Melissa's UK Adventure - Day 5

The day started off interesting this morning. Each day we have to have our luggage outside of our door by a certain time so the bus driver can collect them all and put them on the bus. Well this morning, Sharon and I were putting the luggage outside and the door slammed shut behind us. We both looked at each other and said "I don't have a key". So we had to go down stairs to the front desk, get another one and then finish packing up. Fun stuff at 6:30 this morning. On the first day of the tour, Andrew gave us a Bingo sheet and we were to go around and meet the people on the tour and write there names on the sheet. So this morning, he called out names and we played. Guess who won, me! I got a huge chart with all of the kings and Queens of England on it. It is pretty neat.


The plan for the day was to start off by driving through the Yorkshire Dales on the way to the Lake District. We left Leeds at around 8am and started along the interstate. Before long we left the busy road and made our way onto the small, windy country roads of the Yorkshire Dales. This so far has been one of my favorite parts of the tour. I love all of the scenery along these roads. We passed so many little quaint villages and farm land full of sheep, it makes me want to move here. The roads are so small that the bus can hardly get down them, makes for a slow drive and lots of time to take pictures. Unfortunately one of the bad things about these roads is it makes people very sick. Sharon is one of those people. So for the entire drive she had her eyes closed and was thinking happy thoughts.

We finally arrived at the Lake District and what a change in landscape. You just drive around one corner and out of no where Lake Windermere appears. We got to enjoy a private 2 hour cruise on the lake in an open top boat. It was cold out on the lake, but it was a very peaceful cruise. After the cruise, we got to stop in a little village called Grasmere for lunch. What a cute little place. It is the home of a famous poet called William Wordsworth. He lived here for 9 years with his wife until their death. You can see his home and also see his grave behind the church. Most of the tour groups stop here, so it is very busy on the main street. But if you go off the beaten path, you can see what this village would have looked like hundreds of years ago. I loved this place for photography. Around every corner was a photo.

After the lunch break, we got back onto the main highway and made our way to Scotland. We stopped at a little place called Gretna Greene, which is a town just over the border. We got out and walked around a bit, and looked in the shops for a while. Then we got back on the bus and continued on to Glasgow. We did a little bit of a drive around so we could see the city, and we stopped to take pictures of a church. Then we headed straight to the hotel for dinner. The hotel is not close to anything, so we have all just stayed in and had a couple of drinks. Tomorrow we are off to Edinburgh.