridge House'. It almost seems suspended here but there is actually a stone arch underneath it spanning it across Stock Beck (beck is Middle English 

for stream). It was originally built in the 1600's as a means for a very wealthy and influential family to access their lands on the other side.

We took a stroll last evening to get our bearings. This area in England is very well known for it's lakes. This is Windermere, very close to where we are staying. It's full of sailboats.

 Wansfell Pike or bust - it was threatening a downpour but we set out anyway and had a great day of hiking.

 Met this group of runners (175 of them doing 32 miles in a 5 peak challenge today) who promptly passed us on the way up.

I kindly stepped aside for these more vigourous athletes. There was no way I was going at their pace.

See that tallest peak in the far distance? That's where we're headed, in the rain!

 Just partway up - I was behind most of the way, so got some good shots of Andrew ahead.

 Clouds were closing in on us.

 At the top! Would have been a fantastic view if we weren't in the midst of a cloud! Wansfell Pike, at 484 metres high, is not one of the highest but high enough for us.

We started going down the back side towards Troutbeck and the mist lifted.

Met these crazy extreme mountains bikers, walking their bikes up this side and planning on riding down the steep side - not sure how they were going to do that without going head over heels.

Making short work of the downhill path.

Heading down 'Nanny's Lane', stone walls on both sides and much easier trekking.

The Lake District in England - picture perfect country.

 The heather is in bloom!

Charlotte - these sheep had 2 colours on them - red and green - not sure what that means!!

There were 3 wells set into the side of these stone walls, but I wasn't going to risk trying out the water!

Typical English countryside.

Finished off our day with a visit to the local garden centre - it was massive, complete with a cafe, pets and the largest selection of pots I've seen anywhere. And the backdrop were the mountains.

Stopping to smell the grand assortment of David Austin roses. Too bad we couldn't bring a couple home.