GRASMERE AND CHESTER

October 31^st, 2011 Chester

Happy Halloween! I had an early morning chat with Barbara and then she went back to sleep and I got out my computer! I shared her twin room last night and Nancy had the single room. We were all in the breakfast room by 9 am for a wonderful English breakfast before heading out for the day’s journey.

Yes, we’re moving again. The weather was a soft rain all day. We headed further north in the Lake District for the town of Grasmere to visit the Beatrice Potter Island; one takes a ferry boat to reach the island. But, we found out that yesterday was their last day for the season. Drove by the ferry dock but didn’t go over. Then we stopped at Dove Cottage that was owned by the poet Wadsworth. You’ll love some of the photos that we snapped on our drive along the shores of the lake this morning.

While we were in town we stopped to visit the Gingersnap Shop of Sarah Nelson; purchased some gingersnap cookies and homemade fudge…there goes the diet today! But we really enjoyed the freshly made sweets. Had a bit of a scare when I was parking the car to go to the store; there was a small (low) picnic table in front of the building and I nicked it a bit as I was pulling in. Car is okay…bench is missing a fifty cent piece of wood.

Then back over the same narrow road along the lake until we reach Windermere and then headed south towards the M6 motorway. Nancy will be happy to never see a stone wall again (it’s her job to tell me when I’m too close to the wall) and I really scared her when I went through a big puddle and created a “rooster tail” spray on her side of the car. Reached the M6 and enjoyed the three lane highway that took us all the way to Chester; fast even with the rain but not nearly as pretty as yesterday’s scenic ride through the twisting roads.

We arrived in Chester about 3 pm; found the city center and stopped on a corner to let Barbara and Nancy out to check with the Tourist Information Office about hotels. Barbara stepped out with her pillow in her hand…no purse or coat; suddenly there was a huge bus about to crash into our car and I had to move immediately. Nancy was still in the car and off we went! Three blocks later we found parking and walked back to where we’d dropped Barbara; taking her purse and coat with us. There she was, rather sheepishly holding her pillow (it’s the size of an airplane pillow), in the drizzling rain waiting for us to return! Check out the photo! You’ll love it.

We then went into the Information Office and worked with them on Hotels. Nothing in the price range we wanted in the center so decided to try one by the train station. Before going back to the car we decided to tour the Chester Cathedral before leaving. Our plan was to check into the hotel and then drive back to the center for dinner. Good thing because we never made it back!

We got lost finding the hotel…finally did find it but didn’t like the area so we decided to go back to the outskirts of town where we’d seen a lot of B&B’s plus hotels on the way into town. Oh boy…we really got lost….we went by the Zoo at least four times; Barbara swears it was ten times…saw a magnificent double rainbow during all of this. We were in residential areas, commercial areas, etc. etc. etc. We finally decided to just head south, leave the Chester area and find something on the highway. About this time we realized we were in the right area and stopped at the Comfort Inn that we’d seen on the way in. Anything in a storm! It leaves a bit to be desired but it has wifi, clean sheets and walk in showers…it’s do for one night.

We walked across the street to the local Pub/sports’ bar and had a nice dinner. On the way back across the street we actually had two trick or treaters that stopped us for a treat; the girls gave them some coins. And so we’re tucked in again for another evening. Tomorrow we’re heading for Shrewsbury. We’re hearing fireworks; I guess they use them to celebrate Halloween.