DATE: Friday 11 August, 1995
PLACE: Reading to the Lake District
WEATHER: Warm
REMARKS: Re-packing the car is something of a challenge,
and no-one seems aware of the need for urgency. Finally we're
off about 0915. Jayne has been pestering us for a 'rabbit
suit' so the supermarket is the first stop and then petrol
before hitting the motorway.
We take a direct but secondary route north towards Stratford
upon Avon.
This is a superbly picturesque town of half-timbered buildings.
In contrast to France and Italy, the buildings here are lower
(2-storied) and many streets wider, and there isn't the same
medieval feel as in Tournus or Macon. Again the place is teeming
with tourists. We try the Stratford Story attraction, which
is a series of model tableaux with narration of the Queen's
progress to Kenilworth. Very good but passive and not all
that engaging for the kids.
Shakespeare's birthplace next. Another house. One feels
on a pilgrimage rather than learning or experiencing; in that
sense another 'Mona Lisa' (Been there, done that, didn't buy
the tee-shirt. Am I getting cynical?) I could have happily
spent an hour or two watching the boats on the Avon, but the
North calls.
Who said motorways were for 'rapid transit'? We get stuck
in interminable queues at Birmingham and again near Glasgow,
and slowed near Manchester. Also UK drivers don't use the
lanes as do Italians or French; they get in the fast lane
and stay there.
Nonetheless we get to Windermere about 1745 and the Tourist
Office finds us a Bed and Breakfast. Although cramped, it's
interesting - a real family home in use for guests.
The town itself is lovely -stone buildings and odd roads perched
on a (fairly gentle) hillside. Although a 'working community'
for surrounding farms, this is primarily a tourist town.
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