Today we did a day-trip to Carlisle, north of Windermere. We took the scenic route through Kirkstone Pass, via a cute little town – Patterdale, and then alongside Ullswater, a lake nearly as big as Windermere but not quite as commercial.

In Carlisle we found our way to the centre of town where the TIC was located. After finding somewhere to cash in some travellers cheques, we slipped into the now familiar role of being a tourist. The mundane stuff becomes so much more complicated when you are on holidays. Doing the laundry was much more time consuming compared to at home, as was locating somewhere to get money. Oh the crosses we must bear – I can hear hearts bleeding for us :)

We found Carlisle Cathedral and ventured inside. Not quite as big as the one in Manchester but impressive none-the-less. Amazing stained glass windows, a vividly blue ceiling, and bits that were there from the start in 1133 when it became a cathedral. The pictures do a better job than me of describing it.



Just outside the cathedral we found the Priory Kitchen Restaurant which is the former under croft of the fratry and had a scrumptious healthy lunch.

From here we walked north to the Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery. The special exhibition in the gallery was an ‘Air Guitar’ display. Being the knowledgeable art critic that I am – what a waste of space – no pun intended. Enuff said.

However, the Borders Galleries were much more interesting, not to mention understandable. The history of Carlisle with lots of items from its Roman past and explanations of how things were back then, including a display of Hadrians Wall and its reason for being. Downstairs in the Millenium Galleries, a display of minerals and archaeology of the area, fine and decorative art (I could cope much better with these) and the Carlisle Wall – a display depicting scenes from various decades of the 20th century.



Across the road is Carlisle Castle (reached by a tunnel under the road) which has watched over Carlisle for more than 900 years. We wandered around the keep, lots of steps in narrow staircases, large cold and damp rooms, and the wind whistling through every crack and crevice. Up onto the castle walls with a good 360 degree view of modern Carlisle. Ah, the difference between then and now. They also had an archaeological display of the finds unearthed during a dig outside the castle walls in 2002, which provide a remarkable insight into the daily life of Roman soldiers living in the fort barracks between AD72 and AD400.



Wended our way out of Carlisle to Hadrians Wall, or more accurately, some of the bits that still remain of the wall. We found the Banks East Turret and Pike Hill Signal Tower, then the Birdoswald Roman Fort and onto the Poitross Burn Milecastle, Gisland. On a not-so-warm day, the bone chilling wind even made me put on a coat!



With heavier rain on the way we decided to call it a day and head home back to Windermere via the M6. As we came off the M6 near Kendal we spied these 5 wind power generators. They really are massive things.