As we got off the bus in Ambleside, I was reminded of a line from a Chris De Burgh song from way back… I know it is a niche reference but Fatal Hesitation was stuck in my head all day.

The cafes are all deserted, the streets are wet again,
There’s nothing quite like an out of season
holiday town in the rain,
When the tourists go and the cold winds blow,
And my girl is on a plane, home…

But there really is something special about the Lake District in winter. The quietness of the lakeshore, the lack of tour buses, the low sun and its effects on the surface of Lake Windermere, the trees without their leaves, snow on the mountain peaks.

It was also a case of somewhere new / somewhere old for us – as a child, I came to the Lakes quite often including canoeing weekends with the Guides and Scouts on Lake Windermere. Ambleside is somewhere I’ve stayed before too – a story about a wardrobe falling on my sister at a holiday house lurks in my memory banks. I was here in 2022 with a group of friends – that was in the depths of winter too. We had a power cut and we were boiling water on the open fire for hot drinks. Happy memories.

But Mr T – he’s hardly been to this part of the world at all. So whilst I reminisced, he explored the area for the first time. There were plenty of information boards for him to read too – especially down by the lakeshore. He’s a city boy at heart – but I think he could get used to the wide open spaces with a few more visits.

And of course, there was time for coffee and cake by the lake before heading back to Kendal on the bus.

We only had a few hours to explore, thanks to bus timetables, post-ultra marathon tired legs and the short days of winter, but it was well worth the little trip.

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